picicata

It's more the fact he's being asked to cover the full back position that people are pointing out. It's no coincidence that both McGinn and JJ have been crap this season, they're both having to play a weird midfielder/ full back position that suits neither. I agree he shouldn't be captain and that he does need time out of the team but he can still be an asset if he is used in the correct way. At the very least we need to avoid bomb squading him as that reduces his value were we to sell him.

This is true, however, if we had a double pivot of Kamara and Luiz in a game and you needed a player to disrupt an opposition further up the field in the 10 area then McGinn would be good for that, it's how he is utilised for Scotland. Not saying he should start there but it is certainly a better way to use him than he currently being used.

I'd add he also needs to show that he knows where he's been going wrong in previous games as that is the only way we will go forward. Reverting to his badly thought out 433, with all its many faults, will show he is not the man to take us forward even if we get a lucky win similar to the Everton one.

He does need to come out of the team and Gerrard, should he stay, needs to admit his mistakes and swap round the captaincy. However, there is a player in there still. I know there is a narrative now to say he has basically only ever been good for us in the championship but I feel that does him a disservice. He has clearly had some good games for us, he was the first to respond to Gerrard when he came in during the uplift in those first six games, that might well be why Gerrard likes him so. It's no coincidence that both his and JJ's form has dropped off a cliff. They are being asked to play in ways that is completely unnatural to both of them, in fact probably unnatural to most midfielders. JJ was given the opportunity to play a much more natural version of his game yesterday and looked so much better for it. McGinn, given the same opportunity would almost certainly respond in the same way. Stop playing our number 8s as auxiliary full backs in a system that seems to suit absolutely no one and McGinn's form will improve. For now give him a rest and either wait for Gerrard to wake up and smell the cheese or for a new man to come in who will play a player to his strengths rather than trying to make him something he is not

Good result and a good game plan to get that good result. We clearly have the players to play better than we have been and they have been held back by poor choices in formation and poor player choices. Gerrard made the right choices today and that has almost certainly bought him the Leicester and Southampton games. Now he needs to show he has learnt from the choices and it wasn't just luck

He's clearly a better manager than Gerrard

Would

Haaland is going to end us

A depresser

Welcome

He won't be sacked, he'll be mutually consented

If they're not shit when they join we can certainly change that

It would make sense to sack him today and put Critchley in for the Man City game just to save us from the sight of 40000 people in Villa Park all turning on him

Scoreline somewhat flattered us We are 19th in the league and Leicester have a game in hand on us On the bright side, hopefully only one more game and then we are rid of him

That's just this weekend!

Win Or lose heavily

Exactly. The reason he needs results against two of the best teams in the league is because of his incompetence against lesser teams. He has put himself in this situation.

It's good of them to be providing some light relief from our current plight I just wish we weren't returning the favour

Had a dream last night that we beat them 1-0 with a late Ashley Young penalty so I'm going with that

We will have to hope that who ever our next manager is that he finds a way to use Coutinho more effectively

The thing with playing two up top is that it actually gives us a little bit more width as one of our strikers will nearly always drop wide to receive the ball, this allows us to use more of the pitch and stretch defenders about. Of course we could just play with wingers but pretty certain that's unlikely too happen And I've just realised this isn't in the right topic

We make so few chances and those we make are of very little quality. We need a change of system to get the most out of these players. Relegation, if the current status quo is continued, is a very real possibility but I do believe we have far more quality in the squad than is being shown. If we correct our problems we will win enough to stay up

Maybe you're correct. I suppose he then has to question whether we are better positioned to go further than Brighton are

I just get the feeling with Potter, as well as loyalty, he has spent the last few years building something that has led to Brighton looking like an excellent team. I'm not sure he'll want to leave just as his hard work is really paying dividends to start a new project.

I think Poch is more likely than Potter