St1pe

Good to see Carroll back on the score sheet.

Given how poorly we retained the ball and had an obvious inability to deal with any sort of ball into the box I'm not particularly confident. There's no way they'll commit too many bodies forward so our best tactic of counter attacking won't be as effective. Then again after a confidence boosting win we might actually just win one for a change.

Tiote has been shite for a little while but I lean more towards him starting than not. The current midfield partnership, along with the poor defence, will get us relegated in my opinion. At his best Tiote could dominate the middle of the pitch by himself, I'd rather we tried to get him back to that than persist with Colback and Anita.

Just back in from the match. I can't describe the relief at full time that we got the win although I didn't enjoy it until the 6th went in which sounds ridiculous. I don't know how it came across on tv but every time Norwich put any sort of ball into the box we seemed vulnerable. It was also the first time this season I've seen Sissoko really commit to driving forward with the ball rather than half arsing it. It just shows the damage he can do. Perez and Winjaldum were also on another level today.

I'm really not a fan of 442 without natural wingers, we nearly got relegated under Pardew like that. I can't say I have a better system in mind for that first 11 though.

This is more of a fan thing than a football one: people who sarcastically say "best league in the world" after a shite Premier league match. As if there's some league out there with blinders in every fixture.

I hope Thauvin plays but I get the impression he's on McClaren's shit list now. I'm still confident we'll win this comfortably... somehow.

My ticket just arrived this morning. Massive game, one I couldn't have missed. My gut feeling is we'll win if we can replicate parts of the performances for recent weeks. I'm probably going to be as nervous for this as the final game of last season. If we fail to win we might as well consider ourselves down.

Is there any info on how long this lad is out for or what his injury is? I've only read that he's been seen wearing a protective boot.

Other clubs usually have a couple of keepers competing for 1 slot. After Krul we have nothing. Darlow is very highly rated and then we've got Woodman who's played for all England youth levels - i'm sure he was captain too - we're not exactly lacking in the goalkeeper department we've just had some awful awful timing with injuries.

It's already been said but I don't see how the club can be blamed for this. I think every club in the Premier league would be boned if there first choice keepers suffered serious injuries. Awful news for Krul though. He's been poor this season but he with the Euros coming up it's a massive blow for him personally. Fingers crossed Darlow recovers quickly.

I'd be less worried about this if Darlow was fit because Krul had been in poor form this season but the though of having Elliot in goal again is a massive worry. I think I'd rather we recalled Woodman, he'll be sharper with the game time he's been having.

I'm not adding anything others already haven't said but the league table is already looking daunting. We're already cut a drift and it's going to be a massive ask getting out of this situation even so early in the season. After the next 6 games we'll probably know for certain if we have a hope or not.

Wish I'd never watched this. It just shows what we've missed by selling Cabaye.

There's a strong argument for any of Tiote, De Jong or Thauvin to start over Gouffran.

West Brom look awful. I can't help but be jealous of Palace for having two attacking wide players in Bolasie and Zaha.

I'd love it if he somehow broke into the French squad for the euros if he keeps this sort of form up this season.

I thought he looked very composed on the ball mid-week while everyone else was awful. It's nice to see him be able to carry that into the Premier League and hopefully it continues.

Aarons was diabolical against Northampton in the cup on a day where we were actually playing well for a change. A run of games is probably what he needs in my opinion. I can't see how he'd be worse than anyone we've played in that position mind.

I guess we disagree. That's not to say I'm anywhere close to happy with any midfield partnership we've put together mind.

And I really don't understand how he seems to constantly escape criticism from some people, when it's clear as day he is gash and offers as much as Colback does who gets slaughtered on a daily basis. They are both as s*** as each other. Looking at the goal last night, what the f*** was he doing on the edge of the box? Dangling his little foot in half heartedly. He's f***ing crap, he drops right in next the the CB's to get the ball, then gives it the the CB's. What's the f***ing point? That was my point though. His role is to link the defence and midfield when we have the ball but if there's literally no movement and no interest of anyone in front of him to take the ball then what is he supposed to do? I can't really comment on the goal because I didn't get a good look at it from where I was sitting but Anita tried to be urgent yesterday and I from what I saw I couldn't blame him for what was nothing in front.

Without exaggerating I was too disgusted to write anything of substance on here after what was comfortably the worst performance I've ever witnessed live and one that completely kills any hope of us staying in the league. The only positives from the whole night was that Perez has obvious quality and if we have a glimmer of hope we need to build something around getting him the ball. I thought Lascelles did ok, he won almost every header and looks a bit of a unit. I also thought Mbabu looked very composed on the ball and made a couple of decent tackles. Everything else was beyond abysmal. Apart from the dreadful decision to play without a recognised forward I can't blame McClaren for it though, he was woefully let down by the players. The closing down or pressing of the entire midfield was so half arsed I couldn't believe it was actually happening. I know Thauvin was shit but I think the lad knew he was shit and you could tell after he booted the ball away he wasn't content with his performance. That doesn't excuse it but I thought the way De Jong, Sissoko and Wijnaldum ambled around - the latter two especially - was a dropable offence. None of those players looked any better on the ball, didn't look as motivated and certainly didn't care half was much as Shef Wed's second string. Is it even possible to play Sissoko, Winjnaldum, De Jong in the same team? Because on last nights evidence they really don't look comfortable on the same pitch together. I was also left haunted by the Wednesday fans singing "that's why you're going down" after every cock-up we made, because they're absolutely right.

I really don't get the criticism of him last night. He was the only player on the pitch who had an ounce of urgency about him. He moved into space, looked to release the ball quickly and there wasn't an ounce of movement in front of him so was forced to go backwards. I think I can count on one hand the amount of times someone within a close passing distance actually made a move towards the ball for him and then progressed forwards, it was always instantly returned. Although it is pointless having a player on the pitch that is a link between the back line and the offensive players if none of them are interested. We may as well just hoof it.

Arguably the worst game I've ever been too. I feel almost entirely without hope for staying up.

I thought it was worth mentioning how well Deeney played yesterday. He faded in the 2nd half but caused all sorts of bother at times. It's massively important to have someone who can link play if you're only playing with one up front and it's blatantly obvious that we're lacking in that department. Hopefully Mitrovic can make a difference.