Ricey

This. Also add to the list that I don’t want a club that does immoral (and often dodgy) deals with gambling companies and makes a player captain a few days after being done for drinking driving for the second time.

It’s mostly been the day before matches in the Championship.

Imagine if the reason we failed PSR for the three Premier League seasons was because we gambled survival on the January transfers of Souttar, Kristensen and Tete. What a masterstroke that would have been.

So as I understand it, we are at risk of two sanctions. One for this season in the EFL, which if we get promoted will probably only be a fine as the EFL's hands will be tied, and a second sanction for the 3 PL seasons ending in 22/23, which will become clearer later this month. On the latter, the Merc article states this: We lost a combined total of £120.5m for the first two years of this period, but not all of that will count towards PSR. Important to factor in that both of those seasons included European competition money. With the sales of Fofana and Maddison coming within the 22/23 period, it sounds like it could be tight. The fact the club spent so much in January 23 and didn't force through the Barnes sale by the end of June suggests that we might be ok. Either that or the club is run by idiots, which come to think of it, is more likely.

Crazy that they’ve allowed the cut off period to be slap bang in the middle of the main transfer window.

We are in an era of VAR, FFP, P&S, points deductions, adjudication panels, appeals, lawyers…blah blah. It’s depressing. It’s greed, but there is also so much bad governance surrounding it all.

EFL think we are going to break P&S. They think that they can demand a business plan from us to show how we plan on solve it. Turns out they can’t do that. Good job really, I doubt there is a plan.

They will press us high and try to intercept the balls through the middle to the midfielders. They also have pace on the transition, so I wouldn't leave out Justin AND Faes. Doyle's passing might be essential when playing out from the back and breaking the press. We need to get that part right, but last nights inability to do it in the second half concerns me. As they will be pressing us high, and as they also play out from the back, I'd be going with Daka for his pace and pressing abilities. Hermansen Choudhury (Justin if Choudhury is injured) Faes Vestergaard Doyle Winks KDH Ndidi (if fit to start, Akgun if not) Mavididi Fatawu Daka

I'd love to know what Enzo really thinks. For a man that wants total control he must, in theory, be fuming with that second half performance. Whenever we need to control a game as a way of protecting our lead, we can't do it. I'd also love to know what he really thinks about our total drop in intensity and ambition once we go ahead. Judging by his body language on the sidelines he seems quite happy with it and often encourages the players to calm things down. I can't get on board with that at all. 1-0 up against a poor side in poor form, with our knack of throwing away points late on, you have to go for the jugular in the first half. If we get caught and they equalise, so be it, there is plenty of time left. I really wish I hadn't watched the end of the Ipswich match. It was a stark reminder of what a hungry, ambitious, energetic and exciting football team looks like.

A much needed win but I somehow feel more negative than I did beforehand. We were alarmingly bad after the goal. For a team built and trained to control matches, it’s really concerning how we can’t do that unless the opponents let us. We look tired and flat. I just hope this win sparks something.

How can we so comfortably control every match with ease…until we lead, at which point we can’t find another blue shirt.

Quite typical so far. Miss a few great chances and then drop all intensity after we go ahead. I really wish we could maintain or up the tempo after we score to get a second or third. We know Sunderland will put us under pressure towards the end if it stays 1-0 and we know what will happen.

Looks like they are going to park the bus. 5 at the back and no real width.

You can point towards the two Champions League collapses and last seasons relegation as examples, but more pertinent to me is the evidence from this season. It’s hard to deny that we’ve struggled in the big matches and the big moments. If I was to bet on it now I’d bet on us bottling this, as that’s the direction things are pointing, but these players still have enough time to prove that they can handle the pressure.

He’s going to have to try something different for a bit. With Ricardo out we have no one who can offer what he does. We are also seriously missing Ndidi and now have Praet and McAteer injured as well. Time to mix it up. Against low blocks I’d be tempted to try Justin at RB and have him play as a traditional wingback. Rather than have the right sided 8 make runs wide to support Fatuwu, have Justin do that. I’d even try KDH deeper with Winks and Yunus as a 10. We need to freshen things up, psychologically if nothing else, but also to get the opposition guessing.

Also said that we need to find different ways to score.

I could explain away the Middlesbrough and Leeds results, but today was woeful. Team was wrong, subs were wrong, attitude was wrong, game plan was wrong, the rainbow that appeared inside of the stadium felt wrong. We missed Ricardo and Vestergaard massively, but everyone’s performance levels were off, in particular the players that were left at home midweek. Things have turned very grim very quickly. I just hope this is happening early enough for us to have time to rectify it.

Normally there are no matches on the Monday of an international break, as that is when the players report for duty. It's possible that the Southampton match gets brought forward a couple of days to the midweek. It's a free midweek for both of us and there is already one Championship match scheduled for the Tuesday. Wednesday for Southampton and Sunday for the Cup probably suits us.

Great performance. Time to trust these fringe players a bit more Enzo?

I'm sure I read somewhere that Ipswich picked up a couple of injuries on Saturday but I can't find anything online about it. Any news?

Would it though? Bournemouth might make some changes, meaning it isn't quite the acid test that people want. Also, what if we both go full strength and we beat them? What does that really mean? That we are Premier League quality? Great, no signings required in the summer then. The best chance to see where we are is to achieve our objective of winning promotion.

I suspect Nelson will play RB rather than Cover.

I think during the first half of the season we were often losing or drawing going into the last 15 minutes and had to force things a bit more to get goal or two. More recently we've been ahead going into the last 15 minutes with something to lose. I think the lack of rotation and subs also plays a part. Earlier in the season the rotation was fluid and our fitness looked great towards the end of matches.

He has to make changes. We just can't risk it. It's not just about QPR, it's about Sunderland, Hull, accumulative fatigue and injuries.

I actually think the fact we've lost two matches going into this further reinforces the need to make changes. If we were going into this match in good form I'd be worried about a defeat knocking our momentum, but as it stands we don't really have any momentum. I'd be making lots of changes and even leaving some players at home. No point them travelling all the way down to Bournemouth to sit on the bench.