Nine

It’s clear Hall isn’t trusted yet

It’s a matter of fitness, he isnt quite there in terms of staying consistent while starting 4/5 games over a 2 week period and not many of our players are currently. With Wilson back he can be utilised well again and rested enough to get the most out of him.

I won’t deny that, but if he had that end product quality he wouldn’t be here.

Good performance as usual, if you can’t see what value he brings to this system then you don’t know what you are looking at.

Phillips could be a decent answer as cover but the issues are: Phillips is naturally an out and out defensive 6, but he won’t start over Bruno there under any circumstance. Perhaps we view him as able to be deployed as one of the front 2.. then the question is how fit is he? Considering his lack of playing time at Man City is he up to speed fitness wise to play in our system? I know he played Bielsa ball well enough to earn a move to city but that was a few seasons ago now. Then you’ve got the issue over the fee and wages, we won’t sign anyone without an obligation I am convinced of that. Age and the recent emergence of Miley is against him also.. a good player but to much stands out against the idea for me for it to be a reasonable option.

You think Pope would be happy to sit on the bench after how big of a part he’s played for us? It’s not that simple. Plenty of reactionary posts tonight..

Poor for the 3rd, and the fans negative emotions will be focused on him now. Time will tell if he can really be up of a good enough standard as a stand in for this season, so far he hasn’t looked like solid enough in his decision making.

In our current predicament the first goal is vital, we can’t go chasing games at the moment. Having no options from the bench and fatigue setting in for most of the first 11 is tough, but historically this fixture favours us and if we get ahead early on or go into half time ahead we will likely go on to win.

The inquest begins

Some fans are pathetic. The squad is on the bones of its arse and we are having to put out the same 11 game after game, and still people cry after one bad performance even though we put together a solid run under the circumstances. We are playing passively away from home to conserve what energy we do have, Everton were up for this tonight and came out on top. Simple as, we move on.

Dirty, edgy physical side. They know how to make it difficult for sure, the first goal will decide whatever way this game goes.

Guaranteed booking for Young

And that’s what good teams do, one slack moment gets punished

The derbys of recent memory have definitely left a mark on some of our fans, I see the nerves are already showing. Just step back and have a think about it though, the differences of each club since we last played them. I don’t pay attention to their results or what system they play, but if they deploy a low block and play dirty it could be an edgy game under the circumstances. Having said that if we put out our strongest available side it should be enough to get the result, there will be no questions over mentality like there was during the Pardew reign of terror.

Finding and integrating the right keeper mid season is a gamble. There’s been more than a few hyped, expensive keepers flop in the PL in recent years.. the issue is that Dubs is injury prone also and this is an older version of him that hasn’t had regular football for a while now. Time will tell, we’ll have a good idea of how this pans out before the window even opens.

Beautiful

Willock is so under appreciated on here sometimes, as good as Miley has shown he is there is way to go before we can say that he’s ahead of Willock in terms of starting. They offer different qualities, but Willock is physically far more developed and physicality/stamina is the most important attribute that any of the front 2 midfielders can have in this system. Miley will get there and has lots of time to do so, he’s 17 and has had 4 starts so the potential on display so far from him is immense..

The way he was holding it and his immediate reaction to not get back up has me thinking it probably is.

Dislocated shoulder?

They were awful and we were solid throughout, a superior mentality on display all night from our 11. On another day that could have been 3 or 4.

To be fair I worded it very badly also, hence the sneaky edit

He’s contracted a disease known as dembabaitis, his knee is now essentially a ticking time bomb. God help us all.

I don’t expect us to rotate much if at all, just one look at the bench from the last two games says there is no other starting options and no one that’s out will be back to full fitness in time. I think we’ll grind it out with the same 11 for this and then re assess for Everton.

This group won’t mentally crash from that, if anything it will just cause the opposite. What a way to have that taken from us though, just can’t process that decision at all right now. Proud of this club.

Speechless