Lotus

Would love us to have a Carrick type player. Great positional sense and a full array of passes of either foot.

I still think we'll set up to concede the majority of possession and try to catch them on the break.

I haven't seen the goals but i'm sure you can be a good defender but if the other 3 are doing their own thing then i reckon they will all look bad. For the price being quoted for him i'd much rather we tried for someone like Matip. He can play in front of the back 4 too so that would be a huge added bonus.

Was it a Celtic fan? Tend to find the Old Firm lot massively overrate their own players when it comes to the wider context. Thought i heard John Hartson say it the other day.

Sorry, but in the circumstances we faced last night, this is laughably ridiculous. Wait - are we taking the cup runs seriously or are we playing the kids? I'm confused. Not picking on either Lotus or Liam here.....because hindsight is a wonderful thing. This time we played a small team and won easily. Last season we played Peterborough and lost. I do wish that we would push Kemen into some serious game time if he is worth it, and perhaps the Cup games are the way to do it. But its also a risk and we have been banging on about taking the cup runs seriously. Given the other 'serious' players on the pitch and the bench, playing a guy we're trying to get rid of who has shown no promise in a position that is not even his own when you have a reservist who is a specialist there is more of a gamble.

Sorry, but in the circumstances we faced last night, this is laughably ridiculous.

Tbf, he was very good on Saturday. If we'd signed a new CB and he'd played like Taylor did we'd all be delighted. I really hope he can keep this going and have, for the first time in his career, a very good season.

Thought Lemina looked alright, actually. Covers the pitch well and was always looking to get into space to receive the ball.

Darlow Janmaat Mbemba Lascelles Dummet Tiote Thauvin De Jong Vuckic Aarons Cisse

Was very impressed with him on Saturday. He hustled really well. He put himself in good positions that made the Manu players play the ball elsewhere quite often. I'm not into Colback bashing for the sake of it but he wasn't really as effective as Anita. He's not not got that sudden burst of speed or the positional awareness. I've been thinking that a midfield 3 with Anita deeper than Wijnadum and Sissoko/De Jong ahead of him could be a very nice blend of talents.

We're not doing too badly. I expect more from Wijnadulm. Anita doing pretty well, Colback doing ok too apart couple of dodgy moments but that's to be expected. Haidara and Perez look decent Taylor's been good. Mitro needs some support. Think Mbemba looks a bit out of place at RB.

One decent interception. He really has done nothing with the ball though. He just doesn't have the guts. I'd have him off and put Thauvin on.

Anybody can run well around a cone even with a football at their feet with a bit of basic training so I don't see that as a technical talent at this level unless they're doing it to an opposition player. As it is, the only thing he is capable of doing is kicking a ball past a player (very occasionally when he wants to attack them) and run past them. No skill involved, just raw pace which is a physical benefit, not a technical skill. Mole - from the statement 'technically he is talented' I thought you meant he had technical ability. The way I see it he has no technical ability whatsoever, no heart whatsoever and has nothing to offer but pace. We may as well just sign an olympic sprinter. I'd rather have Bolt than Oberwang any day of the week. You're just arguing with me for the sake of it. Pace and strength are positive attributes. Being able to dribble at pace is a skill and a technical ability. When he's having a rare good game he looks accomplished in everything he does. I don't think he dribbles well at all tbh.

Of course he wants to stay, no one will pay him as much as we do. :lol: Eggsactly!

I agree with that. If anything I'm more impressed by us having been able to appoint Cathro, a young up and coming, highly thought off football coach with high level international experience and with the ambition to one day soon manage at the highest level, as an assistant, than by appointing McClaren himself. I agree with the Cathro thing. I just think it's to McClaren's credit he's gone for it. You have to admire a man who knows he weaknesses and tries to build a coaching team around him to compensate for it. Desperately hope it works out!

Tbf, the heat maps (i know, i know) seemed to show Ayew didn't spend much time on the wing against Chelsea. Played a lot closer to Gomis. Of course, they'll have looked at us and realised Obertan offered no protection whatsoever and so they might be able to double up there and just force Haidara to play tight to Colo and have the space on the left to themselves. You'd hope someone put a rocket up Obertans arse over that during the week.

I'm a lot more impressed by us replacing the likes of Carver and Stone with Cathro. At least McClaren is not afraid to bring in good coaches. I'd had the feeling Pardew wouldn't have because he wouldn't have wanted someone showing him up.

Having a CF the ball would stick to would make a massive difference as well.

Gini & Moussa are gonna give these guys some problems. Montero isn't going to give Neil Taylor much support and Moussa will run over him. Ki was their only midfielder to offer something to their defence consistently. Also, Ayew played pretty narrow. We could have some joy wide. We will need an excellent performance from the CMs though as they may get outnumbered. Still think Colo will get bummed though.

Cech!

Does Sissoko wear wrist bands?

Did you nick that from The Imitation Game?

His presence in training should be a huge help to our defenders tbh. He'll be a huge asset eventually, at both ends of the pitch. Won't help Colo at all. Will just weaken him further. Might toughen up Lascelles though.

Disclaimer - DID NOT WATCH FULL GAME! Didn't think Haidara was particularly at fault for either cross that resulted in the goals. The 1st, Colo has gone forward so Haidara has to cover the player that Colo left behind who has moved into a central position. The ball goes wide, Obertan is not paying attention and not covering so Haidara then goes out to him when Colo comes back into position, too late though as the cross goes in. 2nd goal, Haidara is tucked in, 2 players on his side, Obertan not covering again, Haidara goes to the player with the ball when he can but again too late to stop the cross. In both instances Obertan should have helped. As i said, didn't watch the rest so Obertan may have had a good game going forward and Haidara a poor game overall but both crosses for the goals were down to Obertan and not Haidara.

I'll use the word doofi, thanks for that. Pleasure's mine.