Matt Targett

[Thumbheed]

Still don't think he starts against Spurs. 

 

Burn's been pretty good for most the season and whilst he does have games where he'll be poor by the teams high standards, he's still not been consistently poor enough to warrant dropping. 

[huss9]

harsh to judge targett  on yestersays performance.

give him a couple of games.

[andyc35i]

If there ever was a time to make changes to the back four then it would be now. But Eddie values consistency so I think he sticks with Burn for the weekend 

[Scotty66]

He was absolutely solid last season. Really good signing. Just had the knack to stop wingers dead with a full on block tackle. 

 

I always thought that if he an Trippier bomb forward then we are left open at the back with only Schar and Botman but Burn has been pushing way to high this season so not much difference there, plus we played well and got good results with Targett in the team last season anyway. 

 

Hard choice to make though as we're still one of the best defensive units in Europe. In April. 

[Alberto2005]

A point wouldn't be the end of the world here in a game which I think will be a nervy one, it will keep Spurs at bay going into the Everton and Soton games which I'd be much more confident about.

[HaydnNUFC]

9 minutes ago, Scotty66 said:

He was absolutely solid last season. Really good signing. Just had the knack to stop wingers dead with a full on block tackle. 

 

I always thought that if he an Trippier bomb forward then we are left open at the back with only Schar and Botman but Burn has been pushing way to high this season so not much difference there, plus we played well and got good results with Targett in the team last season anyway. 

 

Hard choice to make though as we're still one of the best defensive units in Europe. In April. 

 

I don't think Targett is the silver bullet that some may believe he is but we've also only kept 1 clean sheet in 10 league games and haven't kept a clean sheet away from home since January.

[McDog]

54 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

I don't think Targett is the silver bullet that some may believe he is but we've also only kept 1 clean sheet in 10 league games and haven't kept a clean sheet away from home since January.

 

Yea, I don't think it would be a silver bullet but it's worth a try for sure.

[nemtizz]

Welcome back, Matty

[RobS]

Big night for him tonight, needs to be defensively strong but offer more going forward than Burn has recently, good luck to him ?? 

[STM]

Really have a soft spot for Targett. He's a much better footballer than his face would suggest.... you know what I mean? 

[LionOfGosforth]

If someone told me to predict which game he would return for, from the remaining games, this would probably be last on the list but welcome back!

[GEFAFWISP]

Looked unfit and lacked match sharpness. Did some decent work with ball recoveries but that attempt at chasing Iwobi down and getting tossed to the ground was painful to watch. Hopefully he can regain some fitness with more minutes in the final few games, otherwise we're back to Burn.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I thought he was decent. Definitely quite a few passes where Burn would have lost the ball. 

[Kid Icarus]

Getting outstripped by a faster player aside, he was absolutely fine. Happy to see him back 

[cubaricho]

Rough night in the end, but I hope he doesn't lose his place totally.

 

That Iwobi body check looked worse than it probably was in the end. Burn would've been no where near that to even begin with.

 

I really hope he gets some more minutes before the end of the season.

[BlazeT44]

Can't say much about today's performance.

 

Trippier looked slow, off it and past his best when he came back from his lay-off.

 

For about all of three weeks and then he was quality.

 

He just needs football..

 

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by BlazeT44

[Smal]

He was knackered after half time, like. Needs some more games but I’m not sure he’ll get them now.

[Rich]

Thought he was really good in the circumstances, that Iwobi bit aside. Very tricky game to come back into after seven months without a start and for the most part he was incredibly tidy.

[LiquidAK]

He’s barely played, so expect it’ll take a few games for him to get match fit. Glad to see him back 

[Holloway]

thought he was canny overall, one rinsing when he looked like a little hamster

[Vinny Green Balls]

Some of the comments about him tonight were a bit mad.

[Pilko]

Glad to see him back. He was tidy and solid other than the yellow card incident. Hopefully he can start to challenge BDB over the remaining weeks.

[80]

Bit of a mixed bag as others have said. Felt bad for him on the yellow. Showed some footballing talent that we've missed back there though, playing some smooth early balls forward.

 

A bit of a leap of logic, but it's occurred to me: is it possible that he's not as committed to developing his game as Howe clearly likes, hence the lack of urgency to get him playing time? He seems a great lad but I could imagine him being happy just doing what's asked of him in training rather than arriving an hour early and leaving an hour late every day like a rabid dog. And that not quite being Eddie's cup of tea.

[Conjo]

It was more the shock at how slow he was compared to Iwobi.   It wasn't just the situation when he got thrown to the ground, it was at least 3 instances where he was just left for dead. I knew he wasn't the fastest, but has to be either fitness or injury related. Iwobi is athletic, but he isn't someone I'd consider quick in the same way I do f.ex Almiron and Murphy.

 

Thought he did well other than that. Hopefully gets back that extra little spring in his legs after a few more games.

[Optimistic Nut]

It'll just take games under his belt and I'm sure we'll see last Feb-May Targett. I just don't think he'll get the chance to do that.