STM

Spot on. He's not playing left back to be Roberto Carlos, he's playing in an A-Symmetrical formation where our right hand side pushes forward and our left side tucks in. From the point of view of his technical ability as a CB he's more than comfortable.

Spot on. I'm sure tgarve spotted it live but our press effectively encourages the opposition to play long and by having 3 CBs instead of two, we end up winning everything that comes through the air. I actually noticed Villa targeting Trippier in the first half yesterday, for that reason.

Burn technically not good enough? For a CB he's bloody excellent on the ball and even more so when you compare him to Maguire, Mings and Co. At the very least he's a reliable, versatile defender and should be on the plane.

Predicting Howes line ups is impossible but don't rule out changes for this one, in order to save some legs for Palace and Chelsea. Murphy will come in for Big Joe, which means he will play vs Palace. The point is, Howe won't be putting in some sort of second string against Palace. He will be treating it like a PL game IMO.

Nice to see our CEO hanging around the tunnell to greet the players.

When the game opens up he's class. When it's tight he goes missing a bit.

It's just not worth us spending 100m on any 1 player. In order to do that, the rest of your squad needs to be mustard. You spend 100m in the final piece of the jigsaw, we need several pieces.

We are currently on 1.84 points per game. Our target for 7th is 1.5PPG.

4th-o-meter "Hold my beer".

We should also look at it as an opportunity to replenish the coffers. If someone like Everton comes in for Wood, Murphy or Fraser, move them on and reinvest in some youth.

As Ant and Dec would say.... your on the plane... There's no way Southgate doesn't take Wilson. He scored a penalty.... do you understand what that means in Southgate language? I'd take Toney too. Bin off some of the other shite.

Unless it's the perfect player, at the perfect price, there's no reason to get silly. I agree with the above, if we can get a couple of talented youngsters who can start driving up the standard of our bench, I think that would be great. I think Maddison will sign, but it might be in the summer.

I knew Villa would be a good side. Gerrard wants shot. We've been poor by our new standards but still edged it. Defo a game for Shelvey.

Don't look at the table. Don't look at the table. Don't look at the table..... Oh damn.

Great atmosphere.

European football will be the best thing to happen to Elliot Anderson.

Also people said he couldn't sort out a defence and we haven't played ASM and Isak for any notable period.

Eddie confirms that commentators talk shite.

In a scenario where Real Madrid come calling and we are sitting as a 4th placed side in the PL, I think he might ask for the move. I don't think he will ever kick up a fuss FWIW, it's about both parties respecting each others wishes. Anyway, let's just enjoy him.

These are the acceptable conditions for any Bruno exit: He gives us another 2 full seasons He goes abroad. We get 100m+ We are qualified for the CL We have a replacement in place before he's gone

We have a 7 point head start, with a 3rd of the season gone. It's a bold prediction, especially since they play Thursday Sunday. IMO they are the only team capable of it but I don't see it at all.

Presumably you think the "big 6" will finish top 6, who do you think will finish 7th?

Yep, not only that but let's say we have Wilson playing league games and we want to get Isak in scoring in Europe, in order to leave Wilson at home, we could do with Wood from the bench as a sub or an option. That's not to say we should look to sign other options. That's why Joao Pedro made sense because he's another one who can play in various positions. On the other hand, if someone comes and tries to sign him, we should say thank you very much and let him go. I can see a Fulham or a Bournemouth seeing him as someone who could see them over the line to avoid the drop.

10 would have been a fantastic return for Miggy. If he stays fit, he should make that comfortably. We should be asking questions of other players in the squad, particularly Longstaff, Joelinton, Willock and ASM when he returns. Also, our CBs should be getting a goal or two.

Well we will see who's correct in this one. Personally I think he will have a contract minimum before the end of the season but possibly before the world cup.