Lucas

I know, I had to double check the stats twice thinking it was some kind of sick joke. This game has a brilliant curse over us at times.

Have to say, since we've entered 2024, Phil Foden is probably the best player in the World currently on form. Just unreal at the moment. And he's only going to get better. Southgate should be absolutely laughing with him, Saka, Jude, Kane, Rice etc this Summer.

The Watkins one came in. So I'm going to combine this with a Man City Man U bet builder. Man City to win, Over 2.5 Goals, Foden 1 Shot on target and Casimiro +1 foul. 1.95 odds. So if this lands, with the 2.50 from Watkins, it will be £48.75 from £10.

I had a feeling Huddersfield would get something against us today. Had a week off, first home game for the new manager, full house and against us, the one game they always get up for. To be fair, we were miles off it today. I just think the last few weeks have caught up with us a little bit and it would have been nigh on impossible to keep winning games. When you have performances like today though and its just not going for you, you at least make sure you don't lose. At least we got a point and as disappointing as it felt with Leicester losing, we got a home game in the week to put it right again. Really pissed off with yet another Southampton 90+ winner though. How they nearly cocked up that Birmingham game I don't know.

I'm going to split my bets up if ok. First selection is 1 Watkins Shot on Target and Watkins to be fouled once. Betfair boost of 6/4 (2.50) so £10 wins £25. If it comes in, I'll likely have a selection from the Manchester derby.

Saturday 2nd March, 2024 Brentford 1-2 Chelsea Everton 1-2 West Ham Fulham 2-1 Brighton Newcastle 1-1 Wolves Nottm Forest 0-2 Liverpool Tottenham 2-1 Crystal Palace Luton 1-3 Aston Villa, 17.30 Sunday 3rd March, 2024 Burnley 1-1 Bournemouth, 13.00 Man City 4-1 Man Utd, 15.30 Monday 4th March, 2024 Sheff Utd 0-3 Arsenal, 20.00

8th 19th

Poor old Newcaatle, they get some fucking terrible draws to be fair to them Away in every round so far.

Happy with that. Weakened team and done ourselves justice. Had the better of the game for sure and IMO, should have won. Chelsea will know they got away with that but fair play, clinical when it counted. They were in a bit of a no win situation tonight too. Archie Gray is 17 and making this game look so easy. Bad night for us putting himself in the shop window but pleased for the lad also. Going all the way to the top.

Villarreal

Fingers crossed for a Coventry v Leicester Quarter Final now. Would be hugely refreshing for the competition if that came out.

I think you've kind of used that angle to justify your arguement but I have to disagree with that. In normal circumstances if Salah is out, you have a front three of Jota, Darwin and Diaz. That is strong. Even Gakpo offers great back up across that front three. What you should really be doing is comparing what eleven City could field if they had the same multiple injuries to key players like you currently have in Allison, Trent, Szoboslai, Salah, Darwin and Jota. I mean, in normal circumstances, you can easily field two class teams like City can right? ----------------Allison Trent - VVD - Matip - Robbo Szoboszlai - Endo - Macallister -----Salah - Darwin - Diaz --------------------Kelleher Bradley - Konate - Gomez - Tsimikas ----Gravenberch - Thiago - Jones ---------Elliott - Gakpo - Jota Totally accept the absurd amount of injuries to the forward players have hurt you now so the strength in depth looks more precarious but in normal circumstances, you could lose Salah and cope fine, just as in your statement, City can lose KDB and cope fine. Let's make this fair and compare as close as we can. If City were missing Ederson (Allison), Walker (Trent), KDB (Szbozslai), Foden (Jota), Haaland (Salah) and Alverez (Darwin), there is no doubt they would struggle as you have. -------------Ortega Stones Diaz Ake Akanji -----Kovacic--Rodri Silva---Grealish---Doku ------------Bobb That might not be entirely accurate of how they'd line up but I mean, let's be honest, if you were facing that Man City side, you would carry some genuine hope of beating them. So lets look at what you could field Sunday. ------------------Kelleher Bradley - VVD - Konate - Robertson Macallister - Endo - Gravenberch ---------Elliott - Gakpo - Diaz Is there a lot between those two examples? I wouldn't say there is substantially. I think City would get by, much like you have, but would still struggle in the same situation, especially juggling multiple competitions.

I really like the bloke but Pochettino's reputation is going rapidly downhill and that stigma about him not being able to get his teams over the line only grows. That was a massive chance for Chelsea to kickstart this new regime and bag a trophy. They had a lot of things fall in their favour to do so, and they've still not managed to find the answer. There is now a genuine prospect that Chelsea are going to face two years without any kind of European Football. This is a club that won the Champions League in 2021. A club that had developed a winning mentality to close out finals. Three years later and here we are, Can't beat a team ravaged by injuries to their best players and forced to field kids. Ridiculous, bordering on unacceptable given the standard they should adhere to.

We've never won the playoffs since they were formed. Our record is atrocious. We've lost to Watford in the Championship final. We've lost to Doncaster in the League One final. We've lost to Millwall in a Semi Final. We've lost to Derby in a Semi Final. We have even lost an inaugral playoff to Charlton in 1987 when it wasn't even a thing to decide promotion. I absolutely dread them and hooe to god we don't get in them again or we're likely done for. But it is what it is. Of all the things the EFL has brought in and done over the years, creating the playoffs has been the best thing to happen to the Football League hands down. It's just the luck of the draw. You know what the story is before you kick a ball. If you'd have asked any Ipswich fan at the start of the season what would be your expectation for the team, many would likely have said Midtable or Top 10, and some would have dreamed of snatching a palyoff spot with a little bit of luck, realistically or unrealistically. Thats just what the playoffs do. They allow clubs to dream of having a shot to reach the Premier League even if their budget or circumstances wouldn't necessarily allow them to. Just look at Luton now as the classic example. And coming from a club in the division that has come down with a higher wage bill, bigger transfer kitty and better squad than many down there, I will begrudgingly accept if we finish 3rd and lose playoffs. I'll be gutted obviously, especially if we finish 20 odd points ahead of say a Coventry or Hull but thats just tough shit. We would have had a significant advantage to get us Top 2 and failed so it'd be on us. I get Ipswich are having a great season but to be perfectly frank, there is every chance Southampton finish above them anyway, maybe even 2nd still, and suddenly you'll be welcoming a playoff spot.

22nd for both

Happy days, she'll do.

My bet for today. Palmer and Diaz 1 SOT each. Macallister to commit 1 foul. 3/1 Skyboost. £10 wins £40.

Great win mate. Chuffed to nuts that landed and came in for you

Yeah, maybe not the best week to have played that chip but always worth a shot.

Fingers crossed he gets some sort of a tune out of them straight away at Southampton this weekend. Pretty much had written off any chance of Millwall getting anything there on recent form but you'd like to think they'll at least make it a bit more difficult now for Saints, and not just roll over.

18th 16th

Real Madrid

I have although I'm yet to utilise it.

No it didn't. I had the same bet on Paddy P but added a Hoijland SOT, Casimiro booking and a Lokonga booking. Just the Lokonga booking away from £168 off £3 so agonising on both fronts.

Kidding me! Everything in bar the Lokonga foul and he averaged the most for Luton beforehand. Ah man, thats rough.