Keener window-cleaner

What team do you think is the strongest, this year's or the team that started last year's final? Johnstone - Elmo, Terry, Chester, Hutton - Snodgrass, Hourihane, Jedinak, Grealish, Adomah - Grabban At least I feel in a more positive mood and am confident we will play better football from the start!

I'm starting to get nervous already! I hope we start with the experienced players, I'd like to see Elmo Tuanzebe Mings Taylor Whelan McGinn SuperJack Adomah El Ghazi Abraham I think Adomah has got some unjustified stick, had Johnstone not made that super save in the end of the last game Albert would have been the hero. I thought he was below par in the first half in the first semi, but then came out very strong in the second half. He is better defensively than Green and is more reliable going forward. I really like Green, he's got bags of potential, but he is still a kid and needs to improve his decision making. Whelan instead of Hourihane is a no brainer for me. We can't afford a 4-4 Forest showing, or another second half agains WBA where Hourihane shys away when it gets tough. Whelan doesn't shrink to the occation and is a very intelligent footballer, he allows McGinn and SuperJack to roam more freely forward. I'm a bit undecided on Tuanzebe, he looked nervous in the last game and played a couple of headless passes, not the usual calm composed Axel we've used to see. But I don't want to disrupt the defence too much so I'd start him. If we in the second half need to score we have Kodjia, Hourihane and Green to throw on.

For me 100% starter.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Just as good, coming from Sweden I've never fully belevied in this "neutral" lie anyway.

You may choose between white tie or donald duck style.

Good, so now we have infiltrated 206, 207 and 208.

Got my club wembley e-ticket today! Sitting in the Derby end block 208, doesn't say anything on the ticket if it's a neutral section or not. Anyway hope I get the opportunity to celebrate wildly!

Thanks, they seem trustworty, but wonder if it is the normal routine with club wembley tickets that it's e-tickets?

I booked my club wembley ticket via a third party ticket agent. They said it would probably be a printed ticket delivered to the hotel but that it could be a e-ticket sent via mail. Got confirmation today that it would be an e-ticket that they will send tomorrow. Hope it isn't the beginning of a scam here. Has anyone else who bought club wembley tickets also got the e-ticket instead of a printed one?

I just got my Club Wembley ticket in a neutral section in the Derby end. Return flight from Stockholm on that, but worth every penny! If we score you will see at least one celebrating vividly in the neural section! My plan is to say that my screaming was because of a ruptured tendon if someone would disapprove

Player by player I'm not sure which team is the better, the last we had at wembley or this one. But one think is for sure, I'm feeling much more optimistic and positive going into this one, knowing we will go for winning and not grinding out a result. Full throttle and see how it goes!

Dean Smith has taken us to the final, you legend! There will be lessons learned by this game. In hindsight we should have had Whelan or Jedi instead of Hourihane in the middle like many of us wanted. They dominated us in the second and made us nervous, that's when the leaders and calm heads are needed. Hourihane would have been better as an impact player if we needed to go for a goal. We almost self imploded with all our mistakes. At that time changes should have been made. Green should have been taken off earlier. I think we were more of a threat playing our usual style than congesting their penalty area with strikers towards the end. And all the changes in formation and positions seemed to confuse us more than them. But it will as said be lessons learned. Now is the time to hail Dean Smith and the whole team, we are going to wembley!! And he has given us the most nerve wrecking, exciting game I've ever seen. Edit: or actually, in hindsight who knows, he won us the game so hard to say it should have been done in other ways. Oh well, I'm confused and cant think straight after this game! UTV!!

I'm completely exhausted, that second half was perhaps the most nervous I've been during a football game, still shivering! Justice has prevailed, football won!

and after the last game Hourihane deffo deserves it

A bit worried about Hourihane as holding mid, if not McGinn drops down there? Anyway in Dean Smith I trust! UTV!

Yeah, but what if [insert random irrelevant comparisions with other situations here].

Football is religion!

We need a good holding midfielder to allow Grealish and McGinn to play further forward, it has been a perfect balance with Whelan in that holding role. We need his positioning, footballing intelligence, calmness and routine there. He never goes hiding either. There was a reason he was played week in and week out at Stoke despite them forking out millions and millions on other midfielders. He did one mistake last game, everyone does now and then, doesn't take away his performances of late. I don't know about the form of Jedi, but as WBA must attack and have a lot of strong players in the air I would consider playing Jedi if Whelan needs a rest. Jedi is a big game player, a leader with experience who ca be relied on. Or perhaps he can come in and hopefully close the game towards the end. If we are in a similar position as last game and need to gamble on scoring Hourihane is the obvious choice. As WBA most likely will attack I would be hesitant and a bit worrying with staring him as the holding midfielder though. The five goals conceded against Forest still springs to mind.

Good Edit: Still mentally drained after that

If we would go up, how about taking huge loans from chinese banks, buy this seasons top scorers and then gamble on reaching the Champions League in two seasons or go in to administration?

I'm not convinced we should sign him permanently as a CB. He has improved a lot since his debut and had a couple of good games playing next to Mings. But he is still too error prone, he has a mistake in him and doesn't ooze that calmness and reliability that is needed from a CB. At times his technique looks good but at times he seems to be fumbling with the ball, like the back pass to Steer that went out to a corner. Their second goal was also a big mistake from his side, sure he wanted to track Pukki, but when their player is free in front of our goal with a clear shot on goal - for sure as a CB your instinct must be to throw your body in front of the player, not stepping back and tracking someone else? He may improve of course, but that decision making of his and the errors doesn't bode well for me playing as a CB. Perhaps he can play LB, think he has had his best games in that position and his mistakes won't be as costly there. So sceptical about him as CB but at a good price I'd take him as LB.

As I posted in the match thread, one of the brightest points with today's game was that we now have a settled system and playing style that new players slot into. Of course Grealish and McGinn etc make a difference, but we still played well today, playing the same attacking controlled football as before, only with other players. Well done Dean Smith, may it long continue!

I was very happy with the line up, exactly like I had wanted it. Rested the key players but didn't disrupt the system to much. I think we played well and deserved at least a draw. It's so good to see that we now have a functioning system, a style of play that new players slot into. I dont like loosing of course, but this feels like an ok soft landing after our increadible winning streak. It had to end sometime and better that is now. Now we can regroup with rested players, take encouragement from the performance and go into the play offs.

I think Leeds has been the best team we have played this season, I fancy them going up directly.

This is just wonderly wonderful!