M_Afro

I think that this is our best formation and probably our best current starting 11. For next season I would look to sign three players to replace Luiz, Marvelous and AEG. Three carefully selected £30-£40m players, slotted into that team would take us up a level.

In my view, Smith cannot be considered a top manager yet. He has a lot to do to prove himself. Plus points are he has done a good job so far, he is one of us, he seems to improve players, he loves the club, he seems to be capable of learning/improving and he is a top bloke. Negatives are, in my view, he makes some very poor team selections, he is very slow to react to evolving on field situations and he is probably a tiny bit soft. Still got plenty of credit in the bank for me. Next year is big. Assuming we back him again in the summer (nothing certain with C-19), we need to be better next season. We need to show that we can dominate and control games. Even against the best. He also needs to prove that he has the judgement and balls to replace some of his favourite players who need replacing. I am especially thinking of SJM here.

I don’t disagree with you at all. He has done really well to this point. I hope he continues to do so.

Nobody cares

Goodness me. He is still a kid. Not looking out of place at his age is an achievement. I agree that he shouldn’t be starting but let’s at least let him leave his teens behind before we get into him.

Dean gets loads of stuff wrong but he still has credit in the bank as far as I’m concerned. He has shown that he is willing to learn and keeping us up last season was miraculous. If we finish top half this season you cannot argue that he hasn’t done a decent job of building upon that. I still suspect that we will outgrow him in time but I hope not. We will never have another manager who understands and loves the club as much as he does. He is also a top bloke.

I won £35 tonight having backed Sheff Utd (following team selection). Just put the lot on Wolves at 2-1. We are so poor at the minute and they, although not great, still have a solid defence and attackers who can hurt you on the break. Easy win for them.

I have thought about this a lot recently. We are definitely not getting the balance right. I am starting to think that the players are also just not good enough. McGinn and Luiz are great when they are in form but they are way too inconsistent. Luiz is still young and will improve but McGinn is probably not going to get better. I am happy for him to be a squad player but Dean must overcome his obsession with starting him every week come what may. Marvellous is similar. He adds a bit of balance to the midfield and I would continue to play him at the moment but he is just not a top half premier league player. Again a useful squad player but no more. Ramsey has potential and lots of time to improve but he is not a starter yet. I can’t really comment on Sanson because we just haven’t seen him enough. Until we improve the quality here and can dominate games from midfield we will never have real consistency at this level. We are too reliant on an excellent back five and Jack to get us wins.

I thought the initial team selection was poor. You are playing the worst team in the league who have lost a load of games on the bounce. You pick a team to press high and go at them from the off. Do not invite them into the game. Luiz and Sanson should have started in my view. We needed energy and crisp movement of the ball. He then waited way too long to make a substitution. To be fair. The first two subs were sensible but way too late. He then took off the most likely person to score or create a goal and replaced him with someone immune to scoring! Why not take off a defender and go for it? Strange decisions all round for me. We have been utter garbage for weeks though so none of the above would necessarily have worked but it just seems more sensible to me. I am really concerned about Saturday. It could be ugly.

On the manager that one. Got it all wrong. It’s no coincidence that we are always awful against 10 men. No answers whatsoever. Oh well we move on.

It’s been poor and yet again he has today got the midfield balance woefully wrong but it’s only half time, we can actually change it with our bench and they aren’t very good. Sanson and Barkley on at half time and let’s have a go.

Fantastic news. Hopefully some of these prospects will start to break through now like Ramsey has. Really fantastic to see. UTV

I think so. I absolutely loved Bosnich but Emi is better I think. Nobody else even comes close for me. I know some will say Friedal but he was not in the same league as Emi

I would love us to sign two relatively expensive players in St Maximin and Bissouma. Then a couple of young up and coming players.

He has been brilliant for us since day 1. Never understood the hate he gets. He is class.

Not his day today but I still love Dirty Bertie. He is just filth!

Cannot see what AEG is doing to keep getting picked. SJM is very lucky too in my opinion. It still looks unbalanced to me and I am not expecting much of the ball. I really hope I am wrong but this could be ugly! Anyway. UTV. COYVB

But that’s exactly what happened with Cash and look how well he has done. I also think that Trez has been better this season. He was good up until he first got injured. I would take him over AEG every day of the week. Football is about balance. We are a better team with him in it because he provides energy and physicality to an otherwise placid team.

Insightful

Anybody checked the fantasy football teams?

Anybody else think Trez could make a pretty good right back? It worked for Matty Cash. I would like to see him given a go under the right circumstances. He is big enough, strong enough and physical enough. He would obviously be pretty good going forward and he is decent in the air.

I like this although I would have Marvelous at the base, shift Dougie to the right and have SJM at the head of the diamond. Keep JR in the bench.

I think the owners will be keen to test the post C-19 landscape before committing to any development. The impact on employment and the wider economy is totally unknown. Add in the uncertainty created by Brexit and now is a risky time to re-develop the ground. I think it will happen under these guys at some stage but not just now. It’s a shame because in many ways the past 12 months would have been the perfect time to do it!

I have just been watching Leeds and if we play the same three in midfield against them, we will be torn to pieces. Not because they are amazing players but because they are so energetic and physical. They are the polar opposite to our recent midfield performances. We must get energy and physicality in there. I would sacrifice Ross for a more traditional centre mid, probably Sanson. I would also consider including Marvelous for SJM. Let us make it incredibly hard for them for an hour, frustrate them and then possibly look to introduce Ross and SJM later in the game when Leeds have worn out a bit. Do nothing and I fear an absolute battering. Maybe 5-0.

The key word was next, not last! We were also very lucky to get a win it that game. Arsenal bossed it from minute three until the end.