JoshVilla

This is atrocious. 2-0 down against a side as poor at this. Having the best that we can hope for being a draw against Fulham is terrible. Something magical is gonna have to happen in the second half now.

'kin hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Herd at RB. Ooh err!

Yeah I personally would leave Kozak in, but I think that Lambo will start Benteke. I can't see him leaving him out twice.

I reckon it'll be something like:

                       Goose

Lowton     Clark     Baker      Bacuna

           KEA     Westwood  Delph

         Weimann  Benteke  Gabby

That back 4 is not at all what I'd want, and Bacuna at LB isn't ideal at all, but I'm not sure what choice we really have. Herd isn't exactly match fit, but I wouldn't be surprised if Lambo threw him in. He also said that Benteke looked more like himself when he came on at Southampton so I reckon he might start him again tomorrow. It's a difficult one to call now in terms of formation, with all of these injuries complicating things, but I'd really go for it in terms of attacking and just hope that we can get at least 2 goals, because I reckon we'll leak at least 1 due to having to use players out of position. The midfield are really gonna need to cover the defence, but if they do and our forwards are feeling as opportunistic as we were on Wednesday night, then I think we'll be okay.

Yeah Bennett's still out I think, so I think that probably our only choice unless Lambo puts Herd in somewhere.

I do worry about our defence now that Vlaar and Luna are such doubts. I can only imagine that it'll be Lowton, Baker, Clark and Bacuna at the back. As much as Baker and Clark have upped their games this season, it's still a little unnerving without Vlaar. We'll probably be mostly relying on our forwards here to score first and take the pressure off the back line.

I really like him. He's not a phenomenal striker by any means, but he works hard when he's on the pitch and you can see how much it means to him to be scoring for us. 3 goals at this point is pretty good, I reckon, considering that he's still pretty new to us and is settling in. His height is always going to be a threat, especially from set pieces, even if it's more of a case of him drawing defenders away so someone else can get their head on it. I have a lot of respect for somebody who'll give it their all and shows how passionate they are, and his celebration on Sunday showed just that. There are definitely areas of his game that he can improve, of course, but if he's gonna continue scoring goals then he's alright for me, since that's the only statistic that's gonna win a match for us. He seems like a genuine guy who wants to do well for us, and I hope he can do just that.

The team is definitely a lot more exciting with Gabby in. I always feel that we'll be able to create something when he plays, and his movement is key to how effective our counter attacks can be. Glad he got his goal yesterday, so here's hoping he can go on a bit of a run now.

Another game that we should win, but there are no guarantees in this league. It's a shame that Jol went before we had chance to play them, as I think it'd have been pretty much a given. Again, I'd probably start Kozak and bring on Benteke on the hour or so mark, to exploit their tiring defence. 4-3-3 is probably how I'd go about this and out-do them with pace. They've got a bit more fight in them now so I don't think it'll be easy, I'm gonna say a very nervy 2-1 win.

However, with the way our results always end up going this season, we'll probably end up drawing/losing this one and then beating/drawing with Utd at home. We like a shocker.

Bloody hell..........................

Chuffed that Gabby got his goal, chuffed that Kozak got another, chuffed that Delph FINALLY got the goal he deserves (our midfielders like scoring top class goals, don't they?).

There are definitely issues that need addressing. I know possession doesn't win you games but 23% against Southampton is a tad worrying, but at least we used it effectively. I don't expect us to have that low amount of possession again, and it's hard to tell whether we let them dominate on purpose, but if so, that was a little too much as the pressure was getting very worrying.

All in all though, 3 points from this game is fantastic, and it definitely takes away the disappointment from the Sunderland draw. If we'd beaten them and drawn tonight we'd have been ecstatic. 

UTV!!!

Benteke might be more effective to bring on later when Southampton's defense is knackered. They won't wanna face Benteke at that point.

Southampton are a good team, very well organised, but I think that they're often made in the media to be a lot better than they actually are. Don't get me wrong, like I said, they're a good, strong side, but I think that they've been slightly overachieving and have been helped by starting the season well. They'll finish the season upper mid-table, most likely. It's been mentioned before how high they like to press and that's really something that can play into our hands if our forwards are on the ball and we take our chances well. We're really gonna need to keep it together at the back and in midfield, as they'll attack right from the starting whistle, but if we stay on our toes and not waste possession (big ask, I know) then we're capable of getting something here.

2-1 to them if we fall to pieces, 2-1 to us if we hold it together.

Liverpool lucky that Elmohamady is so bad, could have been 4-1 then....

3-1 to Hull. Yes, it's annoying that they've gone above us, but oh my god, that's funny.

Redskins really need to pull their finger out for this one. We've lost any hopes of the playoffs, now it's just a matter of trying to get our record somewhat respectable (if you can call it that).

Apologies if this has already been mentioned in this thread or the match thread, but the amount of time that Sunderland wasted when it came to any sort of dead ball situation was atrocious. Especially towards the end of the game, it was so noticeable. 

We need to really be geared up for the counter attack. I'd like for us to try the Lowton/Bacuna partnership on the right as I think that it'd be pretty solid with Bacuna having been used to playing RB and Lowton in his usual position, and it'd be pretty handy attacking wise. Hopefully the lads coming back from injury will be a bit stronger too. It's possible for us to nick a win here as long as we continue keeping it tight at the back, we just need to be sharper on the counter. Surely it's time for Benteke to find the back of the net again, especially since Lukaku is banging them in.

Regardless of what I said about the Lowton/Bacuna thing, however, I reckon we'll line up the same as we started yesterday, just that it'll hopefully be more effective away.

Providing Man City beat Swansea tomorrow then we'll still be sitting in 10th, just without the 3 point cushion we could have had. Well done Newcastle

Movement off the ball is a huge issue. Every time we have a throw in, there's nowhere near enough movement or anybody trying to make themselves available. We're just too static. During open play too, the amount of times that there was acres of space that nobody was running into was ridiculous. Players just aren't making space, hence we'll often get into the opposition's half and then end up passing it backwards. There aren't enough options.

Poor. We couldn't score against one of the worst teams in the league at the moment. I said before the game that I was worried that we'd throw it away and that's what we did. It doesn't really feel like we won a point at all. The clean sheet is a plus, and we can say "if you can't win it, just don't lose it" but we really should be beating teams like this. 

Nervous for this one. We really should be winning this, as it's a great opportunity to get into the top half since the other fixtures are somewhat in our favour. I just hope we don't throw it away by being overly confident because of what happened last time, as it could lead to a bit of complacency. Hopefully it won't be the case though, and a comfy win is on the way. Fingers crossed.

Judging by what HH has said, then I reckon it'll be:

                  Goose

Bacuna    Vlaar    Baker    Clark

    KEA     Westwood   Delph

   Weimann                Gabby

                 Benteke

If Luna is fit then maybe it'll be Clark as CB and Luna back at LB, but he'll probably start from the bench in instead. Maybe the formation will be a bit different to that, but perhaps that's close?

Edit: Sorry, didn't see the like on the post a few above.

Terrible mistake for that second goal, but fair play to him, he kept his head up and carried on and didn't let it affect the rest of his game, even though it wasn't his best. That shows good character, especially when a player is so new to a club, it must be awful to give away a goal like that when you're still trying to embed yourself into the team. Hopefully it'll be just a rare lapse in concentration, as he's been great for us lately.

                 Goose

Lowton   Vlaar     Clark    Luna

  Bacuna    Westwood    Delph

  Weimann                    Gabby

                Benteke 

Subs: Steer, Tonev, Helenius, KEA, Kozak, Bowery, Baker

I think that, overall, this would be our strongest line up. It'd be a shame to drop KEA after scoring a brilliant and important goal in the derby, and Lambo most likely will keep him in, but I think in terms of overall performance and strength, the one above would be more effective, maybe bringing on KEA if we need to. As a starting line-up, it's pretty strong and the bench has plenty of options available too (providing everyone is fit, of course). I know that it's our usual counter-attacking line-up, but I just think that it would still prove effective at home against Sunderland.