AKCJ

I suppose it depends if you'd like to control a game against an opposition or take the game to them. I don't see much point in passing between the centre halves in home games against sides we should be beating. We don't take the game to the opposition enough as it is but it's painful when Winks, Vestergaard and Faes just pass the ball to each other for 90 minutes. Our xG per 90 this season is 1.55 and our xGA is 1.47. Doesn't feel particularly controlled to me considering our wage bill dwarfs the rest of the division. Especially considering we've not played a good side yet.

This won't happen. IMO the result should remain. Doesn't mean I'd like it if we were on the receiving end but as a neutral I think Blackburn should be awarded the win in this scenario. I'd like the EFL to write into their rules that if a game has gone past the 70th minute and is postponed for adverse weather, the result stands.

The finish made Donnarumma look daft but he was put in that position by the defence randomly trying a high line. Dias, Gvardiol and Ake were playing superbly but decided to step up as opposed to drop off again. That said the pass from Eze was bob on.

Hardly at our expense given we got promoted and they didn't.

Arsenal needed Arteta to rebuild the culture and team but they really ought to go for a proper winner now. Someone that'll take them to the next level. I do agree with the notion that Arsenal have the strongest squad in the league when you look at it on paper but I don't see a way that Arteta will take that squad to a title.

A player that can take the ball under pressure and not look like he's holding a live grenade will always look good in the lower leagues. The problem is that every midfielder does that at a higher level. He's got to add more to his game in terms of physicality and by looking to hurt teams. He's neat and safe which is good but Sammy needs to do more to impact the game. It's no good just being neat and tidy. I'm sure it'll come but i'd take these sort of reviews with a pinch of salt because most midfielders at that level are simply thugs with a pair of boots on.

Balon d'Or tonight. Bookies reckon it's Ousmane Dembele.

He's a confidence player and he looks like he's lost it all. Everything he is trying is not coming off. Needs to be taken out of the spotlight on Friday. Monga should get his first league start.

His slow build up killed us. Especially in the second half. The amount of times the team decided to play backwards when we had beaten their press was maddening. The likes of Vestergaard and Winks seem to only want to play in the way that showcases their talent of standing on the ball and passing it 5 yards. We'll not score many goals this season when the aim is apparently to keep a 95% or higher pass accuracy stat. How many times did Winks pop the ball in behind Torp and Grimes? It just doesn't happen with him and that style of play makes us easy to defend against. We're much better when we get our wingers running at the opposition in space. Our best players are at their best when we are chaotic but Winks doesn't allow that to happen.

I like Ayew and he has an important role to play this season but he's simply not a striker. We don't build up attacks with him up front. Especially with Mavididi and Fatawu refusing to get beyond him. The only time that happened on Saturday led to the biggest chance of the match. Carranza did enough to show that he's got that instinct of sitting on the last man and moving in between the centre halves to warrant starting against WBA for me. Ayew should either link the play a bit deeper or come off the bench. We lost a lot when James was subbed off IMO. We should have taken Winks or Soumare off and dropped James deeper.

I think ideally i'd play Hamza and James as a midfield 2 but yeah, Soumare still being here is a result of the club not making the place hell for these players. It's a haven for footballers that want to earn 80k a week for 4 years and put in minimal effort. These players still get rewarded and it's a key reason (if not the number one reason) as to why we're in this mess. For what it's worth though, I think Soumare has applied himself quite well on the whole this season. It's a sorry situation where someone like him is one of the hardest working central midfielders at the club. The club failed at draining the swamp this summer. We got rid of all of our sellable assets (minus Fatawu) but didn't do enough to get rid of the likes of Soumare, Winks, Faes, Vestergaard etc who are only here for the dough and the easy ride. The rebuild gets pushed down the road constantly under Rudkin. It had to be more cutthroat IMO.

Starting to get the hang of it but I suspect that's mostly because the genuinely good players are already promoted. Taking it steady and I've only played about half a dozen games but it's fun. Slower paced build up is the key to attacking but I don't like that aggressive defending is massively unrewarding. My pre-order Icon was the Korean striker and after him not scoring for 4 games he's banging them in left and right now.

It'll be the same people moaning about a lack of commitment from the likes of Winks and Faes again in a few weeks time. Leopards don't change their spots and we should stop building our team around these players.

Doku having a great game. Reminds me a lot of Fatawu with how direct he is with the ball.

Donnarumma is a monster. Obviously his wages are outrageous but £26m makes him an absolute bargain.

I wouldn’t play the mercenaries.

Stolarcyzk Ricardo Nelson Vestergaard Thomas Soumare James Fatawu Ayew Monga Carranza

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if that's the two tomorrow. In fact, i'd put money on those two starting.

Seen that Yunus Akgun is now captaining and scoring goals for Galatasaray in the UCL. Never saw that in him here.

Isn't there that chant that goes to the Kasabian song "You're in love with a psycho"? As in, "I'm in love with Ricardo".

I don't particularly mind rewarding academy graduates like him and Hamza providing the money is right. I think the culture of having players for the academy to look up to has to be right and the young lads need players in the dressing room to be able to talk to and feed off of. But you know for a fact that the likes of Ayew and Soumare will be offered an extension to "protect value" and they will still leave for nothing.

Big day for Abdul tomorrow. Hopefully he makes amends after his red at the Ricoh.

It'll be like the Birmingham game I would have thought. Very tight and cagey.

Does anything show our decline more than our squad only having 4 gold rated players?

I think people would rather turn up tomorrow, act all nonchalant and sit there with their arms crossed in a huff rather than let some neanderthal from down the M69 have the satisfaction of knowing that we actually do care. Get into um. Needs to be a good atmosphere tomorrow.