tajjuk

The unproven 20 year old winger we got from that club turned out pretty well. The Red Bull scouting network seems pretty decent, they have a player about to go to Liverpool, a striker that is the hottest property in the world right now and supposedly going to be sold for £80 million plus. Whilst the Bundesliga club is competing for the title on a side that probably cost less to assemble than ours, and several of them came via the Salzburg

Probably because they had much easier fixtures, we had the hardest first dozen games of anyone in the league. Oh and he had us performing much better last season, neither of which Hughes or Pellegrino did. It's also very clear that the style of play, the approach, the set up is much better than either of those two managers, it's just the players are not very good at executing the plans, whereas Hughes and Pellegrino didn't even look like they had any plans. -------------------------- And people talking about our midfield problem are talking nonsense, since Hojberg and JWP have been playing there together they have been very good, we have been overturning possession almost as well as anyone in the league and that is a lot down to those two. It's individual defensive errors that are costing us points, mainly around marking.

No he hasn't, he's looked like a young player who needs a goal, against Sheff Utd for example he had a great volley that hit the post and a good header that produced a wonder save. He's looked to me mobile, with good movement, good work rate but lacking a bit of confidence. And he's what 22, in the PL for the first time in a team that has massively struggled and in the fixtures he played we had a difficult run of games. Ings's run of goalscoring has coincided with easier fixtures, where there will be more chances for attackers. Writing him off is just dumb.

We've spent £108 over the last two seasons......... and brought in about £50 million. Feasibly we should be able to spend about £50-60 million a summer, especially if we shift the deadwood like Forster, Mo, Hoedt, Carillo, etc. like we might be able to make £20 million from Celtic just for the two on loan seeing as they are doing well. Those Leipzig fees show that good players can be found in the £10-20 million bracket, but our scouting over the last 2-3 years has been poor.

Liverpool still being the champs league is good, the more games the better, its the only real hope of them dropping points and bottling the league (even though its very unlikely) lots of games, picking up injuries and fatigue to have a poor 2nd half of the season.

Looking at KUMB, they seem even more pessimistic than us and most of them think they will lose. They probably don't realise how dross at home we are, I am just hoping that the two recent wins have given the team some more confidence, an early goal for either team could be massive as any confidence either team has remaining will drain away.

Watched the highlights, he looked like old Forster again, throwing that massive frame in front of anything, he was never the most elegant keeper or the most technically accomplished I don't think, but at his best he's this huge, brave, commanding presence with very good reflexes that was able to pull off some absurd saves. His confidence clearly went, weren't their rumours of mental health issues? He wasn't commanding his area, wasn't being brave, coming out forcefully for us, wasn't coming at the ball, and that is where the mistakes came. Good to see him doing well, always seemed like an honest pro and a decent guy. Hopefully we can raise some funds from him to buy needed replacements elsewhere, I don't think him coming back is good idea, looks like the change of scene has done the trick and you wouldn't want to risk him coming back and falling into the same funk again. Plus long term I think Gunn will be a much better keeper.

The ban was over the top and not needed IMO, if people didn't want the stupid things they have said coming back to haunt them, then they shouldn't have said them in the first place. Led by Donkeys have literally made a career out of doing what you did.

We need to put pressure on them straight away, their confidence looks very fragile. They still have dangerous players though, Felipe Anderson might spark back into life and Antonio is always a threat.

Yeh that will be annoying.

No coach can do much about repeated defensive errors, it's not like we are set up wrong or anything, shape is generally good, organisation looks good, they look like they know what they doing but crucially under pressure they make mistakes. It won't be fixed without a personnel change, which is probably why the board are sticking with the manager when so many other clubs would have sacked him after a poor run. We create loads of chances but don't score enough of them, and we give the opposition too many easy goals through easy errors. Whatever the manager or coaches do, won't change those two realities. The only way to realistically improve is to have better players who take more chances and make less defensive mistakes. Then we can talk about marginal gains which might be what pushes up back to challenging for top 6/8.

I mean really we need - CB (probably two) RB LB (back up) GK (older one while Gunn develops IMO and one better than McCarthy) 2 DMs (playmaker one and proper mobile physical one) AM (playmaker in Tadic style) Target man. Which is whole team. But a CB has to be the priority, someone with some leadership and physical presence, but also some pace. And then probably a full back for the right side, we know Cedric is leaving anyway and he doesn't seem to be putting it fully in (though not as bad as some are making it out) and Valery is still very work in progress.

Performance was good, all the last 4 performances have been good and that is the main positive. Keep playing like that we will win games, our lack of taking chances and leaky defence will stop us winning more of course but we'll win enough I reckon. Newcastle are honestly sh*te and I'd rather go down than play like them. A few key additions in January and we could be very positive about the 2nd half of the season I reckon, no additions and it'll be much like this, win some games, lose and draw ones we should win and we'll still be in the relegation mix but probably ok in the end I reckon.

Marcus Bent one in 2005

Playing positive IMO plays into their hands, pretty much all season they have been a park the bus and score from set pieces/long shots team, their forward 3 have (after last night) just 2 goals between them. They had some good counters against West Ham, but that is about it, they have threatened little from actual creating their own chances/breaking teams down. I'd prefer us to keep a bit tighter earlier on, get the crowed bored and invite them on and counter them, see what their defence is made of when its not siting in it's own box being screened by 3 DMs.

On form? Not sure about that, they parked the bus, got a goal with pretty much their only shot and then got another very lucky one late on. Their keeper was clear man of the match as well. They had 27% possession and for about 70 minutes had a total of 2 shots on goal all game. This was against Sheff Utd, a promoted team, yet they played like they were facing Barcelona. Most of their results have come from that style, I would presume at home their would be more pressure to actually leave their own half and try to win a game rather than not lose it. At home they have not been great, they have drawn with Watford, lost to Arsenal (who are terrible away), drawn with Brighton, drawn with Wolves, beat Utd, drawn wit City and beat Bournemouth. And they were quite lucky in some of games IMO, City battered them and should have won easily and generally they have been relying on some set pieces or long shots to get goals. Considering we are better away from home than at home and they seem to only be able to play by parking the bus and are not great at home, could be an interesting game.

Newcastle won but wow they were negative and depressive to watch, they pretty much had all 11 players in their own third for most of the game, I would be appalled if we did that against a promoted team, they treated Sheff Utd like Barcelona.

Both him and Almiron look very dangerous on the break, but you'd think considering they are at home they are the ones that will be looking to break us down and we will be looking more for the counters. Newcastle's best performances have basically come from having little possession, defending deep and countering at pace, be interesting how they approach the game at home against a team they would be expected to beat.

I think its actually more intentional, we often attempt to play direct balls into the channels purposely to then give the ball to the opposition in a position where we can force a turnover and score from it. Also generally we are quite direct, it can look a bit aimless at times probably because we lack the quality to pull it off consistently but the idea is to get get quick balls forward to counter and score in the transitions, I just think our players are not very good at it.

Yeh 45 points from 38 games is not bad, especially considering the first 13 this season have included the entire top 9 from last year, you'd expect maybe the points per game to creep up a little once we have played everyone in the league as the 4 teams we haven't played yet are Newcastle, Villa, West Ham and Palace.

1.2 points per game with this squad is pretty solid to be honest. And that is with a bias towards having harder fixtures this year. I am glad we have stuck by him and are not doing a Watford, long term I think it will prove to be a good decision, especially if we sort the recruitment out.

Haven't we had more success away from home with the back 3? He might do that, though I'd probably go with the same team with maybe Boufal in for Redmond if he's recovered from that toe injury. He deserves a start and Redmond has been below par for a little while now.

More favourable treatment for LiVARpool, Robertson elbows Davies in the head and gets away it, TAA stamps on Richarlison and gets away with it, Van Dijk commits a clear penalty and gets away with it. Penalty was at 2-1 as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if he freshens up the team a little bit to keep up the intensity.

It's a while before we have to play a better side, most of the team from like 9th down seem a much of a muchness.