Donatello

Committed to buy

Romeu has got to wise up with when he takes cards.

As bad as Stephens has been, and is generally, Jan hasn't exactly been commanding. Playing 3 CBs probably gives a false impression of how adept these CBs are. Then again, there is the Stephens factor, which could make any partnering CB look incompetent.

Not much pressure from Bertrand to stop the cross

Feel for Cardiff.....not (is a bit of a sicker for them though)

Bottled it x 2 (silly by Redmond to get himself into a card-worthy situation though)

Bottled it.

Yes!!!!! Defending like us

The bias from Gale is infuriating...didn't mean to kick Sims in the face = not a free kick (paraphrasing)

You can put an extra body in there without sacrificing a CB though, as we have done many a time. 3-5-2/5-3-2 (depending on if we have possession). I think our CBs have shown enough deficiencies this season to suggest that they can't play in a two together with any dependability. (whereas they all could probably play in a two with a quality CB) (imo)

Because our CBs would get even more of a battering in a two.

Bit of a mauling that, so to get in at 0-1 is something of a 'blessing'. As others have mentioned, despicable level of effort from PEH for their goal. Think I'd rather have Armstrong/Long/Sims attacking with Redmond, i.e. some form of combination that can counter/relieve pressure (by retaining possession in their half).

In training their defending against Long et al

Get that joke off of the f**cking pitch, and then out of the matchday squad, and then out of the club.

Newcastle arguably have the 'easiest' run in (playing a chunk of relegation candidates), and Burnley the trickiest. For us, there are four key fixtures, Fulham (H), Brighton (A), Newcastle (A), and Huddersfield (H). All winnable, in theory. Throw in a couple of draws against the mid-table teams, and we should be okay

...and then won 1 in 14

Fact of the matter is, in spite of being in exactly the same league position we were in before Hasenhuttl, we've closed the points gap on many of the teams outside of the top 6. In fact, only Wolves (+4), Burnley (+3), and Watford (+2) have gained points on us. Crystal Palace (0) and West Ham (0) maintained the same points difference. And we gained on Cardiff (-1), Newcastle (-4), Bournemouth (-5), Everton (-5), Leicester (-5), Fulham (-7), Brighton (-9), Huddersfield (-14). Arguably, because of this, Newcastle (if they weren't already) and Brighton have been dragged into the battle for 18th, along with us, Palace, Cardiff, and Burnley - with Brighton seemingly in freefall (1 win in last 11). So, in spite of yesterday being gut-wrenching, I'm not convinced that we are the team most likely to be relegated - I guess it's heavily reliant on remaining fixture list of each respective team though (well, duh).

This.

A goal every 347 mins, slightly better than Shane Long's overall record with us (1 every 353) - which is pretty good going for a midfielder. For context, Lallana and Tadic scored every 445 and 458 mins respectively (although, admittedly, Herrmann was probably playing in better sides than both of those). 1 every 347 mins is less than 1 in 4 games, but it looks like the reason he hasn't played/scored more is because of extensive injuries

Other areas of their games aside, JWP has racked up a fair number of assists over the past 6.5 years, in a far better assist per minutes basis compared to Reed's 1.5 seasons in the Championship. But as others have said, I don't think they fill the same niche. As for JWPs pressing, I'd say one of his best seasons was under Poch, when he frequently played wide right in a pressing front 4, so I personally don't see a reason why he wouldn't be suited to Hasenhuttl's system. Agree about Sims/Elynoussi though - there's a player I would be looking to offload ASAP.

I make it out to stand at 1 goal per 227 mins (approximately!). For comparison (1 Prem league goal with Saints per mins), Ings - 152.7 Austin - 181.1 Lambert - 212.5 Mane - 225.8 Gabbi - 227.1 JRod - 229.8 Pelle - 235.9 Long - 352.8 Of course, a lot of those players were more productive in terms of assists, and if you factor those in, Gabbi would be bottom of the list above.

Fantastic purchase, and a genuine model pro.

If you're going to interpret the statistics like that, I'm not sure it's fair to include goals which he scored as a substitute. With that being said, goals scored when starting; 16/17 - 10 starts / 4 goals 17/18 - 11 starts / 3 goals 18/19 - 4 starts / 1 goal Total - 25 starts / 8 goals (i.e. scores every 3.13 starts) By contrast, Danny Ings - 14 starts / 7 goals (scores every 2 starts) Jay Rod - 9 starts / 4 goals (scores every 2.25 starts) Charlie Austin - 29 starts / 10 goals (scores every 2.9 starts) Manolo Gab - 25 starts / 8 goals (scores every 3.13 starts) Shane Long - 30 starts / 4 goals (scores every 7.5 starts ) Ultimately, if he's one of the players we can SELL to raise funds for Ralph's targets, I'd happily see him go. Good luck to him and all that though.

In a minute per goal+assist basis, he's actually 4th most 'effective' over the 16/17 + 17/18 seasons, behind only JRod (16/17 season only), Austin, and Gabby. Slips down to 6th when including this years stats (i.e. Ings and Armstrong). Not that I'm suggesting this figure is the only measure of a player *I reserve the right for my figures to be wrong/way off (Prem games only) Apologies, just read the topic comment...feel free to remove Back on topic... Is he known for being able to organise defences?