String fellow

In the space of just over a fortnight back in the autumn, we beat Southampton, Preston and Blackburn all by three goal margins. On that basis, plus the confidence flowing from last night's win against Southampton, it's hard to see how we'll fail to get into the automatic promotion placings probably on Monday, especially as Preston have lost their last three games and will have nothing much to play for. The final game against Blackburn could be trickier if we're up by then, because we may relax and throw away the opportunity to become champions.

Being Saint George's Day, is that a bad sign?

If 'goading' a 'peaceful' protest is about wearing Jewish attire near to a pro-Palestine march where some are calling for a Jihad, then my understanding of those two words is clearly not correct. Tbh, it's hard to see how any march can be described as peaceful if it has the potential to turn to violence through something like this.

Absolutely. Too often in this country now, we look for ways to blur the distinction between who is/was really to blame when an assault occurs. If I got mugged in the street, would it be my fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Surely the guy in question wasn't a danger to the peace, it was those around him who were a potential threat to him. It sounds as if he was an agent provocateur in the view of some and that, had he been attacked physically, he himself would have been partly to blame. This sounds a bit like victim blaming, much in the same way that the police blame victims of thefts from cars where valuables are left on display.

Dunno about anyone else, but to me 'openly Jewish' sounds slightly offensive. It suggests that being Jewish has negative connotations in some folk's eyes. Why didn't the Met officer involved say 'obviously Jewish' instead?

Next season could see us playing various nearby clubs in the C'ship... Forest, Derby, Coventry, and Peterbro/Lincoln.

Especially on the selection (or otherwise) of Coady.

There's a fine line between laughing with someone and laughing at them.

Cigarettes, from a different perspective.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XewVicFzRxw

Maybe they're stressed by the prospect of having to defend the corner, and this result is that their 'bits' need to be slightly readjusted.

There are also other bizarre options, including: one of the apparently promoted sides has a mass pitch invasion before the end of the final game. The match is abandoned. The EFL then punishes the club. But how?

As we're on 88pts now, a win and 3 draws, as you predict, would give us 94pts, not 95pts. On the basis that we've only had 4 draws all season, the chances of drawing the last 3 seem very unlikely to me. Personally, I think that because the result of one game is partly contingent upon the previous one, it's virtually impossible to predict more than one game ahead. Having said all that, if say Leeds and us ended up with identical records (same points, GD, and GS) then they'd win on the H-to-H rule. If it was Ipswich and us, the criterion would be the respective disciplinary records, I assume.

That game in hand is fraught with danger. Remember what happened the last time City's away game with Southampton was a stonking victory for us? Yep, the reverse fixture later that seasopn at home (19/20) was a defeat. History could easily repeat itself. They also won here last season, completing a double over us.

Prepare his excuses for when we lose: 'It's been too long since our previous game'. Or maybe: 'Our passing was very good, but this is football and they are a very good side'. Or maybe even: 'Both Faes and Daka played the full 90 minutes, despite Faes gifting WBA each of their goals and Daka missing all three of his open-goal opportunities to score, because they're both automatic choices in my first team'.

He's just one several players in the so-called first XI who should never have been selected yesterday. Is Enzo so thick that he can't see that we're in dire need of squad rotation as the fixtures pile up? We are heading for total disaster if he can't see it, and we'll be a laughing stock in May when it all falls apart. The manager needs to urgently review his selection process, as well as his absurd tippy-tappy 70% possession and try-to-walk-it-into-the-net tactics.

Still in our hands? Wrong! It's in the hands of those who want to win most, and right now some of our players aren't of that mindset.

Maybe they'll play mother ugly football, which would be appropriate because by an odd coincidence, rearranging the letters of the words in italics produces Plymouth Argyle.

That was a League Cup SF game. I think City's last win in the league (in the old Div.2) was way back in 1955.

I read your post with interest. Maybe the negativity is in our DNA, having witnessed so many roller-coaster rides up and down the top two divisions over the years. The angst at present is almost as extreme (for me at least) as it was just before winning the title, when Spurs had an outside chance of catching us. The two situations aren't dissimilar. Let's hope (from our perspective) that The Pilgrims' Progress up and away from the relegation zone isn't helped by another inept display from the Foxes on Friday, whose away form has really slumped recently. Btw, I read that 'Argyle' is linked to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, but why is the spelling different?

W(ith)out Fae(ce)s? No - with them! Almost every game includes a deposit.

Does anyone share my interest in magic squares - 4x4 (or larger) blocks of different numbers whose rows, columns, diagonals, corners etc. all add up to the same total? Below is one I worked out yesterday to reflect City's current points tally of 88. It's a good way to relieve the frustration of getting stuck on a difficult Sudoku puzzle and something I sometimes include in birthday cards, the recipient's age being the number total. Unfortunately, my method doesn't work for prime number totals, only composites. 08 26 17 37 38 16 22 12 23 10 40 15 19 36 09 24

This is the first time ever that City's points total has stood at 88. In the only other three seasons when they accrued more than that, they missed the two fat ladies out!

Poor Cov, having to live with the curse of the Ricoh (now CBS) Arena. That hidden Leicester City shirt will haunt them forever!

Imo, play-offs should only happen if there's a gap of less than 10 points between the 3rd. and 4th. placed clubs. Btw, if it's logical to have play-offs for promotion, why not also have them for relegation? Maybe we'd have survived in the PL last season if they'd been used.