Willock and Joelinton are on fire right now. Joelinton sucks in front of goal, and Willock doesn't look like scoring, but both two great work at LCM and RCM. Shelvey is the weakest of the 3. You could drop Shlevey, but would it not be a big risk to put Bruno in that more deep lying position? Should we keep the side as it is now, and bring on Bruno gradually as a sub in matches? Would you put Bruno as the central man in that 3 man midfield and force him to sit back? Or would you keep Shelvey there, and sacrifice Joe or Willock to allow him more freedom to roam? ASM---------Wood------------Fraser -----Bruno-------------Willock--- ---------------Shelvey---------------- Targett---Burn----Lascelles---Trippier ----------------Dubz--------------------- or ASM----------Wood----------Fraser ---Joelinton--Bruno----Willock--- Targett---Burn----Lascelles---Trippier -----------------Dubz-------------------- And when Bruno makes runs forward, Joelinton or Willock can sit deeper to cover him?
Easy decision for me - Shelvey. But I think I have to concede Howe got it right tonight not playing Bruno. Would have been a rude awakening.
That game tonight seemed like 100mph all night. I dunno if I was just extra over excited but it seemed one of the fastest pace games I’ve watched at St James’s in ages. I reckon Bruno might have struggled. Shelvey did well at times, his passing was very good. I still don’t like him though, and I thought he was gonna get himself sent off. Very lazy late on doing his pointing **** again. Good we can ease Bruno in, didn’t seem like that was an option. Happy to just go with Howe. He’s making a lot of right calls despite all the external noise.
Someone said Bruno was used to playing as one of two dms in a 4231 formation. But I’ll trust to Howe in it. Wood is ****.
This shelvey is useless.. Willock was outstanding and Joelinton offers more defensively than Shelvey.
Shelveys passing was obviously very good. He did some good things tonight I wouldn’t deny it. But I refuse to be fooled again. He still could have been sent off. And that thing he does when he can’t be arsed to run anymore and just passes players on pointing, id love to throttle him at that moment. If Bruno gets up to speed I think it’s an easy decision. Joe contributes loads to the workload, and Willock is very intelligent. He has an underrated understanding of the game.
I thought shelvey was poor today... Bruno basically is his replacement imo.. Last 2 games willock has been top
There was good and bad from Shelvey. To be honest his passing was top notch. But if we go down to 10 in a game like that, we get beat. He was close to making that a reality. Lazy as the game wore on. He is occupying the exact role that suits Bruno. You play your best players and Bruno is our best midfielder on paper. Big Joe is a street fighter and Willock brings box to box running and guile. It’s a no brainer what happens next for me.
It's the best kind of conundrum a manager can have - who to leave out when they're all playing well. There needs to be a place for Guimarães though. He'll help win us games.
I feel like Bruno and Shelvey could link well together and give us that extra 15% possession which we've sorely lacked since the Rafa era.
I should thank him - where would I be without that? On reflection, the pressing and moving further up the pitch was clear yesterday and whilst Shelvey has had his best spell for a while, he still moves too deep to really work in this style of play. Both he and Wood stick out a bit as not being the kind of modern footballer we need, though what I will say for Wood is he's working hard to close down up front and puts himself about, which is important. Guimaraes comes in and instantly we will move even quicker (if possible) and in those four supporting lads - 2 x Joe, Fraser, ASM - we have so much energy and ability to carry a ball that those quicker transitions will scare the life out of people. Shelvey has probably known his numbers been up for years and he's got away with it due to Ashley, but I genuinely think Shelvey will happily make way as he loves it at Newcastle and won't make any trouble. I also think they could play together in a 4-2-3-1 if there's injury or fatigue.
Two notable moments yesterday from baldy 1. 3 mins in he takes shot when he had a very simple cross on to Wood. This tells me he was out to try and keep his position more than anything else 2. He stands floating around trying to get that freekick and when Trippier scores his celebration was weak.. I'm sick of jonjo shelvey, but he'll not be dropped..
Yeah I do. He's a top quality player that can find miraculous passes through the lines. It gives our opponents another threat to worry about as they have all worked Shelvey out. I suspect we'll progress the ball so much faster up the pitch and take the pressure off the defence with him playing.
I think Max has had some stick on here recently and undeservedly so. Even if he is not quite on his game he still brings excitement to a game and occupies two if not three of the opposition team as they know what he can do and are frightened of him like no other player we have had for years. Yes he falls over too easily but his "runs" , for me, far outway the negatives in his game.
Agree, Max adds a dimension we don't.otherwise have. The issue has been that he's often left to do it all himself. Hopefully with the team now pressing forward more and getting up to support the strikers he is getting more opportunity to be effective. And one Bruno is playing regularly, controlling the midfield more, dictating the pace and opening up passes for rhe likes of Max, I think we should see the best of him.
