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Begovic
Choudhury
Okoli
Vestergaard
Thomas
Skipp
Winks
JJ
Fatawu
Daka
Mavididi
Win or bust today. If we get less than 3pts it’s clear this lot don’t have the fight in them
Forgetting the fans for a minute, it could be huge if we’re playing sat, Tues, Fri and other teams around us are sat, Weds, sat. They’ll have an extra days rest over the week which at this stage of the season could be important
We are a warning to any club that thinks that they are in a good position - one year changes everything.
For my sins, I’ve had a look at the business other premier league clubs did in the 22/23 season. I’ve discounted the clubs we couldn’t have competed with financially but even then this is depressing.
GK - we sold Kasper and didn’t bring a replacement in. Fulham signed Leno for £3m and Sam Johnstone went to Palace on a free. Dubravka and Butland also went out on loan - all better than what we stuck with.
LB - we panic bought Kristensen in the January. Estupinan went for £12m, Leif Davis (£1m 😩) and in January Spence got loaned out to France.
CB - now this is depressing. We lost Wes and signed Faes and Souttar (Jan) in replacement. That year Bournemouth signed Senesi for £12m, Tarkowski went on a free and Colwill & Branthwaite went out on loan. Even Craig Dawson for £3m was better than what we did!
AM - we needed attacking reinforcements and signed Tete on loan with a failed £20m move for Jack F’ing Harrison on deadline day. Utd loaned out Amad that year (did amazing at Sunderland) and in the Jan Bournemouth spent £8m on Semenyo and Brentford and Wolves loaned Schade and Cunha respectively.
I appreciate all of this is purely hypothetical. But it demonstrates how poorly we planned for that season. None of these players I’ve mentioned would have been out of reach if we had realised the situation we were in. That year has sent us back a decade (at least) and should be a stark warning to those clubs who find themselves now where we were 4 or 5 years ago.
With the fixtures we’ve got he should play in 5 of them.
Take him out of the Monday game over Easter and the hull midweek game.
As others have said, just let him do what he needs to recovery wise to make himself available
My view on the pompey va Oxford game is that if we beat Sheff Weds we’re guaranteed either a 2 point bump on both or 3 points on one of them - a draw is ideal but worst case a 3 point swing on one of them is big.
As for Cov and Stoke games, Cov might still need points to wrap up title (if Ipswich have a good run) and they’ll want momentum going into next season, do think Frank is the type to take foot off the gas. Stoke away is always tough, even if they’re on the beach. Robins will want to finish as high as possible, especially considering their drop-off.
It was a decent save however serious questions have to be asked as to why he took it.
When he had the ball in his hands I assumed he was doing the thing where he takes the pressure off the taker and was going to pass it on.
JJ would have been my first choice.
So much negativity again.
i appreciate we need points, but Watford are a decent side who had a good result midweek and we went there and made them look ordinary. Could easily have won the game but poor finishing let us down.
The positives are that we looked a lot stronger defensively - Lascelles made a huge difference and Thomas probably had his best game of the season. We worked hard and did look dangerous when on the front foot. Both wingers looked good, especially Fatawu who looked more like his old self.
What Rowett needs to fix now is the final third. Dakas confidence is on the floor and Ayew makes little to no effort. I would stick with the same midfield 3 as yesterday with Mukasa as a false 9. I’ve been against this before but after yesterday we can rely on Daka and Ayew. Not only is he a better finisher but him coming deep would allow JJ to go beyond him. Definitely worth a go against Preston.
With Oxford and Portsmouth results there is still all to play for.