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Maybe this is just pure hindsight but the more I think about it, the more remarkable it seems that with so much riding on promotion, we gave the job to an unflinching ideologue with 14 senior games under his belt. Under normal circumstances it would be much easier to focus on the positives/potential and write his shortcomings off as being part of his development, but we are incredibly ill-placed to give him time to learn on the job, if indeed he is capable of learning.

Whatever you think about him, there is absolutely no chance he walks or gets sacked, so this is it. Cross our fingers and hope we somehow stumble over the line, much like he seems to be doing.

It's also a free update, which I accept doesn't do anything to change the game being shit

I was very wrong because we're doing quite a lot better than I thought we would

Take it he's not Demarai Gray mk.2 this week then?

And also when finances dictated they couldn't strengthen and their manager kept crying about the squad, they replaced him rather than letting the situation fester and only taking action when it was far too late

It does feel a bit premature right this second with about 15% of the season left - granted voting doesn't close until the tenth so after the next two games. At the moment for me it would be a toss up between Hermansen, Vestergaard, Winks, Ricardo and KDH but if e.g. Vardy or Mavididi score in all seven remaining games and basically ensure promotion then it would feel harsh not giving it them.

I have quite a hard time believing Faes would disregard his manager's game plan to instead cater to people he visibly and quite reasonably thinks are stupid bellends who are taking the piss out of him

He's one of the three nominees for it so I'd suggest he's probably not a million miles away

And in turn they could ask Bury or Macclesfield fans. There is always someone in a worse situation than you but that doesn't mean your situation isn't bad or worth complaining about.

World beaters like Dennis Praet and Hamza Choudhury don't come cheap mate

Iheanacho and Daka would be nowhere near that list, let's be sensible

I would be very interested to see evidence of this

Between their respective injuries we've only actually managed to start them together 11 times, of which we've won 10 - the sole defeat being the Hull home game which we didn't really have any business losing. Our points per match in games Doyle plays is 2.77 which is the best of anyone with any significant amount of minutes. Together they make a big difference.

We could play more positively and move the ball quicker because we had Ricardo and Doyle back, and also I suspect partly because dropping out of the automatic places gave the squad a big collective wake-up call. Having the most important role in the team performed by our best player rather than Hamza Choudhury changes things quite dramatically, as does replacing Justin with Doyle and his much more expansive passing range. Interestingly, as far as I can tell the last game Ricardo and Doyle both started was Stoke away when we won 5-0.

It wasn't a choice between building the training ground and buying players because investment into infrastructure doesn't count towards FFP

Said interview was published on 15th Feb, when we were 14 points clear of third after winning four on the spin and just before the home loss to Boro - so not really. Besides, it's either the case that Top wants the team to play possession football or he keeps accidentally/unwittingly appointing managers who do, a possibility which I suppose we can't totally discount given how clueless him and the rest of the gang are.

We're seeing the consequence of a January window we went into knowing we needed to add depth to midfield and came out of with less of it

It's in our hands, that's the beauty of it

Something happened but I'm not sure what. More to follow.

I thought we'd EASTER (ease to) a win but now I've got EGG on my face (as in an Easter egg)

We'll Be Fine™️

Being good in a counter-attacking team and good in a possession team are not mutually exclusive - nor are playing possession football and attacking on the counter. Everyone on that list, excepting Cannon who I've not seen enough of to judge, has done well and poorly in both styles. Personally my big question about the squad and its suitability would be how we ended up with a manager who plays one up front (we had three strikers and signed another just in case), relies on the 8s for penetration and creativity (Enzo must be the only man on Earth who saw Wilf as a potential attacking midfielder, and to be fair he did actually make it happen somehow) and has no use for orthodox full backs (Ricardo, Justin, Kristiansen and Thomas made this arguably the strongest area of the squad together with the strikers).

Mine still is personally

I think in a squad of 23 they should both go but Toney is the best alternative to Kane we have by a distance imo