Pez1974

I'm staying in a hotel in southern Turkey! It isn't convenient for Wembley. It's an all inclusive hotel though, so I might die. Having said that, I reckon it's cheaper to take the family there than for me to go to the game. Still wish I was going though.

One of those free players was Neil Taylor. He was dwelling on the ball, crossing it into the stands or playing a wayward pass. I think it was a Boggie tactic to let him have the ball. Going forward, he was awful in both games.

Honestly, I would be surprised if it cost us that much - around £12m in my view, as I think the players want to stay here, and there's a lot of player power now. Mings is the most valuable; Bournemouth paid £8m and I know costs have moved on, but he's only had half a season in the Championship of note in 4 years because of injuries and they've signed a new LB/CB this summer. £8m tops in my opinion. Hause - I thought we had an agreement. Can't see it being more than £2m, given where our finances will be if we don't go up. Much more than that I would start to question if he's worth it. El Ghazi - I'd read rumours of him being a free agent in the summer, but that could be BS. Lille signed him for about €8m, and shipped him out after 18 months. His value must have fallen, and him coming to a Championship club. £2m if not a freebie?

I think you are more correct on what will happen that I am @Rob182 It feels daft to retain players when we know they aren't up to it - which is why I think the outgoing loan market could be a massive factor for us if we go up. Getting a few out for 6 months (with a view to extending) will help, although perhaps not financially as much as we like. But it could rip the heart out of the squad. For example I would keep Elmo - he seems popular, does OK and can cover the whole right side, which will help. I think we'll get rid of Kodjia; rumours are he nearly went in January and he just doesn't fit. And the likes of Davis and Green - if they aren't going to play, why keep them around? We aren't helping ourselves, and could be ruining their careers by stopping them developing. Over the past few years, we have got ourselves into a mess.

If we go up... I really think we will see a ridiculous clearance of the squad on top of those out of contract. I think Smith will be ruthless, and there are a lot of players in the squad who will end up on loan next season with a view to a sale rather than integration into the first team at a later date - but to keep options open in case they step up. In this list I would have Bree, Green, Davis, Hepburn-Murphy, Doyle-Hayes, Suliman and possibly O'Hare from the youngsters, plus the likes of Kodija, Lansbury, Bjarnason, Hogan, Taylor and Nyland (once fit). None of these should be near our squad if we're in Premier League. One might add Elmo to that list. Obviously with the latter lot, selling now is better! The likes of McCormack, Tshibola, Gardner and Adomah just need to be gone ASAP on top of the ones out of contract - none of whom should be renewed IMO. I make this around 25 players out who are (or should have been) in or around the first team squad at some point this season, plus the 5 who are on loan here. We saw the changes made in our last season in the Prem, with some decent players coming in but without the time or manager to bring them together quickly. For this reason, I think it's really important we buy Tammy, Hause, El Ghazi and Mings - and try desperately to get Axel back as this at least would give us better continuity so a better chance to stay up.

Like others - No. Not ever. Take the points deductions, get relegated. Twice. We can come back. Lose control of your stadium and your future is no longer in your hands - see Coventry.

That would be very funny - but I'm not sure whether just pretending they don't exist would wind them up more. I'm not sure what I'd do if Blose fans didn't sing SOTV - it would be very confusing.

Fair point. I was going with the stereotypical answer. I think it is slightly wider than the average pitch in the league; not much compared to Villa Park. No idea on the Hawthorns - they probably have a really big pitch as otherwise they would have to put in more seats which they can't sell unless we're in town!!!

I've been critical of our performances against the Boggies, and a few have spoken of how Derby played last night. But... They had nothing to lose. They were 2-0 down on aggregate, away - they had to throw caution to the wind and they ended up winning. That happens sometimes, but not often, and they have the talent in the team to make it work sometimes. And Leeds have the mouth but lack of spine to allow it to work. In the final, they have as much to lose as we have. If they go for it, we could stuff them and I doubt Lampard will go into the final so blasé. Smith has seem some of the players sort of freeze across the last 2 games, and has nearly 2 weeks to figure out how to deal with that and get them playing like they were a month ago.

No. In my opinion he did pretty well Tuesday. He got fouled a lot and caused as much havoc as anybody, but was getting little ball. On Saturday - he was poor.

I think (well, Google thinks) that Ramadan ends in the evening of Tuesday 4th June. So yes. As a fat bloke I wouldn't know - but does the body adjust to fasting over the month in question? He was only a week in for the second leg, but it wouldn't surprise me if the body got used to it over 3 weeks (to some degree at least), so the adverse effects lessened?

Big pitch at Wembley - he could cause havoc coming on at 60 minutes. Somehow we have to coach something into a player who has the one thing that can't be coached - pace.

I get that Plan A didn't work previously; but Plan B didn't ever look like working last night. I thought we'd mix it up a bit - just to keep them guessing. Our playing out of defence and the short corner/free kick routines became really predictable and led to us having problems more than once; a couple of corners never made the box and they broke with our main defenders stood in their area. This changed when they went down to 10, and I hope it was because Smith changed it, but is was weird in my opinion.

IMO - when Mings started to step out of defence, we started to look a little better. I think the Albion decided to not mark Taylor, as he was free all the time - and it was a great defensive tactic on their part and he was terrible going forward.

What a bizarre tie. Glad we progressed. We played the football, but did it so badly for all but 20 minutes of a tie lasting 210 minutes, that one could argue we didn't deserve to go through. But their "we defended stoutly so deserve to win" is total bolox too. We had some fortune with a couple of decisions, but they could had had 2 players sent off in both ties too. A lot of poor performances in both games. But we found a way to win. Unsure on how to assess Smith's performance. For penalties, he got it spot on. We had (presumably) Kodija and McGinn to take our 6th and 7th (and Taylor to take the 11th). They had 4 defenders in their first 5 - so he got that right. And clearly worked hard to make sure Steer was prepared. However, the way the team played worried me. Tactics were weird last night - short corners? Do we not have a player who can cross accurately, even if they have big guys too? No cutting edge or clear chances (other than Albert's, which can from a scramble). And if they froze in this tie - how will they react to playing at Wembley? Obviously delighted, but bloody hell!!!

Yesterday - I was full of philosophy, and which line up would best suit, etc. Today - I want to throw up and couldn't tie up my shoes. Currently seriously thinking about staying out of the pub, and maybe checking the score at half time.

WBA are scared of us. As are Leeds. Wolves have an inferiority complex. Blues hate us. Most of them hate us more than they support their own team.

There is a clear and obvious tactic from teams to foul Jack. Quite often, in the first few minutes, their 'tough guy' will give him a dig. Often it's after the ball has gone - just knocking him over, hoping to draw an injury of some sort. It's cheating, which is why a foul is given. I think we've done a good job of getting into the officials ears about this, in the hope they stamp on it early - no let-off for an early foul (that Bloose prick got booked early, which stopped him being able to kick Jack all over the Sty). I also think Jack is smart to draw attention to it - it highlights the amount of fouls, which are sometimes committed by different players, and can help draw bookings. This is exaggerating the problem, but isn't cheating for me. If it were, the ref's would stop giving fouls and start booking Jack for diving. As we've all said, if you don't want to give away free-kicks - stop fouling him!

Oh - and the FA have cleared Jack of diving for the penalty. They've also cleared him of stealing Shergar, being the Ripper (despite having a similar first name), and standing on a grassy knoll in Texas in 1963. He was found guilty of being permanently resident in the minds of Bloose, Boggies and Leeds fans, and given a friendly pat on the back.

Whelan or Hourihane - I think Smith is the best person to decide. Either we go in to try and score 2 or 3, in which case Whelan is the one who comes on (probably for Jack) in the second half to shore us up. Or we have Hourihane as the change up option in the second half, which worked beautifully last time. I think players now understand the squad game more than we fans give credit. I'm sure Conor wanted to start, but coming on he had a crucial role and eventually was the hero! I think the bigger question is Albert or Green. Albert gives more defensive cover, but Green's pace on the break (they will attack more this game) will be a huge weapon. I also think we will see more from McGinn, El Ghazi and others, who had their quietest games for a while on Saturday. I trust the manager to get the tactics and team selection right. I trust to players to not cock it up. I trust our fans to make more noise than they other lot. I don't trust myself not to throw up before the final whistle.

I started on cider when I was about 8. I wouldn't have wanted to have started any earlier, as fags were going up in price and my pocket money could only stretch so far.

I take your point, but Abraham is the second highest goal scorer in the league, and didn't play in August or in the last few; out wide is hit and miss but for the last couple of months, our midfield has been immense going forward. If we play Hourihane - that's a front 6 they have to contend with from open play, plus Elmo who has got a few assists this season. At this level, we now scare the shit out of teams.

I think West Brom are conceding about 2 goals per away game since Moore left. We are potent going forward, so I reckon they'll try and park the bus in the first leg. Fans need to be patient - if it's 0-0 at 85 minutes, we can still win 3-0! And this is why I'd play Hourihane instead of Whelan; grab an early goal and it could scupper their plans - get a couple in the first half and they might have to make changes and it could get silly. We need to start like a steam train and run them ragged. the second leg is 3 days later, and I think we could tire them out a bit - they aren't a youthful team, and they've all played a lot of games. We are, and most of our team have had breaks this season for one reason or another. The West Brom fans I speak to are really pessimistic. The only hope they have is that they think we concede loads too - I don't think they've looked at the stats since we played them at Villa Park - less than a goal a game.

My comment was more one to address the perception of our academy, rather than the comparison to many others who are probably equally 'OK'. I don't think we're bad - but the measure should be brining through players who spend year in our first team, not make a few appearances. There are many fans who seem to think our academy is really good - possibly based on the fact we seem to do OK in age level competitions. But the sort of players who make the first team of a premier league club tend to be making the break through at 20, not still playing for the U23s at 22 or 23. There are exceptions I'm sure.

We seem to be great at bringing through OK-ish players - but not good/great ones. Jack, Albrighton and Cahill are the real highlights from the last 15 years - I can't think of any others. We've had some solid journeymen players come through - the Gardner's, Ridgewell, Weiman, Gabby (could argue good, but not overall for me), Clark, Bannan. These can help fill the squad for a few seasons, and keep the cash rolling in - but the academy is there is produce genuine first teamers. And it rarely does. Shit - Birmingham have brought through Nathan Redmond, Butland and Demarai Grey in the last few years - so we're really not performing much better than them. Time for the academy to get a thorough overall in my opinion.