Finnegan

Are you joking

But I think ultimately he does one or two of these comedy things every couple of games and they're all anyone remembers and they just pile on him and ignore everything else he does in a match which might have value. I'm going to regret saying this now because, you watch, he'll have an absolute stinker haha. But watch him tonight. Spend as much of the game as you can just watching Daka and pay attention to some of the nuance of what he does. He contributes quite a lot of little bits of play that go completely unnoticed the second he slices one pass in to touch or miscontrols the ball in a funny way.

I actually don't agree that his all round game is poor. In fact, I think the image of him on here suffers from a case of confirmation bias from a lot of people. I understand this, I said earlier talking that I have this problem with Ayew, I think my dislike for him has become so severe that I'm not really capable of recognising good things he does and I'm hyper critical of every tiny mistake he makes. I feel people are like this with Daka and it was very noticeable when he started playing under Enzo and I still see it now. I actually think his football intelligence is really under rated and his technique is really strange because there are times it's hilariously bad to the point of being a meme but there's other times where his touch is superb and his link up with other players can be genuinely excellent. One of JJ's first goals for Leicester (might even have been his first) came from a Daka assist, a fantastic little one two where he anticipated the run and laid the ball off beautifully for James. The sort of shit Ayew never does because he has to hold on to everything and he plays with his head down. Daka is always looking to link up with other people, he understands when to drop in and he's pretty good when he does and he understands when to turn and stretch the game vertically again. I think his all round contributions to the team are some of the best in the side. I think he makes the team better than Ayew does, than Reid does, than Mavididi does and even better (significantly so tbh) than Fatawu does. He just falls massively short when it comes to understanding how to actually move like a forward spearheading the line and his shooting these days is frequently just nervous, wayward and borderline hilarious. I'm absolutely not claiming he's a brilliant player, he's obviously severely flawed in some major, major ways. But he's always been and always will be better than he's given credit for and some of the criticisms of him can be wild.

If he goes on a little cluster of goals and assists like the one when Enzo brought him in to the side, that'd probably keep us up.

Not at all. A big part of the problem with Daka is that he actually doesn't get a significant number of chances. He actually gets remarkably few. His finishing can be almost comical at times with how wild it is so those moments stick to your mind and you think the problem with Daka is he can't finish. But they're few and far between because his movement and his instincts just aren't really up to scratch. We were obviously spoiled with Vardy who was maybe one of the best players of his generation in terms of movement and positioning, even Erling Haaland claimed Vards had inspired him. But Daka is poor in this regard and just doesn't get himself in to positions often enough where his team mates can pick him out. It seems like it's gotten worse over the last few years as well with him increasingly appearing to hide from the ball almost. The latest comedy moment in the Ipswich game where he turned his back on a pass from Skipp and missed the ball entirely was actually him trying to make space for Skipp to shoot which is wild when Skipp has scored about two goals in his whole career. More often not, despite the perception of him being wasteful, Daka tends to match his xG or better it for the most part. It's just that xG isn't high enough to begin with because he's rarely where he should be.

This is where I'm disagreeing and, respectfully, I think your bias has overwhelmed you a bit. I can relate to this, I find myself getting infuriated at literally everything Ayew does even if other players do the same shit and I overlook it. I do relate. But, I'm sorry, Winks has been decent so far under Rowett and he's definitely putting a shift in. I think there's a valid argument that he doesn't get in our best team on merit purely because of the balance of the team. I think Skipp is stronger defensively and our centre backs aren't good enough to only have Winks shielding. I think JJ offers more box to box and I think controlling the game, Winks forte, is less important to us now. I also think Mukasa is too good to leave on the bench and JJ is wasted at 10. So believe me, I'm not saying Winks should be guaranteed to start. But I don't think he's been terrible under Rowett and I do think you've got the rage blinkers on. Which, again, to iterate - I complete understand and relate to.

Can't be just me that thinks he's genuinely turned up under Rowett? I don't care how much people hate him, if he helps us stay up I'm happy for him to play. I'm not sure how you actually squeeze him in our best 11 if JJ is fit to start. If he misses out purely tactically then fair enough. But I couldn't give a shit about anyone's personal grudges right now as long as we stay in the league.

These are very mid table with little to play for. Exactly the sort of game we need to be winning now. Same as QPR. These two games are massive. I very rarely buy in to this attitude (and it feels hypocritical when I won't be there) but it's when the crowd need to get back on side a bit too and genuinely start being encouraging. It's pretty obvious there's a major confidence issue, particularly playing at home. If we can't get over that hoodoo we're going down. We can complain all we want about this group of professionals shouldn't need and maybe don't deserve the encouragement but relegation probably kills this club for the short and mid term. We're ultimately all in it together.

I'm just lashing out. If I can't be happy, nobody else should be.

Most of the narrative about Scotland has been insufferable for years. Scotland under Toonie have been like the Czech Republic in football circa 2004. Entertaining, decent, strong enough to challenge some of the big guns but never going to actually win anything. Also see Tottenham under Poch. Yet the press feel absolutely obligated to talk them up as potential dark horses every year, despite the fact they famously turn into papier mache every time they leave Murrayfield and have done for pretty much my entire lifetime. Remind me, where are they playing Ireland?

2/10, you can do better

@Vacamion I just wouldn't bother going to work Monday mun

Good result tbh

I genuinely thought you had Dr Disrespect as a profile pic for a second

BBC absolutely jinxing us. Time to get our obliging on.

We'll see. I'm reserving judgement til Bristol and QPR. Norwich was bad but it's a bit premature to call it a trend under Rowett. He'll have had some time to really get to grips with the squad by those two games. If we he can get a lifted performance out of the squad in those games I'll start believing.

This is a complete free shot. It's Ipswich away. We've got a run of games coming up that are winnable even for us, they'll decide our season. Not this.

I mean you're all moaning but a draw here would be a fantastic result and it's been a really strong defensive improvement. They're one of the best teams in the league with a very good home record and even when we were decent they got spawny draws against us. Oh and we're out of the bottom three.

Mukasa and JJ coming on

Braindead Thomas

Mukasa getting ready

We've got to maintain an attacking threat. If he brings on Ayew and surrenders all risk of a counter, again, and we try to park the bus and lose, again, I'm going to cry.

We're so good at securing clean sheets from these positions I just can't see a way back in to this for Ipswich

They're spewing full stop

You want to take off one of our only players capable of producing match winning individual quality and replace him on the wing with a kid with no pace playing out of position. Mukasa is great, I like him, I'd have him on the pitch for Reid in a flash. But he's not a winger is he.