roonst83

Oh yeah, I wasn't suggesting Defoe wasn't a top striker. I just meant Archer has more of a natural goal scorer finish to him.

Usually I totally get the argument that the Prem is a huge step up in quality from the Championship etc, but I'm much less concerned about this when talking about Archer as it's clear he's a purely natural goalscorer. Something we're crying out for. Just look at his goals, he's not some Defoe-esq striker who simply smashes the ball in as hard as he can, he can score with both feet, either through power or precision. If he's given service then he's got every chance and likelihood of putting those chances away in the top league. The difficulty he (and we) have is working him into a system that Emery favours. The said, if he continues to show how good he is at 'Born this season then Emery will surely take note.

Big fan of Big Ty. We're better with him in the side, that's clear. Yes, he has lapses in concentration and is error prone but he has many strengths and it just doesn't ever feel right when he's not playing. Konsa is better with him too. Seeing him at another club would be like seeing your missus with another fella. Doesn't feel right. He's ours.

First goal wins.

Needs to start. People are finally realising how poor Bailey is. Duran looked a handful the other day and will be hungry for more game time. I'm keen to see him switch up positions with Ollie too to give defenders something to think about.

My expectation for DC is for us to use the remainder the season to get him fully up to speed with the Prem. We can't rush him back after an injury like this so I expect him to get minutes in games but not to play a great deal yet. His injury was a severe one and the rehabilitation can't be rushed. That said, nothing gets you match fit better than competitive matches so any minutes he has this season is much more valuable than relying on pre season, and will stand us in better stead ahead of next season.

The absolute most forgettable fixture of the season. And it's on Sky too which means we have the insufferable promos showing us blowing a 0-2 lead last year. Grealish will probably score this time too. Classic. Haaland hat-trick incoming. And all the fake "nerves" from Pep before game will be evaporated after we roll over for a team in need again.

Absolutely love Bertie. Insanely skilful and can assist and finish. And, he's used to this league. He is a player who can weave in and out on both sides, making him unpredictable to defend against. I think he could be a player who helps provide decent opportunities for Watkins, who really needs decent service to deliver. He can frustrate, like most creative players, but when he shines, boy, does he shine bright. Pleased to have him back, was really disappointed to see him leave when we were desperate for craft in the team.

Absolutely delighted with the win. A massive three points and these past three league games have shown a great deal of character from this team that simply wasn’t here under Gerrard. We are showing that we’re a team that can dig in when required and play lovely one touch intricate play at others. The missing ingredient is up top where we look powder puff. I just trust Emery sees this and can address it. My saints mate told me they were “robbed” (to be fair he retorted once he’s calmed down) but I likened it to us nicking it rather than robbing anyone. We controlled and dominated the ball and looked completely at ease for the majority of the game. We clearly lacked potency and had some decisions go our way for once. They can definitely feel hard done by. They’re bottom of the league and had a goal scrubbed off for, in my opinion, a very very soft “foul”. I’m not sure we get ourselves back in the game if that goal stood to be honest. We looked fruitless in the final third despite Saints gifting us the ball at times in the second half. For me, the game actually hinges on that disallowed JWP goal. Our fans were instantly galvanised, and so too the players and we began to stamp more authority on the game and you could see we believed we should win it. Absolute scenes in the away end when Watkins scored. We all went barmy. And we managed to see the game out very very soundly from there after with help from our World Cup winning keeper. He’s special. Our play out from the back seemed to make more sense today. Perhaps it was my vantage point in the stand behind the goal but you could see them making space and moving from the back line. Boo and Luiz are so good on the ball. Kamara is really something utterly special. Levels above the rest in terms of game and on-field awareness. This was a unified win. Fortunate in places but one I think we deserved. We will come unstuck if we can’t be more of a threat in the final third but hopefully we assess this. Big big win. Delighted. (Voice gone and knackered from daytime beers in Yates’s ). UTV.

Love me some Boo Boo

Sh*thoused our way to victory. Improved second half. Leeds won’t know how they lost but we used game management very well. Kamara best player on the pitch. Pure levels. We needed that!! Big big win Bailey would be twice the player he is if he kept things simple but he wasn’t bad atall tonight. Did well. Young did so so well with vital blocks and last ditch challenges, and Martinez kept us in it. Special mention for Moreno. Very tough game to fine into without much earning. He improved massively as it went on and looked good going forward. Buendia improved second half after being largely anonymous first half. Ramsay put in a shift and comes alive when he’s running at them but we need him in the opponents half more time be effective. Konsa and Mings looked very ropey at the start of the second half. Didn’t know where to pass it when we play it out but we bumbled our way there. Leeds impressed me with their attitude. Didn’t stop coming at us at 2-0. The young lad for them was class. Very mature for his age. Neville was desperate for him to score. Was a highly charged game and one the neutrals will have found entertaining Huge win. Not at our best but we’ve shown we can apply ourselves better than this so makes it more vital when we can bag the three points when we’re below par. Nervy one tonight. Relieved. So glad we’ve got Emery. Really like him.

You're a week late mate.

Big fan of Dougie. So keen to see more of him with Boo Boo in the pivoting role. Playing with more freedom and aggressive, too.

Bednarek is cup-tied I believe so won't be able to play.

Just love this guy. His tenacity, aggression and vision are excellent. In Buendia we have a player who always wants the ball and is happy to take risks and gamble with it. Grealish did the same, always hungry for the ball no matter what situation we're in. Yes Emi loses it at times when trying things, but with all creative players there's much more risk in their craft to be able to execute their skill. He was an absolute handful yesterday, always looking to drive us forward and was very good at shielding the ball from their players, which either brought us free-kicks or enabled us to move the ball forward. Give him more game time and we'll see him flourish. I know he was out on the right for Norwich but so much of his great play there came through the middle. He was gifted the luxury of being able to roam free, like Jack was with us. He's a real asset to us and I feel when he's "tries too hard", which is often put against his name, that's largely due to his lack of minutes with ten-minute cameos. Even then he's shown how creative he can be. We need to see more of little Emi and with a coaching team, system and tactics that allow Buendia some freedom, I'm confident he'll thrive.

Love me some Ingsy.

We go again.

We'll get Pottered.

Our form suggests that in a few months we'll be nowhere near as close to 9th as we are presently. Yet it's increasingly likely we'll be as close to the bottom three (or worse) at that time. We're close to 9th due to the fact we're only nine games in, not because we're doing things right.

Professional sports, and politics.

Spot on. And, alarmingly, Wolves would clearly get better under the same manager – whereas we're hitting our own ceiling under this manager it seems and it just feels completely, flat and uninspiring under Gerrard with absolutely no hint of an improvement on the horizon.

Completely agree. May as well have given a goal kick every time we got a corner.

The guy is on pure cheat mode. Incredible.

I legitimately didn’t notice him at all after he came on. To the point I couldn’t find him on the pitch as his name wasn’t mentioned. Was keen to see what he could do and was hoping for some strength and control in the middle but didn’t see a thing. Bizarre.

Massive three points given our very poor start to the season. Utterly horrible game but we were easily the better team. Saints we’re woeful. Worst I’ve seen them. They posed no threat to our goal. Coutinho looked class and sharp and was his best game since United at home. Best McGinn’s played for us for ages too. He’s very limited, especially on the ball, but in a scrappy game this suited him and he put himself about for 90mins. He was long overdue due that. Thought we looked very solid defensively all game I felt and first clean sheet of the season. All four defenders did well. Watkins worked hard but as always offers no real threat in goal. He’s better used wider I think but he didn’t have much help in the forward areas. Ashley Young was solid again and our two CB’s did well. Lots of lumping it up top and our players seemed clueless a lot of the time on the ball. I would like to see us use and keep the ball much better but ultimate result was all that mattered tonight. Lots to improve still but massive three points. Bailey looked really poor again. Im just not convinced he’s good enough to start for us most of the time. He’s too weak, has very poor decision making and can’t seem to get past his man. He was awful on the ball last night too and lost possession so much. It looks like Gerrard has gone back to keeping things simple in the same way he did in his first batch of games. It’s not pretty but it makes us harder to beat and I think that’s probably his limit as a coach (at present). Our central midfield is still an issue. Luiz should be starting with Boo Boo - although looks like we’ll be losing the latter for a period of time. Typical. So, it was a vital three points for us but an utterly forgettable game. I’m confident we can play better so better to be the team that takes three points in such a poor game so we can hopefully move forwards. Winning is a good feeling and we need to try make that into a habit. Whether Gerrard can achieve that I’m not so sure but we needed that win tonight desperately and it adds more value to the point we gained against City.