kidlewis

Midfield has been shocking tonight.

Game over

West Ham playing very well and pressing us very hard. I feel more nervous than most West Ham fans will be feeling. Martinez has kept us in this. Could be 3-0

That’s what I am getting at with the bench as good as. Trez improved his game and essentially early in the second was our second best wide play after Jack. Then el Ghazi game in with form and then Traore. their spells were as good a return for goals and assists as each other. our bench does not offer that for LB, RB, ST and an extra CB. hause has done great but we have two CB positions, he can’t play twice. we need players who are as good as Cash on an above average day and Target on above average day. This ensures they know they need to be hitting high quality regularly or they fall behind the player behind them. Cash and Targett have zero competition for their place other than covid, same for Konsa and Mings and same for Watkins.

Grealish is the best dribbler of the ball in the PL this season, by some distance. his carries, dribbles, dribbles past players and runs in to the box he is all 1st and some way more than second place.

Well this weekend has been pretty much perfect for us results wise. we win everton lose West Ham lose spurs lose just wanted Leicester to beat Leeds for an ideal week

Well this game for us is the game which will sum up our season. 1) I believe a win here puts us mathematically safe this season. Past two seasons at week 21 it’s been 16-18 points not 14 for relegation at this stage. 2) West Ham are 5th and played two games more than us. A win means we go above them with two games in hand. 3) it’s two wins back to back, something we haven’t done since Boxing Day. 4) It puts us 6 points ahead of the next side below us on the same number of games (Southampton) albeit they are also playing so will remain a game ahead. this game as we know is the same as any other, they’re all worth 0,1 or 3 points, but the next run of games in Feb looks quite niggly and would start a new month off on the heels of the top 4.

For me I think it’s quite simple. The players on the bench need to be as good as the players on the pitch. So we have quality coming off there. I think we do in the wide places but for me we need as good as the first XI in the following places LB RB CB ST For me, to obtain that it needs to average out about £30m a position. you get lucky with a Cash purchase and then use that to say spend £45m on a player who slots straight in. you then can go harder in the cups and Europe knowing each player is as good. we wouldn’t essentially be playing weaker sides by resting people. Just different players. all the big teams have this and Leicester I think are almost there with their bench.

Wow.... that’s not great is it... that’s relegation form. That’s 21 points for a season.... this game is pretty big for the table position.

Looks like it!

Nah replaced Barkley after tonight.

Defensively yes, going forward our midfield is brilliant. McGinn seemed to be missing a bit defensively tonight, going forward he was great, some fabulous passes. our problem tonight was not pressing when they were out wide. Top sides don’t do that. yes letting them have it wide and cross in is easier on the whole to clear but as we proved tonight it’s not the case for us. Top sides like city do just one thing off the ball really well. Just one. they press the man with the ball in their own half constantly and ensure the easy short passes are also pressed incredibly quickly. They force sides to try something fancy or go over the top, they back themselves not to make individual errors to cost them goals and points. If we pressed those wide phases Burnely had for goal 2 and 3, could have nabbed a 2-1 win.

In terms of a loss yeah but we’ve lost points in games where Grealish was our best player and we conceded or drew when we should have done more. West Ham and the other Burnley game examples.

My only worry about him going is he performs like this and still loses, looking around thinking “I love the club but some you are utterly shite” We cannot keep having Jack put in a game like that and we throw it away. We are a young side relatively speaking but some are experienced enough to close out games like that. we need a little run of wins now but cannot see it happening.

Absolutely, we should be where West Ham are with the games in hand. and to re address the losses means we need to be overturning sides which would be a big win. we don’t make it easy on ourselves. If we beat City and United all things are good again. But having to do that is so frustrating and also very unlikely.

That’s how it’s looking currently, probably him returning from Injury and getting back up to fitness will take time. he needs to up his game because the new signing added to the mix causes more competition for places. if he’s thinking about his future career he needs to put in performances or he will end up being a bit of a Wilshire

This is why I’m so frustrated. We have had 106 shots on target. That’s 5 less than Liverpool at the top of that list and we’ve played fewer games. for god sake we need to be more clinical. Jack needs to shoot more Barkely and Traore need to pass more we need to move the ball quicker in the final third especially with overlapping runs. That’s really it.

Barkley has been off the pace the last two games. Possibly getting back up to match fitness and maybe sluggish from covid. either way he need to bring his A game back because he’s not cementing his place that’s for sure

That might be true but like an employee or a business within the year you reassess. It’s not really the point. A situation where we were top but lose the last 12 games in a row do finish tenth wouldn’t be a “we will take that”. This wasn’t a game against city or United, it was Burnely, who hardly every score and grind out 1-0 wins. we’ve let three in against one of the lowest scoring sides in the league. If we go and pump Southampton 3-0 then it goes some way to addressing the balance as I think that’s a game we draw on paper, but at this point in the season we are 3 point behind where we should be.

Agree, you simply cannot lose games like that and expect a top £ finish. really poor with the possession, the shots etc. We need to offset that by beating one of the top 4 sides again to offer neutrality to this awful result

We’ve played two games less and just five on target shots from the most on target in the whole league

This game is what we will Be about this season. Get the win and we will get European football. Huge last fifteen here

Damn my BT sport app is a minute behind. Lol

As good as Sons if that went in. Goal of the season

We must get the next goal. We should have put this game to bed by now. we must be clinical in the final third and move it quicker.