Match thread - Saints Vs NUFC

[Don Sholeone]

Willock was great but im going to reserve my judgement for a few more weeks. We've had too many midfielders go from great starts to s**** under Bruce.

[Colly]

Thought Bednarek got away with a red too because of midweek and then he was the bloke that did Schar's knee.

I think if the ref watched a replay of the yellow he might have booked Miggy for pretending he hit his throat...

Nowt wrong with the one that hurt Schar either, just a strong tackle.

[Sanchino]

Willock was great but im going to reserve my judgement for a few more weeks. We've had too many midfielders go from great starts to s**** under Bruce.

True... but he looks miles better than Shelvey & Hendrick already imo. Him & Hayden should be our midfield duo.. with Miggy in the no.10/attacking mid role behind ASM/Wilson. If we wanted to be really attacking could line-up like this..

Hayden Willock
Fraser Miggy ASM
Wilson

On form.. isn't that top 10/top half quality?

[originallad]

Just went on the Saints forum. Nice to see the opposite set of fans say that we full deserved the win for change. They were also very surprised that Bednarek wasn't sent off for his foul on Almiron.

[overseasTOON]

Strange feeling this evening.

Newcastle and Scotland won.

[Don Sholeone]

Apparently Wilsons hamstring is just a strain, Manquillo and Schar injuries are pretty bad. If I was to look on the bright side I think its a "good" time to get some injuries, play Chelsea and Man utd next which I wouldnt have expected anything from anyways, hopefully we can just get through those 2 and then start getting people back for Wolves.

[Captain Obvious]

Decision to let Yedlin go a very strange one. Dummett needs to stay fit, essentially we go to war for a few weeks at least with Dummett and Clark (Hayden as back up). Krath as the only right back (Hayden/Murphy as back up) and Lewis as the only left back (Ritchie/Dummett as back up). We're basically an injury away from a crisis imo but we can't expect to get anything from the next two games and hopefully by the end of Feb we might have Lascelles and/or Fede back.

[Valentino's fast feet]

Decision to let Yedlin go a very strange one. Dummett needs to stay fit, essentially we go to war for a few weeks at least with Dummett and Clark (Hayden as back up). Krath as the only right back (Hayden/Murphy as back up) and Lewis as the only left back (Ritchie/Dummett as back up). We're basically an injury away from a crisis imo but we can't expect to get anything from the next two games and hopefully by the end of Feb we might have Lascelles and/or Fede back.

The strange part is this talk from his camp about the complete lack of communication from our side, I don't understand that. Seems like the club didn't want him if they were happy to ship him out and had no concrete discussions about contract renewal. We are definitely light in that position though, Manquillo is decent but this isn't the first time he's been out for injury. I didn't see the game today but from reading here Krafth played well, but that is a seeming rarity really. Hayden is too good in his preferred position to be farmed out across the line of defence all the time. Murphy looked good at RWB, his crossing is definitely an asset, but in a flat back four I just think it's too much of an adjustment for him to be that defensive. Maybe eventually he could convert, you see that a lot with limited wingers - but usually later in their career.

[beardface]

Willock was great but im going to reserve my judgement for a few more weeks. We've had too many midfielders go from great starts to s**** under Bruce.

True... but he looks miles better than Shelvey & Hendrick already imo. Him & Hayden should be our midfield duo.. with Miggy in the no.10/attacking mid role behind ASM/Wilson. If we wanted to be really attacking could line-up like this..

Hayden Willock
Fraser Miggy ASM
Wilson

On form.. isn't that top 10/top half quality?

Yup, got to agree with you there. It makes a mockery of the argument pundits make that we don't have good enough players to play decent football.

With Lascelles and Fernandez as a CB pairing we've got a very strong foundation at the back too. Real shame about Manquillo's injury as, imo, he's proving himself to be a cracking fullback the last year or so.

[Valentino's fast feet]

True... but he looks miles better than Shelvey & Hendrick already imo. Him & Hayden should be our midfield duo.. with Miggy in the no.10/attacking mid role behind ASM/Wilson. If we wanted to be really attacking could line-up like this..

Hayden Willock
Fraser Miggy ASM
Wilson

On form.. isn't that top 10/top half quality?

Yup, got to agree with you there. It makes a mockery of the argument pundits make that we don't have good enough players to play decent football.

With Lascelles and Fernandez as a CB pairing we've got a very strong foundation at the back too. Real shame about Manquillo's injury as, imo, he's proving himself to be a cracking fullback the last year or so.

He's without doubt the best fullback we have, including Yedlin. I'd argue that Manquillo is now better than Janmaat was for us as well, whom was in turn replaced by Yedlin.

[ALF]

We really need to drop Shelvey and Hendrick. 2 awful players that offer nothing.

Willock and Almiron sounded superb though. Good to see ASM back and in form. The injuries are obviously a problem but if Dummett is finally fit then him and Clark can come in at CB with Hayden back in midfield. Krafth a straight swap for Manquillo too. I worry about any of our 3 strikers replacing Wilson though.

[ALF]

Decision to let Yedlin go a very strange one. Dummett needs to stay fit, essentially we go to war for a few weeks at least with Dummett and Clark (Hayden as back up). Krath as the only right back (Hayden/Murphy as back up) and Lewis as the only left back (Ritchie/Dummett as back up). We're basically an injury away from a crisis imo but we can't expect to get anything from the next two games and hopefully by the end of Feb we might have Lascelles and/or Fede back.

I dunno. It's screwed us but we shouldn't have 3 senior specialist RB's in the squad. A 25 man squad should really be 3 GK's, 2 RB's, 5 CB's, 2 LB's, 5 CM's, 4 wingers/AM's, 4 strikers. Some of those players obviously being versatile helps things.

[Sanchino]

We really need to drop Shelvey and Hendrick. 2 awful players that offer nothing.

Willock and Almiron sounded superb though. Good to see ASM back and in form. The injuries are obviously a problem but if Dummett is finally fit then him and Clark can come in at CB with Hayden back in midfield. Krafth a straight swap for Manquillo too. I worry about any of our 3 strikers replacing Wilson though.

I've said this for a while now.. Shelvey on his day can be good with his creativity, passing & shooting.. but those days are too rare for him to make a consistent impact. His overall game is poor & he's a liability most of the times. Hendrick just doesn't offer nothing at all.. he runs about, makes a few tackles here n' there & is mainly anonymous, he doesn't stand out in nothing he's not creative, he's not a great passer & he's not a great tackler/ball-winner.. Uninspiring to say the least & today proved he shouldn't be nowhere near the team could have cost us all three points today for his stupidity. I wouldn't miss either of them.. sell them while they still have any ''value''. Why did we give Shelvey a new contract? Same thing with Ritchie?

[Colly]

Decision to let Yedlin go a very strange one. Dummett needs to stay fit, essentially we go to war for a few weeks at least with Dummett and Clark (Hayden as back up). Krath as the only right back (Hayden/Murphy as back up) and Lewis as the only left back (Ritchie/Dummett as back up). We're basically an injury away from a crisis imo but we can't expect to get anything from the next two games and hopefully by the end of Feb we might have Lascelles and/or Fede back.

I dunno. It's screwed us but we shouldn't have 3 senior specialist RB's in the squad. A 25 man squad should really be 3 GK's, 2 RB's, 5 CB's, 2 LB's, 5 CM's, 4 wingers/AM's, 4 strikers. Some of those players obviously being versatile helps things.

I agree, and we've got Murphy or Hayden who could fill in if we have a crisis. There's an argument that letting him go is daft when no one came in (Atsu. Urgh) but no complaints generally about him going.

[beatski]

Made ridiculously hard work of it, but a very good performance, result and important win (channelling my inner sanchino there). Gives us a big buffer from the drop going in to some tough fixtures and has to be a real morale booster, if also a big injury loss

And bloody hell, I'm not used to going in to a match having hope any more, a month ago I barely cared but my interest has been rekindled

[originallad]

We really need to drop Shelvey and Hendrick. 2 awful players that offer nothing.

Willock and Almiron sounded superb though. Good to see ASM back and in form. The injuries are obviously a problem but if Dummett is finally fit then him and Clark can come in at CB with Hayden back in midfield. Krafth a straight swap for Manquillo too. I worry about any of our 3 strikers replacing Wilson though.

I've said this for a while now.. Shelvey on his day can be good with his creativity, passing & shooting.. but those days are too rare for him to make a consistent impact. His overall game is poor & he's a liability most of the times. Hendrick just doesn't offer nothing at all.. he runs about, makes a few tackles here n' there & is mainly anonymous, he doesn't stand out in nothing he's not creative, he's not a great passer & he's not a great tackler/ball-winner.. Uninspiring to say the least & today proved he shouldn't be nowhere near the team could have cost us all three points today for his stupidity. I wouldn't miss either of them.. sell them while they still have any ''value''. Why did we give Shelvey a new contract? Same thing with Ritchie?

I've been so disappointed with Hendrick. I had high hopes for him, thought he would add more bite to the attack and also put in a good shift defensively. But he does neither of those things. Would rather see, once they get their form back, one of the Longstaff brothers replace him or even Schar (obviously not going to happen now though because of his injury).

Hendrick and to a slightly lesser extent Shelvey are our big weak points in our team. Which is a shame, because I think we have a good attack in Willock, Almiron, ASM and Wilson. And Hayden in front of our CBs keeps us pretty solid.

Keep everyone fit and replace Hendrick and Shelvey and we've got a really good starting XI in my opinion.

[bodacious benny]

Time to get lejune back

If Wilson misses a game or two then I’m quite happy it’ll be Man U and Chelsea away as we’ll lose those anyway.

[lassassinblanc]

Schar out for rest of the season

[bodacious benny]

Schar out for rest of the season

Shame for him, he really found some form over the past few games.

<flj>