Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.
Cresswell / Masuaku could go either way.
Kouyate / Fonte could go either way.
Ayew / Arnautovic I suppose could go either way, but how do you drop someone who scored twice and galvanised us?
Want to see Lanzini, Fernandes and Ayew start. Feel like with these three we can actually keep the ball and send rest of the team further up the field.
somerset-hammer wrote:I really like Kouyate in a back 3!
Can we tie a 20 yard bungee cord to him and our post to stop him wandering forward? He's pretty solid when he plays back there apart from his little urge to take a stroll up the pitch.
Arnautovic may be our record signing but he has done very little to keep his place, he looked very leggy and lazy last week. He should start on the bench and have to prove himself to get back in the starting 11.
Ayew was really putting himself about last night and deserves to keep his place.
Rice deserves to keep his place and keeping him in would be great for his confidence. I would also keep Byram for the same reasons and also to keep Zab fresh for tougher games that are coming up.
Reid in for Kouyate - I don't know what we should do with Kouyate as he doesn't appear to have a footballing brain - he is just too positionally undisciplined in either midfield or defence.
Hernandez coming off the bench where he was so dangerous for Man Utd when his movement rips apart tired defences.
Cresswell / Masuaku could go either way.
Kouyate / Fonte could go either way.
Ayew / Arnautovic I suppose could go either way, but how do you drop someone who scored twice and galvanised us?
That looks sensible.
We need a few brains on the park!!
It also gives us a strong bench.
Lets not carried away though. This is for three points in the league. Palarse will be fighting us every inch of the way.
Just hope we keep the momentom going palarse I think have turned it round a bit we are going to have to graft and earn a good result and not be complacent woy never makes it easy for us
This will be a battle. The lads on the pitch last night showed fight so as many as possible should start again. Particularly Noble who I thought sparked it by lairing up over the ball back incident. Momentum.
I would make 5 changes for the fresh legs. But keep with the 3 at the back. I would pretty much go with the back 3 that we kept clean sheets against vs West Brom and Huddersfield. That included Fonte and Reid. It's harsh on Ogbonna as he scored the winner yesterday. But IMO he is a bit of a liability and I feel like we always concede when he plays. Not all his fault of curse, but still. The other center half we played was Ginge Pele in those clean sheet games. But I am not sure if fit enough to play. Plus Kouyate has good pace. And minus that moment of stupidity for the first goal I thought he played well and IMO this is his best position for us. Keep Cresswell in the team. And move Zabaleta in for Byram for one of the fresh legs. Although harsh on Byram. Noble to play as we need our captain for a game as big as this. His partner was the biggest dilemma for me, as I thought Fernandes did okay yesterday. But is this game the sort of game you want a kid who is still quite raw playing in? So I went for steady Obiang. Hopefully he won't play as bad as he did against Brighton. We need a big performance from him! And even though they still weren't convincing I would stick with the 2 that played up top against Spurs. Carroll on paper should be perfect for our wing-backs. And especially for the type of crosses Cresswell can deliver. Ayew to sit slightly deeper and play inbetween Lanzini and Carroll. This for me is his best position. In the middle so he can work hard and then ghost into the box when we are attacking. Almost our new Nolan if you like.
Cresswell / Masuaku could go either way.
Kouyate / Fonte could go either way.
Ayew / Arnautovic I suppose could go either way, but how do you drop someone who scored twice and galvanised us?
I thought Fernandes put in his best display for us last night. Even in the first half when the rest of the team were dire, he showed heart and tried to make things happen. obviously him and the jewel have to start.
I also think youngster or not, Rice has been better than a lot of our defenders this season, him and Oggy (whom I've been a frequent critic of) must start too.
If we don’t put some fight into this then serious questions have to asked of the players not Bilic not the board but the players.Against probably the 2nd best team in the country last 3 games we’ve won 2 and lost 1 putting up a great fight.Last night proved beyond any dispute they can do it when they want.Last night means nothing if don’t get at least a point. I just really hope last night we turned the corner and it wasn’t just another turn it on for spurs display.I think we may sneak it 1-0.
Lanzini/Obiang/Noble should be perfect for finding Chicha in space. Arfur and Byram on the wings should give some decent delivery for Carroll to get on to.
Harsh on Ayew, given his 2nd half performance last night, but have to get the little fella back into the side.
Id be very surprised if we win this one.
I suspect the players will not rev themselves up for the first whistle like they did for the 2nd last night.
What worries me is the clear lack of method in our game.
1-1