Poco

Absolutely immaculate today. Best player on the pitch by a country mile! Immense.

Yeah, thought he'd provide a bit of cover for Howey... 😅

I don't think anyone will disagree that Lewis is one of our worst ever players but we weren't expecting much from him; he came from Gillingham reserves. I read the OP as being XI players you were excited that we signed but disappointed with how they played.

GK Ricardo (brilliant for Portugal, liability for us) CB Keown (claim for captaincy of this XI strengthened after reading Micky Adams' autobiography) CB Mills (woeful) CB Howey (I thought he was great Newcastle and Man City - complete bombscare for us) RWB Kaebi (I'd imagine he will feature in most people's XIs) CM Silva (should've been so much better) CM Inler (a little unfortunate to arrive when he did) CM Wise (I genuinely liked him at Chelsea but just wasn't Prem quality by the time he signed for us) LWB Musa (*that* goal vs Barcelona!) CF Slimani (started well but the fact we struggled to give him away says a lot) CF Beckford (I thought he'd fire us to promotion...)

Brilliant throughout the team tonight. Subtle tactical tweak from Brendan has been interesting in the last few games - Maddison almost playing up front with Vardy at times (far more useful than collecting the ball off the CBs) and Wilf pushed further forward to win the ball earlier in the press. On we go!

It would never happen, but Inaki Williams from Bilbao would be a great fit. Plays upfront on his own, strong, quick and knows where the goal is. Apparently, he's got an insane release clause (like so many at Spanish clubs) but, with a top four finish, who knows...? (possibly been playing too much FM 😅) (Ivan Toney or Tammy Abraham would be my more realistic choices)

I think taking everything into account, Tsaroulla's was the best goal. Great skill and part of a giantkilling.

Probably the most frustrating year I can remember. Yes, we've been in far worse positions but our 'hot and cold' form has, at times, been baffling. Most of the time, I think the blame lies at Brendan's door; trying to be too clever tactically. However, we're in a good place overall if we haven't quite kicked on and we're currently sitting in the top 4 with the Europa League knockouts to look forward to.

Completely agree. He might not be the best CDM we have but I wouldn't swap him for many from other teams. Comes in, does his job when called upon; great to have in the squad.

Thought he looked very good today; solid, comfortable on the ball and read the game well.

I think that's more to with how Villa play. He looked good at the start of the season because some of their play went through Barkley. However, since Barkley's injury, they've reverted to type; give the ball to Grealish, win a free kick, put the ball into the box. I rate Watkins but I think he's a victim of Villa's over-reliance on Grealish.

Got to say, I agree with the team picked. The debate over Grealish is interesting and I think the points the chap picking the team makes are spot on; as brilliant as Grealish is, he's still not at the same level for effectiveness as, the example given, Sadio Mane.

So many great memories of that season! Mahrez vs Blackpool Drinky's last minute equaliser against Watford (I think...) Vardy's length of the pitch run and finish against Millwall Kasper being denied a surefire equaliser against Yeovil only for Chris Wood to nod it in Seriously thought that season would be as good as it got for long time... 😅

Haha! You beat me to it - almost word for word! 😅

Hume was great; a real shining light in very dark days!

I think the worrying thing, from my point of view, is the fact that, in every game we've lost this season, the opposition have not had to work hard for it. I don't think you can say that we were unlucky in any of our losses or that the opposition were amazing. Seems to me that, in the games we've lost (particularly last night), the other team hasn't even broken into a sweat. Such a frustrating season...

When Rogers first joined us, he wore 5 til the end of the season then swapped to 15 at the start of the next (although I can't remember, for the life of me, who wore it for the following season...! 😅)

Tbf, Sav was the last decent player to wear number 8, imo, before Youri.

With Leicester, I think 5 will always be iconic to me for Walshy (I can remember being disgusted that the next player to wear 5 after him was Alan Rogers!) and Wes. Obviously, 9 for Vardy too. It's strange, isn't it? Certain numbers at certain clubs just don't seem to do well. Number 9 at Chelsea (before Abraham) for example. I can remember 9 and 7 being poisoned chalices at Liverpool for a while (obviously, this is all since the dawn of squad numbers) Before recent seasons, 2 and 8 seem to have belonged to underwhelming players and number 7 (aside for a personal favourite in Iain Hume) hasn't been the same since Joachim!

I think the last two games have shown how important Youri is for us. He was poor against Liverpool and we struggled as a team and last night, in the 1st half, we missed him; highlighted by our improvement in the 2nd half.

Spot on. Why does Maddison have to take every set-piece? (until Under came on, anyway). I find it interesting that for England, and now for Chelsea, Chilwell is given some responsibility for set-plays; I don't think he ever took one for us! How many times does Maddison have to hit the first defender before Brendan realises that he might not be the best option for taking corners?

The definition of scrappy but I'll take a scrappy 1-0 win over a scrappy 1-0 loss every time! Fofana and Mendy immense. Fuchs rolling back the years. Justin growing with every minute. Youri: the Belgian Pirlo. Great stuff!

I know there probably won't be fans in the stadium to sing for a long while yet and we've had lots of suggestions of songs for Fofana but here's mine: (Tune: Give me oil in my lamp) Give us strength in defence, Wes Fofana, Give us strength in defence today, Give us strength in defence, Wes Fofana, Keep the other team's attack at bay. Wes Fofana! Wes Fofana! Wes Fofana, can you hear us sing? Wes Fofana! Wes Fofana! Wes Fofana is the king. (Apologies if this one has already been suggested...)

Incredible to think we have a 19 year old as the lynchpin to our back line. I'm sure having players like Fuchs and Kasper around him helps but he makes it look so easy. Brilliant, just brilliant!

Thought Hamza was brilliant tonight and Justin gets better every game. So many strong performances tonight!