Number 6

Fair point. May quash the theory as I'd have assumed he'd have gone straight in alongside KDH.

Feel like him and McAteer are really valuable in this system as they can play as an 8 or out wide. Surprised he hasn't featured more but I saw a theory about Enzo keeping height in the side and not having Ndidi/Casadei there may be why he is reluctant to play Yunus.

Seeing this man score goals will never get old. Absolute hero.

Completely agree on this. He's a relatively new manager, has been backed probably more so in transfers than any other manager in the division, and has comfortably the best squad. Plenty of other clubs have similar financial binds at the moment too, it's not like he'd be walking in to take over from Pep and be able to sign whoever he wanted.

There has been massive mistakes in the past which have lumbered us with a bloated squad of some very average players on stupid wages. I also think a refresh would be a good thing and wouldn't mind us looking at replacing Rudkin. But if that is correct reasoning then it seems like an eminently sensible decision to pull the plug. Enzo may be disappointed but I don't see why he'd be angry.

There's 2 parties to the negotiation. Don't think you can slam the club without knowing the details of those discussions and why they broke down.

Possibly, and Enzo himself identified that drop in intensity. It did feel like they were there to be finished off. We maybe do lack a ruthlessness, though we are still in the infancy on this system's implementation. We've been so good at beating the low block that there doesn't seem to be major issues in letting teams regroup. I did, pre season, think this would be our downfall at times, as it was for us even when we were challenging for Champs League, but we have the tools to not worry about it this year. It's working so well that it would be crazy to change things.

Nobody would actually enjoy losing 4-3 every week. It would be shite. What people want is very high scoring wins, every single week, where there's no game management and the team just throws everything forward at every opportunity. It's not a smart way to get out of this division, and only the very best teams in the world can actually do that.

The vocal discontent is ridiculous, but there's no way it would be significant enough for Enzo to leave. He's a smart man and currently at a club who has fully adopted his approach, including signing a keeper when we had 3, and getting rid of fullbacks where we were well stocked. Even some of those Prem clubs you look at, would not be able to immediately provide him with a squad which fits his system. If he leaves anytime soon then I expect it will be because he feels we haven't backed him in the transfer market upon promotion. I don't mind him telling supporters how it is though. Far too many seem to actively despise going and yet continue to do so for 80 mins each week.

Wouldn't mind the emptying so much if people joined in during the game. Really wish they'd stop dishing out clappers too, seems to be the lowest form of participation and drowns out chants with a horrible din. A dull cold Tuesday in isolation is probably more understandably quiet than some games, but it's been dross across pretty much every game this season. Didn't even improve for Ipswich. Feels beyond repair at the moment and is putting me off going way more than the style of play!

It's probably reasonable in football terms as a decent test for us. Not an exciting draw though.

This is just his natural demeanor isn't it? Not sure he's even smiled in any of his goal celebrations.

Can't see this happening. He's worth more to us than he is to Brighton. Would be madness unless we had a good couple of replacements lined up.

Big Nige.

I'm no huge Klopp fan but if you downplay their title win because Man City "had a year off" then what is ours worth? He also had a second place finish with the fourth highest PL points total ever. Great manager, but also a bit of a nob.

If Southampton win all of their remaining games they'd finish on 112 points. We'd need to win 15, draw 1, and lose 2 (potentially 15,2,1 if GD comes into play). I don't think this is a very likely scenario but we're more likely then Southampton to get 110+ points. If Southampton keep up their form over this unbeaten run that would have them finish on 101 points. To match that we'd need 35 points from 18 games, roughly 2ppg, which we've been above over any decent sample size. Numerous ways we could get that, but the long and short of it is that 12 wins from 18 would be enough. We have 9 games against sides currently in the bottom half. I think this unbeaten run may actually hurt Saints a bit now too. The talk is all about not getting beaten and setting records there. But the reason they haven't gained much on us is because they draw too much. If they wanted first, they'd need to convert those draws to wins, accepting that it might mean picking up some losses. I'm not sure they'll be fussed about this though, I think they'd be delighted with second, and that is where I think they'll finish. Probably on around 95 points.

It would take near perfect form from those below to catch us. We can use the next 5 to really extinguish any concerns.

I had a very low opinion of the division along with a reasonable level of optimism about our summer. I expected us to run at a clip over 2ppg, so probably the second option.

Agree on the points regarding looking a bit tired. Enzo rotated players much more early on in the season but seems to have found his preferred 11 that he will select if available. Perhaps needs to look at minor, regular rotation, rather than 5 or 6 players at a time when there are 2 games in a few days.

In fairness I think we thought a while ago that AFCON would be our potential sticky spell. Oddly it's happened because of injuries and suspensions to players who should have been at the tournament, but it was probably to be expected. It's why the very good December was so vital.

I'd posted before that losing against top 4 teams, drawing with those to 9th, and winning the rest would have had us on 105, after yesterday that would put it at 106. Matching results from respective games this season would have us finishing on 109. Would take a pretty sizeable drop off for us not to break 100 points.

Disagree with this. We didn't look like scoring last 20 because we didn't really try to - that was the downfall for me. I thought when we pressed and harried Ipswich we looked dangerous.

In fairness, late goals have recently been a problem, but we've had our fair share on benefit from late goals this season! Just odd how that all came towards the start of the season and recently they all seem to be going in at the other end late on. Complacency maybe?

Ultimately it's not important, but a cup run would be fun too. Wrong to say that it's either win the whole thing or no fun at all. Would be nice to get back to winning ways too.

I dunno if I watched a different game, but why were Ipswich fans so annoyed at the ref?