buzza

No update on Manquillo? Getting very worried about the right back berth after having to endure (E) mile "away from the attacker" Krafth

To be honest I would have thought Lascelles will come in for this one to deal with the man-monster number nine they have. Also, Schar will be pretty sore I imagine as he took a right knock on saturday. I am praying manquillo is back as Krafth is very much a weak link in our team. I would go with: -------------------Dubs---------------------- Manq------Lascelles-------Burn-------Target ----Willock---------Bruno---------Joe------- Fraser------------Wood---------------ASM

Actually like the look of that more than having to play Krafth

The disallowed goal came from two mistakes from krafth; the first was the abominable pass/clearance he tried to make while clearing from a defensive situation and the second was his backing off/imitation defending. The team really suffered after manquillo and Trippier went off, really do not want either Dummet or Krafth near the team again. Championship level at best...

He was very good yesterday. I have been anxious for him to be replaced by bruno but there was no way Eddie was taking him off yesterday, he played a blinder. Actually reminded me of the Jonjo who was close to an england call up (many moons ago).

Worked his rear off yesterday, didn´t get going in an attacking sense but made a huge amount of recovery runs and track-backs in the second half. Don´t think he is droppable at the moment, bit like Shelvey in that regard, they have both upped their performances over the last few games... Long may it continue!!

Uuuufff!! Six weeks hurts...

Where did you get six weeks from? Nothing in the news about it so far??

Can´t blame eddie for staying with the same midfield, if, as it seems, bruno is going to occupy willock´s position, it will be hard for him to displace him. If willock gets a goal he will be on fire again, he is getting great late runs in on goal and it´s just a matter of time, probably needs bruno´s through balls to help him out. Shelvey had a very good game today, even tracked his runners, so i cab´t fault him at all.

Actually had Joe willock down as man of the match, he was great at breaking up play and striding upfield

BEAST OF THE EAST!!!

Shame about manquillo, was playing well...

I am not convinced by Tielemans, a lot mor hype than substance for me. I reckon he has one good game in three, dissapears too much if it isn't going well. Upgrade on wa balldy tho'

Is lascelles injured? Not on bench?

Very attacking villa side!! Hope our midfield and defence are on it... Bruno on for baaaldy in last 30

If we stay up, there will be a lot of strikers happy to come and join the project

Striker is the key signing in the summer. If we are going to make a statement, the Nº9 is where it should be. Nuñez, Schick, Vlahovic, Haaland, Mbappe... We can dream for real!! A couple of wingers/wide forwards plus central defender/s and left back and we will improve dramatically.

I think that their defense is appalling of late, Mings is totally out of form and with konsa out they will suffer a lot. Digne gets caught way too far up the field so we should get some joy down there. Yes, their midfield looks pretty good but I am not convinced by watkins, as long as we track the runners (we are a lot better at this now with eddie) we should be allright. They won´t like to visit a buoyant st james park.

We don´t need Joe to be scoring, just to continue the beast press he does and win every contested ball in the air and ground, making a few half decent passes along the way. Has a role which he is currently excelling at...

We have four winnable / points-worthy games coming up; villa at home, Wham and brentford away and then brighton home. We need to take minimum 7/8 points from that lot. Looks like burnley, norwich and Everton have a run of hard/tricky games coming up, we need to gain some distance from this lot and put some space between us.

The way they are using coutinho to pick passes for willking runners from deep means that Jonjo should be swapped for this match, he is too much of a liability when tracking runners. He is also slow. Willock is covering a lot of ground defensively, has the legs to join attacks and seems to be improving game on game. Ditto Joe linton. Bruno has to start as our midfield linchpin and base the game around him. Villa have done it with coutinho and it has worked for them....

Watching Villa last night and the two main threats from midfield are coutinho and ramsey, we all know that shelvey tends to run five yards with his marker and then stop, falter or foul... It is a very clear choice for me, SHELVEY OUT... BRUNO IN! We need willock for the ground he covers and he would be a great foil for a more forward thinking passer like Bruno

Team Played a blinder last night. Trippier instills both calm and fight into the players around him. His goal was the finishing touch to the best defensive performance at st james park for a good couple of years... ASM was in piss-take mode in the 2nd half, didn´t matter how many there were around him he just threaded his way through, shame he didn´t give bruno the return pass which would have made the performance an 11/10. Yep, shelvey worries me with his stupid tackling and I think he will be the one who is displaced by Bruno, willock is perfect for bruno´s progressive passing. Only down point was that Wood dissapointed, he needs to get more involved. i caught the last 15 mins of the Burnley game and the german bloke (wheghorst?) they bought, for half the price, looks a lot more mobile and productive.

You are giving them a headstart by not starting him. Only thing might be jet lag, it does give you a knock after about the second day...