80

Early days to say for certain, but looks like Bunce (and therefore Mitchell) get a lot of credit for that.

@Yorkie hoping that maybe, just maybe, a true successor to 'leaving the atmosphere' has been anointed

To be fair, a good goalie does more than jumping about to catch shots. Coordinating the defence, adopting patterns on who will cover each part of the net when under attack etc. So they can play a role in not facing so many (dangerous) shots in the first place.

It's been standard play for I don't know how long, from both defenders and attackers. Total nonsense to try and make a story out of it now.

I'd love to think so but I suspect not.

Agreed. We should be thinking about preemptively fighting this with statistics re: time wasting etc. as refs are weak enough to be easily prejudiced.

I get the impression there's a reason he's playing those limited minutes though. I don't think he's always been a 60 minute player. Happy if he doesn't, but I'm assuming the needs the time off too. Saying all that, I guess Bunce will have his own contribution on who does and doesn't need time at the minute, which might mean we do things differently to normal.

Inclined to agree, but realistically who else? We're very reluctant to throw kids in - probably with justification, to be fair.

Not hugely, but if we are in the vinegar strokes of a deal, whoever it is will want him available as much as possible. Plus the risk of an injury killing the deal, obviously. Which makes me question Miggy playing a bit, too, but there's not an obvious alternative there.

The beautiful thing is I think we're past caring Gordon's head - which definitely didn't look right a few months ago - looks fully on it now, and it's very good to have him back.

Occurred to me we might try and avoid using Longstaff for cup tieing reasons if we're serious about moving him on this January. Probably won't as I'm not sure we can afford to not use him, mind. I've said it before, but rest virtually everyone for this. Vlachodimos (Dubravka if he's really that bad) Trips Schar Kelly Targett Bruno/Longstaff Miley Willock Miggy Barnes Osula Bruno tends to do better for regular games anyhow, and can coach Miley and Osula through the game. I don't get too worried about him getting injured. Don't think I'm forgetting any other candidates.

Preferred not knowing this, tbph.

Sean Longstaff disproves this

Yep, found it interesting that they didn't caption any of those exchanges. Almost surprised they didn't scrub it out of the audio.

"Dan Burn was impressively dogged at the back, and likeable as ever, for reasons that aren’t immediately clear. He just moves in a likeable way, like a shy overgrown schoolboy." Wtf? Barney Ronay wins wrong'un of the day with this line.

I know Apparently, anyway. I love the idea of them having a guilt-free jig seeing as his son's not involved.

Good to see Saka's dad enjoying himself.

What a career he's had. An absolute rock.

In theory yes but don't think that'll ever happen. Think he's a lifer here. Probably not a great price, desperate to stay, ultra willing team player, probably cheap wages, big for morale. Makes too much sense to keep, over all. What a ball for Gordon's goal. Top tier stuff.

Well, smacking Villa home and away has become virtually a tradition for us now. Not saying we can assume anything in the slightest, but I don't think we should be shy about all those fixtures. Got hopes for Arsenal away, too (in the league) - I can see this being the year for floods of tears.

Dubravka deserves plenty of credit for the latest run, it's night and day compared with last season and has been a rebirth for him. But people are going way over the top attributing our improved form to his presence. If we melt as soon as Pope gets back in, without an injury to Tonali etc, we can re-discuss it.

Basically all of his appearances have come in games where virtually every team mate has been - at best - below par and frequently a shadow of their former selves. Unless we're saying Kelly was personally responsible for making them all terrible, I'm not going to single him out as being beyond hope. But yes, he's probably going to be playing a game of patience for a few months.

There's no future in this formation.

+5. Noice. Seen a fair bit about us having a nice run of league games coming up, as though we've done the difficult bit, but I don't think it should be taken lightly at all. By fans and media I mean. The players have looked really nicely businesslike for a while now. Wow this thread's quiet when we're not crap.

All logic tells me we're gonna win well today. But I too am nervous