Dark Munster

That's true. If we win our games in hand and take close to maximum points against the top three it's all open again. But the odds are very long, especially if RM continues with his suicidal defensive line ups.

Whoopie doo. Only Leicester and Leeds have a squad as good as ours, and yet we are miles behind in fourth place in a three horse race. Not. Good. Enough.

In can only think of the Sunderland one. And we almost blew that match against an awful team on a big losing run. There's been many games where the pre match thread has descended into chaos once the team selection was out, and we indeed ended up losing because of Russ's awful midfield/defense lineup.

He certainly thinks he is. Similar to Ankersen.

Good news, he's out of the wheelchair.

I think either club can veto. Both would have to agree on a date I would guess, and if not it has to be decided by the EFL. But I may be wrong.

I think you answered your own question Lord T.

Actually he's been very good for quite a while now, not just recently. I think it's been since he shaved his hair off. Coincidence?

Nice straw man argument there. I didn't say that. I've given him plenty of credit when he plays the right line up, and we've put in great performances. But we've dropped too many points unnecessarily in other matches due to what I wrote above.

The suicidal line ups occurred in September during that horrible 4 match losing run. We also dropped points unnecessarily during the unbeaten run. That's 100% on RM. And if you take out our bad runs you then have to take out Leicester and Leeds bad runs as well.

Our squad is as good as Leicester’s and Leeds’, and way above Ipswich’s. And yet we’re fourth in a three horse race. Many times RM is not getting the best out of the squad due to insane line ups and shoe horning in his favourites. Not to mention thinking he’s a genius by stubbornly over doing the tippy tapping at the back. Some of the football has been very good, due to the superior players compared to most of the dross in the division. But too many points have been dropped unnecessarily due to what I wrote above.

With a very good manager. Which we do not have.

Because he’s a stubborn, arrogant moron.

If neither of us go up let's swap managers.

.

Agreed. Along with Manning in his best position. The changing room.

You spelt that wrong, it's only one "n".

The problem is that it keeps on happening with him.

Exactly, I couldn't agree more. He's like an addict, when he hits rock bottom (e.g. Sunderland away) he's forced to go on the straight and narrow (pick a common sense midfield and defense). But after a while the temptation comes back to try, and fail, to be a Pep-light genius again. He's suffering from Rasmusitis. If it isn't broken, break it.

I'm not sure why you think that. We'll have a much weaker squad next year if we don't go up. I won't list the better players we will lose, it's been mentioned many times already.

And that's exactly the problem, it's too rigid and predictable. There's nothing wrong with playing it around the back SOME of the time, but not ALL the time. And I notice you didn't address the main criticism, his insane starting line ups. And you may be happy with 4th, but with our squad we should be up there with Leicester and Leeds. I should add that I'm not saying RM is the anti Christ. He obviously has a number of good attributes, he's a good man manager, seems a decent person, and some of our attacking play can be superb. If he could just stop with the lunatic line ups and favouritism with certain players <cough> Manning <cough> we could still make second.

This, in spades. Spot on. Russell Martin is really starting to piss me off. He keeps saying that he takes the blame for appalling defensive performances, but keeps making the same bloody awful mistakes, especially with starting line ups. All those comments by @derry are spot on, and it wasn't just today that he makes those bleeding obvious mistakes, both for the back four and the midfield. And don't get me started on the pissing around at the back, inviting the opposition to press at every opportunity. What's the point of 75% possession if half of that is on your own f**king half! Yes, you can play it out from the back plenty of time, but if the other team sends a number of players out to press, launch it over their f**king heads, rather than go around in circles and gift it to them half the time. Mix it f**king up so the other team can't always commit so many players forward to press. We're fourth despite Martin, not because of him. We have a far superior squad than most, but are under achieving because of basic managerial mistakes. Look no further than Ipswich to see what a good manager can achieve. RM needs to get his head out of his arse and do the BLEEDING OBVIOUS that everyone and their f**king dog can see.

Who would that be?

I'm not sure if I'd find it funny if Ipswich and Leeds grab the two auto spots, and we have to try to get past Hull and Leicester in the playoffs! That being said, if we did manage to go up at Leicester's expense it would be beyond hilarious.