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Cursed thread. Just wait a few more days you lunatic.

With the likely limited money we have to spend, we should be going for under-23s with potentially high resale value. Any over-25s should be free transfers only. I like Longstaff but in our current situation we need to avoid transfer fees on players in their mid and late 20s.

He was left horribly exposed in the last half an hour yesterday. Was playing as the only defensive midfielder most of the time. Should have had Ndidi drop back a bit to help him out.

Quite a few round us left on 85 minutes or so. By the time the full time whistle went the entire row behind us was empty. Why would you want to miss the end in a game like today? Celebrating with the players after a win is the best bit!

Must admit I’m baffled by Hamza’s selection as MOTM. He made 2 or 3 incredible goal line clearances which were obviously crucial. But his overall game was poor I thought. He frequently misplaced passes and was caught out of position. It’s not entirely his fault - he does not have the technical ability to play the Ricardo inverted full back role. Last 10 mins he was useful giving a bit of blood and thunder with the crunching tackles. But overall he is quite a limited player, particularly in the possession based system we play.

Loved it today. Last 10-15 minutes was brilliant, really felt like we drove the team home. UFS looked and sounded great from where I was in the west stand.

Was buzzing for tomorrow as I don't get to many home games. Team news has knocked the sails out of me a bit. Sounds like KDH has the best chance of the three which is significant as he doesn't have an obvious replacement. If Ricardo is out we absolutely cannot mess around with this inverted full back nonsense - play Justin as an orthodox right back. Goes without saying Daka cannot play given recent form so let's give Cannon a go please.

Main issue with this is KDH - he is so one-footed that playing him anywhere but the left side of midfield negates his best attributes (progressing through midfield with the ball at his feet and creating chances with late runs into the box).

Think you're right, I'm not optimistic he will make the changes I think we need. For me the lineup I've suggested solves the issues with out of form players (Ndidi and Faes) while maintaining a similar shape to the one we've used all season and ensuring we've got enough pace at the back to cover for the two slow centre halfs.

It won't happen, but would be good to see us bin off the inverted full back role now. Would allow us to bring in Justin on the right to cover the lack of pace at centre half with Coady and Vesty, then Doyle on the left for his passing ability. Move Ricardo forward into the Ndidi position. Mads Justin Coady Vest Doyle Ricardo Winks KDH Fatawu Vardy Mavididi

Most stressful seasons in my time supporting Leicester (since I was conscious enough of the peril involved in football to get stressed about it, so let's say 1994) - in chronological order: 1995-96: Manager left for a rival midway through the season; his replacement started terribly; protests at the Sheffield United game; an unbelievable run to take us to the play-offs; last minute of extra time winner in the play-off final. 2001-02: Awful from pretty much the first kick of the season; knowledge that we were spending big money on a new stadium while very likely to be relegated; looming threat of administration. 2002-03: Genuinely feared we might not have a football club for much longer at various points this season - now that's stressful. 2007-08: 4 managers and about 65 players; atrocious football; relegation to League 1 for the first time in our history. 2012-13: Similar to this season - a huge springtime slump after starting the season well, followed by scraping into the play-offs, then the Watford semi-final following which I slumped into a deep, weeks-long depression. 2022-23: Similar to the 01-02 season there was a looming sense of dread from pretty much day 1. The last 4 or 5 games after Smith came in were particularly stressful because it felt like there was a bit of hope.

He was commentating on the ITV4 EFL highlights show at the weekend - can't remember what game, not ours.

JD did exactly the same thing with Oi Polloi in Manchester. Incredible menswear shop with a great website, was going 20 years before JD acquired it. Closed a year ago, big announcement about how it wasn’t the end, they were just considering next steps etc. Then it was quietly rebranded with one of JD’s other subsidiaries.

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.