RollsRoyce

I like our kit. Looking at the positives. Very poor goal to concede. We can do much better than this. I expect a much different performance second half. We can get back into this no problem.

Yes please , to design , colours and badge . The badge is so much better in my view. Others may prefer something more modern but for me , that badge every time.

Finally using the squad to do what it can do, and not go in a direction where its limitations are exposed. Back to aggressive, rapid, committed organised and attacking at pace, This is by far the best Manning has got from them and is a welcome development. Well done that man and long may it continue. Nothing better than wiping that smug smile off of Martin's face. You should get an extra point for that. That was up there with beating Luton 2-0 in their promotion season and upsetting that other tiresome bloke Nathan Jones. Keep this up, Manning.

Excellent win, far more like our old selves,fast, progressive, aggressive, putting them under pressure, getting forward quickly. Best game under Manning, well done that man, and the best use of the current squad. As an additional bonus, we do not have to listen to that smug Martin.

The CORN

Great to see us attacking with pace, getting forward quickly, pressing, none of this tappy pass around the back stuff, back to our better ways. we are using our squad strengths properly. Best game under Manning by a country mile.

BIG DICK

DING DONG

That was decent enjoyment, we moved into attack much faster than we have been doing. The final pass quality was not there, but we created them some problems and stopped their game. All to play for.

LM said it was not an injury but a reflection of the minutes he had played 1st half Boro and in the cup game. So he is fit.

It has been a second half to forget, but some resolute defending . Good away performance

Great defending, hang in there boys

Max has been excellent

2 great goals. This is much much better.

What a pass from Dickie

Playing for a new contract somewhere. He has been great these last months but you cannot forget the past . He has not been on a million .

Sounds like we gave it a real go, and could have, maybe should have won that one. Well done to all the players and Manning and his staff. Now let's see some of that cup form in the league. Why have we played so well in the cup?

Andy King super strike

Gray just signed a new contract after rumours of a £40m bid coming. He is certainly an exceptional player. Hard to believe his age, he is a wonderful talent. Leeds getting promoted will probably enable him to stay there a while longer and show his value in the Prem. Then it will be Bellingham/Grealish-type fees.

The Prem for comparison. People will have different preferences, but I am most certainly looking at the top right quadrant. Liverpool/Spurs That is possibly why I enjoyed watching Leeds on Friday. Interesting.

Then ignore it. It is just as tiresome reading people wanting to change what was said. If Manning had remotely delivered-on his prime objective and we were now top 6 do you not think there would be many posts saying how JL was right and the squad was underperforming in the past? It is a forum. Everyone can ignore what they don’t agree with . It is healthy to have opinions .

Not sure about negativity . Realism and recognition that J Lansdown , Tinnion and Manning are poorly equipped to take the club forward . It would be bad enough to have one of those 3 roles covered by a weak link , but to have all three is a rinse and repeat of all that has come before. If that is the dream team then it will be another 2 years whilst we go through the motions before the force of evidence is such that yet again the club has to accept it messed up. Again. Again. The club needs a reset from top to bottom.

This is a big issue. I have nothing against the profile of the new signings, I have never seen them play so I have no idea about their ability. But many in the game will tell you that the challenge of developing youth into the first team environment is hugely taxing and complex. Pepjin L at Liverpool talks about this in his recent book, and describes a set-up very similar to what we had (will not have) of role models and senior players guiding. I think you can can ask, would Scott have developed so well and fast without King/James/Wells around. I personally do not think so. So there will need to be some additions in the summer to fill those voids. In my opinion, deeply flawed it seems, I had wanted evolution at the club, because I can never recall seeing so many young players develop, or other players improve (Vyner/MOL,Tanner/Prng) in my fan history, and personally, I know others, maybe many, disagree, I loved that and loved watching it play out. We have thrown the baby out with the bathwater and are starting a new adventure on the Lansdown tombola of how to run a football club. This season has gone, so I turn now to how we approach next year, Manning will get a pre season and whole new set of players. I want to see who will be the first player Manning develops into a first team talent the process he follows and how he turns the awful drab football he has instilled into the existing squad into a fast flowing , "front foot" dynamic version when he has a new squad to choose from. I can read that may fans are pleased with the Manning approach, it is all about opinions, and I do not agree that he is remotely the right choice post Pearson, but if others can see it, then we will see how it plays out. I don't think he will last next season.

More like our own tail

It is relegation form, and we need points fast. I would still be astonished if we got anywhere near a relegation situation, really astonished, as we have had moments of decent performances, and have enough about us. It has nothing to do with Leeds, who are on another planet compared to us, but the preceding games against the other mid-table sides. There are a couple of tough games to come, Boro and Saints, but after that we do have the opportunity to get back on track, we have to be looking at 6 points against QPR and a very poor Wednesday. There is a good 5-point gap to the next group below us, and we have 38 points. We will get better I am sure, and 45 points should be enough this season to be relegated, so 7 points is easily achievable. I think we will end up somewhere around 55 points this season.