Eddie

I’ll say it, I don’t mind Tutu at right back. Considering he’s a winger and playing in a back four that isn’t exactly functioning, I think he’s done pretty well overall. Not without the odd mistake but especially with ACD in front of him I’m perfectly happy with Tutu lining up at right back. Fair play to him because I doubt it’s his preferred position.

I’m in a similar boat (although to be fair our record in these games makes it easy to have a shit record). Watford - went lost Villa - went lost PNE - missed won Boro (Cardiff I know) - went lost Stoke - went lost Plymouth - went won Oxford - went lost We’re winning it this year though - I’m convinced of it!

Exciting though, innit. I get that it’s bare minimum expectation, but once you’re there the magnitude of the games due to the way it literally makes 46 games worthless or priceless means you can’t get away from the importance. Especially seeing as we go through our seasons with only a handful of genuinely exciting fixtures, it’s nice to just turn up to matches with them meaning so much (appreciate it’s no good for the nerves).

We draw Bradford win Stockport lose Stevenage win Plymouth win Which I think would mean Bradford Bolton Stevenage Stockport

We’re the only ones with a place secured - that will factor in at this stage. We were also something like 8/13 for the Oxford game so I’d not look into it too much!

Maybe so, but lose at home to Port Vale and you’re not confident of going away to Barnsley in a few days - no matter how poor they looked in their own mid week game

If Stockport lost this they will be seriously twitching come the weekend and hoping we do them a favour. A loss away at Barnsley (not inconceivable) and a Luton win at our place would see Luton go above them on goal difference. Assuming Bradford get a point and Stevenage do what they need to do at home to Wigan then Stockport would slip out! All unlikely but you wouldn’t want to be going into the last day with a reasonable amount of concern when you could have wrapped it up and put yourself in pole position for 3rd spot with your game in hand at home to Port Vale.

Turned it on, saw that penalty get given, turned it off. Elite or not, it’s ruined by VAR.

Attendance was 5,000 (30%) higher for the game this season - in a league lower! If we were in the championship play offs in March now, I’ve no doubt we’d have 26k+ on. Our support is so good

3 on the bench as well - no keeper, no midfield options

That shot that Kenny had 10 mins before his goal, outside of the boot into the top right corner (facing the goal) - presuming the keeper has made an unreal save given it was a corner (I think). How he managed to get any shot off was impressive - looked like it would have been another goal of the season contender without the save (caveat being all perception is shit behind the goal).

We’ve lost 2 of 20 - let’s not get too overcritical

Don’t know how anyone sits low down behind the goal for home games - I feel like I’ve no real idea how that game went, all perspective is lost (class when Kenny sticks it in that net though). First half felt like it just went by without any real incident - did ACD hit the bar after about 15 mins? Like @Tombwfc says, second half we looked far better and could have had a couple before Kenny scores that beaut (he’s very very good at this level). Their goal was unbelievably avoidable. It all starts with ACD playing a pointless nothing pass inside when there was nobody on. Then as always a ball goes over our left back (looked like GJ should have had it on the full but missed it), then he does his usual and grabs after the player when he could have just tracked back and pushed him out wide. The free kick should have been dealt with by Bonham but he fucked it up, we looked like we’d got away with it and half cleared it and then suddenly it’s in the net (still no idea what happened). Then straight back to us controlling the game. From what I could see - Kenny class, Burstow probably his best game for us for a while, Cissoko unplayable, Rodrigues very comfortable and the rest did fine. We were unlucky not to win it (story of the season)! Based on that, I really wouldn’t be arsed about getting them in the play offs. If we have them at home 2nd leg then we’ll easily get passed them, they’ve got very little. Top away day, bring on the play offs.

Man of the match. By a distance. Caused them all sorts of problems all game. ACD had a quieter game but Cissoko was immense - I’d say his best game in a white shirt personally

Can’t say I did, although I wasn’t particularly on the look out for York shirts. Victoria to Hebden bridge was 90% Bolton fans with a few Bradford fans chucked in. edit - just been told in our beer garden that York have smashed up a train between Manchester and Rochdale which is now stuck and so no trains can get past up to Bradford.

Hebden bridge in the sun is a highlight of the away day calendar!

Zero recollection of Lewis Buxton. Howard, Beevers and Morais more than make up for the rest of that shit show though (excl. Karacan who was somewhere in between).

The bit I’ve never understood about Toal is why nobody in our fitness team has got hold of him and put him on the Thomason bulking programme of a couple of summers ago. He’s tall enough to be a ‘big’ centre back, but he’s bullied as easily (possibly more so than) GJ who gives up 3-4 inches on him. He’s always looked slight and I’m not saying it would suddenly make him the perfect centre back - it wouldn’t solve the panicky tendency - but it would help him a lot in this league if he was more imposing and stronger.

Looks like a shoot out between Spurs and West Ham for relegation then. As much as I want spurs to go down, West Ham are a very nice consolation prize. Win win to an extent

All true… at the end of the season. Who do I want coming off the bench with half an hour to go on that massive Wembley pitch to exploit all the space - Dempsey.

At the end of the season, probably. Right now he is a loss. A fit and firing Dempsey will benefit us for the next 5 games in some way shape or form.

Feels like a separate point though, Matt. I think both things are correct - the stat shows we’re vulnerable once we’ve conceded but what you correctly point out is that we then find a way to swing the momentum and get back into games. I tend to agree with @Traf’s view on the leadership bit. Not sure Toal or GJ ever seem like they can project calm and composure at a stressful point, but there has to be some emphasis on the rest of them too. Hopefully it’s a non-entity of a point for the rest of the season as we never go a goal down for the next 5 games!

I see it exactly the same way as you. Panic sets in and you just know that if you can get through 5-10 mins then it tends to settle again. I’d add the first 5 mins after half time to it. Not for the same panic reason but we definitely seem to take a while to get back into a ‘rhythm’ and just get a bit of composure / control.

How good is football. Clearly not for Leicester fans at the moment but the ups and the downs are ridiculous

Everyone can calm down now. Play offs secured (let’s not get silly about Luton overturning a 10 goal difference and the other 3 below us also winning their games). Bradford are garbage. Good chance to go there on Saturday and secure 3rd or 4th with a win. Absolutely nowt to be worried about with them. Stockport are in trouble. And form team Plymouth look very unlikely to sneak 6th! Good night all round.