AspRover

west brom get a 3rd, Luton surely down

Problem is everyone who could start on the left ahead of Hedges isn't fit or is just returning from injury, and we don't want to change formation on a winning run. If Kargbo only has 30 mins in him then you want him running at a tired defence, because if he's got half a yard on the fullback he can run riot. I've no idea how fit Kargbo, Dennis or Gueye are, but I have to admit it's bloody heartening to look at the bench and see a whole competent replacement front line there, I can't really remember the last time we could say that.

It looks increasingly like the way that Eustace left and the atmosphere at the club afterwards must have been an absolute rug pull for some of the players, they completely lost their heads. A lot of us, myself included, blamed Ismael for it. I'm not saying that he is blameless, a better manager would have got a handle on it sooner and might have prevented that slump from being as bad as it was. He does seem to have turned it around one way or the other though. Maybe too little too late, we shall see. Five wins, five defeats, two draws isn't far off par for the season - six wins would be slightly kinder, more wins than losses always looks good. If the results had been spread out a bit more evenly I think the atmosphere on this message board would be more along the lines of 'going to fall short' pessimism rather than the 'we might make the playoffs' optimism of a winning streak. Jury's out. He'll be here next season and he'll have to do it all again, probably with a weaker squad.

Also, might be a shiniest dog egg competition but Toth is the better keeper. I'm just not as scared of him chucking one into the back of the net or whatever in the way I am even when pears is playing 'well'

Kind of had the opposite effect of the new manager bounce, the disruption killed off the season. I'm still not convinced by Ismael, but four wins on the bounce including against teams immediately around us does buy a little breathing room.

He'll be an important player next season

Watford won't want to see Dennis, old player curse and all that

yo which player should I slag off next?

Cantwell is fantastic as long as there isn't an opposition player within 10 yards, free kicks are perfect for him

It's the hope that kills you

Generally I am very happy to see the youngsters get minutes, at the moment it seems more ominous than anything else. 'Better see if the kids are any good, they're squad players next season once everyone else walks...'

On loan but yes, Mowbray didn't fancy him - rap music, tattoos and ripped jeans...

I do woodwork for a job, what am I supposed to do for a hobby? Accountancy?

The very stoppable force Vs the decidedly moveable object.

Rankin Costello will be RB, I'd guess Dolan on the right, Dennis on the left, Yuki at 10, play pretty narrow

Not much of a new manager bounce - but then we weren't really in an old manager slump to be lifted out of, unusual set of circumstances. I'm willing to give this one a pass - we largely stuck with the formation/lineup from before he came in - but it will be interesting to see if/how we change in the next few games now he's seen the players in a game.

West brom losing puts us back 6th

We only need a few months of good vibes to be fair, if he gives us a playoff tilt before it goes sour then I'll take it

In hindsight I think that Mowbray was running into exactly the same issues that JDT and Eustace did, but rather than agitating and then getting out ASAP he just accepted it, put out the soundbites and picked up his pay packet every month. I don't think that the slow build stuff was coming from him, he just went along with it and didn't try and fight against it in the same way as his successors - imagine if Eustace had put out the 'significant investment' line. At the time TM left I thought he was the problem, now I'm not sure that there is much he could have done differently. I'm pissed off at Eustace jumping ship so early, but until something major changes behind the scenes I think that Mowbray's tenure is ultimately what a manager sticking with us long term under these conditions looks like. I might be wrong, it could be that the current model of spend nowt is directly a result of TM demonstrating that we can do that and stay in the league, but I think it's more likely the other way around.

We're going to lose, but we could really do with Dennis or Kargbo to get a goal, just to underline that they should be starting ahead of hedges etc.

All the collective luck in Wales is currently going on the Rugby - empty the bench second half and we can take the points here no probs

I wonder if our glorious owners are looking into the revolutionary possibility of loaning (sorry, leasing) a manager until the end of the season. I'll bet Liverpool have a young up and coming coach who could benefit from some championship experience. I'm joking, but also kind of not - the longer this drags on I do increasingly expect an interim 'until the end of the season' appointment at this point. It's clear that they really didn't expect Eustace to call their bluff and had nothing lined up whatsoever.

All on the 98% chance we are still in this league next season. Hedges is a utility player, assuming his wages are on the lower end of our structure he covers about four positions off the bench. If we manage the rest of our business he doesn't make the starting 11 with any regularity. It's not the end of the world if we keep him, it's one less player we have to sign in a summer window where we will need to sign a lot of players. Batth's legs will go at some point, but he hasn't looked it this season. Hard to say no if he'll take a 1 year extension, again ideally he ends up as cover with Wharton and Carter coming back in. Ribeiro looks a definite pick up if we can afford him. My fear is that we'll have competition. If Liverpool view Beck as one for the future we might have a chance of loaning him for another year - if they choose to cash in on him we can't afford him, in which case keeping Ribeiro looks even more of a priority. I think there will be interest in Dolan and that probably takes the matter out of our hands - I think he'll choose to leave and whilst I would keep him I don't want us to get into a bidding war and end up with him as our highest earner. Weimann is handy in as much as he knows where the goal is, but I do think he is noticeably slowing down at this point. Forshaw is surely out.

Got to be Wembley, surely - make the final a final. It's kind of odd, I genuinely expected relegation at the beginning of the season (not unusual, I generally do), so this playoff push feels like a bit of a free hit. Even if it was the dingles I think it would feel like we had nothing to lose - we weren't expected to be there and realistically when you look at the money and the parachute payments and everything we wouldn't really be expected to win. I well remember the spurs fans before the league cup final asking how many they were going to beat us by. I think we'd have a better than 50/50 shot to do them over.

I'd still happily have kaminski back if Luton go down though. They can keep Bell, though I'll admit that the thought that he got to be a premier league player for a season does give me hope I might make it as an astronaut or something one day