Reluctantly, you're right. Moving big Joe back right now probably won't quite work out. He seems way happier in midfield, though like many was dreadful against Spurs (note - we were even worse when he went off!). Gayle is my most hated player. I don't hate Wood, he's just ****ing abysmal. Yet still not as bad as Gayle. My take is another tactical shuffle to one of two; Either we accept that, really, we have two defenders (Burn, Schar) who work better in a 3 and go with a 3-5-2 style, or we go with a more straightforward 'double pivot' and a steadier 4-2-3-1. Wood is up front in both these scenarios. My head is saying go with the back 3 (or 5). We were good against Chelsea and really deserved to win. We were taken apart by Tottenham. We were foolish/sloppy against Everton. Both the latter in a 4-3-3. I think it would be remiss to think we were on top every game when we played 4-3-3, we could've been beaten by Villa, got a big favour vs Brentford, and so on. We need to get safe and we do that by not being stupid in games, by picking up 1-0 wins or unlikely draws. So I think we go to a really, really solid 5-3-2 formation and just stop leaking goals. And I'd bring Fede in to make it happen, not Lascelles. So Dubs in goal. Right to left is Schar, Fede/Lascelles and Burn. RWB is Manquillo. LWB is Targett. CM would be, right to left, Joelinton, Bruno and Almiron (purely for work rate, we can't afford to keep carrying Shelvey). Willock then floats off Wood up front - Wood being so isolated probably doesn't help, if we have a chance of winning second balls let's take it. ASM, Shelvey on the bench. Willock could make way for ASM, in a position that doesn't hurt us so much. Shelvey can drop in if we want to push Bruno further forward, or to take a defender off if we're chasing. Fraser can deputise for Manquillo or Targett. There are options. I think Ginola was on the right lines, that we just haven't the players to pick a 4-3-3 and go toe to toe with Spurs. We have to crawl over the line this season.
Since we’ve signed Wood we’ve amassed 20 points. Also he was the one who did most travelling over last 10 days and played most minutes for his country
Looking at the fixtures now, I see Burnley getting a maximum of 10 points and Watford another 12 if they really find form. Thus anything over 34 points will keep us up I'd say.
I agree if we get one more win as soon as possible I think it puts to bed any fears. I'm fully expecting Watford and Burnley to win a few games each between now and the end of the season.
I want Burnley to win - keeps the chances of Everton going down and keeps the pressure on us to keep getting results.
Any result is good for us, for different reasons, but a Burnley win is the most dangerous for NUFC in terms of relegation battle.
Yep all it takes is Burnley to best Norwich and Everton to best Leicester and all of a sudden nufc could be right back in the mix. It's football things can change very fast and there's going to be more twists and turns that's for sure
38-40 points needed then if we can expect Everton to avoid defeat in every home game and Burnley to win a few.
Before today Everton had lost 6 of the last 7 league games, they ain't that good, they were just flattered by a dreadful Man U team.
This Everton are definitely improving and getting key players back. They'll pick up a good few results at home because Goodison just is avert difficult away game and the crowd will be extra loud. Burnley have been stuck in the bottom 3 having played at times 4 or 5 games less, so their position has always been somewhat misleading. I fully expect Burnley to grind out few wins and draws I think we need 40 points... It's likley but it's not a guarantee
They have won the last 2 at home. I can see them beating Leicester, Brentford and Palace at home tbh. Burnley will fight to the end also, so another win definitely required.
