Xen

Quick table with our upcoming fixtures highlighted as home/away. A big chunk of mid-table away fixtures there, but its all quite tightly packed so they all still have a chance of a playoff place as it stands. On track for four(!!) teams finishing above 90 points if they maintain season-to-date form, which is mental. And by the same token, we've theoretically done enough to already secure a playoff place. And as an added extra, the points and minimum form required for us to hit various milestones:

Oops, that was meant to say WBA's form, so the row above! Ipswich needing 2.08ppg (currently 2.11) and Southampton needing 2.13 (current 2.07). We also only have 17 games remaining, not 19, so the required form for 1.61ppg is W9 - D1 - L7. Good spot. Corrected both above.

Update on this after a few more games (that haven't quite gone how we'd have hoped). On the left is our form and projected final points, if we matched each of the top 6's performance so far (a reasonable expectation, you'd think!). Then, what PPG each of those teams would need for the remainder of the season in order to surpass us. Nice to see that even if we were to drop off massively to WBA's season-form for our remaining 17 games (W9, D1, L7), we'd still make automatics if the others kept up their current pace.

Y'know what gets boring real quick? Watching your team put in zero effort and get turned over every other week, like we have for the past couple seasons. Under Maresca we do have periods of games which are boring, but crucially its (usually) boring because we are controlling the ball, rather than because we're chasing shadows. And those periods are what allow us to wear other teams down (physically and mentally) and have those passages of play which cut opposition apart. There are very few games this season which have been 'boring' for the whole of the 90 minutes. With better players, we'd be able to execute our plan even more effectively and start having more of those moments of intensity - similar to how Man City play. But right now we're in the Championship and whilst our squad is inarguably better than this level, we're still patching up gaps with players who aren't on par with where we eventually want to be. That's not a problem, and it's something we'll improve upon over time with investment (particularly when/if we secure promotion), but for now we need to take some of the rough with the smooth and get over ourselves as a fanbase. Someone like Vestergaard might execute that decisive forward pass 30% of the time rather than 50% of the time that a top PL CB might, but if that 20% in between he's playing safe by playing back to Mads and - crucially - not putting us under unnecessary threat, then that's what we should expect at Championship level. If we were dropping points every week because of this style then sure, complain, but fact is we're still on pace for the greatest Championship points tally ever and we need to get behind Enzo before he walks away and we end up with a Rodgers Mk II.

Pretty much my stance. If it bursts the bubble, fails spectacularly and we get a reset where we can rebuild a better structure from the ground up, then a few years of pain might be worth it. Not dissimilar to the effect relegation seems to have had on us. However, with the amount of money being thrown about they'll make it work (for them, not fans), so i've got little faith of that actually happening. So would much rather not run the risk and just say no to any super league concept.

Fatawu is a no-brainer. You're not wrong on Doyle, but he's still only 20 and learning his trade. Given that most of his appearances for us were in a side which was still very new to this system with everyone struggling at times, I'm optimistic he'll start to look a lot more comfortable in this system as many others have done. Besides, we'll need some consistency going into next season and I'm not convinced we'll be seeing much of Coady or Vestergaard in the prem which leaves us quite light at the back. If there are better options available then great, but otherwise Doyle certainly wouldn't be a bad pickup in the summer.

Once put a flatbread in the oven in my student house. Everyone else had already moved out, so just me. Went back upstairs to my room and promptly forgot all about it for the next 4 hours... Cue one slightly overdone flatbread (wouldn't have looked out of place in Pompeii), a very smoky kitchen and me desperately trying to air out the house so we'd get our deposit back when I handed the keys in a couple days later Plenty more like that in the years since...

Put together a couple of projected tables (current top 6) based on PPGs of the season so far, and what might be required given realistic form swings. First table is what would be required for our rivals if we dropped to their form. For instance, if we have results similar to Leeds so far (1.85 PPG) we'll finish on 101 points and Leeds would need a PPG of 2.65 to catch that. Obviously, if we dropped to Sunderland's form then it'd also make it easier for the others to catch us than what I've listed as well, but it gets messy with all the combos of (LCFC@x's form VS y's form required). Second table is the flip of that projection: If one of our rivals suddenly hits the same form we've shown so far this season (a nice round 2.5 PPG), what would LCFC require in order to stay ahead of them (with at least 2 having to do so for us not to get automatic). Again using Leeds as the example, they'd end on 98pts so we'd need to earn 1.65 PPG to match that.

Maswanhise, Marcal and Nelson on the bench. Lovely stuff, wonder if Alves/Braybrooke arent far behind. And just the 1 sub keeper too.

As much as a cup run is great, in 5 years time no one is gonna remember us getting to the quarter finals, and realistically we ain't gonna win it. Focus on the league, go up in style and break the points record and that'll stand for years. That said, I think it'd be more beneficial for us to get past Millwall and go out to a top prem side in the next round. Losing to championship opposition - even with a rotated squad - probably hits our momentum and encourages other teams in our remaining league games.

Get in! All the time in the world, and a lovely finish.

Yesssssss