woodsaint1

Not that bizarre as I'm not sure they've far more quality than us. Outside of Phillips, Raphinha and Bamford they are very, very average. They're also suffering the second season syndrome for newly promoted clubs when their tactics/style of play is better understood by other teams

The pessimism on here must be down to the hangover from the late late Brighton equaliser. We have a decent record at the Emirates in recent years (should have easily won the last two) so no reason why we cant get a result. Yes we've a few missing but our squad has alot more depth this season and as tonight showed Arsenal can be very average at times. Another draw I reckon with Willy picking up a debut clean sheet

Time to rest Tino as his performances have tailed off the last few weeks. Not sure what the status with Bednarek is. Would start him ahead of Lyanco if fit. Lyanco/Stephens pairing could be awesome or a car crash, nothing in between. Would bring Willy straight in, purely for the experience. Willy KWP Stephens Lyanco Perraud Tella Diallo JWP Redmond Broja Adams

On a slight positive, another goal for Broja and means our current striking options (Adams, Armstrong, Broja) have chipped in with 8 goals in 15 games this season. Doesnt sound inspiring but checked the first 15 games of last season and our options at the time (Ings, Adams, Obafemi, N'Lundulu) had 10 goals in the same period. Worry is that JWP, Walcott, Vestergaard had all scored a couple each. We really have a lack of goals outside our strikers, especially if JWP isnt scoring free kicks.

JWP took it upon himself to do that. Given the high line that everybody else kept, that wasnt instructions he was acting on. If they whip it over the wall and into the far corner then fair dues, but dropping back to play everybody on (after gifting the free kick in the first place) is just a massive brainfart. Havent been this annoyed about stoppage time decision making since Bertand tried to play for a throw-in in our corner that led to Everton equalising at Goodison in the near relegation season under Hughes. We could be sitting on 21/22 points if it wasnt for poor decison making/defensive mistakes. Instead we're only 6 above Newcastle who've managed just their first win of the season. So frustrating when you see the performances we've put in for 45-60 minutes of games

All you can is laugh.....or cry

As much as I dont rate McCarthy, this is spot on. If he stood at his 'front post' and left the other side of the goal gaping then he would get criticised for that too. It was a good finish from Maddison. His save from Barnes was excellent too. People seem to forget that Tino has just turned 19 and before this season only had experience of the u23 league. As much as he offers going forward, he will make mistakes defensively and that just has to be accepted as part of his development. A more experienced KWP also made a number of mistakes, one which almost cost us the game

Would go for something similar but with Livramento at RWB and KWP at LWB. Also if we're going with 5 at the back, we cant afford to have 3 defensive minded midfielders in front of that - we'll never get out of our own half. Stuart Armstrong in an advanced role ahead of JWP and Romeu would have been ideal, but with him injured I would put Redmond in that position just off the front two. 5-3-2 in defence but switching to a 3-4-3 when attacking. No doubt Walcott will start 😱

Pathetic today, but not surprising because he's a chamoionship level keeper at best. If we can get a better keeper in January then we need to do it because McCarthy will cost us alot more points than he will save us. Could be the difference between a relegation scrap and 12-14th place

Quite frankly thats a miserable result, but ultimately summed up our season to date in 90 mins. Dont take our chances and kill the game when we should Make silly mistakes to gift teams goals Bizarre substitutions which make no sense - except to Ralph Its at least a point dropped (didnt deserve 3 points with that 2nd half performance imo). McCarthy does McCarthy things, can produce a worldie save out of nowhere but then throws in some howlers. Let Liverpool stick 5/6 past him and then drop him like a stone. Walcott stealing a living and ruining any past sentiment saints fans had for him by the game. For Ralph to continue picking him ahead of Tella who was one of our shining lights the second half of last season is just mind boggling

😂 3 wins and a draw in our last 4 before this. The definition of over reaction

Dont think we need to be worrying about Billy Gilmour, we barely gave his compatriot McGinn a kick in the last game and hes a better player. In fact if we play semi decent we dont need to worry about any Norwich players. There will be a natural lift in the Norwich workrate with players keen to impress a new manager, but will take a while for Smith to get his ideas/tactics in place

Tbh in a normal world and with our current business model, we really shouldnt be looking at WHU, Villa and Newcastle as relegation rivals. Not convinced that Villa or Newcastle are any better off with their appointments. There will be the initial uplift that a new boss inevitably brings but both have limitations as managers which will be exposed in the long run imo

Least he will funds available to him at Villa, he was very limited in the summer at Rangers and according to the Athletic article was unhappy at that. Though that was partly his fault as funds at Rangers are dependent upon CL qualification....which they flubbed when they were 1-0 up against the 10 men of mighty Malmo

The first team squad have been given a few days 'working from home' have they not

Think theres some Czech Gazillionaire who is in talks with them

A chance for him to prove himself with regular football, but doesnt seem to be taking that chance. No matter how good Ings was for us last season, to go from Ings/Adams/Obafemi/N'Lundulu to Armstrong/Adams/Broja is a noticeable upgrade

Bednarek doesnt half get some shit on here. He was very solid tonight I thought, definitely not 'really poor'. In fact none of our players were really poor. Villa on the other hand

Good thing we were superb in the first half. Cheer up fs

Get in. Another 3 points, another clean sheet. People may say the second half was dire, but Villa were always going to throw the kitchen sink at us. McCarthy was barely troubled by a poor Villa side. We really should have been out of sight first half, but thats been our season really. Positives - KWP was like a man possessed for the first half. Adam Armstong, great goal and made some great runs. Adams, Bednarek and Salisu all solid performances. Romeu doing what he does best. Ralph reacting to the Villa barage and going to 3 at the back and doing it early too. Commentator picked up that its one of his weaknesses which hes now addressing. Negatives - Bit of a dip from Tino, but hey hes 18 and hes been unreal this season. Salisu nearly giving us a heart attack with no look back passes. McCarthy the same with some suspect kicking. JWPs corner delivery has been poor for a while - too many easy clearances at the front post or collected by Martinez. Biggest negative - Andy Madley. Stinker

You're dead right. Their last 3 seasons in the PL they conceded 65, 70 and 61 respectively. Still didnt stop them trying to play out from the back so will be interesting to see if he sticks with that approach at Newcastle

Not sure you can go huge in January anymore. The market is very flat compared with the summer window. Given the limited time to find replacements, many clubs are reluctant to sell and the prices often reflect that. They may be able to bring in a few players, but of what quality and can they hit the ground running? For Newcastles sake they may need to.

Watching this Norwich/Leeds game and both are very poor. Obviously Leeds are missing a few starters and will improve, but we really need to be beating Norwich in two weeks. Hopefully we can go into it off the back of another good result against Villa

100% proven me wrong. I had completely written him off with his pre season performances (on top of his previous showing here). Wouldnt have him in my starting 11 when everybodys fit, but has done very well so far this season and is now a good squad option. We need players like him to start chipping in with goals though. Got plenty at Celtic so certainly knows where the net is

I refuse to believe that Lyanco was a MOTM candidate. Not after all the experts on here told us that he was a wasted signing after only his first game. Guess its not the first time they've been spectacularly wrong. Hopefully he can push on now and put pressure on Bednarek/Stephens. Forster was very good, great save in the shootout as well. Its clear we've decided on McCarthy long term, god knows why though. Everybody but the McCarthy fanboys can see that he does the GK basics better. Our squad depth is so much better this season. Plenty of food for thought for Ralph as there were good performances all over the pitch. Also fair play to the boys stepping up for pens. Surprised Lyanco didnt as he scored a winning one for Brazil u23s in the Toulon final.