I've not been as critical of TM's lineups lately. Given the circumstances I don't think they've been the worst of selections. I'm not too pleased with this one though. Johnson was dogshit last game and looked lethargic. A few days later he is only going to be more so. Should have thrown Davenport in. I'd have had Chapman ahead of Bennett too. I'm expecting he wont even come on off the bench though, that honour will go to BB and Samuel, woefully out of position. Other than that I'm ok with it in the circumstances.

And that if he is anything less than the best player on the pitch, some here will be giving it 'I told you so'.

Why will they need to be of 'good' quality to stand still when some of the ones we are losing are a bit shit (Leuts, Bell) or have been out all season (Cunningham)?

Let me save you the concern. We are no longer in the playoff discussion.

I remember people posting a few unsavoury stories about Dack when we signed him. Even that prick Diouf did a job for us. Unless it's a Joey Barton level scumbag I couldnt give a fuck as long as they deliver. His record suggests he will deliver.

Only in League One I think. Yes that's why I said backup-backup. I don't think he is any worse than Brereton as they both stand at the moment. But obviously we only invested heavily in one of them, who to be fair has more room to grow. Graham is finished after this season, that should be obvious. You do need at least 4 strikers in your squad. Although with our insistence on strikers out wide you theoretically need 6...

Will definitely never be a winger. I dont think he'd be the worst backup-backup striker if he actually got to play there, but our bizarre insistence on strikers out wide, mostly ones that don't even suit that style, is killing his and various other strikers' careers. Won't care when he leaves though.

We have scored for the last 8 games running before today.

I think today must have settled this issue for those who still thought we could. Surely?

Fulham aren't poor, they're one of the best sides in the league. However, they didn't particularly impress me today. We simply conspired to have no threat.

Think people are being harsh on JRC. Granted I've missed bits but he's done alright when I've seen him. Far better than the likes of Bennett would do in that role.

Think Armstrong is having one of his cold days so far, which is a real shame as he is our main goal threat lately. Still, he's always a threat so could still pop up with one.

We have eight players out of contract in the summer if I'm remembering rightly. Walton goes back and his wage goes off the books. Hard to say what the result for our wage budget of all that will be. It does seem Forster is on something in the region of 60-70k per week, but I doubt Celtic are paying anything approaching that. Sinclair was meant to be their highest paid player on about 35k. Maybe Southampton will loan him out again. And contribute most of the wages. Maybe they'll be thankful after shafting us for Gally. I do agree it's probably one we can't afford without a huge wage subsidy (and he's not out of contract until 2021), but I don't think there was any need to snark the poster about him paying for it personally. Not everyone has looked up everyone else's (reported) wages before making a suggestion.

I think you've confused bbrovers with the owners.

You're gonna want to use a more successful example...

These comments are a serious stretch. The fee has intensified criticism of him, yes. But if he had just come through our academy and played like he has, we would be saying he was promising, and hope for him to press on over the next year or two. We wouldn't be saying he looks good, or a star. I think he'd be regarded in the Buckley bracket at the very best, or possibly more in the Mols bracket (who is rarely talked about, though some here insist he is better than BB). He is behind so many players in the pecking order in pure football terms, fee aside. In fact if he hadn't cost so much he would have had nowhere near his number of first team appearances. On the other hand, the lack of pressure may have improved those performances. Maybe he can still come good, but I think this will 90 percent come down to psychology and that the club aren't doing him any favours in that area.

He watches nearly every u-23 game.

Wow, we really are pretty fucking stupid with this, aren't we.

You're the same, it's just a different broken record is all.

Nice goal, but it caught my eye how paggered he looked after it in the celebrations. Absolutely huffing and puffing. Makes me question what all these piddly cameos and never having a starting run (at least not for a long time or ever in his real position) has done to his match fitness. Been saying for a while he looks like a player very short on confidence. Hopefully this gets him going, if he is given the chance to capitalise on it properly in the first team. That said, I'd still be concerned to see him starting... Should have gone on loan.

Manager is very different to scout though.

Wow, was I naive in thinking we wouldn't have to go back to Jones and Henley for the answer? Really odd that we were doing it in the Prem, at a higher level.

Truthfully that last part may even play into our favour. It seems like the utter dross in this league give us a harder game than the good sides. I firmly believe that ties into the stats I've researched and posted previously about us getting better points hauls from the games where we have less possession. You'd expect the better teams to keep the ball better against us and hem us in a bit, and we have shown we are more effective at counter-attacking, as well as being vulnerable to counter attacks in the games where we control possession. I'd have to run the stats again to see if this is still true, I think I did them in about November. But a quick look at the last few games shows it is still more or less holding up. Sheff W is a bit different as they were awful, we were absolutely electric, and they had ten men. But for instance we slaughtered Forest for possession (67%) but lost, shipping three goals. QPR had more possession than us (58%). It's not a cast iron rule or anything, but it does seem to be a general trend.

It does, however, matter what they say. If they present the club, manager or players positively, they're 100% correct. If they cast them in a bad light at all, they are ignored at best, instantly wrong at worst.

6 points behind, not been in the top 6 all season (closest has been 8th I think?) midfield decimated with injuries and the only club to fail to recruit anybody in January. I think you know why it's very unlikely now, but your relentless positivity won't let you see/admit it.