Saint Albert

I was thinking of saying that the ideal scenario is making it to the end of the season with Pellegrino in charge, somehow surviving relegation and then the club has the opportunity to replace him in the summer when the club has the opportunity to think things through and weigh up potential candidates. Then I remembered that the last time the club had the time in the summer to weigh up candidates and go through a detailed selection process, we ended up with Mauricio Pellegrino. I’d be very interested to see if he’s got the sense to pick largely the same side for the Liverpool game, or if he makes odd changes again like bringing in Davis for Lemina. We could be stuck in “this manager will never learn” territory, if he does that, once again.

Newcastle one up...

Quite a few of the match reports in the papers made note of the chanting.

Yes once again I got our players mixed up.

Hmmm... I thought he did well today. He scored a beauty of a goal, and set up the JWP free kick with a typically surging, rambunctious run. His defensive presence in the air is something of a concern, but he was fouled for the 1at goal. The referee missed a lot of calls today.

Pellegrino picked a good line-up. I might have played Hoj over Romeu but it was great to see him get the lineup just about right. I hope he resists the urge to tinker in future games. Lots of good possession in their half while they were trying to mount a comeback, rather than sitting back with ten men behind the ball. I think that Lemina is coming into his own after his injury. He was class today. Not just his goal, but the way he brought the ball out from defensive positions. Easily my MOM. I appreciated the leadership that Lemina and Hoedt displayed when dealing with Boufal on the free kick in the second half, that JWP scored. Mainly, I just appreciate that we played well and won. Weekends are so much better when we win.

I wish I could.

What a relief. Now it’s time to go outside, shovel some snow from my driveway (there’s quite a bit of it) and get rid of some of this nervous energy.

Here’s J-Rod...

Interesting scuffle between JWP and Boufal over who got to take that free kick. I’m glad JWP won out!

Get the **** in!!!!

I’d love to see him get a shift at DM.

If Lemina is fit, he must start ahead of Davis. Simples.

Lovely save by McCarthy. Well done.

That was a ****ing good header by Stephens!!!!

My stream is a little behind it seems but LEMINA WITH A SCREAMER!!!!

That was a decent chance for Sturridge.

Well. At least Lemina is looking decent on the ball.

I probably should have read this before posting mine... Evans is a big loss for them.

Evans is not even in the squad for W. Brom. Same with Krychowiak who apparently had improved under Pardew. J-Rod is on the bench with Sturridge and Rondon starting.

Hoj is a little unlucky to be on the bench. I’m happy Lemina and Boufal start. Not a lot to complain about with the line up though, so well done Pellegrino. Fingers crossed that we do the double on WBA... And Redmond returns to the bench...

He hasn’t won in 12 consecutive PL games. He does seem like a decent sort of fellow, though.

Perhaps he’ll consider playing Carillo in the lone striker position with Long playing on one of the wings. Sims is the only other decent option for pace.

We’re not winning, and it does not appear to be changing. The manager has not won once in 12 PL games. It seems incredibly, naively optimistic to expect him to win four or five of the next 13 PL games.

The board are probably meeting to plan for the January transfer window and identify targets to fill obvious gaps in the squad. Does someone dare tell them they are a little bit too late?