Elton

Very true. As not many teams lost their starting forward, keeper and 2nd best midfielder through injury.

Just thought I’d beat the rush to give Suso congratulations on a fantastic January to date. (I doubt there will be any other PL clubs that have managed to buy 3 regular starters in this window.)

Never heard of him until a week ago and haven’t watched any YouTube highlights yet but this feels like a really good signing. The January expectations of Simon Dawkins and Grant Holt have been massively surpassed.

A little bit like El Ghazi? If we wanted any old forward we could have recalled Hogan and Hepburn-Murphy. Smith obviously knows that playing El Ghazi or Vassilev is a better option and probably Nyland up front would be too. Hopefully Davis will finally be fit soon and we’ll have 2/3 actually decent forwards to play the last 14 matches rather than panicking early and buying 2 crap ones for 17 matches that we maybe could have persuaded some league 2 clubs to sell for 10 million each.

I agree that they both should be doing better but West Ham’s upcoming fixtures are as bad as you can get. I would be surprised if they are not in the bottom 3 by the end of March. If we beat Watford on Tuesday they would have to be massively deflated to find themselves back in the relegation zone again after their great run so I wouldn’t rule them out just yet. This could be wishful thinking of course!

I don’t remember saying we’ll lose? In fact I kind of implied we shouldn’t be overly fearful of that game. They will have won the league by then and will be playing their kids whilst resting up for a CL match.

Guess you stopped watching after the first half. Liverpool away won’t be the reason we survive or get relegated.

I actually said the option was his.. Not that a think we’ll sign him anyway. I don’t expect that at all unless he can’t find a more attractive option.

Presumably there is no reason he couldn’t sign a 6 month ‘permanent’ deal with an option for another year that he could trigger if we stay up. This would still leave him as a free agent in the summer if he wishes.

Fair enough. I have nothing against Engels, I agree he started well but we are stronger in the air defensively now, which in the main is Hause coming in.

Yes, Martinez praised him and hinted at a call up but at his press conference he said he decided not to call up Engels and said he wasn’t fully fit. Engels then played in our next game anyway (Palace away I think). Smith later came out and said he had a hip problem. One of those injuries that won’t stop him playing but could compromise his performance.

I must have watched 95% of all games Yorke played for us. I think there is merit in both comments. He was always good but he did really excel in his last couple of years for us when he was moved centrally and his game went up a level. However, Jack stands out more for me as Yorke had much better players around him. Jack gets the full treatment from the opposition and he often has to deal with 2/3/4 players surrounding him when he’s on the ball, whilst carrying us almost single handedly. Jack’s control of a football as he moves is the best I have ever seen. Now he is adding goals he is up there with the best I have seen play for the club. I wouldn’t swap him for any other current premier league player and certainly none in his age range. Those that said he was behind the likes of Mason Mount, which is ludicrous (that’s includes you Southgate) weren’t paying attention but they are now.

I’m not sure there is any conspiracy here. That Villa mole/ThatcherLover Twitter account is usually full of BS. Engels was clearly playing with an injury earlier in the season, as Martinez (National manager) said to our surprise, as Villa hadn’t said anything at that stage. Maybe he still isn’t fully fit and he’d rather play 3 fit CB’s than one with a niggle. Personally I prefer Konsa and Hause over Engels anyway. They are faster, better in the air and Konsa who effectively has replaced Engels as right sided CB is better with the ball too.

Yes and if they do lose those away games and drop into the relegation zone, you can imagine the negativity in their rented accommodation, making their home games extra difficult.

Ha, ha! To be honest if you can’t be optimistic about the football team you support, what’s the point?

Although logic may say West Ham will find some form and pull away from us, their next few fixtures couldn’t be much worse: Leicester A Liverpool H Brighton H Man C A Liverpool A Southampton H Arsenal A Wolves H Spurs A Chelsea H

3 away games in a row against PL teams unbeaten. Given we were losing away games every match bar Norwich the first half of the season that is real progress. A couple of signings there is no reason why we can’t give anyone a game at home as we have already played the top 3 at home who seem head and shoulders above the rest of the division. I’m quite optimistic that we’ll be ok and will finish above Norwich and Bournemouth and also above at least one of Burnley, Newcastle, Brighton, Watford, West Ham.

Positives, he didn’t seem p****ed and I didn’t see him chatting anyone up. He also got some much needed minutes in. I think we have to wait and see if he can still do the football stuff when he’s match fit, if we’re able to give him enough time to do so, which we might not be able to. I’m not writing him off yet and have to trust Smith’s judgement. He may bring the most value to us in putting Douglas under pressure to win back and keep his place.

Well he has been selected to play.. Probably would still get in the team if on crutches tbf.

Albrighton was injury prone, which was one of the reasons we let him go as he was hardly able to get on the pitch for us for the 2 years previous. I hope the club doesn’t make this mistake with Davis, who is still very young and has loads of potential to improve as frustrating as his injury situation is currently. I would think the era of managers not talking to injured players is long gone.

I’m looking forward to seeing how he does tomorrow. He needs a run in the team otherwise it was pointless signing him. His induction song was also encouraging, didn’t seem p****ed and wasn’t chatting up anyone as far as I could tell.

This is exactly what I see in games with my own eyes with Connor. Outside of attacking situations a complete absence of intent and responsibility and a huge defensive liability. His goals and assists (which I cheer as loudly as anyone) do not compensate in my view for his defensive inadequacies, which is our Achilles heel as a team.

I have been fairly impressed by Brighton every time I’ve watched them this season. Having said that they don’t score as many as their play suggests they might. We have every chance to beat them tomorrow for the 3rd time this season. A defensive performance similar to the last 2 away games and the usual magic moment or 2 from Jack and we can climb out of the relegation zone and not look back. 2-0 Villa.

I agree. By defence I mean how we defend as a team, not individual defenders necessarily. Scoring goals hasn’t been a big issue.

I’m just dealing in the unfortunate facts of the January window not emotion. Obviously I agree, sign all the forwards!! (Even though our leaky defence is clearly our biggest issue).