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Or someone who wasn't very impressed with his laboured performance against Cardiff and thinks he needs to up his game if he wants to start. I'd play him over Targett all day long, but let's not rewrite history: Bertrand looked way off the pace against Cardiff. We're carrying enough passengers as it is. Hopefully he's getting sharper with every training session. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Babel's speed and strength, and Mitrovic's aerial power will be too much for our useless defenders, whether we play four, five or six at the back. We just have to go for broke, try and get the minimum three goals we'll need to win. There's no way we're grinding out a 1-0. Bring Yoshida and Bertrand back - get some experience in that defence. Sims had a storming game for the u23s the other day (2 goals, 2 assists) so should be feeling confident. Get him involved. We can't keep wasting time on Elyounoussi - he's got nothing we want. We need someone who can run quicker than walking pace, who isn't Shane Long. (4-2-2-2) Keeper; Valery, Yoshida, Vestergaard, Bertrand; Romeu, Hojbjerg; Armstrong, Sims; Redmond, random striker tombola winner. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

He's a good manager, I think, destined for better things than trying to get a tune out of this rabble. His hands are tied. He wants to play a back four, but we don't have two competent centre backs so he needs a five. He wants to play a high energy press, but he's got a squad that lacks physical conditioning. He wants to attack with pace, but almost all his options are plodders. He definitely expected the board to strengthen in January. Some of his decisions have been questionable, sure, but that's what you'd expect from a manager desperate to find a workable formula with these losers. I can't understand his treatment of Gunn, though. A young keeper who has never played in the PL before, yet rather than easing him in at home, or letting him have a decent run in the side, he's been dropped into the deep end for two one-off outings away to Chelsea and Arsenal - two of the hardest games on the fixture list. I fully expect McCarthy to return against Fulham. It's not a big thing, but it is weird. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Well, at least our goal difference hasn't been annihilated. And that's the end of the positives. If we don't win on Wednesday, that'll be it for us. The lack of quality in our hugely expensively assembled squad is beyond belief. Let's not pretend that we were going to Arsenal with any great expectations, but there's a feeling that our long malaise has finally caught up with us and there's no turning this mess around. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

And have three more points than us, a better goal difference, and plenty of winnable games left - Huddersfield at home for them next weekend. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

No point obsessing over everyone else's results - if we can't cobble together 40+ points we don't deserve to stay up. We won't get away with survival with 34 points again. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Don't think so. Kick off time is the same as Man United vs Liverpool - I imagine TV folk will be slightly more interested in that one. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

How will their two other international centre backs cope with the spasmodic lone threat of Shane Long chasing after aimless punts? This will be a damage limitation exercise in preparation for the must win game with Fulham. I doubt the Arsenal keeper will even get his gloves dirty. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Didn't specify up or down. The Championship is the next level. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Good eyes. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

That's just not true. I think McCarthy is a pretty average keeper and Gunn's ceiling is miles above his, but he's far from the liability Forster became. Yes, Frasier was exposed by a weaker defence - but exposed as not being very good at goalkeeping when more frequently called upon to do something. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

No two hernia ops are alike. Some folk are back within 3-4 weeks, others 6-8. I'm still confused about the picture Lemina posted of his leg in a futuristic knee brace. We may never know what was really wrong with him. As long as gets back and helps us survive, I suppose it doesn't really matter. It's kind of weird when you think about it, how much the public seems to know about strangers' medical conditions. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

He's spent his injury lay off really exercising his jaw muscles. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

That was a performance that wouldn't have looked out of place at the back end of Puel's tenure. All backwards, sideways, hesitate, backwards, slowly does it. Valery played well. No-one else was even close to being good enough - against a glorified Championship club. I don't think we've got enough to stay up. The defence has at least one calamity per game in them, the midfield can't create, and our attacking threat is the oh so reliable Nathan Redmond or bust. Hope the mini preseason in Tenerife gives the manager enough time to come up with some kind of way forward. What that could be, God knows. Getting the team fitter can only improve things so much. Bleak. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Can't believe how complacent our club (and some of our fans) has been about survival. Hasenhuttl's got us organised and looking like a team, but he can't magic quality up from nowhere. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Absolutely toothless going forward. Cardiff looking dangerous from set pieces. Lots of effort, but we're very laboured on the ball. I fear for us if we have to chase the game. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Interesting to see Jake Vokins added to the first team squad for training this week. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

You're just reheating the same straw-clutching bargaining that has been Charlie Austin's domain for the past three years: if he can only get a full pre season under his belt... How's that worked out? Austin actually, finally managed to get fit for the start of this season, but he's still a physical wreck that we can't even sell for scrap. The good news with Ings is at least his popodom knees haven't exoloded yet. It's the rest of his body that's failing - perhaps as a result of trying to compensate for reduced powers caused by long-term injuries. Even when he has been fit it's clear that he's not the player he was - his pace is nothing like it used to be. It'd be amazing if he got consistently fit, sharp, and started banging them on the the regular, but I just don't see it happening, sadly. For £20m we haven't got, it's not looking like the shrewdest business at this stage. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Getting closer to the club's dream of being able to field an entire XI of goalkeepers. Is that nine or ten on the books now from u18s up? Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Legs are going. He can't do the only thing that he is remotely good at anymore. If our survival is dependent on a waning Shane Long leading the line, we're stuffed. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

He had a good spell in the second half where he seemed to find his confidence and started knocking the ball about well, but the first half passed him by entirely, and he was AWOL in the last ten minutes when we were under the pump. One thing that has bothered me in his handful of appearances thus far is that he's either incredibly unfit or incredibly lazy as opposition players were able to run past him with total ease and he'd let them go without breaking into more than a jog. I don't think it's a good sign for a young midfielder to be seemingly indifferent to working hard out of possession. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

The way we played in the first half, I would've snatched your hand off for a point. Obviously losing two points with the last kick of the game feels like a defeat. Burnley will justifiably think they deserved something having been denied a clear penalty in the first half. It was a shame for Stephens to have a brain fade there at the end - I thought he'd had one of his best games for us until then. Hey ho. Of course it should never have come to that: twice injury time Long had the ball deep in the opposition half and, rather than run it into the corner and kill time, he feebly turned it over. His performance all round was diabolical. Can't he run anymore? We thought if anyone suited Hasenhuttl's high energy pressing game it'd be Long, but he looked laboured all afternoon. Didn't really close anyone down, not much hustle. And, of course, useless in possession. Credit to Slattery. He wasn't at the races at all in the first half but seemed to grow in confidence to contribute some nice touches in the second. Looks like our survival plan is Nathan Redmond or bust. Yikes - imagine saying that this time last year. Could do with Bournemouth doing us a solid in Wales now... Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

0-0 h/t. The referee won't be able to save us from the inevitable in the second half. We were bright for the first 20 minutes, but have been appalling since Ings banked his appearance fee and buggered off. Burnley should've had a penalty (terrible keeping from McCarthy) and somehow didn't score from a scramble after a corner. Armstrong the worst player on the pitch. What is he? I know he's popped up with the odd goal, but a midfielder who can't control the ball inside of three touches, tackle or pass is a curious animal indeed. Slattery is way short of being up to men's football. Every opposition player, no matter how slow, has been able to run straight past him while he plods around aimlessly time and again. Crouch is going to bundle home a filthy winner, isn't he? Grim. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Sicknote Ings off injured again. Long on. Yay... Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

4 points from the relegation zone having finished 3 points above it last season. Yeah, we're going great guns... Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk