pmcla26

Mads JJ Faes Okoli Kristiansen Skipp Wilf/Winks Fatawu Buonanotte Mavididi Vardy

Honestly though do you really think the bloke is required as a starter for us? I can live with Bobby Reid on a free to fill out the squad, and bring the exact same assets as Ayew to the table, but I can’t find anyway to justify signing them both, starting at least one of them in every game so far, and spending transfer money on either of them.

I think betting on us to give away a penalty would be a smart move this weekend with the amount of time we will spend sat deep

He’s not ever going to play well ever again as a flying full-back or as a wing-back. To do that in the Premier League these days you have to be extremely athletic. He’s an inverted full-back and that’s it. While we play two DMs he won’t get in because there’s no room for that role in a side with two 6s - the space becomes too crowded.

I'm not sure we would have had to have changed very much at all. Just add a bit more pace at the back, and quality further up the pitch. We beat Bournemouth away with our second string and gave ourselves an OK account vs Chelsea. We certainly would have looked better than we do now, regardless.

You've got 3 players in particular who were given specialist roles within the team, and arguably the most important in terms of the system last season, in Vestergaard, Winks and Ricardo who have all been either dropped or had the roles removed. It's no wonder players are despondent.

It's not just in the attacking sense that the left foot is pointless, it's also making our build-up play less varied. We're building up with 3 right footers at the back and 2 right footers ahead of them - having a left footed player sitting in that 3 would allow us to use that side to open up play a lot better. Pretty much every piece of build up play we have ends up with our right-back, or the left side come back to the middle defender/goalkeeper. We should have signed Arthur Theate or David Hancko in the summer and kept Ricardo inverting at right-back. I hate this current system so much.

LDDLL

Hermansen Justin Okoli Coady Faes Kristiansen Skipp Winks Ndidi Vardy Mavididi Not the team I'd pick, but it's probably the one Cooper will, possibly Ayew for Mavididi if he really is completely clueless.

On the topic of Kelechi, why did we let him go if the best replacements we could get were Jordan Ayew and Odsonne Edouard on loan who are both worse than him?

Depressing when you see Tyler Dibling breaking through for Saints the way he has.

Yeah but Pearson's system in 2014-15 wasn't any good until we went to a 3-4-1-2 that was clearly defined at the end of the season.

John Terry and Ashley Cole weren't bad

Or he can invert like last season which means he has a better rest defence position than when JJ (or any full-back) is caught further up the flank - look at the transition Everton had for the DCL chance second half.

We should have got the next Maresca in. Someone like Carlos Cuesta. Keep the style of play going, rather than going from Man City lite to Scunthorpe United.

Carragher's analysis is actually good, though. Agree about Neville, though.

Before the season started I was hoping/expecting: Spurs L Fulham D Villa L Palace D Everton W So a win and two points down. It's not lots but it adds up at the end of the campaign.

Hermansen Faes Okoli JJ Ricardo Winks Fatawu Ndidi El Khannous/Skipp Mavididi Vardy

It’s alright bench our star boy in favour for someone who we knew was crap all along

Or we drop him and play both our good wingers.

That has proven to be correct. I don't get what the outrage is. He was onside.

I wish Cooper would stop talking about that Mateta goal and just focus on this weekend. One of the biggest games of our season coming up.

Plus Leif Davis is one of their best players.

I find this tough to believe when we have given all our last 3 managers (including Cooper) more control than 90% of other clubs in the Championship/PL allow their managers. Plus, he worked at Chelsea and Brighton - two clubs where managers have little control over anything off of the pitch.

Hermansen JJ Faes Okoli Kristiansen Winks Skipp Fatawu Ndidi Mavididi Vardy Not keen on midfield 3 of Winks, Skipp and Ndidi but we need Ndidi's height and combative nature against a physical Everton side. Can't drop him after how he played on Saturday either.