AndyM3000

Im nervous about them all but we have to score goals now. Targett is better overall by some distance.

He did, I'm saying if Targett is fit enough for 60+ minutes of football then he has to be starting for me.

Looks like he replaced Hause on the bench today after we made that late change. Must be fit, strange he's not been on the bench before now if that was the case.

Targett came on for 60 minutes. I'd rather start him and take him off for Taylor later on but overall I take your point. The persistence with Konsa as RB is madness for me.

I don't think we will have any control over him. If someone wants to pay enough they can negotiate with Man City to buy him.

I've been saying we need proper full backs in and it took two injuries to enforce them changes and we looked miles better for it. I can't see why Smith was continuing with Taylor and Konsa as full backs.

Mings is the only one of these current back 5 that was a planned starter at the start of the season, the rest are back ups that needed replacing anyway (Apart from Konsa). It's in a terrible state, it's hardly surprising we are here. With that being said, I'm delighted we have a **** RB at RB.

Zaha an absolute banker to score too after this.

May as well start our Championship pre-season and use the rest as friendly games.

We have to score a goal to win so no point nitting this up and trying to keep it tight for 70 mins. Wingers are shite, if Fred and Targett are fit then put them in a wing back system, get Jack in the middle in front of Dougie and McGinn and stick Samatta and Davis up front. No point playing Davis if we are going to stick Konsa and Taylor out wide again.

It's a combination of things for me. The old squad need completely overhauling, Whelan, Hutton, Elmo, Jedinak, Adomah and others, it wasn't in a good state for a couple of seasons and glued together with some decent loan players in Mings, Snoddy, Axel, Tammy, Grabban. We somehow managed to get promoted and while you cant complain about it, we certainly weren't ready for that to happen. We needed a lot of new players and it might look like we spent a lot it had to stretch a long way, Mings looked good at the start, Luiz looks good now, Heaton was hit and miss at times when he was fit, Guilbert & Konsa have shown some promise but the rest have been well below what's required, we needed a couple of gems to appear from this batch of players and we got none. I don't blame Smith that much, he's tried different formations and during the first half of the season there were games we looked like we had a decent plan and were doing okay. Injuries to McGinn, Wesley & Heaton seem to have hit us hard and it shows the drop off in quality when we had to replace them. Smith might look tactically poor to some but I think he's in a crap spot with the player we have available right now, it almost doesn't matter what team we put out it just massively lacks any real quality all over the pitch. I don't know who signed these players but that's where the failures are for me. If Smith picked them all, it's on him, if it was Suso then likewise.

I think he will be here next season, it's a short turn around and we will need another rebuild while having to keep a lot of these average players. It might almost be easier to balance the team a bit more without Grealish, everything goes through him and when it doesn't work it's game over. Doesn't help that the rest of the team are shite mind.

Highly doubt it but if they wanted to throw the game it makes sense. Newcastle are safe, the best teams to get relegated for them would be West Ham and Villa, two big clubs with potential big budgets and a good attraction for rival players who Newcastle might want. Bmouth and Watford aren't going to be as much of a threat to Newcastle next season as us or West Ham would be.

Seems like a nice spot for both teams to lock up a point and pretty much seal it.

Its over

I'd get ready for him to be leaving, I imagine his buy back to Man City is cheap if we get relegated and with them potentially facing a European ban he might fancy his chances at getting game time and establishing himself. Pep loves him and the work permit shouldn't be an issue now. Such a good player, comfortable on the ball, strong, mobile, can shoot from distance and still only 22 year old. He's on another wave length to what the rest of our team are on.

These lot might top the Bosko Balaban saga.

I agree he's been poor, he's allowed to have a patch of poor form but its in a period where we can't afford it and we have been hurt by fixtures congestion, quality of the opponent and injuries. I still think it's a massive loss not having Targett and Guilbert on the flanks too. We have tried to focus on being much more compact and defensive minded to stop leaking goals, this has killed us at the other end and is partly what is hurting Jack in my opinion. I don't agree he's not interested, I think he might be injured or just nackered but we will know for sure against Palace, it's a must win.

If we do end up with Big Sam he's got the long ball down to the pitch to nobody absolutely nailed. Silver lining and all that.

Apart from Luiz they have all been shit, we expect more from Jack because he's got the ability, we don't give a shit the rest have been crap because we know they are crap. He can't be top level Grealish every game, he's off form. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't be in this league and if it wasn't for him we would be relegated along time ago. He's never going to be able to drag the entire team through the whole season. According to WhoScored he has the 22nd highest overall match rating out of the entire league, if we get relegated the one person you cant blame for this is Jack Grealish.

I think he knows when we come out against the likes of Liverpool and Man Utd with these line ups are about to get done over, lets be honest we all know it. Lets see how he is v Palace on Sunday.

It's been a downward spiral ever since James Milner left

I think he goes back to City. Would love to see how he gets on sitting in that midfield.

Reaction in here is insane. What do you want Grealish to do? Skin half the defence? He's doubled up on every time, they are happy to surround him and let him pass it backwards. He's trying too hard right now and he's playing awfully but what are his options? Pass it to Davis? Taylor? Everyone is awful and we have such little quality. We expect way too much from Grealish, you could replace him with Messi in the game today and you'd get the same replies in here 'That Messi kid, I don't see the fuss'. He looks injured/nackered too. You have to look at the bigger picture, he's off form but the replies here are embarrassing.

Smith was KO'd on the ground after jumping for a header.