Robert N. LiM

Including four appearances (I'm guessing most as sub, but still) in European football for us. That's a pretty decent pinnacle in your chosen field. I know this wasn't the main point of your post, but how we measure success is f*cked up in any case. If you've spent your working life as a nurse, you're a massive success in my book. Awed and grateful to you, and all who work in our NHS, never minding the danger.

And it's especially the case in our team since the strategy is for the the 'wingers' to come inside to stiffen up the midfield, while our FBs provide the width. We're sort of 3-6-1 when attacking. So much so that we really need to stop calling the players in those positions wingers. And that's actually why I feel Sainz is a better fit for how we play than Rowe. The more I think about it, the stronger the case for him being an impact sub becomes, especially as he comes back from injury. As @Mr Angry says, Rowe provides a different threat, very useful if plan A with the inverted wingers isn't working.

Long term, sure, but with him just coming back from injury we have the most convenient possible 'excuse' to keep him on the bench for now. That, though, is an undeniable point. But we might have six more games. He can start at Wembley, that would be fine by me 😉

Gabby comes out of that graph surprisingly well, too. Voting closes today.

reported

Funny, isn't it, that our record under Wagner since Knapper took over is that of a team going for automatic promotion. If, as these snippets suggest, they don't work comfortably together, it's quite a productive discomfort!

Either that, or someone in a leadership position at the club needs to make it clear that with the end of the parachute payments and the resulting forced sale of some of our best players, we are starting a new cycle. Personally I'd be happy with that as long as the messaging is clear, but I completely understand that many won't be, especially if they're spending their hard-eared money in a cost-of-living crisis on a season ticket. And especially if another team whose name we won't mention have got promotion and aren't immediately humiliated in the PL. 'May you live in interesting times'

I like this predicted league table very much

Brighton? Am biased because I live nearby, but still. They're owned by a local boy made good, good community club, play really nice stuff, doing a pretty good job at competing with the big clubs. Always happy to see them do well. (Helps when we're not in the same league, of course - I went to the game in Farke's first PL season and they absolutely played us off the park - really made the chasm that we'd have to cross if we reach the PL again incredibly obvious...)

Hull's last four games are Watford (a), Coventry (a), Ipswich (h) and Plymouth (a). If they win all four, fair play to them.

Also there is the issue that we are playing Birmingham on the last day, who may well need a result to stay up. I'm not sure of the rules, but I suspect the league would take a very dim view of us resting players in a game that could make a material difference to who stays up. Obviously, we are also massively getting ahead of ourselves! Let's get those points first.

This site says 31 starts (not 28, thanks @TheGunnShow). Not sure how reliable it is. Certainly more reliable than pretending he's played 99 games for Norwich.

Well, maybe the 'ludicrously' was a bit strong. Anyway, I voted for Gabby. I voted for Kenny last year. If this thread is anything to go by, it will be Kenny this year, which is fine by me.

Ludicrously, with three (or five, or six) games still to go, voting closes for the Barry Butler tomorrow. https://www.canaries.co.uk/pots-award

Funny game, this football, isn't it?! Two posters I really respect with completely opposite views. On this I'm with Dylan. Thought it was a tough afternoon for Sam yesterday. Felt like their right wide player had the beating of him.

Feel very strongly he should stay on the bench for now. If you leave out Barnes for him, then Sara has to play as the ten, where he's far less effective. He's been a revelation in that position coming in from the right. Also, the Barnes-Sargent combination works really well, not least in their defensive pressing. Obviously you'd like Barnes to score more, but with Sainz, Sargent and Sara we have plenty of goals in the team. In the first half of the season Rowe was outstanding, but he often lasted little more than an hour. Given his explosive style, and the fact he's coming back from injury, he seems the ideal impact sub, exactly what we've been missing. Really excited to have him back, but feel he can make the biggest impact in these last few games exactly as he did yesterday, coming on to terrorise a tiring team.

I don't know enough about Preston's players to be totally confident in this view, but it seemed to me like a classic example of the truth that just chucking players up front doesn't make you more attacking. I was more worried about them before their subs

Win both those home games and we can rest a few players in the Brum game, too

When does POTS close? Think he's going to shade it over Kenny for me.

And also, if you would choose one of the three games to drop points, it would have been Wednesday. Stuffed the binners, basically ended Preston's chances. Lovely old job.

A bit, but I thought that we were well in control of the second half even before he came on, and the game opened up as they threw more and more players forward. But it was great to see how energetic Rowe was - like he'd never been away. Might be controversial, but I hope Wagner resists the temptation to start him in the games to come. I think he's the perfect impact sub.

May I just say that I love Marcelino Núñez. How great to have a player who can score a goal like did against ipswich and put his foot in like he did today. Brilliant performance.

What a win. Brilliant performance in the second half. Wonderful goal. Seven points from a week with the derby and two away games. Fantastic OTBC NMTD

Weak bench again a worry. Really don't want to ask too much of Rowe, but he seems like the only difference maker. Going to be another tough shift for the starting XI, I suspect.

Feels like 'sneak' is the operative word.