saintant

How are the giraffe and the cheetah doing?

Janny B thinks he's better than he is - sadly, our manager does too.

who's gone off?

Watched Everton today. What Dyche and his coaches have succeeded in instilling in a few days demonstrates what is possible. Their work rate was phenomenal and they all seemed to know what they were doing. Created some good chances, scored a goal and limited Arsenal to scraps. They aint going down and I believe Dyche could have kept us up. Think we're done now.

Looks like it was a wise decision to keep him away from the fans forum.

We'll fight back for a draw in the second half......................................God willing!

Bree must be some player - he's the only new signing who walks straight into the side and doesn't need to be eased in gradually. Strange!

Each to their own but I think I'd have found it easier to just walk out of the stadium 🙂

Fulham once again showing how well a simple 442 can work. Still think we'd be much better operating that system. 4 at the back which we all know, bar Jones, is our best option, 4 in midfield giving us numbers where we are often over run and two up top. Simple and effective as Fulham continue to demonstrate.

Is he totally unaware of how he contradicts himself? In the presser he talks about Brentford under Franks and says they started with a back four and lost 8 out of 9 then changed to 343 and were brilliant. How does that equate with his earlier comment that systems don't win matches? He makes himself look foolish and I get the feeling everything he says is off the cuff without real substance or belief. He just answers a question and is blissfully oblivious when he totally contradicts himself on a later question.

Think the back 5 will be Bree, Lyanco, Janny B, Salisu and Perraud.

I think he's bonded with Janny B. Probably sees him as a kindred spirit as both know most of the fans don't want them here.

Gearing up to be the rinse and repeat of start with a back 5, go 2 goals down, convert to 4 at the back and make a game of it but all too late.

Ivan Toney rubbing his hands as we speak 🙂

This guy is a running machine full of tricks. He is powerful and strong too. Is there any way he can become a Mane type player? I guess that is down to our coaches. From watching videos he seems to currently play on the wing and maybe that's not where he is most dangerous. Could he play more central off of Onuachu? Or would he get easily crowded out? There is bound to be an optimum way to play him to get the most out of his attributes and I hope our coaches can find it because if they do he is going to be a real handful for any defence. If he can find pockets of space and use his explosive pace like Mane we may have a gem on our hands. Let's see.

Not trying to fight his corner for him but it's not fair to say we gave him a reasonably warm welcome. News of his appointment was met with a huge amount of negativity not to mention vitriol because of his career record and fans seeing SR as being unambitious. Ok, it's got worse because of results and his comments but let's not make out we rolled out the red carpet for him.

One thing is crystal clear - Lavia must play every minute possible. He was in a different class when he came on against Newcastle - as good if not better than Bruno Guimaeras. He is crucial to us and it's a fine line between wrapping him up in cotton wool and getting the game time out of him that we need. This team without him is night and day because he is one of those players who knits everything together and makes the game flow. Among all the superb stuff he did he also played that defence splitting pass through to AA to give him a one on one.

I like the look of this line up

Agree with 442. I think it's pointless playing a big man up front on his own because he'll just be isolated. He'll need a partner. Paul and Che could develop a good understanding and, if they do, they'll be a real handful for most defences.

Their first goal was a combination of catastrophic errors and Bednarek is by no means exonerated. As per normal with him he marked space rather than players and found himself far too close to his own six yard box making it possible he'd unsight Bazunu. He should have held a position further from goal and that would have given him more chance to rush out and charge the shot down. In typical Bednarek fashion he was in nomansland.

Like the rest he improved when we changed to a back 4. Hard to judge him on last night but he certainly grew into the game and, if KWP is out for a few games, he'll get more chances.

And a lot of that comes about because we are playing in a shape that just doesn't suit us. We didn't give the ball away anywhere near as much with a back 4.

100% on Jones poor starting line up, playing Lyanco and 5 at the back. Second half we had far more control and caused them problems. Why didn't he do that from the start? Handed that to them although it was always going to be a big mountain to climb but why make it easy for them?

Both should have started.

Bednarek hopeless - he gave the ball away casually leading to their first goal. He continually plays team mates into trouble.