SixtiesFox

Ipswich make it 2 - 2 with around 20 minutes to go and then...go for the winner rather than sitting back against a top 4 team. That's why they'll deservedly finish above us while Cooper remains in post.

Yes Arsenal are different class and should beat us 9 times out of 10, but that does not excuse our totally passive approach. Waiting for the inevitable to happen is pure cowardice. Even a non league team would be braver than this. If the idiots running our club can't see that Cooper is totally out of his depth after watching that then we really are doomed.

What's the point?

With 33 PL games left, based on Cooper's record in the Prem to date (a sufficiently large sample size) over the next 30 games we can expect to win 6 and draw 10 that's 28 points plus the 3 we've accumulated over the last 5 making a total of 31. Then add 2 from the other 3 games and with Cooper we can expect 33 points. To have a chance of avoiding relegation I'd roll the dice asap!

It's still early days but this game is massive. Lose and we'll likely find ourselves in the relgation zone with a pummeling at Arsenal to come. Win and we'll give ourselves a cushion and the game against Arsenal will be a free hit. I am concerned that Cooper lacks the tactical nouse to be a successful coach at this level, but at the very least he must pick a more attacking team and adopt a positive approach at home against the worst team in the division at present. Anything less and the knives will be out.

One goal back! Come on Everton go one better than us and throw away a 2 goal lead for the second game in a row. What are the chances of a nil nil draw next week with neither team crossing the halfway line?

Villa should have been a home banker. Will make our Cooper-inspired self-sabotage even more damaging if Everton don't throw away their two goal lead.

When you're up 2 - 0 and fail to convert the win it's a massive opportunity lost in a season when we're unlikely to be in such a strong position in a game very often. Cooper bottled it!

No real surprise there and we can all see why.

2 - 0 up with the crowd ready to turn on the home team and we end up with a point, that's 2 points lost. We needed to keep possession rather than putting on an extra defender and camping in and around our own area. The inevitable happened and we all saw it coming. Cooper's negative subs cost us today. 5 points would have given us a massive psychological boost going forward. A massive opportunity missed!

I thought Okoli was immense today.

Once he brought on some creative attacking talent we looked dangerous but too little, too late. We'd already dug a 2 goal hole by setting up in order to try not to lose. He needs to be given more time to figure out how to get a better balance, but there are signs that if he can learn from his mistakes and be more positive from the start we have the quality to survive. Points deduction aside ofcourse.

Apart from the defensive brain farts, we've played with more energy than in the first couple of games. But if you set up with no real attacking intent at home, simply trying not to lose, then relegation beckons, points deduction or no. Second half he must change tactics and personnel and have a go. Nothing to lose and the fans deserve nothing less.

Agreed. Even worse.

It's no secret that our number one priority this transfer window was to bring in a striker who can score goals, hold up the ball and head the ball in the box. The fact that we are now in desperation mode trying to find one hours before the window closes highlights the incompetence of those running our club. No matter, I'm sure that they'll conduct an investigation into what went wrong and will fully exonerate themselves.

This is beyond sad.

No amount of pre-season cliches can disguise the fact that this is very worrying. Cooper sending a message to the clowns running the club?

Choosing the right coach is certainly a bit of a lottery and Cooper might well turn out to be our saviour next season. It is the lack of a clear plan that worries me. We have just done a 180 overnight. It doen't inspire much confidence and that goes for us fans and probably the players too.

Absolute shambles! When you have idiots running the club this is what you get. We should probably be thankful that Cooper was daft/desperate enough to take a job that few others would have touched. God knows what the players must be thinking with these clowns in charge.

Corberan makes the most sense in terms of continuity by building on the style (love it or hate it) implemented by Enzo. Cooper would be the choice if survival next term is our sole aim. Given the appointment of Enzo when we were in desperate straights after being relegated is anything to go by (promotion or bust didn't appear to be the deciding factor then but rather building something new for the longer term) then Corberan would seem to be the more likely option.

Sensible, balanced analysis.

Amazing celebrations and richly deserved. Let's enjoy another fabulous achievement for our wonderful club before the task of meeting our next challenge begins on Monday.

Wine and dine Szmodics next weekend.

I was simply trying to make the point that Enzo must learn from his mistakes. We accumulated 10 points in a 10 game stretch starting with Middlesborough and ending with Plymouth - a point a game. If this were repeated across an entire season that would be 46 points - relegation form (Birmingham currently sit in the relegation zone on 46 points). This dramatic drop off in our form almost derailed our promotion bid. Pretty concerning given that this was from a team that started the season setting Championship point-scoring records and at one point had a 17 point cushion in the automatic promotion places.

Given the squad we had at our disposal it feels a little bit like we simply achieved what we should have. But given that most of us feared we had blown it after the Plymouth debacle it does feel pretty good right now. And the fact that the Leeds implosion has plumbed new depths makes it all the sweeter. Hopefully we can now go on to win the League with 100 points and clinch the title with a victory on the pitch either at Preston or at home to Blackburn.