Mason 47

This however is going straight back to the attitude of a few weeks back. We haven't blown them away so it's rubbish? I'd say we're the better side but as tradition are waiting on a bit of quality to make a moment. Let's get behind them.

I don't have a match to add, but the thread reminded me that I've played in a game in which our goalkeeper put the ball straight out for a corner from a goal kick by accident. No gale force winds to speak of. To this day I still don't really get it.

I thought he looked like he had a decent future in CM- quick, tidy and can run for days. (Somehow) under Smith, he looked best as the deeper, metronomic midfielder; thought being given the #8 shirt was a big gesture of faith. The unfortunate situation is that he's caught Lungi disease- hardworking backup in several positions, especially given Nunez, McLean & Sara are amongst our most important assets. In fact, I'd wager if Sorenson was less prone to 3-4 month injuries, Gibbs would have been out on loan this season.

Welch & Myles probably the most likely to step onto the bench. Aboh you would hope is making progress towards staying also. As an aside, a rare direct criticism from me-I feel that the management of Gibbs has been extremely poor over the past 18 months.

I understand the point, but when it comes down to it there is a reason young players get their chance. Take Rowe for example, who basically came off of a year injured and very quickly became our most important attacker. When he left I was of the opinion that the best outcome here is he scores a few goals and gets decent bids in for the summer. I really can't see him coming back here, and I'm not that upset- something about Idah and Norwich looks like it just isn't going to work.

Jack Clarke weapons with the best of them at this level. I can't see this as anything but a positive

I'd extend this whine to include having WiFi capable of loading emails to retrieve said tickets.

I'd like to propose the possible emergence of a half-weapon in Borja Sainz' cutting in from the left. He's repeated this trick several times to goalscoring ends already, often spectacularly, and has gone close several more times.

This can cut both ways, as I've thought Kenny had a future as a centre back for a long while and I definitely don't have a bloody clue.

McLean at CB is perhaps indicative of Wagnerism as a whole In midfield he's generally used to drop into a situational back 3 in order to utilise his passing range from deep, but it tends to weaken us in the middle. When played at CB he naturally takes up this role without the compromise in midfield. It's a feature of the team under Wagner that we utilise players to solve issues caused... by how we utilise players. This is where a lot of the frustration with the management comes from, despite decent results On the subject of CBs, I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere but I've felt Hanley has struggled since he's come back in (which is understandable). I think we've looked a great deal softer at the back since Duffy has been injured.

To be fair, I think a lot of this comes down to fan memory. For a club like Norwich, if we are dropping £7m+ on a player, he HAS to do well. It would be very memorable if he did not. And although the money is high for us, the fees are in reality the lowest rungs of the majority of PL business. So most of our 'big signings' are already heavily weighted against being a 'success' whilst there are loads of cheap transfers that have been rubbish that no one really thinks about. Perhaps another interesting thread would be the 10 worst players signed for under, say, £3m, versus the 10 best. I think the former would have a very long waiting list in comparison to the latter.

Luton are being heralded because they are playing the role of 'plucky little poor team' as most who follow the PL expect of promoted sides. They want to see little teams come up and put lots of effort in and struggle heroically to keep up like an underdog should. Initially under Farke we had a bit of that plus something new, we were intriguing because we were trying to play the big teams at their own game. Until Covid, etc, and we went flat and everyone moved on. Second season, there was an almost barbaric glee that we fail, the silly country bumpkins still thinking they were coming to play actual football against real teams. I think there's an element of novelty-seeking to it also. No one really cares about Sheff Utd or Burnley this year, they've been relegated recently much like ourselves. They only want to see new teams struggling.

Definitely prefer a Leeds win. Leicester aren't going to get pulled back in at this point regardless, so more points in the chasing pack means less happy Ipswich fans.

I think it's clear the club sense an opportunity to really use these last 13 games. All for it

At this rate I look forward to Wagners revolutionary 6-centre-back formation that takes the league by storm next year.

Taken a while to really settle. I was quite disappointed watching Dean Smith turn what was a sparkling, attacking flair player into an exhaustive central midfield slogger last season. He definitely looks to have got a grip on the midfield now though. I'm not sure his long term destiny is there, as he tends to get overrun by anyone with longer legs, but there's no doubting there's a player there.

I'm not sure of 'favourite' but a film that made an impression with me was The Northman from a few years back. I really must keep a list of films to watch, whenever I find the time my mind goes blank.

The stick is slightly more nuanced, I think. As I understand the stick, it was that despite having 3-4 players out who were vital to making his gameplan work, Wagner continued to deploy a system that made us look hopeless. Maybe we are reaping the benefits of that commitment now, it's impossible to say. But it definitely seems to me that we would have been better off adapting our tactics until our big players came back as it most definitely wasn't working. It actually seems similar to me to the above arguments over Farke and the lack of budget. Yes, it's a good point and must be factored in, but we were still trying the same things in game 38 as game 1. It's reasonable to suggest some manner of adaptation might have captured more than 6 wins.

I can think of at least one

They do use Estrella

It must also be noted that the players are very pro-Wagner. Something to consider, rocking the morale of the squad ahead of a PL season by getting rid of someone they rely on.

25-man playable named squad, only. No more u21 loopholes, if someone gets injured he can be replaced with a member of the youth team for the duration. Would make the lesser lights + young guns think twice about their playing time. Hopefully then you would see the quality trickle down the leagues; not sure the current wage situation would agree with this mind.

Been seeing an improvement the past few weeks. I've concluded that Onel is now thinking about what he's going to do before he sets off, rather than start running and come up with it on the way. Looks strong & focused. Great to see, long may it continue.

I said at the start of the season that it might be the first year all three promoted clubs come down, and all three relegated clubs go back up. The Premier League is utterly broken and we're the ones that signalled the start of the decline.

Wagner deserves a lot of credit for how we are currently playing. Wagner also deserved questioning over not changing things up during the bad run, when we were missing 3-4 players vital to make the system work. There is something to be said for sticking with a system, however, now we can see clearly that without Sargent and (less so) Barnes + Sainz it was a busted flush. Yesterday did feel like a turning point. Wagners criticism of the fans has seemingly got the majority pulling in the right direction again- avoid key injuries and the last 13 games could be wild.