Mmm we might also be looking for you to do us a favour last game of the season 😮

Sheff Utd and Leeds can’t both win on Monday and Sheff United have to play Burnley again. In theory it remains in our own hands. Sadly I think you are right though because we struggle to score consistently - although Edwards does look a level above so his addition might help us in that area. I can’t quite get my head around what has happened at Boro - they looked good then suddenly their form falls off a cliff. I know they sold Latte Lath but they also invested. Maybe bringing in so many players upset the dressing room - or is it just they relied on him so heavily? Right now you have to be fancying your chances for the playoffs - imagine if we both made the final …

As I was after the dire Preston 0-0, the Leeds 0-0 … You must have missed those posts I guess.

Only really one stat that counts, the score line. Possesion, xG etc etc are all great and a good way to assess performances but if you are on the wrong side of main one it doesn’t matter. Fair to say first half Wednesday were well on top in terms of chances etc - even at the start of the second. I’m tempted to say we were poor but that wouldn’t give them the credit they deserve but we definitely contributed to our own problems. But as for the ‘Burnley are lucky’ comments. All teams get lucky at various times but you don’t go 13 consecutive games without conceding, 25 clean sheets in 34 games, only 9 goals conceded in 34 games and no team - so far - scoring more than one goal in a game against us by just luck. Just in the same way the dearth of goals at the other end isn’t just bad luck.

Benson has for little (besides pick up injuries) since the Championship season - and even then he was always a 30/40 minute impact sub mostly. We spent on Foster 2 years ago, about 8 or 9 million I think and at the minute he couldn’t hit a barn door - did you see his misses yesterday? Nope, to be honest we’ve looked short since the first couple of weeks of the season. I’m quite enjoying the season, being hard to score against etc - just as long as we don’t fade you in the playoffs, my heart couldn’t take it, win or lose. Well a 20 goal a season in the Championship Striker against the best Centre Half in the division by a country mile - especially once you add the PL tax.

Steal our centre backs and goal keeper, How will that work? Will they come with shotguns and balaclavas? 🤷‍♂️ I would imagine you mean they will buy them of course. Not much we can do. Esteve and Trafford will go for between 30 and 40 million each, that’s good profit and the business model we have. Egan-Riley potentially more painful as he’s out of contract so much less for him. But going up is definitely a bit of almost a Hobsons choice. You want to play at the highest level but know once you get there it’s often a pretty s***e experience - and we know Parker has historically been found lacking in the top flight. PS our whole game isn’t based on defending. It certainly feels that way on Parker. Not sure our best attacking players were on the bench though beyond Edwards who hasn’t played much football recently and Brownhill who’s just back from Injury so that makes sense. On the striker thing I guess it comes down to money. A 20+ a season striker probably costs 18-20 million that we can’t afford to risk, if we even have it to risk. I mean Szmodics had one exceptional season for you and went for what 12/14 million was it?

Really good questions. Even as a fan I think we’ve got to a point where we’d rather win 1 or 2 nil than say 4 or 5 to 1. In some bizarre way conceding would almost be a relief. But I still think there is a fundamental issue with us scoring goals, we are way down the a league on every stat in terms of goals, from the basic how many we’ve scored to the number of shots and even the one I hate most xG. What I anticipate happening next is Edwards coming in on the right, Anthony moving left as inverted wingers which might improve things but frankly the play offs seems most likely and we all know what an absolute lottery that is.

😂😂😂, yeah of course they were the better side. No, we don’t park the bus. Unfortunately I think there are 3 very simple things that are causing our dearth of goals. Firstly the first instinct seems to be to play it safe and go backwards. This has improved but is still there. Secondly we seem scared to have a crack, we just don’t get enough shots away at all then lastly the shots we do get off are nowhere near high enough quality. Edwards coming in represents our best hope to change this if/when he is fit enough to start. Despite the doom and gloom Sheffield Utd still have to play Leeds and they can’t both win. They also have to play us. The reality is we have, on paper, the easier run in. Of course the game isn’t played on paper and if we can’t find a way to regularly score the relative quality of the opposition matters not a jot - and that includes any play offs games. Still 39 points to play for, nothing is decided yet - but for the record I’ve said for a while now I expect Leeds to be champions convincingly.

Definitely a team effort but those 2 do stand out - and Trafford is having an exceptional season as well. 9 in 29 is ridiculous - but then again we’ve only scored 36 with 14 of those being in 3 games - so 22 in 26 games! The playoffs are always a lottery but I just think we are a little short on attacking threat for the top 2 so I fear that’s where we end up - but my heart couldn’t take facing you guys in the playoffs, I’ve already got hypertension, that would finish me off.

So they are Schrodingers centrebacks, so good we'd be in trouble without them yet so poor any decent team would easily walk past them? No question it was a turgid game. As I said somewhere earlier in the season on this thread, we aren't good enough and are a striker light - and none seem to be on the horizon. That said we are top 3 with, in theory at least, a run of more winnable games to come before West Brom in March - but if we can't find a way to score more consistently the level of the opposition makes little difference - and it will be Leeds and Shef Utd for top 2.

I thought that was me? Just popped by in peace. I know you won’t believe me but I actually had a suspicion you’d get something today. You have the right game for Leeds and went into it on the back of some decent results. A lot of games between now and the 4th of Jan but as things stand it should be a right game.

Absolutely nowhere near nailed on. We will need to improve considerably to have any chance at promotion.

Suggestions I hear is Pace wanted Rooney

Well I wouldn’t be anticipating anything stellar from our side unless we magically ‘click’ as I’ve kidded myself we might. I’ve not seen enough of you to say how you’ll fare. Right now I’m expecting a lot of passion and endeavour but not much quality football.

Your best chance in over a decade. I’m not even sure how we are supposed to be playing. It’s all very slow. Sideways and Backwards. Reasonable defence but that’s about it. We are a long way from being one of the best sides in the division.