Mr Popodopolous

Wonder if we will get any repetition of "Is there a fire drill" chanted at early leavers as happened six years ago v Brentford. Opposition fans doing it is de rigeur but our own? That was an interesting turn.

Good to see the Bayern monopoly broken. It would be nice for football, if a suddenly shining manager at a non elite club was to see it through. Villas-Boas eventually regressed but might he have stayed at Porto one more hear and tried to take a strong side to make an impact in the CL. Spalletti took Naopoli to impressive heights last year..resigned. Other good examples too.

Can Bird do something similar, by which I mean okay in both midfield and a back 3 say or..I know bits about him and if he is deeper I wonder.

Not mad keen on signing Twine especially not if the stayed price tag. A couple of favourable bits though..I've checked a few numbers. 1) League- Hull. Adjusted for non Penalty goals, 25 Games- 3 Goals, 3 Assists. That is okay..add in 1 Penalty. 0.24 and 0.28 G/A per game. 2) For us in the 5 since he returned he won 3.2 Fouls per game. Scott was good at that, can assist with building pressure or easing it depending on which half. Otoh he was out for 2 months, 1 Goal, no Assist for us..seems risky. If the price is right consider it, if not then look elsewhere.

One particular passage v Swansea was really noticeable however, first half. Went back to O'Leary from an okay position for us and the crowd reacted.

We're probably 2 or 3 points from 'par' from change of manager to now. 2 wins should maintain the level inherited, xG and results ratio a different issue. I use FBREB as one reference point, I also used to use Experimental 3-6-1 but the website seems to have stopped updating this year.

Thanks, haven't caught up with everything yet but this bit in Bristol Live from pre game did worry. If there has been a more positive update, that is good news.

Not having any fit genuine centrebacks is a bit of a mitigation, in terms of a slightly more cautious protecting aporoach but when we went to a back 4 we improved. (Vyner, Dickie, Atkinson, Naismith).

Yep, plus building from a position of strength. I remember when we had that run under LJ about 4 years ago, in his final year..through January and February, the underlying numbers were definitely worse than this but I was hoping we may tactically and generally build from a position of strength by tweaking the tactics to help underpin the results with more solid performances. To make the results more sustainable.

We'll see, I don't think overperformance in terms of pts vs results can be sustained over time. It isn't about aesthetically pleasing, you can have control of games that isn't pretty and you can have a lot if passing but be destroyed in terms of big chances on the break, it is more that digging out results can only go so far or playing to level X but achieving a Points return of Y, over time .

A problem is that in general (not always but in general) performances and results tend to align. There are exceptions in respect of performances continuing to outstrip results over a season or vice versa but eventually the two meet somewhere in the middle, or regress or progress to the mean.

Next year could be a better go for it year in respect of who goes up, who comes down. FFP position seeing £28.5m pre tax loss drop off the cycle. Anyway I would argue that if we didn't agree to it, Derby may have kept and looked to go to Tribunal in summer to settle fee. Stokes clearly wouldn't be ready right now. I don't especially like it, NP never should've been sacked, he merited a new deal and 2 or 3 players perhaps in the Summer post Scott sale.

Tbh in the case of Bird, Derby were clearly driving a hard bargain and are past their existential financial crisis..buying and loaning back for half a season isn't altogether uncommon. Stokes wouldn't be ready to step up this year, who knows if next year. Aldershot are National League aren't they?

Two weeks I think they said for Vyner? Dickie Idk, anyone any ideas? He was on the bench and remained there v Blackburn, so possibly.

We do hit the (in most years) magic 2 PPG across 7 games from Swansea at Home to Huddersfield at Home so it depends on how we want to measure it. Moreover, in GJ's blocks of 10 we just about hit the level inherited under Manning. 14 from 10, 4 wins ie 40%.

Once more we remain bumping along the middle under Manning. Not a disaster but no great leap forward thusfar. 2 wins in the last year of 3 and we more or less claw back to parity. Absolutely better than the strategic picture going into the Swansea game and even arguably the March International break but it has a ceiling to date.

Vs Leicester we shouldn't in some ways discredit ourselves, we in the first half took a very positive approach, first 20 especially and created chances of our own. I was surprised at how positive we were really in the context of a range of games. They lost at Millwall and Plymouth too on the flipside but those games they were at least in respect of chances etc more dominant. I would argue that vs QPR until their goal we had more of it. McCrorie side netting at 0-0 stands out a bit, post the multi substition we lost our shape and semblance of gameplan, went to shit. Also worth pointing out for balance that the goal QPR scored with was their first Shot on Target. For the obvious flaws under Manning when we score first..our record it isn't bad! Middlesbrough (H) 3-2 W Norwich (H) 1-2 L Sunderland (H) 1-0 W Hull (H) 3-2 W Watford (A) 4-1 W Middlesbrough (A) 2-1 W Southampton (H) 3-1 W Ipswich (A) 2-3 L Swansea (H) 1-0 W Leicester (H) 1-0 W Plymouth (A) 1-0 W Blackburn (H) 5-0 W P12W10D0L2F27A12PTS30GD+15 Had we scored first say v QPR and perhaps Cardiff we would have stood a reasonable chance of winning probably. Otoh we have clawed back a mere 4 points from losing positions. (Drawn 3 games 0-0). Otoh 3 penalties in 2 League games is remarkable and 6 in 28 League games since change of manager is also crazy (especially for us)!

1.1.4 a), b) The Guidance explains it as well as the Shares point.

Not sure about that, but happy to watch back. Maybe I am underestimating the amounts in the South and Lansdown.

This is purely off the top of my head but one possible back 3 into back 4 in-game same personel. Take with a load of salt as we don't know who stays and goes. It also isn't a reflection on individual players more a potential best fit for the system switching. O'Leary Vyner Naismith Dickie McCrorie Knight James Pring Sykes Mehmeti (Bell) Conway Can become... O'Leary McCrorie Vyner Dickie Pring Naismith Sykes Knight James Mehmeti (Bell) Conway Whether a flat 3, or a 4-1-2 then 3 or 2-1 to get Sykes and Bell/Mehmeti up with Conway can work differently. Also appreciate the attributes of Tanner, Atkinson, Roberts, Williams, TGH, Cornick, Wells. Plus Bird from next year. King I assume won't be retained as a regular player but you never know. However I think this a useful starting point for in-game switches.

Some Leicester fans think they should sell their Training Ground or 2nd Training Ground to try and resolve FFP.. ..Problem is they haven't read the Rules correctly clearly. Chelsea and their hotel sale, well that is a nonsense but there appears to be no express Rule against it as in nothing specifically about Fixed Assets in the PL. EFL Rules- yes, Seagrave profit would not count. Likewise King Power Stadium, other Training Ground or that of any other Tangible Fixed Asset. It is adjusted out and treated as if it didn't occur in the EFL.

It is a possible trend in the right direction, although the first half of both the Sunderland draw and today's one were alarming.

Do tend to agree, I still think Naismith in deeper midfield isn't a must but could definitely if fully fit serve us well there. Would say that with our squad we more than many, due to specialised position in one sense Naismith and just depth wise..are harmed by injuries more than many. We are 2 or 3 light IMO depth wise and then a true competition for Max? Today was alarming when he went down..

Agree I'm not totally against it, provided the availability and opposition align well. Players such as McCrorie and Pring in the first instance can play as full backs and wing backs. Tanner and Roberts less so, at this stage certainly. A player such as Naismith can move between a back 3 with wingbacks and a deep midfielder in this shape. Vyner, Dickie, Atkinson,Naismith. These can all play in a back 3 or 4.. I'm talking in-game as well as game v game. I'd rather not Sykes at wingback as it feels like he is wasted there. (I know Tanner, McCrorie, Roberts moreso and even in extremis King and Pring can play in a back 3 but that is going right down the list after injuries etc)?).

Are we dreadful in a 4? The results are varied to say the least..a 4-3-3 with Sykes in a natural position feels more comfortable.