Matchday thread - Villa v Toon

[Sanchino]

Bad performance. Congrats to Villa who were all over us today, they won the 50 50s, looked like they wanted it more, efficient in midfield, strong in defence and fluid in attack. Watkins was incredible today. Looks real quality and I say we try a cheeky cash + Wilson type deal for him (if they don't qualify for Europe) . We couldn't handle his movement or pace. Schar and Botman had a mare'. Burn looked awful and slow, we should seriously consider starting Targett over him + in the summer getting a out and out LB. Burn should be 3rd/4th choice LB/CB. Gordon doesn't even look like a 20 million player let alone a 40 million player (yet).. still very, very early days and his young but we should have used that money on a Diaby/Maddison/etc as you can see Gordon's a trier but still has a long way to go to be a top, top level winger/wide-forward. We missed ASM/Miggy on the flanks. Murphy's been decent recently and is a very steady hard-working player but you can tell if we want to be challenging for the top 4/6 regularly and European competitions we need more. Strangely enough we missed Longstaff from the start, not saying he would have made a big difference but the legs / tireless work he does in the midfield engine is what keeps things ticking.. Bruno, Big Joe and Willock we were left opened, stretched and looked laboured / lost at times.. big gaps in midfield and the defence wasn't protected at all. Trippier had a mare' today, one of his worst games for us I'll say.

Let's just leave it as it was a simply bad day the office.. it happens let's move on and concentrate on the massive Spurs game next week as that's a must win if we want the Champions League.

Potential line-up for next week (freshen things up)

Pope
Trippier Botman Schar Targett
Longstaff Bruno Big Joe
Miggy* Isak ASM**

*Murphy if Miggy's not fully ready from the start
**Put Big Joe out wide and Willock in his position if ASM's not fit to start.

[krully]

terrible

[Slim999]

Spurs down

Might not be a completely bad day if Spurs drop points

[Slim999]

Bad performance. Congrats to Villa who were all over us today, they won the 50 50s, looked like they wanted it more, efficient in midfield, strong in defence and fluid in attack. Watkins was incredible today. Looks real quality and I say we try a cheeky cash + Wilson type deal for him (if they don't qualify for Europe) . We couldn't handle his movement or pace. Schar and Botman had a mare'. Burn looked awful and slow, we should seriously consider starting Targett over him + in the summer getting a out and out LB. Burn should be 3rd/4th choice LB/CB. Gordon doesn't even look like a 20 million player let alone a 40 million player (yet).. still very, very early days and his young but we should have used that money on a Diaby/Maddison/etc as you can see Gordon's a trier but still has a long way to go to be a top, top level winger/wide-forward. We missed ASM/Miggy on the flanks. Murphy's been decent recently and is a very steady hard-working player but you can tell if we want to be challenging for the top 4/6 regularly and European competitions we need more. Strangely enough we missed Longstaff from the start, not saying he would have made a big difference but the legs / tireless work he does in the midfield engine is what keeps things ticking.. Bruno, Big Joe and Willock we were left opened, stretched and looked laboured / lost at times.. big gaps in midfield and the defence wasn't protected at all. Trippier had a mare' today, one of his worst games for us I'll say.

Let's just leave it as it was a simply bad day the office.. it happens let's move on and concentrate on the massive Spurs game next week as that's a must win if we want the Champions League.

Potential line-up for next week (freshen things up)

Pope
Trippier Botman Schar Targett
Longstaff Bruno Big Joe
Miggy* Isak ASM**

*Murphy if Miggy's not fully ready from the start
**Put Big Joe out wide and Willock in his position if ASM's not fit to start.

Next is massive

If Spurs don't win today ( losing on 80 mins) and we beat them - then we are odds on fir top 4

[Slim999]

Yes

Spurs lose 3-2

[Sir Bobby]

Beat Spurs next week and then 4 wins from the final 7 would essentially guarantee top 4. Lose and we’ll need 6 wins from 7. Huge game, hope the atmosphere is rocking

[bodacious benny]

Beat Spurs next week and then 4 wins from the final 7 would essentially guarantee top 4. Lose and we’ll need 6 wins from 7. Huge game, hope the atmosphere is rocking

Why? Spurs certainly aren’t winning all of their games.

[Sir Bobby]

Beat Spurs next week and then 4 wins from the final 7 would essentially guarantee top 4. Lose and we’ll need 6 wins from 7. Huge game, hope the atmosphere is rocking

Why? Spurs certainly aren’t winning all of their games.

Hence why I said guarantee top 4 (on GD)! Beating them makes things significantly easier in the final 7 games, whatever their results, as it gives us a two game cushion instead of one

[bodacious benny]

Why? Spurs certainly aren’t winning all of their games.

Hence why I said guarantee top 4 (on GD)! Beating them makes things significantly easier in the final 7 games, whatever their results, as it gives us a two game cushion instead of one

It was more the bit about us having to win 6 out of 7 if we lost to Spurs. Possibly we would depending on what Spurs and Man U did, but as they’ll both likely lose games / drop points before the end of the season too we wouldn’t necessarily have to win 6 out of 7.

[UlversToon]

After us Spurs have United at home followed by Liverpool away - could very well be 3 losses for them.

[Sir Bobby]

Hence why I said guarantee top 4 (on GD)! Beating them makes things significantly easier in the final 7 games, whatever their results, as it gives us a two game cushion instead of one

It was more the bit about us having to win 6 out of 7 if we lost to Spurs. Possibly we would depending on what Spurs and Man U did, but as they’ll both likely lose games / drop points before the end of the season too we wouldn’t necessarily have to win 6 out of 7.

Again, that would be to guarantee top 4