Dan

I hold both views here that our board / DoF are totally inept and that much was clear last season, but also think that it's abundantly obvious these rules aren't fit for purpose.

I'm increasingly thinking Maresca's quite negative and it's starting to rub off. I don't get how he can watch us absolutely batter them for 15/20 minutes, spurn two hilarious chances, get the lead anyway and think the answer is just to try and eek it out rather than exert our dominance. Keep pressing, get that 2nd and maybe 3rd. Get the likes of Dewsbury-Hall off and rested for a tough one Saturday. His instincts are really starting to concern me a bit. I know we won but I thought that was a really bad managerial display. It was a really bad performance, largely through our own doing, entirely attitude / mentality related. We got away with it in a game against a side as vulnerable as it gets. He's a genuinely good coach but he needs to seriously develop a ruthless streak if he wants to get to the top. I don't think our slump is over by any means. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm happy to take the win to end the bad run and I think we are approaching the territory of the season where just wins by any way necessary are needed, but I can't pretend I'm not concerned by that second half. We were so much better than them in the first half an hour and should've had it won by then, but we seem to either just lose confidence or massively tire, because they were all over us for most of the second half. I really think our lack of rotation, or ability to do it effectively is starting to hurt us. I think Casadei is a bigger loss in this regard than people want to admit.

It feels like a monthly occurrence. Didn't happen this time but it could've. Sheffield United are the biggest waste of space ever in this league.

Just win. I'm getting very scared.

Going to be remarkable seeing what method Southgate invents fudging having this squad at his disposal. Genuinely think England have a fantastic chance.

Luton have all the hallmarks of just falling short. They've given a very good account of themselves but they have that really unfortunate knack of playing well against the good sides but narrowly losing, and then flunking it in the games they're expected to actually do something. I mean they managed the seemingly impossible of losing at home to Burnley & Sheffield United. Everton are just un-relegatable and Forest's luck knows no bounds either. I think even if Forest get docked some points they'll spawn their way out of it again. They're in trouble next year though.

The bottom half is fascinating - it's going to mean very few dead rubbers as well. I really do fear for us. We're showing all of the familiar signs. I can't believe that I'm probably now only about 60% sure we get automatics. I don't like it.

For that to lose because Casemiro doesn't make a single foul in a derby. The game has gone.

Up to you but you can either cash in Tranmere for a £9.50 win or you can convert this to a double.

So fucking close. I am just doomed to never win.

For a side with so many points we don't half lose a lot too. Is that our 4th loss at home? That was an absolutely dire display. Clueless from 1-90 and QPR did as good a job on us as they could've done. Kept it tight, picked their moments and allowed us very little - exactly what I feared they would do. Maresca looking increasingly one-dimensional.

Ipswich and Leeds are better than us.

After the Leeds game I was bit twitchy about this. After the Bournemouth win I'm a lot more confident. We have very seldom dropped these types of games but I do think QPR are better than their league position suggests - that being said, it's not a game I'd expect any of our rivals to drop points in. I'll say a 2-0 win. Will be interesting to see who comes in for Vestergaard - Coady was reportedly very unhappy that he didn't get the nod over Ben Nelson. I think after his impressive showing at Bournemouth, Coady has probably earned the spot here even if I would like to see what Nelson can do. I've got a feeling Leeds or Ipswich drop points this weekend.

It's also a fairly low stress draw. Given when we went into it there was a possiblity of having to face Coventry or Forest for a place at Wembley. It would've been pure nerves. This isn't unwinnable but it's no disgrace if we do go out - but I really want us to go at these.

It is quite remarkable how many times we draw Chelsea in the FA Cup and not just that, but how many times we get them at this very round. It's the 4th time in 13 years we've had Chelsea in the FA Cup quarters - pretty mad really. I think the likelihood is a heartbreaking defeat like what Leeds and Newcastle suffered before - I think we'll give a good account of ourselves but ultimately drop out. I'm more hopeful after that showing at Bournemouth though - for those who weren't aware, we changed 9 players from our first team game to their 2 and ended up beating a Premier League side away. A really, really good result.

Yorkshire! Yorkshire! This weekend's picks take me to the two Yorkshire derbies in the Championship. With picking a long shot like Huddersfield there isn't loads of science behind it beyond thinking Leeds are due a loss, and that it would be typical of them to serve it up in a local derby like this against a Huddersfield side in not bad form. It has all the hallmarks of a coupon buster for me, and I feel like with Leicester this season, whenever we've had a really bad weekend, a really good one hasn't been far away. The other is that I think the odds are again generous. Rotherham are down. They're beaten. They're miles off it and at this point in pretty much freefall. If you were to put together a Championship table since Rohl took charge of Sheffield Wednesday, they would be 14th, winning 9, drawing 2 and losing 12. While Rotherham in the same period have produced 2-7-14 - comfortably the worst in the division. I do think the price is boosted simply because of the league position of Sheffield Wednesday and that the gulf between these two is a bit bigger than the prices suggest, so I think they're worth being with.

WEEK 30 - BARNSTORMING WEEK 30 STATS Winning bets: 3/5 Winning selections: 8/10 Weekly forum position: +£97.85 (Ranked 1/30) --- OVERALL STATS Winning bets: 51/198 Winning selections: 172/375 Total forum position: -£319.14 Week 30 brings about the best performing week of the season, and I tell you what, it was so close to being even better. Five players, three winners and even the two losers did not get too far off either. @Lucas closes the gap on @Pyfish with a 3/1 winning bet builder on the League Cup final. One of those that looks easy in hindsight. Only his fourth winner this season, but he seems to save the wins for good ones and the fact he's in comfortable profit despite this is proof of how quickly this game can turn. @Stan wins prediction of the week and is the biggest riser in the table too - very cynically picking the worst possible outcome for Leicester at the weekend to which all teams duly obliged. A late Leicester collapse at Leeds and the usual late goalfest at Portman Road sealing his biggest win of the season. @CaaC (John) owes me here for reminding him to get one in for this week as his Monday double pays out to rise back to 7th - his second biggest win of the season too. Then we come to the genuinely unlucky. @RandoEFC's trip to the French third tier proved fruitful with a comfortable 4-1 home win for Red Star, but he was let down in the goalfest at Kaiserslautern as they failed to land any of the four that occurred. One of the nearest misses of late, but I would argue probably not even the closest of the weekend. My loss is less about what I did pick, though it's absolute sods law to see that following a Liverpool victory in a low scoring game obliged at genuinely kind odds, that West Ham would blow my other leg apart after six fucking minutes, as their two goals meant it was not possible for my bet to actually win. The absolute sickener was how close I came to putting a double of Crystal Palace to beat Burnley and under 5 goals and Fulham to win at Man Utd - two predictions I can back up in the predictions league, that would've paid out probably the second biggest win of the season and actually clawed me to not far off the bottom. Alas, it's this game, so I'm just not allowed nice things. Though I do happen to remember that my other winner came on the weekend we played QPR away and we face them at home this weekend. I really am clinging onto anything I can here. I'll also be going for pretty high odds picks too because at this point, there really is nothing to lose.

Pochettino is a symptom of the ownership. He's a busted flush.

Pochettino's never been able to get sides over the line but you could at least a few years ago have made a case that he would take them somewhere close. I don't even think you can even make that case for him anymore. If he isn't under serious pressure then Chelsea are pretty much done as a top club under this ownership I think.

If you don't have the play-offs then you have to cut the league to about 18 teams - I don't know the exact maths of it but it renders loads of the season completely pointless if you abolish them. Teams in midtable would have nothing to play for from about December.

I've not been through it, but it's looking like the best week by a mile yet. West Ham Brentford is definitely ending a draw given I need one and John needs the other.

These fixtures are for next week and you've not done one for this week yet. So if you want to do one for a couple of games tomorrow then you are welcome to. I run the weeks from Tuesday to Monday simply due to the fact the football usually runs over a weekend at that time. I know it's a strange time for it though.

With it being 0-2 going into injury time or some shit I'm definitely picking bigger odds things now - I'm getting absolutely sod all out of things at odds on so we might as well take some gambles. My one actual win was at quite good odds.