Saint Garrett

Dont particularly like Grealish but fair play for doing that celebration.

Iran are appalling.

I'd take him on loan if he was available, assuming he is fit. If we could get say 8 games out of him between start of Jan and the end of the season, he'd be an upgrade on current lot, and give us a bit more experience in the squad. He's still a very decent player when fit IMO. Doubt it would happen though.

Interesting, thanks for posting. I would agree he’s had some good moments but simply hasn’t saved enough shots. I think he will become a really good keeper. But is showing his age atm.

But you said it was all Ralphs fault?

If we play a back 3 under Jones, then he's only 1 injury away from playing every week. Unless they're planning on selling Lyanco for a fee, and bringing Stephens or Bednarek back.

He's had a half decent chance. Apart from that Leeds game, he's looked absolutely nowhere near good enough to play at this level. It doesn't surprise me that Ralph preferred Che Adams to a kid who has had 1 good moment. Mara was never the answer.

Yeah so true, clearly his confidence is shot, but he doesn’t make runs in behind, he’s always looking to come short, (which could be tactical but unlikely). He so rarely hits the target, on the off chance he can get a shot off. He’s been a massive let down at saints since he joined annoyingly. I don’t see that changing unless he gets a season on loan somewhere to learn how to score again. Maybe Celtic?!

Yeah - they never get the full wack. Think it also depends on how quickly they find another job.

If we can sign one, assuming the money is still there, and possibly loan an attacking midfielder with the option to buy next summer, I think that would be good business. Or other way around. Personally I think we are fine, or good enough anyway, across the rest of the team.

We also probably have the second worst squad too. It's no real surprise, apart from we've been known to overachieve vs quality.

Maybe Jones wants to have a look at him, or maybe Larios's injury is worse than first thought? We can always loan him out again in January if stuff fixes itself. Clearly the club aren't thinking he's progressing as expected there.

You forgot this one.

I think if we’re signing a striker it’s going to be in a few different brackets. 1) Playing in England with less that 18 months (probably 6) left on their contract. 2) Playing for a European club that’s gone out of European competition and they need the money 3) In someone’s academy but we think good enough to play 4) Squad filler for another club on loan Will be very interesting to see who we end up with, because we need someone to come in and hit the ground running, but also we won’t be ripped off. I don’t doubt we’ll go back in for Gakpo, but no chance of signing him now IMO, or try get Broja back on loan for 6 months. Let’s hope we don’t have a deal close for a player then they have a storming World Cup and their value multiplies by 10.

Nice. Lovely draw. Nice for City to find Liverpool too. Realistically worse case it’s the following for next round if we manage to sneak past Lincoln. Forest Wolves Newcastle Man Utd Man City Leicester Brighton

JWP offers more than Gallagher and Henderson IMO. Phillips cannot be match fit, though Southgate basically said JWP wasn't competing with Phillips in the squad. I think, despite him not having a great season, should still be in there. If we're chasing a game last 10 mins, I'd want him in the pitch swinging in crosses.

Good opportunity for someone to boot Henderson and rule him out the world cup - calling Lyanco...

No, but if we play long ball, and it doesnt work, fans will turn on him very quickly IMO. If you can see what he's trying to build long term, fans will have a bit more patience. Of course at the end of the day if the team is winning regularly, then no-one cares about the style short term.

Look forward to this one being over. Think I'd go back to a 3 at the back for this. Keep it respectful and move on. I'd love to see us playing at a high intensity and get in amongst them, they wont want to pick up injuries just before the WC. ---------------Bazunu; --------ABK ----DCC------Sali------ Elyounoussi---- Lavia ------ Perraud ------------JWP-----AMN----------- ----------------Aribo--------------- ---------------Adams--------------

Very insightful post, cheers for posting. We don't really have "wingers" apart from maybe Edozie, so that's not a problem. 3 at the back long ball will be interesting though, and it's not what the fans will want to see, so if he does employ those tactics, I can see a lot of unhappy fans unless it gets us results. To this point, Newcastle went from being a soft passing team, to a physical long ball team with only a few additions so maybe we'll see that. The majority of their success is getting the ball into the other half and then winning it back up there, maybe we'll see similar tactics from Jones. Regardless of manager and tactics though, we are going to struggle to stay in this league if we cannot score goals and keep clean sheets. It's basic maths !

Some really really awful performances. Namely Aribo, Mara, A Armstrong, Diallo, Lyanco. Starting Salisu as a LB was certainly an odd choice. And we were much better with Perraud on the pitch. Agree with Edozie, he did ok. But really lacks an end product. You can certainly see why Ralph wasn’t started Edozie or Mara. Thought JWP had a relatively decent game, but he can’t do it all on his own. Especially when Diallo has been so poor. A frustrating evening.

Edozie and JWP were the 2 who looked interested first half. Edozie our only attacking threat. You can see why he’s not been starting but a live wire for sure.

Wasn't huge excitement when we brought in Puel either. Similarities to Nathan Jones reaction tbh.

Gone for unsure. Would I rather have someone with a higher profile, who could attract bigger names in Jan? absolutely yes. But he seems like a decent bloke, who is a decent man manager, and will hopefully get these guys on side. Sport Republic have clearly done a huge amount of research on him and been tracking him for a long time, so stats must say something positive...but whether he's good enough tactically, I have no idea. I'll tell you if I think he's a good appointment at the end of the season !

Do you not think it's because he finds himself in a tricky situation. Similar to when we signed Adkins, he didn't necessarily want to leave, and very happy with his current job, but knows it's the best thing for his career. Also has to watch what he says as he's now got more spotlight on him than he probably ever has.