MATCHWATCH : Stoke City (h)

[Zip]

Hoilett creating again. Looks really sharp. He's not as quick as Ince, but he seems to be stronger and better at the end product.

Good job Morro. Lovely.

Sorry for doubting you Jnr.

Hoilett the best of the summer signings for me. He will be unlucky if he is dropped on Saturday.

[10539.4 Miles Away]

Was up at 3am for this one. As a friend messaged post game, really typical Championship match. Both teams struggling to perform consistently during the game but I think we were great value for the win. Onwards and Upwards to safety!

Now, unfortunately, I'd like to make a note on one sour point of the game. Dellor. 90minutes of unremittingly negative commentary, even when we scored he found things to immediately complain about. Detracted massively from the enjoyment of following the game.

[Royal Rother]

Was up at 3am for this one. As a friend messaged post game, really typical Championship match. Both teams struggling to perform consistently during the game but I think we were great value for the win. Onwards and Upwards to safety!

Now, unfortunately, I'd like to make a note on one sour point of the game. Dellor. 90minutes of unremittingly negative commentary, even when we scored he found things to immediately complain about. Detracted massively from the enjoyment of following the game.

Yeah, I caught the last few mins of the 1st half. His negativity towards Ejaria was more than somewhat ott accusing him of not trying, which Gooding did try to counter somewhat.

I may have missed it (I listen to his commentary as little as possible) but I don’t recall him ever levelling such negativity towards our perennially shoulder-shrugging, half-arsed centre forward despite his long long runs of ineffectiveness. That’s just a lack of confidence and loss of form.

[Royal Rother]

Updated after last night.

Quick count up of results this season, hopefully counted correctly

Record when Ejaria has started

8 wins, 4 draws, 6 defeats. 25 points from 18 games - basically 1.6 points a game

Record when he hasn’t started

22 games, 15 points. 0.7 PPG. I’m sure it’s not a coincidence

And none of those hammerings came when he started either

[From Despair To Where?]

2 more wins will definitely do it IMO. We should get 6 points out of Cardiff, Swansea, Hull and WBA.

To be fair - I think a win v Cardiff and results going the right way would be enough

And Swansea are flying, West Brom always difficult, so not sure how anyone can be confident around 6 points from those four…

Don't know about Swansea "flying". 4 unbeaten but in those 4 games, they've played Peterborough, Cardiff and Birmingham. We're 4 unbeaten having played 2 of the top 7. They're not that great. Having said that, I hope by the time we play them, they are 6 unbeaten as they have Derby and Barnsley up next. You couldn't hand pick their run of fixtures any better.

West Brom are 8 points off the playoffs. By the time we play them, their season will be over, which for a team expected to challenge for automatic promotion is shit. They're a mess and low on confidence.

[ayjaydee]

In praise of Danny Drinkwater (for a change)

The penny seems to have finally dropped, if he wants a decent contract anywhere he needs to put some impressive performances in right through to the end of the season.

I thought he was excellent last night including a lung busting chase back to break up a very promising Stoke attack. His general disruption of midfield was a masterclass of doing the ugly stuff right. Generally his distribution was a massive improvement on past games.

Just the one heart in mouth moment late in the second half when he misplaced a free kick deep in the Stoke half which led to a quick breakaway with most of his team mates out of position.

A few more like that and he will have done his bit to drag us over the line.

[Bristol Paul]

To be fair - I think a win v Cardiff and results going the right way would be enough

And Swansea are flying, West Brom always difficult, so not sure how anyone can be confident around 6 points from those four…

Don't know about Swansea "flying". 4 unbeaten but in those 4 games, they've played Peterborough, Cardiff and Birmingham. We're 4 unbeaten having played 2 of the top 7. They're not that great. Having said that, I hope by the time we play them, they are 6 unbeaten as they have Derby and Barnsley up next. You couldn't hand pick their run of fixtures any better.

West Brom are 8 points off the playoffs. By the time we play them, their season will be over, which for a team expected to challenge for automatic promotion is shit. They're a mess and low on confidence.

Ok maybe not flying but won the last two at least I think, and an expectation that we can easily win two from the next 4 just ignores our performance over the season where 2 wins from 4 has been quite rare. West Brom’s season being over doesn’t always help, turning it around could say they’ll play with freedom as nothing to lose.

Hope we do get two from four, but far from certain. A win on Saturday should just about do it if Barnsley lose tonight anyway.

[From Despair To Where?]

Just an observation on the whole goalkeeper debate. We are unbeaten in 4, conceding only 3 in the process. In the preceding 3 games with pretty much the same defence, we conceded 9. I suspect the defence feel more confident with Nyland in goal.

[From Despair To Where?]

And Swansea are flying, West Brom always difficult, so not sure how anyone can be confident around 6 points from those four…

Don't know about Swansea "flying". 4 unbeaten but in those 4 games, they've played Peterborough, Cardiff and Birmingham. We're 4 unbeaten having played 2 of the top 7. They're not that great. Having said that, I hope by the time we play them, they are 6 unbeaten as they have Derby and Barnsley up next. You couldn't hand pick their run of fixtures any better.

West Brom are 8 points off the playoffs. By the time we play them, their season will be over, which for a team expected to challenge for automatic promotion is shit. They're a mess and low on confidence.

Ok maybe not flying but won the last two at least I think, and an expectation that we can easily win two from the next 4 just ignores our performance over the season where 2 wins from 4 has been quite rare. West Brom’s season being over doesn’t always help, turning it around could say they’ll play with freedom as nothing to lose.

Hope we do get two from four, but far from certain. A win on Saturday should just about do it if Barnsley lose tonight anyway.

My point was that 6 points from those 4 games is not an unreasonable expectation given that they are all against teams with nothing to play for and 3 of them are at home.

[From Despair To Where?]

And Swansea are flying, West Brom always difficult, so not sure how anyone can be confident around 6 points from those four…

Don't know about Swansea "flying". 4 unbeaten but in those 4 games, they've played Peterborough, Cardiff and Birmingham. We're 4 unbeaten having played 2 of the top 7. They're not that great. Having said that, I hope by the time we play them, they are 6 unbeaten as they have Derby and Barnsley up next. You couldn't hand pick their run of fixtures any better.

West Brom are 8 points off the playoffs. By the time we play them, their season will be over, which for a team expected to challenge for automatic promotion is shit. They're a mess and low on confidence.

Ok maybe not flying but won the last two at least I think, and an expectation that we can easily win two from the next 4 just ignores our performance over the season where 2 wins from 4 has been quite rare. West Brom’s season being over doesn’t always help, turning it around could say they’ll play with freedom as nothing to lose.

Hope we do get two from four, but far from certain. A win on Saturday should just about do it if Barnsley lose tonight anyway.

My point was that 6 points from those 4 games is not an unreasonable expectation given that they are all against teams with nothing to play for and 3 of them are at home.

[Bristol Paul]

Don't know about Swansea "flying". 4 unbeaten but in those 4 games, they've played Peterborough, Cardiff and Birmingham. We're 4 unbeaten having played 2 of the top 7. They're not that great. Having said that, I hope by the time we play them, they are 6 unbeaten as they have Derby and Barnsley up next. You couldn't hand pick their run of fixtures any better.

West Brom are 8 points off the playoffs. By the time we play them, their season will be over, which for a team expected to challenge for automatic promotion is shit. They're a mess and low on confidence.

Ok maybe not flying but won the last two at least I think, and an expectation that we can easily win two from the next 4 just ignores our performance over the season where 2 wins from 4 has been quite rare. West Brom’s season being over doesn’t always help, turning it around could say they’ll play with freedom as nothing to lose.

Hope we do get two from four, but far from certain. A win on Saturday should just about do it if Barnsley lose tonight anyway.

My point was that 6 points from those 4 games is not an unreasonable expectation given that they are all against teams with nothing to play for and 3 of them are at home.

Let’s hope so.

[Tails]

Was up at 3am for this one. As a friend messaged post game, really typical Championship match. Both teams struggling to perform consistently during the game but I think we were great value for the win. Onwards and Upwards to safety!

Now, unfortunately, I'd like to make a note on one sour point of the game. Dellor. 90minutes of unremittingly negative commentary, even when we scored he found things to immediately complain about. Detracted massively from the enjoyment of following the game.

Snowflake is Tim Dellor AICMFP

[Stranded]

Ok maybe not flying but won the last two at least I think, and an expectation that we can easily win two from the next 4 just ignores our performance over the season where 2 wins from 4 has been quite rare. West Brom’s season being over doesn’t always help, turning it around could say they’ll play with freedom as nothing to lose.

Hope we do get two from four, but far from certain. A win on Saturday should just about do it if Barnsley lose tonight anyway.

My point was that 6 points from those 4 games is not an unreasonable expectation given that they are all against teams with nothing to play for and 3 of them are at home.

Let’s hope so.

Worth noting that our home form has seen a massive turnaround under Ince, so we should begin to feel more confident of getting results there for the rest of the season.

Last 4 games before Ince: P4 L4
First 4 games under Ince: P4 W3 L1

Only Sheff Utd, Boro and Forest have been better at home over that 4 game period.

[Snowflake Royal]

Just an observation on the whole goalkeeper debate. We are unbeaten in 4, conceding only 3 in the process. In the preceding 3 games with pretty much the same defence, we conceded 9. I suspect the defence feel more confident with Nyland in goal.

Coming up against some very blunt teams and improved performance from midfield and defence is more likely the answer. Given the two in two we conceded were both keeper errors, one a howler as bad as any Southwood made.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

Reflecting on last nights win. Absolutely loved how crap we were yet still pulled through and finished strong. Yids and Drinkwater carried us the entire match. Think the subs were done at the correct times and it really influenced the game. For so long we have had to deal with bizarre subs at bizarre times.
Finally, are we seeing lady luck shine on us? Earlier on in the season, Morros goal would of been a handball and Joaos attempt would have deflected into safety.

On the negatives.....so many basic errors across the team and so many negative passes when in great positions. Several players looked like they had all their talent sucked out of them when they got in the final 3rd and I am putting that down to nerves.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Just an observation on the whole goalkeeper debate. We are unbeaten in 4, conceding only 3 in the process. In the preceding 3 games with pretty much the same defence, we conceded 9. I suspect the defence feel more confident with Nyland in goal.

Coming up against some very blunt teams and improved performance from midfield and defence is more likely the answer. Given the two in two we conceded were both keeper errors, one a howler as bad as any Southwood made.

Probably on a par with Southwood's error vs Hull really. I can't exactly put Saturday's down to a goalkeeping error personally, he's put it in one of very few places where he wouldn't have reached it anyway.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Maybe a little bit of justice served from Saturday though, whereas the performance merited all 3 points on Saturday, we only got one, but last night maybe Stoke are thinking they should have got something, but we ended up with 3. Massive result in the context of our season.

I wouldn't like to say we are safe, but it's looking very difficult for the 3 below us now to overturn the deficit. I'd imagine that our of the remaining 4 "favourable" fixtures, Cardiff (H), Swansea (H), Hull (A), West Brom (H), there would be anything between 5-9 points in there for us. At worst, a further 5 points puts us onto 42 meaning Barnsley need to win 4 and draw 1 of their remaining 7 games to finish above us on goal difference, that's probably at worst as well.

I feel like a win against Cardiff on Saturday and the 3 below us don't win and that would be enough for me. I don't want us to get complacent at this stage, as I mentioned yesterday, the narrative could change over the course of the Easter weekend if we suffer back-to-back defeats whereas someone below us manages back-to-back wins, for example. An unlikely, but not unprecedented, phenomenon.

[Hendo]

Just an observation on the whole goalkeeper debate. We are unbeaten in 4, conceding only 3 in the process. In the preceding 3 games with pretty much the same defence, we conceded 9. I suspect the defence feel more confident with Nyland in goal.

Coming up against some very blunt teams and improved performance from midfield and defence is more likely the answer. Given the two in two we conceded were both keeper errors, one a howler as bad as any Southwood made.

Take slight issue with "blunt teams" seeing as all but Barnsley have scored more than us.

Bournemouth - 62 (2nd)
Blackburn - 51 (=9th)
Stoke - 50 (12th)
Reading - 47 (13th)

[From Despair To Where?]

It's obviously a masive coincidence that an immediate upturn in defensive form has coincided with the replacement of 1 player.


The club obviously don't have that much confidence in Southwood long term otherwise they wouldn't be drip feeding him 1 and 2 year contracts and looking to replace him at every opportunity.

Not saying Nyland is the long-term answer but from what I've seen, he communicates a lot better than Southwood

[paultheroyal]

Great win last night, enjoyed the entertainment on show.

Azeez - this kid is some talent and we have not seen him fully on show yet. Absolutely vital that a contract is sorted out for this lad. We do not want another Antonio scenario. (although slightly different). Make it happen Reading FC.