The College Dropout

We can’t cope against Watkins man.

Isak barely had a kick. He needs to come deeper.

Gordon is good against tired legs.

Acting like it. Slow of body and of thought today.

We’ve come here scared.

Murphy dragging us up is the pitch a few times now.

The difference in class between him and ASM is striking.

He’s too rushed. Doesn’t slow his man down to take him on. Not looking to link it up just cross and inshallah.

We’re missing Longstaff’s defensive solidity.

All Murphy and Gordon know is head down and cross. Link it up man.

He needs to just play deep and narrow until we’ve calmed them down.

Missing big Maxi. They aren’t scared of us at all and can’t sustain attacks.

Gordon doesn’t know how to press effectively. He’s doing the Everton press.

70 minutes on a yellow for Schar. It’s not looking good bruv.

Watkins is terrorising us. Their wide players are coming in narrow and are so much faster than our back line. It’s killing us.

We’ve been second best.

Villa been over performing their expected stats. They are full of confidence and a good team… but not as good as their form suggests.

The OTT defence of him is weird. It was unprofessional and stupid. But ultimately not a big deal. He needs to have apologised with Eddie and move on. He should start at the weekend.

If Miggy / another wide player is going to score 6 in 9 again - aye he won't be missed much. The likelihood of that happening isn't very high though is it? In that run Miggy was over performing his Xg significantly. While ASM - this season and throughout his time at Newcastle is a frequent source of chance creation. Creating 2 of our opening goals in the last 3 games. His expected assists per game is only bettered by Trippier in our team. I will never understand why people are so keen to downplay him. We stormed the last 10 games of last season without Trippier - he's still critical to us though.

Yes. From the players that get regular minutes it's only Burn, Murphy and one of Joelinton, Willock & Longstaff, one of Almiron or Gordon that we could absorb an injury too without significant impact. The rest of the defence + Pope, Bruno, Wilson, Isak, ASM - there's no decent replacement. There's a massive drop in quality when these are out.

Nah I think ASM is crucial. No other player is anywhere close to being as creative as ASM. Not even close. It's borne out in the stats. Our downturn in form coincided with him and Isak being out the team and our uptick when they came back.

Laporte is the one with the least minutes. Don't know if he's injured. Ake would be a brilliant addition but he seems to haved moved damn near to the top of the pile at City.

Their last 4 games are just so easy man. Maybe West Ham or Bournemouth will have something to play for but they are not good teams. Their next 4 are tricky given the injuries. If they lose a couple perhaps i'll be more interested in them. If Maxi is back in full training next week and everyone else stays fit - we should finish 3rd.

Is Targett good in the air? I always thought Targett was susceptible to pace in defence himself (but not to the extent of Burn).

Zinchenko's been brilliant whenever I've seen him for Arsenal. He is very suspect defensively though and when Arsenal are up against it defending a lead - they need to take him out earlier or just move him into midfield. He was getting ripped in the wide spaces against Liverpool.