King Kante

Anything other than a Newcastle win but it requires us to win out.

It isn't just the defense, CM is still not offering enough protection - although that has improved with Conor and Cucu recently moving into the pivot.

I cannot see it. £100m minimum and we keep signing 12 year old Brazilians who play in AM for tens of millions. He will likely go to a City, Bayern, Arsenal (if they have another solid year) I.e. a stable team ready to compete straight away next year.

But who. I know Hermoso is on a free but I haven't seen him for a while and not sure from what I recollect if he would fit into the side....

That's called Mount money.

The problem with the evidence of him displaying his great passing is that this is still outweighed across the season with where is passing directly led to giving a goal away. Additionally, even yesterday he was directly responsible for turn overs when pressed on the ball/had some loose passing. Therefore, it is not so much I am not seeing his good passing - as I have even provided an example that people supporting him haven't made much reference to - it is more that I am not still not seeing the type of overall passing game over 90 mins that I expect from a midfielder in a team with aspirations for kicking on to try and win the league and competing in the CL in the short to medium term. This isn't to say he hasn't had a good pass here and there, it is more of an all round game thing and how I don't see a Caicedo type player in any of the elite sides in Europe. To be honest, I think (me participating in) the Caicedo debate is now better off as one for next season when - hopefully - we have all our options fit in midfield. It could well be I have got things wrong and he develops quickly or I have been downplaying/not seeing things in his game. However, I am not going to be swayed by odd passes/sliced together highlights, in five-six games in the tail end of the season.

What was the reason for him dropping both Trev and Silva from the starting line-up against Le Arsé? Who knows, he'll probably say the team isn't mature enough to play two games a week of something.

I don't get posts like these either. Has he improved, sure but I equally don't think his passing was that great either yesterday. People in the last two games have been using his through ball to Jackson and his ball to James as examples of him doing 'baller' things. However, the assit in the WH game was aided by their CB's being around 20m apart, and the Forest one was due to the FB being out of position which allowed him a massive space to knock it into. I would actually say his seeing the pass and hitting first time where the actual better qualities. Additionally, his arched pass to Palmer (who should've done much better) was also his best pass of the day imo. However, yesterday against Forest in the middle of the match there were times he gave the ball away easily under pressure. Those are really the moments I worry about him as these types of give aways are the ones that cause the games to get stretched/go 'back-to-front' too much. There have been major examples of him doing this this throughout the season such as the Utd game at home, City at home and Forest at home, Arsenal away etc. Now, I appreciate he is a young player and needs time to improve, which is fair enough - and a reason I have said I will give him next season to prove me wrong. However, I personally need to see him playing so well when we aren’t in the tail end of the season where the intensity always starts to drop off.

What we do, do and what we should do are two different things. Wouldn't surprise me at all if Poch lines the team up with Badi and Disaster as the two CB's and rests Trev and Silva.

Damn, I forgot Ukraine qualified. I was still thinking they got eliminated in the play-offs. As for Enzo, I did say it was likely he goes, just that he shouldn't. Disaster I cannot see going, as France aren't carrying many injuries. As for the English players, I cannot see Southgate taking them. Firstly, he doesn't seem to rate Chilwell much, which was a reason he didn't go to the WC. As for James and Colwill can he really take them after so long out? Maybe Colwill but England have enough at RB to not need to take a semi-fit James. Cucu, you're right. He probably goes with Spain.

Looking at the squad and I am hoping most of our players get a summer off this year. Looking at the squad, I see the following: Petrovic - Goes to Euros Sanchez - Summer off Colwill - Surely summer off Trev - Summer off unless Southgate gets desperate with injuries. Badi - Summer off Disaster - Summer off. Fofana - Summer off. Alfie - Summer off James - Surely Summer off Chilwell - Surely Summer off Gusto - Outside chance of going with France, but most likely Summer off. Cucu - Summer off. Lavia - Summer off Enzo - Probably will go to the Copa but really should have the Summer off. Caicedo - Goes to Copa Gallagher - Goes to Euros Lesley - Summer off Carney - Summer off Nkunku - Surely summer off but may go. Sterling - Summer off Palmer - Goes to Euros MM - Summer off Noni - Summer off Jackson - Summer off. Hopefully this happens so we get a full pre-season with most of our players.

Completely agree. He and Palmer are the only players we have that have shown genuine world class play for a period of time. For sure, some of the other players we have have shown flashes, but that is all. James is rightly the Chelsea captain and hopefully will be able to keep himself fit - or at least fitter - moving forward.

We do need more control in the CM, if we just go out and attack we will end up in basketball matches every game, which would be fun but it means that a lot of games will be lost or drawn because of it. No success team in the PL has not had control in CM. Best example of a team with no real control in CM but outrageous attack was Newcastle circa 1995-97.

Lukaku will move to Saudi in the Summer. He only has two years left on his contract. If he goes this year he'll still get a decent long one as he is still only 31 and has a bit of a say. He leaves it another year he runs the risk of not getting anything near.

Agreed, apart from us winning out. I still do not have enough faith in the team to pull that off but I hope I am wrong. As you, I really want the Ropey League place as I actually quite like the competition and believe it to one a great extra CL qualifying option.

Spuds are gone, they would need to lose to City and Sheffield and for us to win the rest of our games. For sure, City beat them but I can equally see us dropping points - particularly against Brighton. For me 6th is us v Newcastle. I reckon they will pip us on GD as I reckon we both draw our next game and win our last games of the season.

That's me. He had a good game, the pass was good as well, although it wasn't anything on Palmer's or James's - although to be fair it didn't have to be as he had quite a big space to hit. I still maintain that he hasn't got enough skill on the ball, and there were a couple of times today he gave it away due to this, but if you think he does and that proves it fair enough. As I said to, @MoroccanBluelet's see what next season brings. My feeling is that he gets dislodged and gets rotated in and out of the side depending on whether we need a ball winner or more of a passer/runner from DM/CM. A lot will also depend on what happens with Gallagher as he is the only other one that can intercept to such a high level as well.

Good win, but the lack of control in that game is a large reason why I am not confident about taking Poch into next season. May be harsh, but we were tepid until he got Sterling and James on.

6th place is Conference League if Utd win the FA Cup.

I have stuck up for Jackson this season and will continue to do until next season as I have seen enough out of him this season to think he has shown enough to get support. However, he needs to come off in this one. In addition, this is the kind of performance I was afraid we would put in today when people were discussing how much of a corner we've turned with Poch. Very lethargic. I personally would take Jackson off for Nkuku and possibly replace Noni with Sterling if he doesn't get into the game after 5-10 mins.

Is anyone else concerned we're going to pull out a Burnley/Sheffield Utd performance?

Well, the Maatsen situation was more broadly to do with his insistence not to revert back to a 343 even though the squad make up at times made this the most obvious fit. Instead we wasted a year of Colwills development playing him at LB, Maatsen never got a chance, Caicedo and Enzo got played into the ground/exposed as Gallagher should've never left the pivot to help them out, while he could then play to his strengths and arrive later to the attacking phases rather than instigate them. The there was is refusal to drop Disaster, Sanchez, Sterling and Caicedo at times - even for there own sakes. Then there are his: A) substitutions, which to this day are still purely reactive rather than proactive B) his tactics if the game gets tight where he decides to play the game out for a draw even if we aren't set up for it and he insteads tells the teams to drop 10 yards and get tighter together whilst leaving positional clowns like Disaster and Caicedo (particularly up until two months ago) on the pitch. For me, beating up Everton, West Ham and Tottenham- whilst in poor form - isn't enough for me after what I have witnessed all season. That isn't to say he should be sacked, it is just that I am still seriously unconvinced and will need to see more evidence/see who is a actual possible replacement.

Not really a surprise with the players/squads we've had in that time.

I cannot say I don't think Amorim is a massive risk, however like @Strike I need a lot more evidence in the next few games that Poch has 'turned a corner' and hasn't just been fortunate with playing out of form teams. Whilst, I am happy to say Poch has had a lot of issues to deal with, he has also done/not seen a lot of concerning things throughout the season. For me, keeping him on and then him going back to par is also a massive risk for next season.

I think it is clear we are getting Amorim. I say this as: 1) Poch either doesn't have a clue what is going on with his contract/has been too grumpy when questioned about his contract. 2) Amorim was clearly the Dippers first choice before Slot. Then he went on that weird plane trip to West Ham where no is sure where he went but it doesn't appear to be to talk to West Ham. It looks highly likely Amorim is leaving this year for a new job as otherwise he wouldn't be so public in going to 'interviews' as his stock is high and Sporting aren't some sort of tinpot team. Only other club he may have done that with is Utd but I am not sure Utd's board are in a position to actually put something together yet because of the gardening leave they're on.