Jobyfox

The thing is that I don’t know whether this team has a Plan B. Largely because Plan A usually works. Interesting to see what we’ve got 2nd half

No idea. Does anyone know if this is a strong line up for them?

Not a Dennis fan myself, but I think this is the right call. There is an Ndidi sized hole in the team and at least it's being filled by a proper midfielder. I also don't think we've lost much by it being Praet rather than Casadei as it might have been

It's still on

They don’t, but Leeds are playing now and we’re not. Other teams are irrelevant when we do our job, but it feels a bit like we’ve won more than 3 points when our closest rivals lose

And there it is!

I can’t see Leeds not winning today. Go on Plymouth - prove me wrong!

My cats have some strong feelings towards Bob Martin

Oh no!!! I didn’t even know that Pep had died

Yes, I didn’t want to indulge myself in those sort of details just yet

I suppose we have to remember that all the teams in the Championship are pretty close in terms of ability with the exception of the top four. There are 15 points between Southampton and West Brom, which is the same difference as West Brom and Plymouth who are in 15th. All four of us just keep relentlessly beating all the other teams. The key is to avoid hiccups. We’ve been pretty good at that so far to be fair. Leeds and Saints can only hurt us in the two games they play against us. Despite their runs of form they need us to trip up elsewhere

I thoroughly expected Southampton to win tonight. Simply because there were so many thinking it was a banana skin that it seemed almost inevitable. Our result tomorrow is still the only one that really matters, but the bonus of a West Brom win would have been nice

I’m not expecting Iheanacho to start, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Enzo is a bit left field with his selections sometimes. It feels strange that I and many others, would probably have had Ian as our 1st choice at the beginning of the season. Enzo seemed to concur. Now Daka has come from nowhere and fair play to him for that

People label Wes as slow, but he wasn’t notably slow at his peak. Maybe he slowed down a bit in the latter stages of his career. Huth was slow, but he was an out and out defender completely suited to the low block style. Vestergaard has all the attributes necessary for our current style - except pace. Enzo will need the team set up to help protect Jannik in that respect.

I like to think of Praet as: "the ghost" because I often watch a game and don't see him or forget he was on the pitch. He's occasionally slightly better than ok, but most of the time fairly invisible. The problem is that after losing Ndidi to injury, Casadei to recall and Sensi to FFP he's the only proper midfielder we have as back up. He's just got to do a job until Wilf comes back. I really hope he does well, but I'm more inclined to think that his performances will only range from 'instantly forgettable' to a peak of 'just about adequate' most of the time

We seem to go through exactly the same change curve watching our rivals every game. Changing only slightly at the end after the result: Ipswich They might struggle against these I can't believe Ipswich are in the top 4 I can't believe how rubbish (insert team opponent) are They're so lucky (make last minute deflected goals reference) I actually like Ipswich I'd rather Ipswich go up than the others Ha, the wheels have fallen off the tractor I knew they couldn't keep it up Leeds They could lose this They're the best team in the league (insert amusing or ironic emoji) I can't believe how rubbish (insert team opponent) are Insert stats to demonstrate Leeds are not actually better than us I hate Leeds insist Leeds won't catch us (insert another stat as reassurance) Ha, they've lost, include several more ironic jokes about being the best team in the world Saints They could lose this Insert comment from over optimistic Saints fan as evidence of delusion I can't believe how rubbish (insert team opponent) are Insert stat to demonstrate they've not really caught us up despite not losing since 1948 insist they only won because they play rubbish teams every week insist Saints won't catch us (insert fixture list with emphasis on run in and last game) Ha, they've lost, make reference to Russell Martin and include unflattering comparison to Brendan Rodgers Rinse ... Repeat... Rinse.... Repeat... Rinse .... Somebody make it stop!!!!!

Hmmm… can’t think of a team who exceeded doing that off the top of my head …

I thought about Arsenal the other day in respect to their over the top celebrations after beating us. They’ve been criticised for celebrating their recent win against Liverpool as if they’ve won the league. It will be a different eleven to the one that faced us, but clearly they’ve not learnt much as a club. Maybe it’s an Arsenal thing?

Leeds could well be the best side in the division. We might only be ahead of Leeds at this point because we started better Leeds might beat us at Elland Road. I wouldn’t be at all surprised on their own ground. The point is I couldn’t really care less about any of the above (except I’d obviously like to beat them). The only thing I care about is that we’re currently 12 points ahead of them. If we go up and they don’t, nobody will care or remember how good they were - and it will be the same if it’s the other way around.

I always say that other teams’ results are irrelevant if we do our job. But, having said that, it feels great that we win and Saints finally lose!

I love these match threads

Hmmm….

Spoil sport!