VillaFaninLondon

So negative this thread. We’ve played well. Looking a bit weak down our right side defensively though.

Exactly the team I wanted to see. Hopefully Luiz puts in a great display after his Brazil call up. Will be our toughest game of the season but I'm confident we'll play at our best with that team and hopefully catch them on the break a few times. UTV

Completely agree, this is not a game for Hourihane as much as I like the guy. We need two sitting midfielders in front of the back four and the attacking midfielders to sit in their own half a lot as City will dominate possession. Need to avoid conceding early first and foremost and try to nick a goal on the break. I'd play Trez over AEG as he'll track back more and has a bit more explosive pace which will be handy for this game. Would line up like this: ..................................Heaton...................................... Guilbert............Engels............Mings.............Targett ......................Marvelous........Luiz............................. ................................ McGinn................................... Trezeguet............................................ ...Grealish ...................................Wesley................................... I'm not expecting us to get anything tbh but if we can avoid a hammering and keep our goal difference intact that wouldn't be so bad. We lose say 3-1 that gives me confidence we can give Liverpool a really good game at VP and maybe snatch something.

So relieved and happy we won that. Brighton looked much better 11 v 11 which is worrying, but the points is what matter. We couldn't get wins against 10 men Arsenal and West Ham, so if we'd done the same today against a worse team than those two it would have been so frustrating. We are creating a lot over the 90 minutes but also conceding a lot of chances, they need to be working on that because against a side that can finish better than Brighton we'd have been in trouble today. Really important we won today with some really tough fixtures coming up. At least we go into City next weekend with a bit of momentum and sit in a very nice 11th place!

Letting another team with 10 off the hook again. Why the **** do we keep doing this.

Grealish yesssssss

**** off VAR

Red card. Every time this has happened we have screwed up. Let's home today is the day that changes.

So you don't think these are the sorts of games we need to be winning?

Very frustrating. Another home game against a team we ought to be beating and we're getting outplayed. Needs to change something at HT.

Big game today with some tough games to come after this, five of our next six games are against sides that finished in the top 7 last season with four of them away. So I do feel we have to win the game, particularly being at home. We have plenty of firepower but they have threats of their own as spurs found out and our defence needs to be better than it has been recently. I’d take a 1-0 win in all honesty, but hoping it’s more comfortable than that. UTV

In all fairness if you read the Bournemouth fans forum now there is a lot of regret among many of them that they sold him. Ake's an outstanding defender of course, but I don't understand the idea that two left footed centre halves can't play together. His injury problems also didn't help him there, and touch wood he can keep himself fit for us as he's a vital part of our team now.

He's not for sale.

Proud of Mings last night - very solid performance albeit against a very poor team, and seemed to install a leadership into that defence that had been lacking. Shame that his England debut was blighted by mindless racism but he dealt with it in a typically professional way. The thing I love most about him is his intelligence, whenever he is interviewed like after the game last night he is always so well spoken and clearly thinks through everything he says without prejudice. Very good role model to young kids in my opinion. Going on last night's performance I think he can win many more caps for England and he has a very good chance of cementing his place alongside Maguire - they seemed to forge a decent partnership last night. But we'll see a lot more what he can do at international level when we play stronger teams next month.

Congrats to our manager on a great first year Comfortably the best managerial appointment the club has made in recent years and his positive approach to the game is exactly what’s needed under our current owners. I’m confident he can keep us up this season and hopefully he can push the club on further in the coming seasons so we can make ourselves a force again.

Yeah, you can't drop anyone after the Norwich result. I'd like to see Luiz start alongside Nakamba at some point but Hourihane was brilliant yesterday and it'll be the same team against Brighton I'd have thought. They got a good result against a dire Spurs team but we've got to be targeting another three points here and I think we'll do it. Don't see us getting much from the three games after against City, Liverpool and Wolves (two of them away), but having seen Wolves beat City today and Newcastle beat Man U just about anything can happen in this league.

4-0 lol

3-0 yes! Now surely even we can’t throw this away.... Given how bad Norwich’s defence is I hope we go for more goals.

Yeah, I think it's our strongest team on paper. I think Luiz could play more of a playmaker role from deep with Nakamba doing more of the dirty work. McGinn as a number 10 is a bit different but he's been our biggest threat so far and has the legs to get back when needed. I prefer Grealish central but it means he can cut inside and Targett can get behind him to put in crosses. It was tough choosing between Trezeguet and El Ghazi as El Ghazi has already notched two goals, but I just feel Trezeguet has that extra yard of pace and that assist against Burnley might give him the confidence he needs. He just needs a goal to get going. If the game management is right today we have enough quality to win, Norwich will try to play football and have some good players of their own, but there will be gaps in behind them. Really hope we have our shooting boots on today and can secure a much needed three points.

This is true but we are a completely different team from the one that finished 5th last season. We've upgraded both our full backs, our goalkeeper, our defensive midfield area, our central defence (think Engels is better than Tuanzebe at this moment), and our wingers. I also think we underachieved somewhat last season, with Grealish missing three months and Tuanzebe our for several months too, and early on under Bruce we were dire. Our end of season form would have won us the league. Add to this fact that Norwich are arguably weaker right now than the team that won the Championship, with a third choice keeper likely to play and their central defence and midfield missing first team players. Whereas we are pretty much injury free by the looks of things.

Would go exactly the same team except I'd like to see a 4-2-3-1 with Nakamba and Luiz both holding and McGinn playing off Wesley but dropping back to defend when we don't have the ball. ....................................Heaton.................................... Guilbert............Engels.............Mings............Targett ........................Luiz...............Nakamba...................... Trezeguet....................SJM..........................Grealish ..................................Wesley......................................

To be fair it’s our defending that has let us down recently, not goals scored. We scored two at Arsenal and they had 10 men and two against a Burnley side not renowned for their attacking displays. A side with a stronger defence would have seen those games out. That’s why we need Targett fit for the game, he looked decent against Burnley and a lot better than Taylor. The rest of our defence is potentially good, they just need to learn to not switch off and cut out the errors. This is a real opportunity. Not only do Norwich have several first teamers out, the goals seem to have dried up and their defence is definitely weak with the likes of Hanley likely to play. We should definitely score at least one and if we can handle Pukki that takes a lot of their goal threat away. Their fans don’t sound too confident but their home form has been good this season. If we play for 90 mins like we did for two-thirds of the game against Arsenal we have a great chance. UTV

I’d agree with you that if Targett isn’t fit go with Mings at LB and bring Konsa in, Taylor just isn’t good enough at this level and was at fault for both goals yesterday. If Targett stays on we win against Burnley, simple as that. I’d rather Mings at CB but if it means no Taylor then so be it. Not trying to dig anyone out or make someone a scapegoat, as Taylor does his best, but he just doesn’t have the quality needed. I’m 50/50 about taking Wes out, but he has been disappointing so far. I do think we have to try to get the best out of him and persevere until January at least but Davis probably deserves a go. I doubt Davis will contribute many goals, if any, but his hold up play might get more out of Jack, Trez and others. Not sure whether DS will put him in though. Got to start winning games home or away before it’s too late, starting with Norwich. Will take a 2-1 win.

I'd have taken a draw from this if we beat Burnley, but we didn't so for me it's a game we must win. I looked at Burnley, Norwich and Brighton and thought 7 points would be a decent return, as we've screwed up the first game we now must look to win the next two. If you look at our run of fixtures after Brighton it doesn't look pretty. No game is easy and Norwich away won't be, but there comes a time where you have to say draws aren't good enough and that is now. Every game is a cup final imo if we want to stay up.

Agree with this completely. I'd like to see this team next game if Targett is fit: ..................................Heaton................................ Guilbert.........Engels............Mings...........Targett .......................Luiz.........Nakamba........................ Trez/AEG........................JM.............................JG ...................................Wesley................................. As for McGinn, he's the only player from last season who has truly stepped up a gear in this league. Will be absolutely gutted if he left us but it will definitely happen if we go back down.