TRon

That finish was outrageous. The man's confidence is infectious, in the second half you suddenly saw other players stepping over the ball and attempting dinky little one-twos as well.

I'd be ok with Southampton pricing him out of a move tbh, he's obviously got some good skills, but not what we need IMO.

Make it top 8 and we are talking.

I wouldn't bet against him scoring though, regardless of how shit he is.

Arsenal and Spurs are not at that level, but they still have more quality in key areas to ensure they will be above us next season as it stands. If we can add 3-4 genuine class players in the summer though, that could all change.

This. I remember Anfield was jubilant over stopping our title charge. It's been a long time but it's never too late for revenge. How sweet would it be to bring them down in front of a rocking St James??

Yeah although we are riding the crest of a wave at the moment, but assuming we add another 3-4 quality players, hard to imagine we won't be up there. Liverpool, City and probably Chelsea are a different class, but the rest really aren't that great.

I know it's a bit premature, but I can't help wondering where we might go with a full season under Howe. West Ham have challenging for the CL places for most of this season ffs.

He's out of this world good. His confidence and precision is lifting every other player's performance as well.

I only saw the second half, but that was the best football I've seen us play for a long time.

That's also why Gerrard was willing to let Targett go despite being an excellent defensive full back. He wanted to upgrade in order to take Villa to the next level. I'm with you, I'd be happy to sign Targett, but at the same time I would expect Howe to want Tripper's equivalent down the other flank. I still think we'll sign Targett for what it's worth, but eventually we will be looking for an outstanding attacking LB.

We should start looking at some of Real Madrid's best players and consider chucking in a few bids.

I was keener on Emery at the time, and I think he could have done a decent job, but I felt he showed a lack of decisiveness when he stumbled at the final hurdle. Howe grabbed it with both hands, and by doing so showed he was the one with the balls for a job like this.

Can't emphasise how important that is. His best form was under Rafa who really appreciated his selfless running, so you would like to think he would respond well if Howe gave him that sort of backing. Looking forward to seeing how he does against Norwich now he's got a goal under his belt and some public praise from Eddie.

He stopped supporting Newcastle when he won the title as a player with Man U, pretty sure he's on record saying Man U was his club a long time ago. But typical of the wormy cunt he has to pretend it's Newcastle's fault he's a turncoat.

I always thought he gave away a lot of fouls because he was late in the challenge due to the relative lack of pace, but he was willing to put his foot in to begin with so that was a big plus. Not to mention he was a superb player when he was on the ball. Not a dribbler, but always spotted the early pass, and had a great right foot.

I get the feeling a lot of his good work gets brushed over because there's this conception that he bought his way out of trouble by spending £100m in the transfer market in January. Obviously it ignores that we lost our two best players since then, but that's not of any interest to those who don't want to know.

Honestly I just don't see him ever being that player. He's trying to do it a bit now, but often still holds onto it a fraction too long. It goes against every instinct in his body. Would definitely be interesting to see what he would look like surrounded by better players, but I think ultimately he'd still want to dribble for the sake of dribbling. It's what he's about.

I agree with this, he was always capable of hitting a really nice goal, iirc he scored two in a game in one season. Problem is they are usually just a flash in the pan. If he could score more often he'd be a fabulous player just for his work rate alone. Would love to think Howe would be able to get the best out of him, but I don't think he's got the killer instinct needed for a forward. Would love to be proved wrong though.

Never really noticed any lack of pace from Lee, always just struck me as a very measured footballer. None of the flash stuff or vision you will get from Bruno, but he had a striker's goal instinct which was worth it's weight in gold by itself. If I was going to compare him to anyone it would probably be Lampard.

Kings of the 1-0!

It's fair enough tbh, we look much more capable of defending a goal lead than scoring one.

Was thinking along the same lines, that he'll get a couple of starts once we are safe. But I think EH will want to hit the magic 40 points first to be sure. But yeah, effectively we are safe so no harm in it if he wants to give it a go.

Not when a sub par performance will get you dropped. There's some competition for just about all positions apart from up front. Even if it's not top level competition, the likes of Shelvey, Krafth, Schar and even ASM can't afford to take their foot off the gas, otherwise there's always, Lascelles, Manquillo, Willock or Murphy itching to get a crack at it.

Just makes it more surprising he's not really made more of a name for himself given all that. I get that he might not be quite top tier PL level, but you would think mid-table clubs would be in there pitching. Seems like he's wasted two years at Leicester.