izzymuzzet

Difficult balance between momentum and rest for key players at this stage of the season. I'd give Ricardo and Wilf a rest but otherwise unchanged. Would like to see Justin as a standard (not inverted) right back but seems unlikely so guess he'll play Hamza. Vardy on at 60 minutes again then start him on Friday.

I'm based in the North West so from a selfish point of view I don't mind a Monday night game and there's a reasonable chance it gets to members. But taking my own personal circumstances out of it, it's a disgrace to change the date for the last away game of the season with 3 weeks notice.

Think the last time I was successful in the members ballot was Villa away in December 2019. Must have entered it at least 20 times since then.

Funny how this story has grown legs. The story is that Ridsdale offered 30k, was met with stunned silence by Johnson (who was on about 5k at Derby), then upped his offer to 37k. Both Ridsdale and Johnson have denied the figures, and Johnson said a couple of years ago he wasn't even in the room for the negotiations.

Yep, from memory they brought along huge mahogany dining tables and stuff like that. A real catalogue of errors. It's a great read.

Have you read The Dig Tree by Sarah Murgatroyd? It's about the first attempt to cross Australia in the mid 19th century. Pretty much a total disaster from start to finish. Tragic but also a bit funny. And very well written.

I fear that game is a vision of what next season might look like if we go up. Play quite well, look decent going forward, miss the odd big chance that comes our way and concede millions of goals. Hopefully we can learn and adapt but with the financial constraints we are likely to be under I'm not hugely optimistic that will be possible.

He is still early in his coaching career. At this point he is extremely effective at coaching attacking play, instilling a coherant philosophy, improving fitness, and setting up his team to dictate the terms of play. He appears to be a reasonably good man manager, although we haven't really seen him tested on that front yet. He is less skilled at adapting in-game, particularly when we go behind.

Would not have Winks and KDH anywhere near this game. They are knackered. Send them to a cryogenic chamber for 2 weeks. Or Dubai, if that's more their scene.

The reality is most the players in this England team aren't that good. Bazball is a (so far reasonably successful) attempt to make the team more than the sum of its parts through good vibes and putting the opposition on the back foot. How many England players would get in the India or Australia teams? Only Root would be a definite. You'd say Stokes before this series but he's had a poor few weeks. No shame coming unstuck in India as most teams do but the last two tests have been disappointingly limp.

Currently on The Gallows Pole. Cuddy is quite different to his other stuff in my experience so far. Not quite as accessible but well worth sticking with.

This sounds great, cheers. Added to my Goodreads list.

Currently working my way through everything Benjamin Myers has written. He is one of the great British authors of our time imo. His descriptions of landscape are beautful. The Perfect Golden Circle is a good entry to his work if you're not familiar. It's a pretty simple story of two blokes in the late 80s making crop circles in Wiltshire. But weaves in some lovely narratives about male friendship and the unique majesty of the English summer.

A few dilemmas for this one. Jannik has to play so one of Coady or Faes will drop out. Enzo has hinted before that Coady and Jannik can't play together because they're too slow. But Coady has played pretty well in his two recent games against Sunderland and Bournemouth, and Faes is out of form. I would play Coady and get Justin back in the team for his pace to cover the lack of it in the centre half positions, but I think he'll pick Jannik and Faes. Yunus as a number 8 doesn't work. Not only has he been poor but KDH has been dreadful alongside him. Ndidi isn't fully fit and looked way off it last night. The obvious solution would be to switch systems, play a 4-2-3-1 and get KDH in the 10 with Winks and Hamza sitting behind. Seems pretty unlikely Enzo will do that though, so we need another solution in the right sided 8. Honestly no idea who that could be with the players available. After Saturday, we have the best part of 3 weeks without a league game. We're carrying some injuries and a lot of very knackered players. Hopefully the likes of Winks, KDH, Mavididi, Fatawu etc who have played a hell of a lot of games can drag themselves over the line for this game and then we can take stock before the end of season push. By the time we play Bristol City on 29 March we could have Ricardo back and Ndidi should be fully fit. A draw at Hull would not be a disaster.

Lots of people saying Enzo isn't going to shift from the 2 number 8s in midfield. He's certainly been reluctant to so far. But with the personnel available I can't see how you retain the same system without hugely compromising KDH's ability to get into positions where he can influence the game. I would much rather see a standard 4-2-3-1 with KDH in the 10 until Ricardo and/or Ndidi are back.

Looks the business to me. Clean hands, confident on crosses, seems to communicate with his defence well. Not as good as Mads with the ball at his feet but he's in the right setup to learn on that front. Very impressed.

I enjoy BSLB more after we've lost. I'm not sure what that says about the psychology of Leicester fans.

Sheffield United are an absolutely atrocious team, one of the worst ever in the Premier League. And yet they've already beaten Derby's points record and it's only February. That's how bad Derby were in 07/08.

I lived in Leeds for several years and by the time I'd moved away was quite fond of Leeds United. It's a proper one club city, like Newcastle. As a result the fans can be quite intense in their support for the club and sometimes that tips over into parochialism and defensiveness. But I find Leeds fans to be generally quite self-deprecating and as you say the atmosphere at Elland Road is generally very good. That said I always enjoy beating them more than most. Shortly after moving to Leeds I watched the 'Steve Howard' game at the famous Brudenell Social Club. After holding it in all game I went mad when Stevie stuck that header in late on. Had to make a swift exit at the end of the game. It's a pretty friendly place but the locals weren't best pleased with some kid in skinny jeans celebrating their defeat.

He goes on for ages though. Looks like a proper stream of consciousness.

Midfield is a quandry for this one - Ampadu and Kamara bossed it in the home game. We cope ok without Ndidi for the games against the lesser sides but these are the ones where we miss him. I'd be tempted to play Choudhury rather than Praet to add a bit of muscle. He's not as good on the ball but his recovery pace is useful when we get hit on the break. He can also free up Ricardo to play a bit further up the pitch. Aside from that I'd not change too much and keep the faith with Daka up top.

Always wanted to meet Ormondroyd so I could ask him what he was saying to the crowd here. Does anyone know?

We also drew at home to Yeovil (who finished bottom and are now playing in the National League South) thanks only to a last minute Kasper Schmeichel goal (it definitely crossed the line). I recall plenty of our fans thinking we were going to bottle it after that game as well.

We were absolutely amazing in 2013-14 but can't remember us having as many games where we just cruise through in second or third gear as we've had this year. 2002-03 was much more of a slog. Once the dust settles on this season I hope people will realise how remarkable it's been.

Sorry if this has been asked already, but does anyone know if this is on Sky red button?