Les-TA-Jon

Ndidi has transitioned to an 8 very effectively this season, but as good as he's been for us at this level, the amount of final balls/shots of his that go amiss would probably cost us in the PL... If Ndidi had a better final ball and could score he'd probably be outdoing KDH for G+A

Well safe to say we navigated the Festive Period/games since the international break, close to perfectly. P10 W8 D2 L0 Southampton have just put together an 18 game unbeaten run, picking up 42 points and yet we took 44 points in the same time and find ourselves 13 points ahead of them. I think psychologically Ipswich, Southampton and Leeds are now all probably looking at 2nd, not 1st. I know there's still a ton of games left, but it's now incredibly unlikely to us to finish 3rd or lower. We need to drop down to closer to relegation form and have 2 of Ipswich, Southampton and Leeds sustain form close to or better than our current form. 90-93 is likely enough for Autos. So we need 25-28 points in 20 games (when we just took 65 points in 26 games...), leaving the others needing 35-42 points to get to 90...

There’s also a massive difference between being top of the league and having the best ever start at this level, looking totally dominant in most matches

Guess I’m just fed up of the moronic home crowd booing their own players every time they have the audacity to pass the ball sideways or backwards. it’s like most people, even after 26 games, don’t get our system

He dared to pass it backwards at one point in the first half - felt like most of the home crowd groaned - in the end the pass was the pre-assist for the opener…

Just me or is this reasonably OK? I know we’re clamouring for Ipswich to drop more points, but it’s not a slam dunk pen shout for me. Both players are jumping, so arms are going to be raised. The video is poor quality so hard to tell but looks like the attacking player pushes the Ipswich player too

Is this on TV? Which channel?

He was probably happy because 9 times out of 10 we win that game 2-0 Ipswich were incredibly lucky twice, with the non-pen and the total fluke double deflection equaliser. We lost a little bit of control in parts of the 2nd half but I don’t think Ipswich actually threatened us much at all. Lots of pot shots. Think Hermansen only made 1 meaningful save?

Was probably worried about picking up a 2nd yellow and putting us under undue pressure for the final section of the game

I guess I’d just question what this means, in practice, given that only 3 of the late goals we’ve conceded all season have contributed to dropped points

I’m not sure we do? think we’ve only conceded 6 goals all season in the final 30 mins of matches. only 3 of them have resulted in dropped points. Middlesbrough, Sheffield Weds, Ipswich. One was a worldie free kick, one was a scrappy set piece, the other was a one in a million double deflection

Think ‘eased off the ball’ is very kind to the Ipswich defender. See if you can find a clip in real time. He batters him over. It’s not one of those where both players were competing for the ball and the defender ‘did enough’ to disrupts the attacker. he simply, unfairly, pushed him over

Yes the 16 out 18 points so far this month has been a big worry

Only you I think. The defender is the wrong side of KDH, and it’s shoulder to back, not shoulder to shoulder, excessive force that clearly bundles him over. No attempt to win the ball. DOGSO and no attempt at playing ball = red + pen. pretty clear cut to me

When? We’ve been doing it all season? 16-5 on goals F/A in final 15 mins 23-6 in the final 30 mins

I think the ref probably played advantage and was ‘scuppered’ by the goal line clearance.

Thought so too. It was almost like the ref played advantage, hoping we’d score, but ref was scuppered by the goal line clearance

Is it just me or was the foul for the penalty outside the box?

Is it just me or was the foul on Daka for the penalty vs Rotherham, outside the box?

Because it was a pen. Would have been a Red if it was outside of the box. Red card does not apply to a DOGSO offence inside the box, if it’s an attempt to win the ball

Not sure it was a mistake. Daka was one of the players who was actively trying to leave in the summer, but a move never materialised. So, he was (appropriately) not involved in the match day squads whilst the window was open. By the time it closes, he’s on the fringes and behind in his tactical development under Maresca and less match fit than the others, hence it taking a while for his chance.

Yeah but how are the league’s best team going to finish behind 3 other teams?

If he scores less than 7 vs Rotherham then I think his time here is up

Pretty sure 90 has been enough for Autos in every previous Championship season

I’d say Barnes was a far better natural finishers than Mavididi. Bit of a pointless comparison anyhow given Barnes has gone and they’re both fairly different playstyles