Lionel Fessi

Not season over…yet. I expect results to go against us this weekend again, Rotherham will probably celebrate whenever they concede vs Birmingham & Huddersfield, Stoke & QPR all have massive home games I can’t see many points being dropped. Needless to say, we need a win. Not just for the points but that momentum going into the final home game with WBA (who may have already secured playoffs) will be huge. Big task Röhl, hope he doesn’t go too attacking from the off which has the potential to handicap us if we concede first. Beadle Johnson Famewo Ihiekwe Palmer Pol Vaulks Bannan Paterson Gassama Ugbo Hard to pick a team i feel confident in, Blackburn are a good attacking side so if we defend well and take our chances on the break (think Preston away) that’s how we win. Windass is in dire form, Smith works hard but not enough quality and Musaba is so hot/cold we never know what we’ll get.

You could make the argument he’s been involved in potentially relegating THREE clubs this season..

7 - Pol, Ihiekwe, Vaulks 5 - Johnson 4 - Windass 6 - Everyone else Worked hard and fought all game but just not enough quality to make a difference. Missed a few decent half chances and gave away a sloppy goal when we had momentum, so so frustrating. Story of our season. If we’re going to play with 2 strikers, they need to complement eachother…Smith & Ugbo didn’t and we waited far too long to change it up. Gassama & Masaba need to play more in games like this, our big difference makers and a combined 15 minutes in a must win fixture is shocking. We looked void of any quality out wide as Johnson looked wasteful and Windass for the third game in a row was really poor. I get why Röhl started Windass, he likes a mobile number 10 behind the strikers but the gap in quality between him and Poveda is huge - today’s game was desperate for a player like him. Blackburn now a must win or I think it’s season over, fixtures almost all went against us.

Other results don’t matter, today has always been a must win, just keep going putting in good performances and we can stay up. Mostly agree with the team selection, apart from I would have gone for Musaba or Gassama over Windass…he needs a big day today been dire the last 2. Looks like a back 5, expecting Johnson & Pol to play really high up going non stop for 60 minutes. A little worried about the lack of chemistry between Ugbo & Smith…we’ll need to make sure we give then plenty to work for.

Plymouth & Stoke play eachother as do Huddersfield & Birmingham, Blackburn still have to play Leicester AND Leeds. Our hardest game is behind us IMO and I know this division can be unpredictable but we’re in a really promising position to make the great escape. We have the best form in the bottom 8 (last 15/20 games) by an absolute mile. 3 points this weekend is essential though, we can’t go into the final game week hoping other teams drop and still in the bottom 3. It needs to be in our own hands. 5 points is the absolute minimum I can see us needing, expecting something like a WDLD over the next 4, but I have a feeling we will sneak a win against WBA or Blackburn too. If we’re out the bottom 3 before Sunderland which I think we will be, confident we can stay up.

Really tough decision for Röhl, do we stick with an attacking line up at home against weaker opposition or lineup how we started the second half last night abit more balanced with our battlers leading the charge. Beadle Pol Iorfa Ihiekwe Famewo Palmer Vaulks Bannan Gassama Smith Musaba Id bring Bernard, Ugbo and Johnson all straight back in if fit but otherwise go with the above - LB/LWB is a real weak spot so I’d try out safest bet which I think is probably Palmer. Im not a massive fan of starting both Gass & Musaba, partially because sometimes they’re more effective later in the game when legs are tired and it’s much more open. But…it’s a must win, and we need our game changers on the pitch. I’d leave the final 20 minutes super sub cameo to Windass. Harsh to leave out Paterson but I don’t know where I’d bring him in, unless we started a 442 to pair with Smith. Absolutely the type of player I’d want to bring on in this game though, gives us a different dimension.

9 - Vaulks 8 - Pol, Pato 7 - Bannan 5 - Bambo, Beadle, Windass, Palmer 6 - Everyone else First of, has a quadruple sub ever been as effective? Röhl recognised he got it wrong and made the adjustment. We keep getting dominated when we try this hyper attacking line up with either 4 at the back or just Bannan/Palmer in midfield behind 4 attackers. Either way I felt we robbed a point today, Norwich could have been out of sight at HT and once again we were poor but good subs and plenty of fight got us something. Playing out from the back is a problem, especially when Vaulks/Palmer/Bernard aren’t playing - out best on ball defenders. Bambo can be a liability at times as he was for their first, similar for Beadle and the second - although he did make two good saves his kicking was dreadful and arguably cost us 2 goals, could have been 3. (Probably would have emotionally scored him much lower if it finished 0-2). Also, LB is a problem. Famewo was much more comfortable on the left of a back 3 as he always has been - struggles as a fullback and i think Pederson looked sluggish too…we miss Johnson’s quality on the ball. Palmer & Windass totally anonymous, no idea why Vaulks doesn’t start these types of games as he totally changed the dynamic when he came on, he was excellent. As did Pato & Pol. We need players like that in these final fixtures…cannot afford any passengers and Windass again contributed nothing. Very lucky point IMO but I’ll take it and another game unbeaten. Another huge performance needed Saturday, now a must win.

Nervy already, we need a big result against either Norwich today or WBA in 2 weeks. I didn’t realise how bad Norwich’s away form actually is, they’ve only won 5/20 this season - 19th in the league. They’ve always impressed me though, I think they are a good attacking team and tore us apart in the reverse fixture. Hopefully we have some big defensive performances and some magic from Gassama/Musaba to steal 3 points. Fans to get us over the line.

He had a run of about 8-10 games under Röhl where he consistently played really well. But, his form has certainly dropped off and he strikes me similar to Windass, Bannan and Vaulks as someone who isn’t afraid to tell the manager what he thinks or have abit of a ‘moan’. The worry is he’s one of our best attacking players when on form and pretty irreplaceable when we play with wingbacks given how high he pushes up. Famewo and I highly doubt Pederson can provide his quality, although both are much better defensively.

8 - Gassama 7 - Bambo, Bannan, Ihiekwe 5 - Famewo, Smith 4 - Windass 6 - Everyone else Big big win. Finally Röhl reverts back to the tried and tested tactics, defend well with no mistakes and look to our star players to produce a moment of quality. Cagey game for the most part, I felt we limited them to half chances and looked to threaten on the counter. Bambo had their strikers number all game, perhaps his best performance of the season, he’s so good in 1on1 situations fast & strong. Bannan also put a shift in, I read a stat he made the most tackles & passes in the game and certainly came across like he had a point to prove, captains performance. Gassama the stand out, I’ve said it before but if we can get some 8 and 9’s from him or Musaba we’ll stay up. Two moments of quality from him for both goals and always threatened going forward. Right call from Röhl not to start him or Musaba though as I feel they can stifle eachother and don’t always match the defensive effort required, especially away from home. But he was the game changer today, huge performance. The only downside for me was Windass, looked so rusty, wasteful and of sync with everyone else…exactly how you’d expect somebody to play who’s been injured for 10? Weeks. That miss also…could have been so costly one of the worst I’ve seen in a long time. We cannot afford for players to put in performances like that in these final games, if it had been Wilks he’d be getting hounded out.

Agree with this. Can weirdly see a situation where our only day outside the bottom 3, is the final day of the season

I feel like our ‘must win’ desperation lineup is what we saw today, only it’s so high risk we either sneak a win or get pumped for 80 minutes….as many attackers on the pitch as possible and pray Vaulks has the game of his life. I don’t want to say it’s a ‘must win’ just yet but QPR have come into form now and we need probably atleast 3 wins from 6 and this is one of the easier games… Beadle Pol Palmer Ihiekwe Bernard Johnson Bannan Vaulks Poveda Gassama Ugbo Bringing in Poveda is a no brainer if he’s fit, likewise Bernard we’re SO much better defensively with him stepping into the midfield so Vaulks/Bannan don’t get bulldozed for 90 minutes. I’d play Palmer too, he’ll be up for the fight and this game will need players who can give 110%. Musaba needs a break, he’s struggling and Cadamarteri looked like Stevie May today…lots of running round but nothing else.

6 - Beadle, Vaulks, Pol 4 - Bannan, Musaba 5 - Everyone else Poor game, really poor game. Röhl got it wrong today, again. Today could have been 6-0, woeful all game with no end product and no fight. They should have had another 2 penalties also. 2 strikers and playing Musaba in a hybrid midfield role does not work. Zero chemistry in the front 2 and midfield, apart from Vaulks was invisible we were overran in the middle all game. Bannan was especially wasteful and weak in the tackle, we just could not keep the ball.

Why why why has Röhl stopped playing 1 striker with a proper 3 in the middle and then either Musaba/Gassama in front. Away from home we are not good enough to play with 2 strikers, we just cannot get the ball and everything looks so frantic when we break. Absolutely zero composure when we’ve got the ball, even Bannan looks off it. Desperate for Poveda to come on, we’re already behind so it’s going to be another big swing to try and get something from this game.

I doubt Poveda will be fit enough if he couldn’t even make the bench today, likewise with Windass. An optimistic 15 minute cameo if we’re behind is the best we can hope for. Hopefully Bannan is healthy enough to start, we missed him massively today and away from home we’ll feel that even more. Pato said on commentary he’s targeting the QPR game. We need to revert back to the effective 532 Röhl had us playing earlier in Feb - defend well, frustrate the home side and when it starts to open up use our speed & quality on the break. He’s tried the hyper attacking 424 too often for me, it’s so risky I don’t know if it’s time to go for it yet or just be happy with a draw. Beadle Pol Iorfa Ihiekwe Bernard Johnson Vaulks Bannan Palmer Gassama Ugbo