Ginger Pirlo out until the New Year

Lots of sources are reporting it.
Shame for the lad really.
We do have other options in the middle though thank god.

 

I recall being adamant we needed a cm player

 

never mind we can play Abied, oh yeah his gone.

I dont think Anita and Tiote are enough, definately not for 90 mins and especially if one picks up an early yellow.

For me, I would like to see either Moussa or Wiji come in the middle, then use Rolando or Thauvin out wide. I dont think Thauvin's had a fair crack, he needs some confidence and I'd like Scteve to say to him, "Look your gonna get 5 games start to finish, i have every faith in you, show us what you've got". Plus if he can get his set pieces right, he will be a danger.

 

I'd be tempted to give de Jong a run in midfield: in front of Gini and Anita.

 

Disappointing. He had actually had his few good games and now he ****ed. He had an awful start to the season. Good squad player but we do need better in there in terms of a ball player.

 

Must have bloody hurt like. But his tackle was weak. Needs to go in much harder in future for his own protection. One of the first things you're taught in football as a kid. Tackle hard or get hurt. Shame for the lad.

 

The real question is who comes in for him now? Have a few options in midfield

1) De Jong at the top of a diamond with Tiote/Anita holding
2) Aarons/Thauvin come in and move Sis/Widj inside
3) A straight swap and play Tiote and Anita in the DM positions

Be interesting to see what Big Mac does going forwards but you have to feel sorry for Jack, the last two/three games he looked to be improving in form.

 

He will play Gouffran

 

I think it will be a pretty straight forward swap of Anita in. The only question I have is will Anita push forward like Jack has been doing. He likes to pick up from the centre backs and full backs which is Tiotes role. Ideally for me Aarons would be fit and Gini would fill the central role.

 

If we do we will get turned over

 

Ideally, I'd move Sissoko into the middle as i think he is more defensively sound than Widj but I'd agree most likely scenario is Anita and Tiote holding while letting Siss and Widj do their thing!

 

I agree

Very rare

 

I can't have Sissoko in the middle personally. He is anything but defensively sound. On a going day or good patch in a match, he will work. Unfortunately 50% of the time he just switches off and is thinking about hammering it up so young hottie later that night. Everytime he plays centrally he just goes missing, apart from number 10 when he has that roaming freedom. He just doesn't have the discipline for me, and is a bit of a liability. Gini for me looks to have a bit more of a brain and mature outlook.

 

He has pace and power and can play that position if anything playing him rw opens janmaat up regardless

 

Lesser of two evils though. If you give the centre of the pitch pitch away, its game over. At least out wide you can deal with it somewhat. The centre of the pitch and middle of the park is golden in football in my opinion. Most games are won and lost in there. Most teams have a decent striker or two. Of course you can kill your centre mids by having a terrible defence too...

 

I agree entirely, however I think we'd give away both

 

Not a big miss , the only thing that changed when he went from Sunderland to Newcastle, the overall IQ of both teams went up