If we keep playing the way we have the last 2 games they might upset the odds in that one. We’ve been all over the place.

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.

Indeed, you can see it now and it seems almost as inevitable. You get into the PL, Arsenal are in town and suddenly the fans whose families have supported the club for generations are priced out of the game.

Here in peace. Weve partnered with Ticketmaster this season and I’ve read lots of negative stuff about it. Now personally I like digital and as a ST holder I can download each match to my phone (I can even forward it to a friend apparently, if only I had one) and that has worked a treat for me but there have been issues with enforcing loyalty point access periods and general sales issues according to a stories I’ve seen online. That said, I’ve had no issues personally and our issues might well be more Ticketmaster than basic digital issues. This feels inevitable but I doubt the motivation of the clubs/game, when was the last time they made any change that was about improving the experience of the fans? Surely there is no real issue with allowing those that want a digital ticket to have one whilst those that prefer a more traditional one can have one of those 🤷‍♂️

Not sure it’s lucky to win a game when you have the most shots and the most shots on target in a game. To be fair I wasn’t there yesterday as my daughter was getting married so perhaps you are right and we are just getting lucky - in which case it will run out soon I guess. We certainly aren’t the finished article based on what I’ve seen/discussed with other fans and look to have a way to go if we want to be serious promotion contenders but we do have some quality on the bench Incompetence by the officials? How so? As for the miss, they missed, we didn’t and that in simple terms is how games are won really.

I’ve tried to scrub those years out of my memory but weren’t you also well clear at the top at one point?

Look if we finish 5th or 6th I’m not suggesting he gets sacked. However top 4 is based on the fact that top 2 are spots that Sheffield Utd and Luton have as much right to expect as we do, they were equally as relegated last season plus at least one of the divisions big hitters will fancy their chances (Leeds/Boro). Perhaps what I should have said is ‘Promotion’ but again the play offs are such a lottery. I’m hoping for top 2, in theory we should get top 2 but then again I honestly don’t know enough about all the squads. Even Sheff Utd are very different to the squad we faced last season. Oh and the question was expectations, not what would I settle for. See above. We should be competing there but so should Luton, Sheff Utd and Leeds. I’m not sure I understand why he’d done it - the whole thing reads like he was helping outside people target our squad.

The major outs were inevitable, Odobert in particular but also Berge. Then there were a few agitating post Kompany so better to accept that and move them on. We also needed to shift a few ‘fringe’ players as we had too many. I’d have liked another striker and cover at full back - especially as we haven’t included Sambo in our squad. We only have one senior striker really, Foster. Same as they always were, Top 4. Anything less is failure for me when you have as expensive a squad as we do. There were some players who wanted out and they’ve gone. I think there was a mad 10 days where there was a lot of upset - and the infamous spreadsheet seemed to be the major catalyst for that. Windows gone, we have players who want to be here and Parker has a fortnight to work with the new signings. I’m not a fan of the leveraged buyout or using the clubs own money to fund the sale. That said they haven’t really put a foot wrong beyond being hoodwinked by Kompany. I honestly believe they have a commitment to the club and area - it dates back to Pace’s dad. He’s at every home game pretty much, walking around the fan zone and meeting fans. Whatever else he is, he’s present and visible.

Not aware of the finer details but no I don’t think we are . We’ve just raised around 120 million in sales/compensation. We’ve still got parachute payments to come as well. A lot of people spouting because we sold a couple of players but in reality there were 3 factors feeding into that: 1. A couple of them were simply too good to keep hold off, particularly Odobert (£25m-£30m). Think he’s the genuine article. 2. Kompany was allowed to sign a bucketload of players. I think we had 42 on the books. Clearly too many and we had to trim. 3. We had a few who were disgruntled, either by Kompany or because they only signed for Kompany and/or they didn’t want second tier football. No doubt we wanted/needed to raise some to balance the books but I think a lot of people interpreted the sales as a firesale (which is a nonsense because the basic component of a firesale is knock down prices, we got top value for pretty much all the sales) when in reality, at least my understanding of things, it was a combination of the three things I’ve put there. Obviously we will know more when the accounts are submitted but I think (hope maybe) we are reasonably solid financially. If we don’t go back up within 2 seasons things might well be different though. Never, easily my best years as a fan, I doubt they’ll be beaten in my lifetime. Eustace isn’t fit to lace his boots but he definitely learned a few things from watching Dyche teams. Absolutely, that’s the whole point of them. With minimal jeopardy you get minimal excitement.

That’s your view, the stats say otherwise. Not my stats by the way. Evidence of my own eyes also said otherwise. At the end of the day, as has been said, the only stat that mattered was it finished 1-1 so in fairness whilst you managed to stop us winning 7 in a row and also scored against us for the first time in a decade, neither side won.

I agree, ultimately all that matters is the score. I genuinely approached this game with more apprehension than any in the last decade and a half. We went through major upheaval in the 10/12 days leading up to this, 20 players out (plus a couple still with us who wanted out but didn’t get it) and 15 in. So all things considered I’ll take the draw and look to January and a much better performance and outcome. In the end we can go around and around and we probably won’t agree. I now expect Parker to be able to work his new signings and existing squad into an effective team. As a club there is no excuse for anything other than a top 4 finish - I won’t say top 2 as 2 other clubs came down with us who have as much right to expect top 2 plus we have the likes of Leeds and Middlesbrough who are exceptionally well financed with strong squads. All that said I still feel we are a striker light so will need goals from midfield - though I seem to recall Flemming has a decent goals record in the Championship.