ClaphamFox

Because under our new manager we have clearly improved in terms of both defensive shape and mental resilience, and I expect us to continue improving. We appear to be on an upward trajectory at exactly the right time and we have a favourable fixture list to ride that trajectory. We will very likely avoid relegation, as the bookies are predicting.

Under Rowett there's been a clear pattern of them being mentally resilient away from home while looking very nervous at the KP. Even against Bristol at home I suspect the confidence would have disintegrated if that penalty had gone in. Sure, you can argue that they should be used to it by now but they're clearly not. Hence why it's so important the crowd gets behind them tomororw.

I don't think the money really comes into it. Highly-paid sports professionals are still affected by nerves. If you're in a relegation scrap and your confidence is low after a crap season, being booed by your own fans will only ever make things worse. And booing your players when they're subbed onto the pitch is moronic, no matter who they are. The only people who say, "They're paid loads, booing shouldn't affect them" are people who've never been in that situation and have no idea what they're talking about. Protests before the game? Fine and necessary. Booing during the game when we desperately need the points to survive? Pure hillbilly, thick-as-pigshit behaviour, that.

I know of somebody who uses one, but I haven't heard of them having any issues. Have you encountered a problem?

It actually makes sense. If they're shit scared of playing at home, a full practice session at the KP might mitigate that a little bit.

An attempt to alleviate their fear of playing at home?

Portsmouth are going down. Oxford will probably join them, though it could also potentially be Blackburn.

They put in a very good shift against Watford in the last game.

He said it was an internal match, not an indoor match. I’m pretty sure Souttar is in full training now.

Didn’t he say that Souttar was playing in a practice game today?

In many years to come, people will still be asking, "Do you remember where you were during the great Portugal weekend away debate of 2026?"

I suspect you are right. I mean I quite like Rowett overall, but his obsession with picking experience over talented youth, even if the experience available to him is utter dogshit, is infuriating.

Indeed. It was very obvious against QPR that the team weren't initially aware that a protest had taken place before the game, hence why they played brilliantly for the opening 20mins or so. But then there was a lengthy stoppage when Hayden got injured and during the break in play a note was passed around between our players informing them of the tragic news that a handful of people had protested against the owners outside before the game. After that their morale collapsed, QPR bossed the match and ended up comfortably winning.

I agree. But Rowett won't do that—if Daka can't play because he's jetlagged, he'll play Ayew.

His great uncle is the Dutch midfield legend Thijs van Lager Top. It doesn't mean that Flo will be as good, but there's some solid pedigree there. Optimistic about this one

Yeah because Ayew is such a better option.

Because bookies set odds rationally?

He wouldn't. He feels bad that we are where we are and would like to help, but there's nothing he could practically do.

Sure, but under Marti we were defensively all over the place and were mentally shot to pieces—and we were getting worse. Under Rowett we look much more organised and mentally resilient, and our performances are improving even if that hasn't yet shown in the stats. If you're right about winning on Friday and Monday, we'll be on 45 points with five to play and out of the relegation zone. Another win against Swansea would take us very close to survival with four more to play.

Yes, clear signs. When a manager walks into a horribly dysfunctional environment with a squad whose confidence is rock bottom, it can take a little while to turn things around. Progress isn't always linear—an improving team will sometimes play badly and lose. It would be great if Rowett came in and we immediately started playing brilliantly in every game and going unbeaten for seven matches, but it rarely happens like that. I think the underlying trajectory is upward even if the path there remains uneven. This is undeniably true. But we definitely should have beaten Stoke and Watford, and you could make a case for saying we should have beaten Middlesbrough. The Ipswich game seemed a fair draw at the time, but it later transpired that Leif Davis should have been sent off in the 27th minute and we should have been awarded a penalty, so we may have even won that game if the ref had done his job. The Norwich and QPR games were both horrendous, but some of the other performances have been decent—the most recent one of which was the most dominant we've been over 90mins all season.

A journo friend texted me earlier to say that one of the tabloids is about to publish a major scoop about Rowett. Supposedly last night he was caught having a beer on his sofa at 10pm while watching a documentary about Pompeii on BBC Four. The club is absolutely reeling—the optics are terrible and it’s the last thing they need.

We have been more competitive and shown more fight under Rowett than we did under Cifuentes. Our last game against Watford was one of our best performances of the season and probably the only one in which we were comfortably the better side in both halves. There are clear signs that things are improving on the pitch. I agree that if you base your prediction of where we’ll end up on how we’ve played over the whole season, you’ll probably be very pessimistic. However if you base it on the improvements seen in recent weeks, you might be a little more positive.

Kerching.

I guess Lisbon’s changed a bit, then?

If Rowett has any sense he’ll take account of how starting with Ayew will go down with the crowd, and the impact that will have on the atmosphere in the ground, and choose somebody else instead.