If we continue to play like this consistantly, then we will walk this league in my opinion. Pleasure to watch this style of foodball.
Rutter is a baller plus he’s a worker and can scrap too. Involved in everything that was good but should also have netted himself his 3rd goal.
Ah you just gotta love the championship. Great craic altogether. 6 hours since conceding a goal. We couldn’t last six minutes last season
Meslier - 7. Nothing to do really but his distribution was good and he was alert enough to save Watfords best chance in injury time which shows he remained focused. Shackleton - 6. Busy, good positioning, good engine. His passing leaves a lot to be desired. Struijk - 9. Loving his new found aggression. When he's passive the game happens around him. With his aggression he impacts the game. Credit where its due, he's been very good the last two games. Cooper - 7. Discussion before the game whether he should be drafted in. Proved Farke right with a very good display. Still had his nervy moment early on between him and Meslier. That's twice in two games. That communication needs sorting before it costs us. Byram - 9. Another excellent game. Capped off with a goal but showed great defence and skill throughout. Fast becoming a key player. Can we keep him fit? Ampadu - 9. Usual MOM performance. £8 million is the steal of the century. Nothing else to say but we are very lucky to have him play at this level. A massive upgrade on Tyler Adams. Kamara - 7. Really solid full debut. Complimented Ampadu superbly. A bit sloppy in possession sometimes but read the game well. Rotating Gray and Kamara won't present any problems and will allow Gray to flourish. James - 8. Ran hard, committed, covered alot of ground. A bit frustrating with some of his decisions but at the end of the day put our two best chances on a plate for Georginio who fluffed his lines and Piroe for the opener. 2 assists today. Summerville - 8. Very influential. Watford another team blatantly allowed to just haul him down everytime he gets the ball without punishment. Only criticism is that his finishing was off and he wants too many touches. If he finds his shooting boots he can get 20 goals this season. Piroe - 8. For me, he drops too deep at times but he was more influential today and played some lovely balls through. An eye-catching one to James first half was particularly pleasing. On hand to tap in the opener from a great cross by James. I've a feeling everyone else in the team would have missed that one. Georginio - 9. What a talent! Gets better every game. His footwork is way too good for this level. His one black mark was the missed sitter first half. Great game. Excellent assist for the third. Subs. Anthony - 7. Finally showed us what we might have from him. Created a good chance for himself but choreographed the finish but made no mistake from Georginio pass a few moments later. Hopefully he kicks on from here. Poveda - n/a. 86 mins. Created a bit of havoc as Watford gave up. Gray - n/a. 86 mins. Saw the game out. Gruev - n/a. 90 mins. Too late to impact the game. Yet to see what he has to offer. Ayling - n/a. 90 mins. Got skinned and gave Watford their best chance. Can't wait to see Spence out there.
Everyone at least a 7, probably an 8 out of 10 today. Got to say fair play to Rutter, 35m and was poor last season and could’ve left and moaned like the rest of the taitors from last season but he’s got stuck in, worked hard, bought into the manager and if we do end up going up he’ll be hailed a hero. Only questions from today - Does Rodon go straight back in or do they keep Struijk/Cooper as a partnership? Does Ayling come back in due to the fitness of Byram? 3 great CM’s fighting it out for 4 positions, who are the best two? Summerville a little greedy today when he could’ve passed a couple times and should’ve scored when he used the inside of his right he should’ve used his left, could Anthony be on his toes for a starting spot? Obviously a lot easier for a player to come on when we’re winning and against a tired defence but a good cameo.
Rotate players when they need a rest, it’s a long season. Rodon straight back in for me, Byram keep his place
Rodon 100% comes back in. We've got a week until our next game. Byram has to start. As good as Kamara was today I think Gray has offered more. Don't forget Gruev who we haven't really seen yet. We might have 4 very good midfielders. One thing is for certain, Ampadu is our best midfielder/player by a distance. Summerville and James have been excellent. James has 3 official assists and one unofficial one in the last 6 days. He might look frustrating but he's getting it done. Anthony and Gnonto have their work cut out to displace either. We have some great problems at the moment.
My letter to our leader….. Dear Elland Your efforts to create replies and clicks on this site are admirable and shameless even if they are transparent at best. Coops is not Beckenbaur no matter how you dress it up no matter how funny it is to read. Great leaders shoulder responsibility and admit when they are wrong and are liked even more for it. What I have seen today is as good as anything I saw from Raphinia, albeit the so deserved goal was missing. I said to Ben, that’s not a Premier League player, that’s a Champions League player and we will do well to hold on to him in January never mind the end of the season. When I was playing in the local golf society, if your tee shot didn’t go past the ladies tee, it was trousers down until the hole was finished. I would rather hope your magnanimous reply gets you, at least, 15 replies or likes (my finger is poised for an immediate like ) so we are both happy but…… Ell, trousers down, time to apologise to Georginho, the kid was magnificent. Love Marcos
