buzz

Moving Joelinton from the one position where he actually works absolute madness.

Norwich, Brentford, Leeds

You're basically asking "What message are we sending to our potential signings next summer if we carry on winning games?" The continuity of Willock-Shelvey-Joelinton is a massive part of that. Disrupt the dynamic and there's a good chance the team stops functioning the successful way it currently is.

Dennis, King and Sarr is a really dangerous front three and basically tailor made for Hodgson's counter attacking system. They look pretty good

Do we?

Any option is better than Krafth at this point. Murphy RB, Fraser RB, whatever. Utter utter shit.

Remind me again why everyone was trying to rehabilitate Krafth's reputation pre match?

You'd hope every possible inventive engineering solution would be looked at before considering moving. Pitch rotation, digging down, even the (ridiculous) brick by brick relocation of the G1 buildings etc. Not like we can't afford it The impact & appeal of the stadium where it's placed rn should never be taken for granted. Tbh I'd say expand it to 60k, squeeze in however many more you can with safe standing and then just take the L on matchday revenue losses and appreciate what you gain culturally/geographically from staying.

Man Utd look absolutely terrible. They remind me of us under Bruce

I'd be happy to have Dummett as the emergency backup local boy in theory but you just can't rely on him actually being fit to fill in.

Taking the worst case scenario and assuming this is effectively the last we see of him this season, we've basically paid £12m for 9 points. Think we'd all have done that if possible. Massively lose confidence in repeating any of those performances without him though because his leadership and composure have been absolutely essential. Not to mention the obvious fact he was on track to becoming our top goalscorer too.

Howe's big on continuity so I think he'd be reluctant to change systems, but it must be tempting to go to a 3-4-3 ish shape in Trippier's possible long term absence. Allows Lascelles to slot back in perfectly between Schar as the RCB and Burn left as well. Personally I'd be all for it because I think Trippier's influence has been huge and Krafth cannot replicate what he does in any way.

First half we bullied them physically and our press was really impressive. No disrespect to Wood who is serviceable but exciting to imagine a more physically able striker leading the line in that system. Second half we got pretty lucky but no surprises with that makeshift defence. To hold on to the win shows a huge change in attitude and application from December.

If the stories about Howe being concerned about the dressing room being upset by new signings/new highest earners in Jan then I think it's clear he knows how important it is to keep the bulk of the squad on his side. Not disrupting a winning team and giving the likes of Shelvey & Willock a confidence boost plays into that.

Howe won't disrupt a winning team. Only changes will be the enforced ones of Manquillo for Trippier and Burn for Targett.

Konsa suspended for our game is excellent

Brings a ridiculous amount of composure and intelligence into the backline. So far ahead of everyone else. What was the injury, his shin?

We have absolutely no game plan, do we?

Probably doesn't want to change a winning team. Even Targett is enforced because of Dummett's injury.

Got a bad feeling about this. 0-2.

It's Tim Cahill I'm worried about.

I'm incredibly wary of thinking too soon about the summer given the huge hurdles we need to face to even stay up... but if we do, our marquee signings should be Declan Rice and/or Bowen from West Ham. Their fans are up in arms about the lack of business/pushing on and it's clear they're never going to be ambitious enough to actually keep either of them for very long.

6/10. Seems a harsh score when you consider how amazing Trippier and Bruno are as signings (plus I generally think Targett and Burn are solid), just that the lack of dedicated central defender + pacey striker/support striker is risky.

Like a horoscope