Hopefully lacelles ritchie and Hayden don't start. Willock gets **** but he covered ground fast and it reduced the one man advantage Howe He praised Joe Willock and Jonjo Shelvey, who dovetailed successfully in midfield, , and he described Fernandez, who has been left out of the team this season, as "absolutely magnificent" and "an ultimate professional since I arrived at the club". 2-0 home win then on to Leicester
-------Wilson----Joelinton------- ASM---Willock--Shelvey---Fraser Lewis---Schar--Fernandez--Manq ---------------Dubs-------------------- That's what I'd like, but I suspect the same but Lascelles for Fernandez.
I ****ing hate 4-4-2. I hate anything with two CM's, it's out of date and doesn't work. Name me a club in the top 6 playing with 2 CM's in isolation?
I think my only change would be Fernandez in for Clark. I worry and suspect we will shoehorn cardboard hips back in. I don't think Ritchie will the shirt back off Lewis, I think he did pretty well. Keep it simple and just win! 3-1 to the toon
Genuinely I don't think the problem is 'just' Lascelles. When he has competent(ish), specialised full backs and can just concentrate on a single job, he's not as bad. When he's in a back four with the likes of Krafth, Clark, Ritchie, it's a ****ing disaster. He was at his best when we had Manq or Yedlin, Willems or Dummett in at full back, either in a 4 or a 5. He's not dreadful when he's with an ACTUAL leader, like Fede. My issue is he's worse than Fede and a similar player, he's not a ball player and in modern football one of your CB's should ideally be comfortable with the ball and not an out-and-out defender. It's possible to play with two ball winners, of course, but it then relies on having someone like Shelvey much closer to the CB's to allow us to play out better. So you could play Lascelles/Fede with two real full backs in Manq and Lewis, then have Shelvey as a deep lying midfielder and it should be quite solid. These are SIMPLE things to see - I can only surmise that being a football manager is a lot like being a politician; much of the public think these people are somehow better, smarter, in a position of authority because they must just see things differently, but in reality they're just ****ing not and all make worse decisions than they should.
--------------Dubz Manqy-Schar-Fede-Lewis Willock-Shelvey-Almiron Joelinton-Wilson-Maximin 3-2 win Wilson brace and Joelinton
Fernandez really impressed me last night. He could be the next coloccini for me. He was really cool on the ball in dangerous situations and was the best defender last night.
Gonna miss this as I’ll be on the way back from North Carolina. It’s therefore a nailed on win. I have a feeling that Charlotte will weave her lucky web for me.
Think if we can get a win here it will set us up for a good run despite the difficult fixtures. You can see the players are enjoying playing under Howe and a win would give them more confidence. Need an early goal as Burnley have the ability to sit back and frustrate. Hopefully St Maximin raises his game as it needs players who ate capable of putting defenders on the back foot. Going for an early goal by Wilson and a comfortable 3-0 win.