roonst83

In which case we’d have to change our shape as Sanson doesn’t play in the no.10 role or wide left. The issue we face in dropping Barkley is we need to bring in a wide player in to bring Grealish middle. Barkley is the only natural no.10 which is why he seems to keep his place. That, plus the fact that neither El Ghazi or Trezzy are good enough to start for us. Well, El Ghazi did well enough when he was drafted in but he can only play wide left but he’s so weak and often ineffective it’s a risk. I agree that I’d welcome Nakamba in for Luiz and Sanson in for McGinn for Leicester but with Elmo almost certainly coming in for Cash I can’t see Smith making 3-4 changes.

Spot on.100%

Worst we’ve played this season. Decent point on the balance of it. We looked unusually sluggish and sloppy. Didn’t ever look like scoring or winning. Defended well and Martinez made some good saves and kept us in the game. Brighton stifled us by pressing and closing us down and, crucially, stopping us feed into Watkins. That subsequently prevented us getting any sense of build up play or momentum.

I always find the main presenter (don’t know his name) to be fair and much more reasonable than the others. He’s actually articulate for one.

The most satisfying thing for me that day (besides my overriding delirium at beating them at their place) was the thought of that moron sat in a police cell when a copper opens up the letter box flap to his cell and says “by the way mate, Grealish has just scored the winner”. Perfect retribution right there.

Big win that. Much needed and I felt, deserved. What I’m most pleased with with is is how we have repeatedly came back from poor results to get big wins (Arsenal and Saints away and Arsenal at home). That shows character, determination and great coaching. And listening to Deano he talks about us still needing to improve in lots of areas. Love that. Looking forwards. Pushing for betterness. Always. Mings, when fully focused, is absolutely colossal. Gave him MOTM with Watkins right behind him. Watkins is so huge to how we okay. He holds the ball up fantastically, is so mobile across all back lines, and doesn’t give anyone too much time. And he tracks back to get involved too. Cash was also absolutely excellent. Fair play to Nakamba. Twice he’s been thrown in without much game time and twice he’s done a great job in that defensive holding role. Excellent and more importantly it shows we can rely on other players when called upon and play the way we need to. That’s crucial for progression. We weathered a storm of possession bu Arsenal but we were absolutely resolute and crafted the better chances all game. Their keeper was the busier but massive credit to Martinez for that one brilliant save from the free kick. He’s a fans favourite despite him not having played for us in front of the fans. Traore has to start every game for me. He’s levels above Anwar and Trezzy in terms if quality, craft and guile. He’s unpredictable and whilst I was screaming at him for not drilling his chance low into the corner, I’ve learnt that his nonchalant style is just what he is and we shouldn’t want to take that away form him. He’s beautiful to watch on the ball and it was a great assist for the goal. We’ve shown in our games against Saints away and Arsenal yesterday that we can be resilient and defend soundly to help us get vital wins. Add that to the flair and attacking threat of our forward players then it shows we’re such an improving team.

As per the Leeds game we simply couldn’t handle the press from West Ham. They successfully nullified any threat we had by taking Grealish out of the game. We couldn’t get into any rhythm because they didn’t give us any time on the ball. We were second best all night and as soon as the first goal when in it felt inevitably like a defeat. Barkley was very poor tonight, sloppy and trying to be intricate in tight spaces but subsequently giving the ball away too often. Anwar can’t start for us on the right atall. He’s too weak and ineffective. He’s better on the left where he can cut in and deliver crosses but I’d have Traore start over him every time. Bertrand has much more craft and guile about him and works well with Cash going forwards. Emi should be saving both of Lingard’s goals but he’s allowed an off night. Their central midfield won the battle and that usually dictates how games play out. Sanson will start sooner or later and probably at the expense of Barkley. Although I do feel Grealish is much better for us out wide. Was a tough night tonight and could sense something wasn’t right from the off. They were hungrier and wanted it more. Pressed us to death and didn’t look back once they scored.

Our goal exemplifies how good Grealish and Barkley are together and how much of a threat Grealish is out wide. Huge win that was. Massive and means we can banish Wednesday night’s bitter and bewildered disappointment. Got lucky with the Ings goal. That rule is ridiculous as we know only too well ourselves. Saints deserved to get something out of that but it’s about time we were on the right end of VAR. People talking in hypotheticals regarding making subs. Who’s to say if we made subs that disrupted our stoicism that we wouldn’t have ended up losing the game. Was an extremely difficult game to be brought into. Only one I expected was Trezzy for Traore to help us track back with energy but it brings a lot of confidence when the coach has faith in those playing to get the job done. Targett and Cash were excellent. Martinez is the best keeper we’ve had since Bosnich. Big big win. Wasn’t pretty and Saints will rightly feel hard done by by the daft rules. But don’t let that cloud the positives for us in terms of how well we threw our bodies on the line, quite literally, to prevent us from conceding. Arguably played our worst game tonight but a big part of that was because Saints are extremely well drilled and great on the ball. This is a really good team in the making. And a transitioning team. We’re in good hands with coaches and owners and play great football. “The right way” as Keano described. What’s most pleasing is we’ve shown again that we can come back from a knock (loss). And shows that whilst we can’t get carried away with our wins, we can’t lose our s**t over our losses. Onto the next game(s) and always looking forwards. Big 3pts tonight.

My Saints fan mate said precisely this.

I think you've misinterpreted my comment. It was in direct response to @obanken's post which said if we lost to Sheff Utd with everything else remaining the exact same as it played out then we'd still survive. But we wouldn't as I described. I definitely don't need any further convincing of the many many examples of how we were royally screwed over by refs, VAR etc last season, none more so than, as you alluded to, Palace away. I was there and it was vile. 94th minute having a goal scrubbed out was potentially a defining moment. Conceeding in 42nd minute at home to Sheff Utd cant be viewed the same at all. Those that think goal line technology are deluded and severely one-sided with their anti-villa, and extremely naive opinions. Those people who believe that are probably the same people who believe the Covid jab will place some micro chip that will keep tabs on everyone.

This isn’t true is it? If we lost 0-1 to Sheff Utd then we would’ve had 34 pts along with Bournemouth but our GD would’ve been worse (-27 compared to Bournemouth’s -25). And GD counts before GS.

Saint Maxim is class for them. Pretty devastatingly quick and their biggest threat by a mile. Really wish we had McGinn for this one to break up and scrap it out with Longstaff etc. Always a tough game against the barcodes, am hoping if we can score first then we can get on top of them. Need to be clinical with any chances. Watkins does so much for us off the ball but his confidence in front of goal must be lacking massively as he has no goals in 9 games now. Would love him to score. Mings and Cons will need to be ready for the elbows of Carroll and the movement of Gayle when he's inevitably brought on. Have seen some talk of Anwar being brought in, but can't see it to be honest, as I'm sure Smith will throw Ramsey in and keep Grealish wide. Barkey was very rusty against City but the minutes will have done his fitness no harm at all so expect he'll be given more minutes and start. We need him fit as he's a huge asset to us going forwards when he's fit. As with all villa games, I always feel we need to score first to win. Hopefully the whole team are still angry and frustrated from the madness of Wednesday night and are up for it.

EDIT. Just check on BBC Sport and they have McGinn as being booked. Surely that’s not right. Wasn’t it for Luiz’s cynical foul?

McGinn didn’t get a yellow either. It was Luiz who picked up a booking.

Clearly ring rusty tonight shown by his sloppy passes and lack of overall sharpness. He’ll only get fitter with minutes and preferably in games where we’re on the ball more.

Conor is as equally underrated as he is overrated by fans. Some think he’s good enough to start and some think he’s Championship at best. He’s probably somewhere in the middle. Scored some vital goals for us and we absolutely wouldn’t be here without him. A great championship player and a limited Premier league one for me. Wish him all the best. Big fan of him and what’s he’s done. But if he won’t play for us (and he shouldn’t IMO) then best for all to move on.

By the time this game gets played Louie will have passed his A-levels and nailed the 6th form Prom Queen.

Any idea when we should receive confirmation of whether the game is being postponed?

The fact they released a DVD celebrating a 2-2 draw away to Bolton which kept them up in the championship will always vindicate the difference in levels of class between us. And to think they were banging on about us over reacting when we stayed up at West Ham.

Proud Proud Proud Proud Proud Proud Proud Proud Proud Proud Proud

“Mark Delaney will be wanting his team to keep it at 1-3” Martin Keown with the score at 1-4 after 79mins. FML.

“This Leeds team just will not lay down will they” Glenn Hoddle • 88th minute losing 3-0 to Spurs. FML

I know. I was sat there utterly perplexed. Just shows the very poor standard of punditry that exists across various platforms now.

By the same ref. Who went and reviewed the decision. Gutless.

“Think Pogba kicks the back of Luiz’s leg and trips himself up so that’s a penalty for me” Darren Bent.