Lionel Fessi

Bottom 6, but I think we would have stayed up. Although given how he fared at Huddersfield now I’m not so sure. DM had the feel good factor back and although limited, did get results with his system. And I think we always knew he would have struggled at this level eventually. Part of me thinks we would have sacked him anyway at Christmas if we were round the bottom, then probably appointed Munoz which would have been a total disaster. Sacking him was the right call, just think where we would be if Röhl had been here since the summer, DM always had such a small ceiling in this division. But, that’s football. We’re lucky we had enough time to take another swing with a manager and hit a home run. Munoz almost took us down and we still might drop, really really difficult to justify sacking DM like we did if that happens.

It’s almost like winning football matches again has gotten fans back on side with the owner, strange that. Fans still reluctant to give Chansiri credit after bringing in Ugbo, Poveda & Beadle who have quite frankly saved our season. Would he have backed us then if he didn’t care? He’s always stumped up the cash, but the problem is usually how he’s used his money. But that looks to have turned a corner these last 12 months.

9 - Iorfa 8 - Beadle, Musaba 7.5 - Everyone else What a performance. We just wanted it more didn’t we? Won every second ball, fought for every inch, every single player gave 100%. Massive result. Felt like it all went our way today, every half chance was a goal and Beadle, Iorfa, Bernard, Vaulks…whoever made a string of important blocks at the back. It’s a beautiful thing when football has days like today.

Finally some results go our way! Hull away at Plymouth is a must win if they want any chance at making the playoffs & Norwich at Birmingham although (unlikely they’ll slip out based on goal difference) I can’t imagine they’ll want to risk it by loosing. We’re now 18/1 to go down. Danny foookin Röhl.

I’d be happy with anything other than a Birmingham win tbh. Even if they’re promoted before next week, Ipswich away is still a really difficult fixture whereas Norwich could have possibly secured playoffs after today so can see them resting players for that final game away at Brum. Ideally we want Birmingham to drop more points today so that gap widens and we drag the likes of Plymouth & Blackburn into the scrap too. Predicted it a few weeks ago, but I’m very confident 4 points from these next 2 keeps us up. Winning today, removes a ton of ‘must win’ pressure last game of the season too.

I would have benched Windass last weekend, but he goes on to start with probably his best game of the season. Huge difference maker for us on his day, just need another performance like that and he’ll keep us up. Funny old game. Only position that worries me is LCB, sceptical Bernard will be fit and Famewo has been a real weak spot for us. Ugbo is going through a dry patch too, missed a few good chances over recent weeks, wonder if we’ll see Cadz or Smith lead the line. The result is huge yes, but I just hope we have a performance all the fans can get behind. Beadle Pol Iorfa Bambo Palmer Johnson Vaulks Bannan Windass Musaba Ugbo

Any guesses on attendance once these sell out? Figure we’ll be ~33,000.

1250 for sale - doesn’t the lower tier have more capacity than that? Perhaps police/stewards will do the usual and ring fence the outer seats. Never sat in the away end before, feel like a traitor! Serves me right for buying late.

It’s always been true, Chansiri HAS spent alot of money he just hasn’t spent it very well… The self imposed FFP limitations & embargoes haven’t helped, even if he wanted to spend more our poor leadership & strategy hasn’t allowed us to. All his own doing. Huge opportunity now to invest CORRECTLY in a rare find like Röhl. Chansiri can still win fans back over, if we stay up he needs to be really smart how he manages the situation.

My head says we’ll be back into the bottom 3 after Saturday and then escape again on the final day. I reckon it’s more likely Birmingham beat Huddersfield & we either draw or lose to WBA. Then in theory all of Plymouth, QPR, Stoke & Blackburn would still be at risk (unless they win on Saturday). So final game day of the season could have as many as 6 teams battling to avoid that final relegation spot. Given up trying to predict results. But Huddersfield winning would do us a huge favour, with Ipswich away on the final day relegation feels certain with anything but. Going into that Sunderland game knowing a win almost guarantees our safety would be massive.

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.