Adam P

Saville is decent in the air, and will cover Johnson a little better than Wing would if he gets caught upfield.

This idea that Ayala is a red card waiting to happen is a little confusing, he's only had 3 red cards going into his 7th season with the club*, that's hardly prolific. He also plays far less suicidal balls than other players do, Shotton included. If he's fit, he plays. Comfortably been our best defender this season. *He got 1 against Preston that was a joke and rightly overturned* I think because he is physical and gets into battles with forwards people have this misconception that he is a liability, when in reality he gets away with it the majority of the time as he's very cute with it, he rarely gives pen's away for example.

Being honest I am completly numb to this season already, I'd be very surprised if we got anything here and I think that is going to be the case for large parts of the season from what I've seen so far unfortunately. Some games might end up being more entertaining than last year, Luton for example, but if we aren't playing for anything its just a season of nothingness for me sadly.

Like others have said I think Wing needs a rest, he looked absolutely cooked on Tuesday night. If he does rest Wing I'd imagine Saville will play in his place and Howson to continue at RB. If not, Howson into midfield and Dijksteel in at RB. I don't think Fry will feature personally so Shotton keeps his spot for now.

I fully agree with CT on this, that performance tonight was absolutely turgid and nothing like what Woodgate has said he wants his teams to play like. I'm personally of the opinion that I don't really care about performance aslong as we win, but we were getting results under Pulis mostly and played much better than what I seen tonight for the most part. Confirmation Bias is definitely effecting peoples positivity on Pulis football vs Woodgate football. I have absolutely no doubt we would have had more points on the board so far and been through in the cup if TP was still in charge, but as has been said, Woodgate might just need time, but if anybody can sit and say what we produced tonight was better than 'Pulisball' they aren't being subjective at all and are purely basing it on a dislike for Pulis. FWIW I thought it was time for Pulis to go so this isn't me defending TP, but what we're seeing isnt much different to last year.

Happy with the team, Howson back into midfield, was always going to be Clayton dropping out I'm afraid Brunners 🤐

Bola only looked good in the last 15 minutes because we were camped in their half so he had zero defending to do, he finished his goal well but by and large he was awful. Dijksteel was better but he still looked very apprehensive and nervous. I'd be gobsmacked if when everyone is fit our defence isnt Dijksteel-Ayala-Fry-Friend. From seeing both Bola and Coulson so far, Bola is 3rd choice LB for me, by some distance. He looked like a competition winner who got to play with the pro's in that first half.

Fletcher has saved us here, first name on the team sheet atm.

Gone 4-4-2 here.

Mcnair coming on at HT I think, Tav moving to the left and Walker off. Tav is never a central midfielder looking at this. He can't influence the game at all, his decent attributes being his finishing and aniticipation around the box are completely negleted playing CM. Also, Bola isn't getting anywhere near the first team watching this so far, he looks devoid of confidence completely and players are cutting inside of him with absolute ease.

Called it. Wood for fry if he's not quite ready was the key line...

----------Pears Dijksteel--Fry--Friend--Bola ---Tav ----Clayton---Saville Walker---Gestede---Browne I'd personally play Assombalonga to see if he can get some goals but I think thats something close to what we'll play. Wood in for Fry if he's not quite ready.

If we do decide to dip into the free agent market there is a few names we could use on short term deals to pad the squad out a bit. At RB...Hutton as mentioned....Mehdi Zeffane who we were linked with earlier in the window if I recall....Danny Simpson....Adam Matthews All of them could fill in when needed, all of them have plenty of experience, 3 of them in the championship itself and Zeffane is a current international and just won the AFCON. None of them are particularly great I wouldnt say but as a reserve RB they could have their merits. A bit further forward there's Gary Hooper, Bakary Sako, Lazar Markovic, Pawel Wszolek, Will Keane, Callum Harriot and Marco Matias. Again, none of these are particularly exciting judging on recent seasons but could be worth a punt on pay as play (Sako) or short term deals just to add some depth. We could do worse than Gary Hooper on a 1 year deal to add another forward IMO.

They could very well lose Benrahma to Villa before Thursday aswell, it looks like they might manage to hold onto Watkins but losing the other 3 could blunt their attacking prowess considerably until the new boys settle in.

Well saying Britt plays as a poacher and doesn't get involved in build up play and saying he would prefer somebody in the "Firmino role" who will drop deeper and get involved and bring others into play isnt a comparison at all. Its clearly a distinction between two different roles and which he would prefer in the team, not which player is better at their role. Also, I said miss the target when taking a penalty, if the keeper makes a save then fair enough, but missing the target is as I said, woeful. Regardless of whether its Firmino, Messi, Britt or either of us for that matter.