Lighthouse

Haven’t you heard? Boro are so terrified of the Tonda machine they’ve forfeited the tie.

We’ve not kept a clean sheet in a league game Wood started since Millwall on New Year’s Day. I’m not saying it’s all him but the defence has never looked settled and confident with him in it.

Soldering. Just f*ck off.

The ball is 10ft up in the air when it goes over his head. He isn’t getting to the ball even if he doesn’t slip, jumps up and uses his hands to stop it.

When I’ve been in the shop recently they had the same discounts on the price tags as the did online, if that’s what you’re asking.

We would have two points more and finish on 82. Ipswich have one point less and finish on 83, level with Millwall.

So basically we could have beaten Ipswich 6-0 in midweek, won nine of our last ten league games and still finished fourth. Second was never on, even with multiple other results going our way too.

Has to be a contender, proper team goal from back to front. 3:20 onwards.

Goal - Charles vs Oxford Assist - Downs vs Wrexham

Look I’ve been to Preston before and I know what they’re like. I don’t want Peretz getting rabies from one of their CBs whilst defending a corner.

I don't think it's a case of being rested so much as not risked. Imagine he fractured his forearm or pulled a hamstring in what is essentially a meaningless game and missed the playoffs. I don't fancy seeing Long vs. Millwall at Wembley.

I’d offer Stewart another year and sign two new strikers, given choice. Two years ago we signed a bunch of ‘squad options’ and look where it got us. I have no desire to repeat that, I only want to sign players who are better than we’ve got now.

We can argue about Wood all day but TBH it's besides the point. As good as Larin is at the moment, this has all the hallmarks of a purple patch in a lower league, when you compare it to the rest of his career. Two years ago Ryan Fraser was tearing Championship defences to shreds, Adam Armstrong was banging them in and Jan Bednarek was a rock at CB. We all know how they looked playing in the PL.

Some people scoffed at him, mainly because of his age. His record prior to Forest is still far better than anything Larin has managed. Double figures in four consecutive PL seasons for Burnley and nearly 30 goals in his last Championship season. The two players aren’t comparable; Wood’s previous record is similar to Lambert, whereas Larin’s is similar to Saganowski.

He's been brilliant, an absolute gem of a find, no doubt about that. His touch, movement and change of pace all far better than I was expecting when he signed and he's produced some excellent goals. But... He's still the 31 year old who's spent his career out on loan here, there and everywhere, only achieving double figures once in a season and that was five years ago in a league where Paul Onuachu makes hay. If we do get promoted and we don't want a repeat of last season, we're going to have to be ruthless. If we're going out to sign a striker from scratch to play in the PL, we're probably going to have to be more ambitious than making Larin permanent.