Bris Vegas

There is a certain arrogance about Real Madrid that I don’t like. From the way their fans behave, to the players. They act like they are kings and have some sort of given right to be in the final. They were battered by City. Absolutely battered. So lucky to get through that. Hope Dortmund upset the apple cart, roll around for 90 minutes and beat them with a last-minute VAR awarded penalty.

If it’s a one-off game between two teams with home advantage to the higher team that could work. Could also give teams between 13th - 17th a reason to not just head to the beach in April if they have a 15 point gap over the relegation zone. Teams like Wolves and Fulham this season are already on the beach.

Not sure how relegation playoffs could ever work. The two losers of semi-finals face off in a one off game at Wembley? That would be rewarding failure. Not sure of any competition in the world where losers advance to a next stage (aside from WC 3rd/4th game).

The PL is only good because of the top teams though. I mean, nobody tunes in to watch Forest vs Crystal Palace or Bournemouth vs Wolves aside from fans of those clubs. And it's also generally the bigger teams that end up with high scoring games. It's not often you find an Everton 4-4 Fulham or a Brentford 3-4 Luton firecracker. On the one hand the Super League idea was ridiculous. But let's not kid ourselves, the PL only has a global audience because the top teams prop it up. They are the ones who attract the money. If you get rid of the big teams, global audience in the English top flight (the remainder clubs) will die and we would be left with a league not too dissimilar to the Championship (or worse, as the money will dry up) - a competitive league lacking in top quality.

Lopetegui had a bit of a shocker at Madrid, no at Wolves. He took them over when they were bottom of the table and finished 13th, before resigning because they had nothing to spend - shows what a good job O’Neil has done since. But West Ham are a funny one. They crave good football. Moyes has done a brilliant job there, as good if not better than the job Howe has done at Newcastle. Moyes can’t really lose from the situation though. If West Ham do poorly it will look good on him, and if West Ham push on he can say he built the foundations for it.

Having the biggest budget in the league is no means a guarantee of success. Look at ourselves at Championship level under Mel, or Man Utd in the PL. It does help though. Anything other than promotion this season would have been a disappointment and arguably an underachievement. Especially given that there was no Ipswich, Sunderland or Sheff Wed this time around. The true test of Warne’s coaching ability will come next season.

To be honest, League One should be a breeze for them as I don’t think they have gone down in turmoil like we perhaps did. They got relegated because of Rooney. The other 3 managers who were there would have had then mid table over a 46 game season. Their budget is bigger than ours this season. Their squad is better.

Do they have a lot of potential being a southern club? Can’t say I’m familiar with Wycombe and its surrounding areas. If you are a billionaire, and want to put money into a club, I see Charlton as a prime opportunity. London club, 27k stadium but looks like it could expand to higher. Top players want to play in London. It’s the only reason the likes of Palace and Fulham are comfortable PL clubs. If they were located in the midlands they would be lower Championship clubs.

Eustace 1.64ppg (11 games) - 75 points over a season Mowbay 1.66ppg (6 games) - 77 points over a season Rowett 1.375ppg (8 games) - 63 points over a season Clearly shows competent managers could get a tune out of them. But Rooney… 0.67ppg (15 games) - 31 points over a season.

I think he is a limited coach who sets us up to play a style of football which is the easiest to coach. I think we won promotion through matching/surpassing the physical attributes of our opponents and seeing our individual quality pull through. I don’t think we won promotion through tactical nous or coaching a team of mediocre League One players to perform better than the sum of their parts. I don’t think such a method will work in the Championship, especially when facing superior quality.

Really? The top 6 consist of 3 PL sides of last season, two sides still boasting former PL players and a final parachute payment and Ipswich who have been brilliant. Rosenior took over Hull last season when they were a bottom 8 Championship side with players of that ilk. No doubt they have invested. But not to the extent of bringing in a host of players better than 5 of the 6 above them. They finished above Watford who are still under parachute payments, plus Boro and Stoke who have invested more than Hull. I think if Rosenior had taken over a top 10 side you could argue finishing 7th with the added investment is a tad disappointing. But underperformed? At worst finishing 7th-10th is solid but room for improvement, and that’s looking on with a negative spin. Watford have disappointed. As have Stoke and Sunderland.

Worst bottom 4 in PL history.

If Bolton also come up, Birmingham and Huddersfield should breeze League One next season with Rotherham, Posh and Barnsley also challenging. There will always be one or two like Oxford, Wycombe and Blackpool who have a good season but none will have the budgets like Brum and Huddersfield. Those clubs going into League One is the equivalent of Newcastle, West Ham and Villa dropping into the Championship. You just know they will go back up again.

Today is the big day. If Forest win and Burnley fail to win then it’s all over.

Mowbray picked up 10 points from 6 games. Rowett picked up 11 points from 8 games. Eustace picked up 18 points from 11 games. Under three competent different managers they picked up 39 points from 25 games. How on earth did they go down?

The Premier League is the best league in the world, due to having the best managers and coaches. There was a time when every body was claiming the PL was the best in the world, but it really wasn’t. La Liga was the best between 2009-15. That six year spell had 3 of the best 5 teams in Europe, while the likes of Sevilla, Valencia and Athletic Bilbao were better than the likes of Liverpool and Man Utd. But as soon as Klopp and Pep came over, the standard increased to a point where genuine top class managers like Conte, Ancelotti and Emery were happy to join lesser clubs. I wouldn’t take this season’s European results as proof of league standing. No way is Serie A or the Bundesliga of better quality. Some could even argue that the demands of the PL will only make it harder for teams in Europe due to the scheduling. You only have to look at Liverpool running out of gas.

You always have to question fighters who can jump through weight classes. You can’t just pack on 20lbs of lean muscle without juicing when you are already a peak condition athlete. Canelo’s PED use was brushed under the carpet. You can’t go from 154lbs to 175lbs without putting on fat and looking softer. Impossible. Pacquiao as amazing as he is, is another case. Can’t go from 122 to 147+ while still maintaining low body fat. Impossible without enhancements.

Just as Forest are a far better side with Awoniyi in it, the same can be applied to Luton with Adebayo. No coincidence Luton’s form dropped off after he got injured in February. Now he is back, could be a big difference for them for the last 3 games.

Leeds, Villa, WBA and Derby was probably the strongest playoff set since playoffs became a thing. This season also looks strong, but I don’t think Norwich and West Brom are as strong as us back then. Last season seemed a poor one, as did Forest’s too.

I read there is talk of them getting two points back. Ridiculous if true.

Their drop in form has coincided with playing Arsenal, Liverpool and City over the past 6 weeks, plus a European run which may have taken its toll. Also probably doesn’t help that De Zerbi has been linked with a number of top jobs. He probably doesn’t want to be there anymore. Similar happened to Marco Silva at Watford. As soon as he got linked to the top jobs, they plummeted.

Man Utd are a bizarre team. Their record at Old Trafford against the better teams is actually not bad. Beat Villa and Chelsea, beat Liverpool in the FA Cup. Drew with Spurs and Liverpool in the league. Their only defeat against top half sides at Old Trafford this season is City and funnily enough Bournemouth. Arsenal should win. They are a better side.

Man Utd vs Arsenal Spurs vs City These games look great on paper, but I don’t think either United or Spurs fans will actually want to win and thus handing the title to their rivals. I know there needs to be some professionalism, but Spurs in particular may already have 5th place sewn up by then with Villa securing top 4. Would they really want to hand Arsenal their first title in 20 years? Especially after losing to them today?

Hoping you are right and I’m wrong. There would be something poetic in Forest going down due to their points deduction, and the icing on the cake would be a Burnley winner on the last day from a VAR given penalty.

Only if Burnley can get within two points of them going into the final game as they GD is much worse. They need to match Forest’s points tally in the next two games. Problem is, Burnley have Newcastle (H] and Spurs (A), can’t seem them getting any more than 3 points max. Forest have Sheff Utd (A) and Chelsea (H). Can see them getting 4 points. Without another points deduction, they look fine. Luton have the easiest games in Everton (H), West Ham (A) and Fulham (H). But they’ve gone off the boil.