Teamsaint1

Draw at Boro.

I wouldn't call it entrapment, but they knew it was likely to happen, allowed it to happen,and milked it for all it was worth in a trial by media run by their connections. We committed the offence , they really didn't behave terribly well.

Matsuki was exceptional today I thought. Must be a mangers dream. And his goal was just a lovely piece of football. if we can just get a few clean sheets the away wins will come. The goals we are scoring are so classy ATM.

Well made points. We are going to used his various attributes however we best can, and I expect that quite often to be in a deeper role. I think Tonda was though quoted as saying that he has been brought in to increase goal threat from MF, and these stats show why he thinks that is possible : ( see #25) https://www.statmuse.com/fc/ask?q=most+goals+and+assists+for+midfielders+in+the+premier+league+all-time

The point of my post was about general state of finances and the squad. But in any case they are both versatile goal scoring CMs, one with huge potential, one with huge experience and proven PL quality.

JWP has played a variety of midfield roles many times at PL level. I wish we still had SC, but JWP should give us an enormous amount of quality and versatility.

The money situation is doubtless very tight, especially as we have no megabuck sales this summer. It will be very tight for any team on final year parachute payments. The owners would be remiss if they weren’t factoring in the need to try to have a top 6 level side next season if we do miss out this season, which is certainly possible. TBH , given the above, replacing SC with JWP( which if he stays fit is a very decent swap IMO) , investing a lot of money on Dobbin, getting a seasoned Bundesliga replacement for THB , signing an expensive keeper, and not losing any other stars whilst making some decent profits player on trading is about as good as it was going to get .

And been involved in a winning goal

Have we dropped off in fitness ? I don’t know, but against Stoke we finished very strongly. Admittedly we had a better bench than them.

JWP with all of his attributes including versatlilty would be a no brainer.

Nelson and Welington together.......

I’d give Tonda a lot of credit for switching Downes and Matsuki at HT. we were in trouble in MF first half, but in the second we seemed to concentrate our biggest threats on the left with Matsuki a big part of that. The right hand side seemed to be left to containment and Fellows as an out ball. Whatever, i thought we deserved the win for our last half hour performance. Azaz, who was always looking for the ball and wasn’t picked out when well placed a couple of times, was class. Makes the occasional bad decision ( that left foot shot) but he must be hell to play against. Larin was excellent, and we could have a gem in Mubama who was really bright and sharp. Good to see Edozie put in a telling contribution too. And Manning is so much better when going forward. But this we all know. He was excellent in the last 30 mins.

This is true , but you can definitely get away with a few who are “ fine” if you have all the other attributes of a promotion side, including a number of players who are much better than “fine. “

Not at that price with the Konsa money all but banked it isn’t. Got to be aiming at half his fee at least.

Might be an upgrade on JQ ? Doesn't look like a THB replacement .