Steve Earle

It’s the transfer window. You really think we’d sell Chilwell in January? And for £60m? 😎

From memory, first seen at the KP under Big Nige, at home to the set piece specialists (& much bigger than us) Stoke C?

Vardy v Liverpool All the rest is (no doubt interesting & occasionally humorous) gossip. Fact (IMO).

Strongest XI with Justin to play unless Ricardo is 100% fit. There’s a case for starting with the 4231 successful yesterday, with Ndidi & Hamza as a double pivot, & playing the same ‘3’ behind Vardy. But I expect (without any confidence) a return to 4141. The West Ham XI to play v Wigan with Ward replacing Kasper & Soyuncu replacing Evans.

Worried by the almost complete absence of baseless rumours. Where’s @LinekersApples when you need him?

You’re right. It’s been a crap season so far, apart from being second in the league and in the League Cup semifinals. Reinforcements needed urgently!

So my ‘shit team’ of yesterday turned out to be nine elevenths right! I had Ward in, and Praet in the 10 role where it looks like Perez will play. It is asking a lot of Mendy though...

🤷🏻‍♂️

Wrong. If he makes 9 changes it’ll be because of the advice he has from the medical & sports science people. If he ignored such advice, he would be in danger of losing his head.

He did. But I was referring to ‘these games’. Barnes played left in the first, Maddison in the second. Both offered nothing defensively.

Make it ‘big six’ and I’d argue all nine of our regular starters ie excluding the wide players would get regular game time at one or more of them. Jonny Evans would get into all of them, yes, even Liverpool’s. He and Vardy looking odds on to get in the PFA team of the year at the moment.

It’s not meant to be anything other than a side which can play this game (& most of them the Wigan game too) while allowing our stronger players to be fresh for Newcastle and the League Cup semifinal home leg. It’s not a ‘shit team’ in any event, is it?

The 'stay/leave' option for the manager seems a bit out of place nowadays? I'd prefer it if we had the option of scoring the manager out of ten too? I'd have given Rogers a low score as it seemed obvious to me that Choudhury had to play in both these games. Asking first Barnes then Maddison to protect Chilwell simply wasn't going to work. Albrighton is possibly the only squad player equipped for that role, but there are and were other tactical options. Poor tactics from Brendan and it galls to think we'd have been more competitive in both games under Puel! I'm not pining for him at all and am 100% behind Brendan, but these two games have been painful...

Ward Justin Morgan Soyuncu Fuchs Mendy Gray Choudhury Praet Albrighton Iheanacho Subs Jakupovic Amartey, Benkovic Maddison Dewsbury-Hall Barnes Perez. Fresh legs, fresh minds, choose the best XI v Newcastle

A reality check and not before time for some and yes, I am thinking of you Strings and Pipes. The gulf between Man C and Liverpool and the rest is still massive, but being best of the rest would see this be a fantastic season. Our FBs have had a lot of praise, rightly, this season but it's their attacking play that's special, not their defensive work. Both were made to look pretty ordinary yesterday, though neither had any help from the wide player supposedly in front of them. Both have plenty of time to grow, and long term this chasing won't have done them any harm. Both CBS were as good as they could be against wave after wave of attack, their problem being that, as BR said, our midfield 4 didn't show for them and Man C's superb high press meant possession surrendered time after time. Only a couple of weeks ago Sounessaurus said Ndidi-Tielemans-Maddison was as good a three as any in the league. Well they weren't yesterday, not remotely as good as KDB, Silva and Gundogan. KDB showed us what world class looks like. Tielemans showed us what 22 year old Belgian squad players look like when against world class opposition. At least Madders showed and looked for forward passes, but with nothing wide it was Vardy or backwards for him. As for Barnes and Perez. Well. I'm sure I'm not the only one who now has an atavistic reaction to them being selected. I was briefly hopeful that Barnes's pace might hurt Man C when the team was announced, but after 10 mins I'd given up on him and Perez (nice assist though). We all know Barnes is going to be great, just not any time soon. And Perez has only looked a £30M player at Southampton and for the odd 30 mins here and there. Both need taking out of the fray, as they are getting worse each game. And that's the difference for me - the quality of our wide players. The other nine selected yesterday would all get regular game time at one or more of the so-called Big Six clubs. None of our quartet of wide players would, and I'm not sure they'd be regulars at any of the mid-table clubs either. This isn't news, I know, and I'm sure BR wanted another wide player in the summer (and expected more from Perez than he's getting). If we are to consolidate a top four position rather than fade away to the horrors of the Europa League in the second half of the season, we must, must sign a quality, goal-scoring wide player. Oh, and Choudhury starts on Boxing Day, or it'll be the same again. It might be anyway!

Seems all set for Brendan to send a shadow XI to West Ham doesn’t it? That way the first team can play today, Boxing Day & New Year’s Day, resting v WHam & Wigan. Honestly can see only one other option, namely to rest half the side against the Hammers, the other half against the toon...

add Beatnix Republic, Dale St, NQ and you've got one heck of a list to choose from there!

Play them as Man U did, on the counter, and we'll have every chance. Our number nine will be really looking forward to playing against their CBs!

Interesting point. I read that the most appearances Evans has ever made in a PL season is 31. He’s obviously on course to beat that, if he can avoid injury. That’s IF in capital letters. With European football more likely than not next season we’ll need to be able to rotate at CB, probably 2 from 3 of similar ability with a Benkovic or equivalent used occasionally as fourth choice.

We’ll be strong, very strong I expect Kasper Justin Morgan Soyuncu Chilwell Ndidi Praet Tielemans or Maddison Perez Iheanacho Barnes or Gray bench to include Evans, Pereira, Choudhury, Albrighton & Vardy

In context, Barnes is filling the role that ideally would’ve been filled by a summer signing - a genuine goalscoring winger. I think we all know he’s going to be a great player, but it’s too much to expect consistency of him at this stage of his career. Finishing apart, he’s been mostly very good - excellent v Southampton - until the last two/three games when his increasingly awful finishing has started to affect his general play. He seemed terrified to be out there today. Tough one for Brendan now. Does he rest/bench him for a while, or start him v Everton in the hope that boosts his confidence? In Brendan we trust!

Thought Perez and Hamza were poor (given both 5), Perez critically so - if he'd scored from the second minute sitter instead of blazing wildly over we might have won at a canter. Hamza was his usual energetic self but lacked sharpness and accuracy. Ricardo, Evans and Maddison were the pick from an unusually laboured team performance. Barnes did loads of great stuff but when he gets near the box I'm as optimistic as I used to be watching Akinbadbuy. I drove home thinking how spoiled we've become. If we don't put teams to the sword with a bit of swagger we feel we have the right to be disappointed! Most of the last 50 years we'd have been celebrating a home win and crikey, equalling a club record from 1963 (one that I never thought we'd see equalled - or perhaps beaten - in my time as a fox)!

I’d like to see: Man C v Liverpool Arsenal v Man U Spurs v Chelsea Wolves v West Ham or Sheff U And in round 4, the winners of the first play the winners of the second, and the winners of the third play the winners of the fourth. And in round 5, the winners of these two games play each other. And in round 6 someone else knock out the winner of that game. Meanwhile we sail serenely to the final, where we win. And that, with a top four finish too...well I can dream can’t I?

Massive banana skin this one. Just praying that we get the first - if so, I agree with others it could become comfortable, but if they score first...

First ever visit, and don't know if I'll ever be in Ealing again, but it had some great beers on