WallisFrizz

I agree that Barkley and McGinn in decent form are better but disagree that they are a better choice than Nakamba when they are in woeful form.

Yet I thought Luiz was one of the better ones. Sanson, Luiz and Nakamba next game?

Agree that Trezeguet needs lessons in acting and timing if he wants to win us an unfair penalty.

We’re not a one man team because our defence and gk have been fantastic and we are picking up points. Jack is off it (I don’t think Brighton nullified him, I think for whatever reason he’s not firing on all cylinders) and that has impacted our attack but we are capable of scoring without him being involved, we just have to remember how to do it whilst he recovers his form.

The glimmer of hope being that when he started El Ghazi against West Ham, it was on the right, so could still return to the left with his confidence intact

Starting to agree. Something is up with him and it is really bad timing for him with the next international break coming up as Maddison, Barnes, Foden and Mount are all in fantastic form and are banging goals in.

Grealish played one of his worst games for us. I don’t even think it was being marked out of the game or anything, he was poor generally, gave the ball away and lacked any spark. That said, people are far more forgiving of him than Barkley because he deservedly has huge credit in the bank with the fans. I’m not a Barkley hater and up until recently (about 9 hours ago) would have been open to buying him at a reasonable price but now I’m hoping that we haven’t agreed to start him every game provided he is fit. Think he would benefit from being an impact sub for a couple of games, and maybe earn his way back into the team that way. To finish on a positive tho, it’s great to see Mings get some regular praise as I think he’s having a great season for us. The rest of the back 4 were also reliable, Douglas Luiz was improved on his return and Emi outstanding.

What was so disappointing was how unmotivated they seemed. I’m not saying they were, but they certainly looked that way. Liverpool and Spurs had just lost, we had a golden chance to make serious progress up the table, there should have been cup final levels of performance and energy but they were started so slow and didn’t improve. We’ll only be able to use the “never mind, we’re only 4 pts off 4th/games in hand etc etc” for a week or so more unless Smith gives them a serious shake up and gets them playing that lovely football that we’ve enjoyed all season. I don’t buy that we’ve been found out. I think we’re doing this to ourselves and can definitely improve. Cash injury is a huge blow tho. I love Elmo but he is going to have a torrid time against Leicester and Leeds.

Emi deserves that Golden Glove, he has way more to do than Ederson who will eventually win it.

That’s mental, but surely not a stat that will persist throughout the entire season...at least that is what I will now tell myself if they score.

It is. I feel for him, he’s been having an amazing season and stood a good chance of an England call up. I don’t think we’re at Leicester’s consistency levels just yet so I like them being a thorn in the side of the Project Big Picture bunch.

I totally get the need to integrate Sanson and I’m not impatient to see him but given that he was playing regularly until a few weeks ago doesn’t he risk losing match fitness/sharpness if we don’t get him involved more? Genuine question.

Looks like they’re resting a few players tonight unfortunately. Connolly, Bissouma, Maupay all on the bench.

I now wish to retract this statement I made earlier...

Yeah, I’d be disappointed if he goes but I’d wish him well. That said, if it looks like having an extra man on the coaching team has been a bonus this season then I hope we’re lining up a replacement in preparation for his departure. I also think even if he doesn’t get the job he needs to leave us at the end of the season anyway. I absolutely don’t blame him for wanting to take the next step but we’re not here to provide him with a cushy little number whilst he permanently job hunts elsewhere.

That was a great interview, I hadn’t seen it either. The interviewer was good. I did not know that he had met up with Jack and John McGinn on holiday in the summer before he signed! Ollie seems a lovely lad, never ever going to say or do anything controversial which is no bad thing.

Agree, Villa keep letting me down when I think we stand a good chance of getting maximum points from a game and then throwing these random surprises in like a double over Arsenal. In a nutshell, it’s a totally winnable game providing we don’t mess it up. Also shouldn’t underestimate them as they are better than their position would suggest. Finally, god yes, we owe Leeds big time. Somebody gag Gabby and tie his tweeting fingers together in the run up to that game.

Football Focus, 06/02/2021: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000s4zm via @bbciplayer

Search football focus on iPlayer.

Just on Neil Taylor, Jack did an interview on Football Focus with Dion Dublin at the weekend (think it was on whilst the Arsena game was on so saw it on iPlayer), he was talking about how youthful the team were but took time to mention Neil Taylor and Tom Heaton as being excellent professionals and doing everything right. Thought that was nice.

Brilliant work from Traore.

I don’t necessarily disagree but he was also present in several of our best performances and wins of the season. He was definitely poor last night but I think it would be unfair to put the post Covid bad form entirely on his shoulders. I think it’s been a combo of too little training, too many games in a short space of time and yes Barkley’s reintroduction. Plus we also shouldn’t ignore the fact that Decembers fixtures were largely against bottom half sides and the post Covid teams have mostly been against better teams. We need to get through the Arsenal game, rest and regroup and yes consider what our best starting 11 now is (although surely this would differ depending on the opposition).

This, so many people saying that Coufal stopped him and West Ham stopped Jack. Well they clearly didn’t because he had an assist and created other chances. Yes, it was probably his hardest game for a while and certainly not his best but to be fair to him he’s a grafter and never gave up which resulted in a goal. Jack can’t be stopped and I am pleased that Ollie is back in the goals as that partnership will continue to be fruitful.

I think we’ve looked poor since the Covid break. Did some great defending against Man City, had an average performance against an awful Newcastle, defensively poor against Burnley (tho some lovely stuff in the first half) then lucky v Southampton. We look a completely different team to the December one.

Smith calls him Ghazi I’ve noticed.