sushimonster85

Think Brighton have a bit of catchment area problem. They're close enough to London that a lot of the really promising kids would end up in the youth systems of the bigger teams. Obviously that may be starting to change now, but that won't become evident for another few years as kids start coming through.

Aye, like as funny as it would initially be, I don't really want them to fold altogether. Would much rather them be stuck in the National League, their fanbase still banging on about how actually they are still somehow the bigger team.

Dan Ashworth definitely on garden leave, definitely not already working from home on Newcastle stuff, promise....

I know the whole thing is abhorrent, but I always find the inclusion of Arsenal and Spurs in this 'big six' as a desperate/pathetic. Forget even a suddenly insanely rich NUFC, just decent well-run clubs like Leicester, Wolves and even Brighton are starting to knock on their door in terms of league position on a consistent basis.

I think in the long run Bruno is here to perform a similar role to the one Shelvey currently does. With more intense pressing and less red card inviting random lunges. However that's likely next season when he will more than likely have a solid/good CDM alongside him (someone like a Bissouma for example). Think Howe would ideally like to play a system that looks more like a 4-2-3-1 than the 4-3-3 we seem to have found a groove with recently. You can see a shadow of that now when we attack, often times these past few games when we go forward its been Willock who has been up closest to Wood. But yeah, the immediate problem is the midfield is currently performing so well it's hard to drop any of them. As much as I never thought I'd be saying this a few weeks ago, but I honestly think they all have to remain in place for West Ham. If we lose, or don't perform to the standards we have been recently, its then easier to look at making a change for Brentford the following week.

If there's any risk at all playing Manquillo against West Ham I'd hold him back for Brentford. Anything from West Ham would be a bonus. We need to be targeting a win against Brentford, need to be fielding our strongest possible 11. Whilst we're clearly miles away from being safe points wise, we beat Brentford and I would say we're likely out the real heat of the scrap.

Typo in art form.

Was expecting it to be a slow final hour at work, watching this RTG meltdown should carry me through to 5pm nicely.

Botman, Bissouma, and Raphinha would all be amazing signings, and somewhat realistic for a team that has survived this season and want's to make a push for the top half/top 7 next season. Would also want a LB, not sure Targett would be worth what Villa would likely try and charge us for him. Could see us making a move for Tagliafico, there were some early Jan rumours about him coming here before it went cold. I love Wilson, but we also ideally need a top class striker who can actually play 30+ games a season.