St1pe

I can't wait til this season is over so I can feel like a normal human again on a Saturday. Comfortable wins for us, Man U and Chelsea today please.

We play the worst team the Premier League has seen for years and the other two teams are playing Man Utd and Chelsea, yet it still feels that your outcome is really unlikely This. It would probably be a straightforward accumulator set of choices if it didn't have anything to do with us. I just can't see it happening for the simple reason that we don't get that kind of luck.

Was pretty much dying from about 65minutes onwards in that game. Townsend, Lascelles, Darlow and Anita all with big performances. It's a shame the bigger players of the side are still seemingly not matching them as harsh as that sounds after a win like that. We've got loads to do, that late Mackem goal could be brutal but I've got hope again.

Anita has been brilliant at right back. Such a loss for us given how he's played.

Worried. Mitrovic is an absolute must in the 2nd half.

This sort of thing is not helping my nerves.

Not feeling confident at all today but I hope that's just nerves. I guess if we fail to get 3 points today and again at Villa then we really deserve to go down. A Palace no-show, a comfortable win for us and a loss for both Sunderland and Norwich please. Surely it's got to be our turn for a ballsy survival comeback...

I've got a bad feeling about playing Pardew right now tbh. Don't like the idea at all. Me too. The typical soul crushing NUFC way to do it would be to have Pardew basically relegate us by winning at SJP and then have it mathematically confirmed at Villa Park. With all the banners and stuff. Again. The thought of that happening is just disgusting. Even more so that it's entirely possible if not extremely likely. Christ.

This. Best case scenario I could see us winning the next two but Sunderland have looked solid and played with high intensity for weeks now. I'm also covering old ground here but Everton, Stoke and Watford have completely given up. Can anyone really see them not getting 5 points at least from that?

I sort of expected this today given how Liverpool have played recently. It's still a little surprising how easily they've done it mind.

I disagree with that. Yes he's done well in a couple of games when he's been subbed on but I don't think that therefore means he's better from the bench. He's not the type of player with pace that burns past tired legs or exploits the type of space that can be available late in the game. We're going to have even less of the ball against City and we're going to need him up front to try and hold the ball up to relieve pressure. Starting Cisse would be just suicide, inviting City to just constantly attack. I was massively wrong about the team selection on Saturday mind.

Regardless of anything else to come that result feels good. Hopefully the atmosphere will be bouncing on Tuesday.

I don't understand the Shelvey dropping either. He'd be well up for it against his old club, it's a bit of a slap in the face replacing him with either Colback or Tiote. There isn't much a like about that team selection actually. Wijnaldum keeping his place? Sissoko keeping his place and being promoted to captain? They've both been dogshit man. De Jong and Perez must be furious. Cisse over Mitrovic is comfortably the worst though. I would be over the moon to be made to look completely stupid mind.

I was just thinking the same. We're still noticeably worse than both though.

I was feeling quite positive until I saw these Obertan rumours. Replacing some of our more spineless performers with Obertan seems too stupid to be real. Regardless of what happens in other results or the rest of the season id just like us to win today to remember what that's like.

That would be ideal.

I quite like the look of that lineup although Aarons seems to have been missing since his injury. I'm also reaching that point of just hoy Doumbia in to see what happens as well.

I always thought Sterry was a centre back?

I actually forgot we had Saviet.

I think id go: Mitrovic Perez De Jong Townsend Shelvey Colback Dummet Mbemba Lascelles Anita Darlow I wouldn't bother playing Winjaldum and Sissoko because the half-arsed effort they're putting it will see us go down with a whimper Obviously it'll depend on injuries to Janmaat and a few others but I think we need one of Anita, Tiote or Colback in the middle so we aren't such pushovers. Part of me still actually thinks we'll muster some sort of battle starting this weekend but I'm sure whatever hope I've somehow got will quickly be extinguished.

I still think he's a good player and I'm struggling to pin too much blame onto him given he's basically joined a sinking ship. His range of passing requires players to actually want the ball and be moving for it otherwise he's just wasted. The West Ham and West Brom game really stood out for him when a few players made actual runs. Aside from the Watford, Chelsea and obviously the weekend I think his work rate has arguably been as good as anyone our team.. Not that it's anything to shout about.

I quite like him. In a team that hasn't completely given up I think he'd be good. I'd like to think we'd keep him in the Championship but I can't see it.

He should be given the remainder of the season now. He'll be our first choice centre back next season we might as well get him some games.

Not keen on that midfield, it didn't work v Sunderland. Hate Taylor over Lascelles. I'm still praying for some sort of random, unexpected win.

Anything but a win is useless but the chance of actually getting that win seems entirely impossible. I've seen Southampton play really quite badly a couple of times this season but I'm not expecting today to be one of those times either. I'm going to try my hardest not to ruin the whole weekend sulking about the match if we lose today like I did last weekend.