ExiledGeordie

Looked sluggish

I thought he was excellent

A captain has to calm people down in that situation second half and tell the other players to keep it tight and stop giving the ball away.

Mental game, we blow hot and cold far too much. I just hope we’re hot for the cup final and hot enough to get us top 5. We just give the ball away far too easily, loose passes inviting pressure on.

Hopeless 2nd half

I don’t think we’d be completely out of but defeat would be a huge body blow and make it much much harder to qualify. Villa are still liable to drop points, Chelsea faultering etc and with plenty games left we’d still have the opportunity to turn it round. However the gap to Forest would be 9 points and our confidence would take a massive dent pre cup final too. It’s defo a 6 pointer of sorts today.

I’ve seen Botman is a doubt, anyone else heard anything?

Hes nailed on to score against us

2 years left I’d say it’s a given he goes if we didn’t get CL, 3 years not so sure as we’ve both said

I don’t think we can keep him without CL football and we’ll use the money for a massive rebuild. If we get CL he stays I’m sure maybe even signing a new contract. The caveat being if we get Europa league and he’s happy enough to stay plus we hold firm on a high valuation that then prices most teams out and he’s sold the following summer with two years left in his contract and a cheaper fee for those wishing to buy (or we get champs league following season and he stays).

Haha class

Yeah Howe is probably just easing him in slowly I guess. I wouldn’t mind seeing him start against Forest.

Surely is moving up toward being the next midfielder in line to start. Hes much better on the ball than Willock or Longstaff.

Totally agree. His issue is he is a position less as you say. Hes not good enough on the ball in terms of retention to start in midfield but he’s not really a winger. Even when he was doing really well he’s seemed more of an impact sub from the bench. I’m neither here nor there with him, I can see a role for him but it’s definitely not as a starter at the moment. Injuries really have hampered him recently too to be fair.

It’s just a massive game for confidence too. God forbid we were to lose this then head to Anfield. We usually respond well in these games though when we have to respond.

The fact he was isolated was poor but he still didn’t need to try and attack the ball as he did. Marmoush isn’t guaranteed to control the ball but as soon as Trippier comes for it and misses it was game over. It was shite on several levels.

Very odd performance today, so tepid and passive when we’d had plenty of rest and time to prepare. That’s a worry leading up to the cup final as I hope we don’t repeat two years ago when he simply didn’t turn up. Some of this is on Howe, some on the players. As others have said the squad is stale as fuck and needs a real upgrade in the summer.

Not sure he’s good enough to rotate in as a starter in the midfield. Seems to be better as an impact sub or winger type to use his pace. Whether that means he’ll stay at the club remains to be seen.

If we want champions league we must win this

Legs have gone to play in a back four

Aye, we just never turn up to this fixture. Hopefully their nervousness at the back and our midfield ability leads to a positive result. Isak and Gordon (and even Murphy in current form) can cause them all sorts of issues. The league games the rest of this month will probably either set us up nicely for champions league or make it a bit of a struggle.

So is the latest developments just the can being kicked down the road or will it lead to meaningful change for us? Seems like all was done to stop us from being competitive as far as I was aware white the changes to APT. The PSR situation where clubs actively look to sell young local talent is a complete farce. Fuck the premier league and their rules imo, they’ve been lobbied relentlessly by the big 6 to maintain the status quo. It’s now led to me supporting most teams against the so called big 6.

Botman and Burn a doubt, probs Krafth and Schar

Gordon, Isak and indeed Murphy are ideal to exploit their nervousness at the back. Our legs in midfield gives me confidence too.

Gordon should destroyed Lewis