sexbelowsound

I thought we already had an agreed price in Snodgrass' loan deal?

15 hours ago, Villan_of_oz said:

If we go up.....

Martial on season long loan!

You heard it here first....

And last.....

57 minutes ago, TRO said:

I think his talent is diluted playing further back.....but understand why against Boro.

I think he will play further forward against Fulham.

I'm not referring to just against Boro. This season he has played from a deeper position than he used to. 

What a player he is becoming. So much better in this deeper role. His work ethic, strength, tackling, positioning, anticipation (basically all those stats from Football Manager) have improved ten fold.

We've just witnessed a Bruce masterclass and I applaud him for it.

One more and we're back where we belong.

10 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

Midway through the first half quite a few around me were starting to groan at his and other's keeping of possession...

I think another occasion the crowd would have turned but I am thinking about the second half support and getting goosebumps. The support was brilliant last night, some of the roars of support that replaced the usual groans of frustration when we had to dig deep and had little to shout about were amazing.

If people don't realise now that Jedinak is essentially a third centre back then I don't know when they will.

He's always going to be safety first and a lot of the backwards passes were when Terry or Chester passed it into him and he played it back to Johnstone. He's not the type of defensive midfielder to take a touch and turn towards the opposition goal and play a forward pass when he knows there is even the slightest chance he might not have the space to do so.

He does what he is there to do perfectly.

10 hours ago, HeyAnty said:

Just was interested to see what fulham fans arr thinking so read a couple of their forums. This seems to be the general concesus.

’Watched Boro v Villa both legs. Hardly the resident Villa expert after seeing two games.. but this was my view of it. Thoughts?

Villa’s main threat is in midfield. Grealish is some player - think a cross between Johansen and Cairney. Snodgrass didn’t look too special over the two legs but i know he’s highly rated by their fans. Jedinak is solid. In a sense, their midfield closely mirrors the structure of ours with two creatives and a holding midfielder.

Defence is solid with Chester (highly rated) and Terry. However surely the latter means they will struggle with our pace.

Finally a lot of hard work by their strikers .. quite similar to us in shape with two wingers who look to drive on the counter. However no real potency to speak of and certainly no Mitro figure in the centre.

Their keeper should have been sent off tonight. It was the most blatant red card you’ll see.

I think the key to the game will be marking Grealish out the game with McDonald. I genuinely feel Villa offer very little apart from him. I certainly think we can afford to commit players in attack provided he’s kept quiet because their strikers lack any real threat compared to Derby.

Feeling positive!’

He may not be wrong but what he definitely is doing is over rating some of their players.

They've definitely developed a high sense of self importance. Lets not forget that this is the same team of quality players that couldn't get it up when it mattered against Blues.

Let them underestimate us.

10 hours ago, rodders0223 said:

Passed it backwards too much. APPARENTLY!!!

Who said that?

9 hours ago, LakotaDakota said:

end product still not there but he is better than he was. He would be far better in a better team as against middlesbrough you can afford to double up & manmark him as the rest of the team really isn't very good and you know he is by far their biggest danger.

Put him in Wolves team or a good premier league team where he is nowhere near the only threat and i would think the extra couple of seconds and better awarness/positioning from those around him would help him greatly

You could say that for any player. Put them in a better team and they'll look better.

Overrated, vastly so.

25 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

FWIW I think Jedinak will play.

That would be my first choice, even if it's for just 50-60 minutes.

19 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

If jedinak doesn't play it'll be Whelan.

Probably, I think that would be the wrong choice personally.

3 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Example being if the option was Rafa (Benitez) over Bruce it's an obvious upgrade, despite this season's efforts

I see, but Rafa is unlikely to be available and also part of his strength this season might come from knowing his squad well?

I'm all for making improvements. If there are better options available then we should explore them, but a one year extension for Hutton as a backup/rotation player wouldn't be terrible.

2 hours ago, Jareth said:

Ok, I know I'm irrational about Hutton, based on recent season(s), but is there any room for sentimentality? It's like Bruce, cheers for promotion but hello Rafa, and Hutton, well if we go up there will be money to replace him with something younger and exciting. One more year as cover perhaps, but in the premier league he'll be tested very sorely and frequently. 

Who is Rafa and why are we saying hello to him?

Personally i'm going with:

Johnstone

Hutton, Terry, Chester, AnyonebutTaylor

Thor

Snodgrass, Hourihane, Grealish, Adomah

Grabban

I'm not sure Jedinak can do another game so quickly and Thor, whilst not being as impressive in the air as Jedinak, still adds height but most importantly a bit more mobility. I think he will help us to defend set pieces and could do a good job sweeping up some of Adama's loose dribbling. 

If Neil Taylor plays, they score.

Boro haven't scored against us in three games this season. I don't think they will tonight either. I think it'll finish 1-0 on the night.

Simply put I'd just go out to win the game like you would any other home game. Away goals not counting means there shouldn't be any fear of them scoring so lets make sure we're wary of their threats but not give them too much respect.

We're the better team with better players. Lets show that again.

Let the Fulham wank fest begin....

Add in trades and it takes the game play to where it should be. This game goes from being exhilarating on draft day to to utterly dull and boring within two weeks.

Jedinak was in there to help defend against their set pieces. They'll still be a threat tomorrow night.

Hopefully none of our ball boys are as accommodating as theirs were with the towels though. Unless said towels are laced with Vaseline.

4 hours ago, Jareth said:

No he cannot have a new contract. I appreciate his efforts but he was instrumental in all the cackness once upon a time - we do not move on with him in the side.

Thankfully you don't have a say in the matter.

Absolutely class.

1 minute ago, coda said:

The only concern I have is the Pulis factor. He's a wily old campaigner who has his boring template down to a tee. 

As is Bruce.