Saint Garrett

2 clean sheets in last three that's why. He was decent at Chelsea, he's been pretty woeful in most other games this season. He has something about him, but without a doubt he shouldn't have been relied upon this season given our predicament.

Most people called it back in January! Clearly our best midfield 3.

Would expect it will be a hybrid of Chelsea (A) and Leicester (H). We played this team against Chelsea: Baz; AMN Bednarek ABK Perraud; Elyounoussi Lavia JWP Armstrong; Onuachu Sulamena I think we'll go with a 4-4-1-1/4-5-1/4-3-3 however you want to put it...he seems pretty settled on the back 4, don't know if he sees Salisu as first choice or not due to his injury. Assuming Charly is out...my punt would be: Bazunu; AMN Bednarek ABK KWP; Elyounoussi JWP Lavia Walcott; Sulemena; Adams Wouldn't be surprised to see Salisu start, but we do need the continuity at the back, we've chopped and changed it all season and it's hurt us. Also not sure whether Stuey might play because he's a bit better defensively than Theo. If we can somehow nick a draw here it would be amazing, but I'm expecting a bit of a thumping if I'm honest.

Based on ? Would be awful if so…

Matter of opinion. I’ve never slated Redmond, I think he was very hard done by, and I’d have definitely kept him last summer. Redmond, Forster and Romeu would walk into this side right now. Tella maybe but he wouldn’t have had the development if he’d stayed so probably wouldn’t be the same player.

Agreed, give me Redmond over the lot we have now every day of the week

They might, they're poor, a lot of it depends on Maddison being fit. We are down regardless.

Good lord, this must be the game with the most miserable and least confident set of fans right now. Made me chuckle that they think they'll actually lose to us. And they think we'll definitely score. Might be a woeful 4-4 2 OG's each, few shit pens given away, and maybe a goal from a few free kicks.

Could be a key player for us next season, don’t see us letting him go unless he causes a big issue and Burnley offer us a load of money, he’s really good mates with Obafemi though and they’ve clicked.

He’s absolutely hopeless. I look forward to him leaving this summer, we can hope…

We’re worse than that, we basically kick it in for them every game !

It felt like we were pretty much playing a 4-1-4-1 at the start of the season under Ralph. We certainly did at Leicester and at home vs Chelsea, as Lavia sat in front, and JWP was playing a long way up the pitch. -------------Baz KWP ----ABK----Salisu---Djenepo -------------Lavia---------------- Aribo Elyounoussi JWP AArmstrong -------------Mara----------------- We swapped Perraud in for Djenepo, Diallo in for Aribo and Adams in for Mara for Chelsea (H). If we look to play a similar system to that, it probably leaves us with the following with new players accounted for: --------------Baz KWP ----ABK----Salisu---Perraud -------------Lavia---------------- SArmstrong Elyounoussi JWP Sulemena -------------Onuachu-----------------

He had an operation in January. Might not see him this season.

I compared him to Davis, because I meant hes the link between the "midfield" and the "attack", picking up the ball from JWP/Lavia, and playing that ball before the assist. Of course he is nowhere near as good as Davis,

I think he'd burnt his bridges, but club also wanted the money, it was a big fee for someone who refused to sign a new contract.

He didnt want to sign a new contract, not sure it was about money tbh.

Possibly, but we spent another £50m in January, and now have a bloated squad which = higher wage bill...

Cant see Tino going anywhere, might not even be fit for the start of the season. ABK, Salisu, Lavia and Adams will probably leave. JWP maybe.

I dont think money was the issue though tbf, the money was there to buy a striker, it just didn't happen because we couldn't get it over the line (Ramos / Gakpo). Larios transfer was irrelevent

5 at the back doesnt work with this squad. None of the CB's want to play LB or RB, and when the full backs start higher up the pitch they just get lost and marked. They're better off starting deeper and driving into that space for me. 5 at the back, also kills our midfield, and we give up a huge amount of possession to the opposition. Teams that are successful playing 5 at the back are hugely well drilled and absolutely nailed that system, we aren't going to do that. Look at the issues Spurs are having, they have the same issue playing 3 at the back, in that they give up huge amounts of possession to the opposition, despite having better players than the majority of teams in the league.

I don't mind him as a squad player, or when we play the bigger teams away from home, but you know you need 3 more attacking players on the pitch than him. For me, I see him as the "Steven Davis" role, but he's not as good. The more frustrating thing is his passing isn't great, so even when we do get in decent areas he gives the ball away which is infuriating. It is a predicament about how far this club has fallen in quality, that he's starting for us, but I'm also not sure there are many other better options, especially it certain games. He's pretty reliable.

Struggling to care too much right now tbh, as I've all but given up, but if we have any chance at all, this is a must win A very annoying 17:30 kick off, means it takes up your evening as well. We have about 400 first team players and about 5 that are good enough for this league. Back to basics, try and stick out our best XI players, and give ourselves a chance to get a result. Possibly go with any of Djenepo, Walcott, Elyounoussi, either Armstrong, or Orsic alongside Adams and Sulemena. They're all pretty shite. Macca / Caballero KWP ABK Salisu Perraud JWP Lavia Alcaraz SArmstrong Adams Sulemena

Probably fair, but I put them there because: Orsic - we bought him and haven't played, he's been at the club for nearly 2 months cos contributed nothing, we needed him to come in and help keep us up. That's not necessarily on his quality, and he's clearly a decent player, but how have we got ourselves into the position of him having zero effect on the run of games he's been here for. Paul - we need goals, he doesn't look like scoring any and doesn't really fit the system we play (high press intensity etc) But could put them in too early to tell section, as they've not done anything wrong.

Good Signing: DCC £7m - Good player, clearly got a bit of an attitude on him, done ok when he's played for a pretty low fee Lavia £11m - Absolute class act, looks like he's been playing at this level for years and should bring in a decent fee in the summer. ABK £10m - Good player, despite being a bit injury prone Bree 750k - very cheap, teachers pet, advance replacement of KWP, and shouild be decent in the Championship. Not Prem standard Bad Signing: Bazunu £12.3m - Rubbish - might be good in the future but not what we neededAribo £6m - Absolute rubbishOrsic £5m - Came with good pedigree, experienced international, somehow we've bought someone who doesnt fit the system / clubPaul Onuachu £16m - panic buy, looks a bit lost in the premier league, and carries very little goal threat, no better than Adams Jurys Out / too early to tell: Alcaraz - Looks decent but not played much and wasn't the answer at the time Larios £6m -Cheap, could be good in the future, signed as backup and clearly talented Edozie £7m - Cheap, might be good at some point, but probably was never really bought for this season. Sulemana £22m - panic buy, goodplayer in there but not what we needed in January. Mara £13.5m - Brought in as 4th choice striker and one for the future. Not what we needed In isolation they're not horrendous IMO, but it's the whole thing thats a shambles, We already had a poor squad, and probably only Lavia has come in and cemented his place in the first team. I can't believe we spent the best part of £50m on Onuachu and Sulemena, and we still don't loook like creating or scoring any goals. When we lost all the experienced players in the squad in the summer, (Forster, Redmond, Stephens, Romeu, Long, and toa certain extent Bednarek), we know we had to bring in a few players with some proven prem quality, not gambling on 13 players who may or may not have been useful. We needed a keeper who is solid and can save shots, a striker who was going to go and score 10-15 goals this season, and a CM to replace Romeu, young players are always inconsistent. Some of the players above will be assets next season in the Championship, because unfortunately, they are currently nowhere near good enough to be playing regularly in the premier league. However we will still need some experienced players next season regardless.

The point being it also lifts everyone else, and pushes the opponent back because we have a goal threat. This season, teams have just pushed up against us and suffocated us, and eventually scored. We always had a threat on the break because one pass and Ings and Broja could be through on goal. We've now got Sulemena who doesn't look particularly comfortable playing up front, and Onuachu who, lets be honest, doesn't look close to scoring any goals in this league. He might do a job off the ball, but he's no more of a goal threat than Adams, and doesn't offer us anything in the press. We've got a very large squad of players, with them fitting different systems, but not particularly the one that we play, and a keeper / defence who give goals away for fun. It's been a mess of a season, last summers window, hiring a bloke who the fans could see from the first moment didn't fit the club or the players in the slightest, and waiting too long to accept their error and get rid of him. And then not having signings lined up for the start of Jan when they should have been through the door. We got exactly what we deserve this season, lets be honest.