ALC Fox

Choudhury playing inverted RB or LB, the Winks role or as #8 Justin playing as LCB, RCB and even in a midfield position late on last night. Nelson playing RCB or LCB. Faes playing across the back line. Ricardo as inverted RB or LB, or as #8. Yunus wide right or #8. Kasey on either wing or #8. KDH and Ndidi swapping sides in midfield. The way Enzo asks these players to play on different positions and often swapping within the same game. You can see the players improving as footballers all the time and becoming more aware and confident in areas of the pitch they wouldn't ordinarily have found themselves. Enzo is a genius.

There's something about Wanya. I think it's his body shape, his touch, and the way he looks up when he's on the ball. There are some things about his game that are good enough already. He just needs to put it all together. I thought he improved as the game went on yesterday and if he can get some more minutes under his belt, he could develop into a really handy player for us. For me, there's something of the Harvey Barnes about him. Not in terms of his style of play, but more that you know there's a player of real quality in there, he just needs to incorporate that missing something and he'll start to fly. Barnes gave me that same impression when he was coming through. Perhaps a loan at a decent Championship club that will play him will be good for him next season, then we'll see him flourish for us the season after.

Imagine if Vestergaard had finished that chance off

Take a bow that man Fatawu. A goal worthy of any game, and really sets up to resume league action in a positive frame of mind. Vestergaard and Choudhury were incredible again. Both were immense against Leeds and again tonight. Hamza as the inverted RB and Ricardo at #8 has to be the template going forward. It was brilliant to see some good performances by the fringe players tonight. They gave it a really good go in the first half, and the quality we showed after the cavalry arrived was really heartening as well. I thought Coady had his best game in a City shirt tonight too, and bringing Nelson on late to see us home just showed what faith Enzo has in him at this early stage in his career. Leeds who?

Kel and Abdul on... Here we ****ing go!

Imagine if we turn these over with Marçal, Thomas and Briggs all bagging

Looking forward to seeing if Silko Thomas makes an appearance tonight. We need wide options in case Mavididi and Fatawu are injured or out of form. He may not be 'ready' now but sometimes being thrown in can be the thing that makes a player ready. Big game for Wanya potentially too.

The only man I've seen score both an overhead kick and, after missing a header, from the resulting accidental bounce of the ball into his face. A hero in royal blue

Bournemouth are clearly a good footballing side and Iraola is doing a good job reforming them in his image. They have spent some coin and think they have a chance of eventually following in Brighton's footsteps if everything stays aligned for them. Right now, they can be either sublime or a bit pants. They obliterated Swansea in the last round but they're in a slump now. At the weekend, we showed we could perform excellently against the in-form side in the division who have excellent squad depth - and silence their raucous crowd. Dean Court isn't going to be quite such a cauldron, and we're very capable of going there and having spells where we control the game. In this one, the result isn't important for me. We play our game and what will be, will be. The performance is the most important, whoever plays. We need squad depth and more players that Enzo can trust. If we rotate significantly, we need players who can show that they can perform well, particularly in the #8 positions and out wide.

After nearly a full day to digest and think about this, much of the anger and frustration has subsided, although that anger and frustration was never with the team, just the situation. I feel that yesterday we were beaten by 'narrative' rather than Leeds United. In the first 15 minutes of the first half we were extremely impressive with how we held on to the ball, beat their press, and built from the back. After the goal, Leeds came at us and we surrendered the ball, but our defence was colossal, Vestergaard in particular, but also Choudhury deserves a special mention. The whole backline was good including Faes and Justin. The second half was all us until their equaliser. We should have been out of sight. We destroyed them. We wore them down. Their fans were silent. We were the best team in the game, the best team in the league by a country mile. This was what Enzoball was supposed to produce. The only caveat was the performances by the wingers. Mavididi did a lot right, getting past his man and into excellent positions, but his decision making was again off it. And he tired and just got worse as the game wore on. Although I wanted him subbed at the time, in hindsight it should have been Fatawu that got hooked. I think he barely had any effect on the game at all, unfortunately. As good as he can be, I don't think he's in a good moment. Neither is Mavididi, but even when his end product is letting him down, his industry, tackling and ball control were still bit vital assets that McAteer didn't possess when he came on. Daka should've stayed on the pitch too. He had a phenomenal game, and it was so, so unfortunate that he had that howler of a miss. His overall game is light years ahead of what it used to be. As shattered as he would've been, that overall game would've been more useful to us than a cold Cannon coming on and not getting up to speed. Tommy was just anonymous. So, the signs are there that we're still the best team in this league. If we play like that again, we'll spank many more teams before the end of the season. My issue is that when our wingers are not on form, we don't have any replacements capable of playing how they do. Akgun is a Rolls Royce and McAteer works hard but Mavididi and Fatawu are electric, with good pace, excellent close control and are so good at beating their man. With them out of sorts, that's a huge disadvantage for us. Proper squad depth in those areas should be a massive issue for us in the summer. For the rest of the season, I'm confident we'll be okay. We approached that game really well. We've played a lot worse and won convincingly this season. There are tough games coming up but Enzo's the man to see us through.

Scratch that, he's done. Get Kasey on.

He's getting into all the right positions Mavididi but at the sharp end he's way off it tonight. Hope he scuffs one in now.

He'll be back. Must be frustrating for him but when he's had a chance since the major injury he's looked a cut above, scoring goals, etc. When he's in a place like Ricky and JJ are now, he'll be an absolute beast. Time is on his side, too.

Senior player pissed off because he's not getting any first-team action? Wouldn't want it any other way. For what it's worth, he appears to be a consummate professional and, while he's been okay at times when he's come in, I don't think his performances have necessarily been above the four regular starting CBs (including JJ and Doyle vying for that LCB berth) nor Nelson's as backup. Them's the breaks I guess. He's been great for the dressing room, no doubt, but if he wants to nail down a CB slot, he's got to do better when he gets the chance, I think.

An off day. Response needed at Elland Road.

Get in!

Wow. A collector's item of a miss by Vardy.

West Brom are equal parts good and absolutely honking

To be fair Southampton do have the highest average possession in the league don't they? And they had more of the ball when we turned them over at their place.

The amount of pr!cks who think Russia is some sort of model for how the West should operate. If the war in Ukraine wasn't enough, this Navalny business should be. Litvinenko, etc. too. Too many defending a war-mongering, murderous, authoritarian regime because they present themselves as anti-woke and a bit tough. Tossers.

If Quique Sanches Flores is getting a tune out of him, give him a full preseason with Enzo and he'll turn into fooking prime Zidane

I really, really want them to haul Southampton and Leeds back in and pip them to second. I think they'd be a great addition to the Prem and it would be a real sickened for the fans of those other two clubs.

Taking these risks leads to goals like Ricky's and like Vardy's against Stoke, where we beat the initial press and there's a huge space for a midfielder to run into. Both goals looked incredibly simple but began with how we aim to play the game. So far, the way we play at the back has contributed to way more goals scored than conceded. It may be different in the Prem, but that's probably more of a problem that can be solved by players raising their games and the club recruiting better players. Winks is dynamite at this level and we can forgive the odd slip-up. The pros are outweighing the cons.

Cars coming round corners halfway across my b*****d lane

Hopefully a more comfortable game than the weekend. Really want to see what Alves can do with a good half an hour running at already shattered and beaten defences.