Stats

Yes, @Vesper. Credit given. You are spot on. MLS is a star in the making. He looks like he has been playing that role for ages. He is the real deal and I think he is good enough to play LB for England already. What a performance today. Interesting that they bought Calafiori who was bought as the main LB but currently MLS is the main guy there. Good conundrum for them to have anyway. Don't like Arsenal but they have two top class talents in Nwaneri and MLS. 17 and 18. Wow.

Are you being for real? Last season yes, this season he has been poor, hence the urge for them to get a new striker. He was good today though, bar that miss but let's be real. He has been way below par this season.

Calling him a cunt based on a celebration. Wow. Yes he can come across a bit arrogant and can be frustrating, however do I see improvements to his game since he joined us? Yes. He has 6 goals and 3 assists in the league. Needs to be more productive in final third, but he definitely is a useful outlet to have. His direct dribbling and running is a bonus and causes opposition panic. People may argue Neto’s best position is from the right, however he also needs to improve in final third. Madueke for all his faults has scored some good goals this season. Felix, yes I agree is treated harshly based on his limited minutes but his position is not affected by Madueke. I would like to see him more but it feels for me your agenda against Madueke is a bit personal.

Yeah, your hate for Madueke is getting pathetic. You sound like a child. Madueke is frustrating and inconsistent but on current form, Neto has been worse than Madueke and I don't see you criticise Neto.... I wonder why..

Well he scored a hat-trick against Wolves and we won 6-2 this season 😄

I still think Arsenal will challenge. FWIW Rice was their best player today by far. Made best chance of the game and I don't mean a set piece lol. I still feel Arsenal have the best fixtures as in that they have already got away trips such as City, Chelsea, Newcastle, Villa, Spurs out the way. They have to go to Anfield but many of the 'big names' they have played away from home. We have to go to City, Arsenal, Newcastle, Villa away from home still. Long way to go. It will help if the other English teams stay in Europe longer to boost our title chances.

Solanke played 90 mins yesterday. He is fine but Ben Davies got injured last night so that leaves Dragusin as their only fit CB. Davies was filling as CB with Romero and Van de Ven injured.

Palmer has no reason to be rested/rotated. He is only playing once a week until now as he has been left out from the group stages of the Conference League and also sat out the last international break. So he is one player I would imagine would defo start as he until now has been having a full week's rest.

Several. Dibling, Harwood-Bellis and Ramsdale are their key players out but other regulars such as Downes, Bednarek. People who would have started or started in other players absences such as Smallbone, Lallana. Onuaucu, not clear if he is fit for this as he was very good against Liverpool before coming off injured. Although Liverpool won that game, Southampton played well and all their goals conceded was self-inflicted errors. So we cannot be complacent. Think/hope team will be something like this: Sanchez Gusto Badiashile/Tosin Colwill Cucu Caicedo Enzo Madueke Palmer Neto Nkunku

It is weird how lowkey Dibling's spell at us was. When he went viral for scoring those hattrick of identical goals for Southampton in that academy or U21 game, I did not even know we had bought him shortly after, only for it not to work out and him end back at Southampton. He is such a real talent and only 18. I am not sure what happened at us, but obviously did not settle. Has a similar style of play to Palmer. He was fantastic today.

We are playing Leicester at a good game. Buonanotte is suspended, who has been brilliant for Leicester since joining them on loan. Big bonus for us. Fatawu has done his ACL after getting injured on international duty. Real maverick of a player and he was brilliant in the FA Cup game at the Bridge last season. Ayew also got inured on international duty and is another doubt. Keep 11 on the pitch and don't play too much of a high line with Vardy in their attack and we should win this.

4 academy boys in the team today

Looks older than his age imo. Also bald at '22'. I say stay clear 😄

I guess the person is assuming due to previous history with injury.

Well this where I disagree. One, being, people are saying it looked like Palmer was struggling (injury-wise) and even so, he wasn't really influential. He done a nice couple passes but didn't do anything significant. Also, how much managers have the luxury of having Felix, Nkunku to come off the bench?? We do. I genuinely think with fresh legs, Felix would have posed more of a threat second half. Postecoglou took of his main playmaker in Maddison at half-time against West Ham for tactical reasons and won the game. Salah has been tremendous for Liverpool this season. Look at this, Slot took him off against Palace quite early against Palace whilst the game was still in the balance and they won the game. Even more surprisingly, they beat Leipzig few weeks ago away from home,1-0, whilst the game is still in the balance. Salah was subbed up off at the 63rd minute. I didn't thought Salah was bad and Salah was visibly frustrated but Slot obviously wasn't happy with something but he was not afraid to take off his best player and they looked comfortable. You can twist it this way and say imagine the headlines if he took off Palmer and brought on Felix who scored the winner. Works both ways. How I see it is, we have played United, Liverpool and Arsenal and not won any of the games and our main playmaker has not created much during the game so sub him off. It is not as if we have a weak bench, but could have a more fresh player offered something different? Possibly but if he keeps him on the field 90 mins, it is almost saying, you can be below-par but you will play the whole game regardless. You either change his position or take him off. Managers have to be bold sometimes. Forget what the 'headlines' say.

Maresca needs to stop giving Palmer 'untouchable' status. If he isn't playing great then take him off. In some of the biggest games this season such as Liverpool and United, he played him whole game and he did not do anything to change the game of note. So today, he was quite quiet, especially in second half and if he was indeed struggling, then he should have came off. Why are we buying likes of Felix and Nkunku who are really good bench options if we are afraid to use them. Happy with the point but frustrated with the subs. Neto was MOTM for me. He was brilliant all game. Fofana I thought was brilliant today too.

I will love to say we would keep a clean sheet but can't see us shutting out every single set piece they have. That is there strongest point. Think they have scored set piece goals in most of their difficult games this season. Basically a cheat code for them.

That looked more like a foul from KDH or am I missing something... lol. Nkunku should let Felix get his hattrick this time. He has his goal.

Also, maybe Livramento if James had as much injuries then as he did now.

Solanke now too.

Yes. Guehi, Chalobah scoring. Livramento and Hall putting in top performances against the Gooners. Lewis Hall was fantastic in particular and got MOTM. Aina and CHO scoring too.

Honestly, I mean this when I say this, no biased aside. I wouldn't have another DM over him right now. He has everything you want as a CDM. He wins his tackles and also bosses the game and is a very good passer too. I remember someone on here before saying to me that Gallagher was a better passer and they simply used the stats as their evidence when Gallagher played further advanced than Caicedo. Caicedo's passing is underrated. He has twice this season now played superb through balls to Jackson. For his age and current ability combined with he is getting better, yes I would not take another DM over him right now. Exactly. Agreed.

I think I can gleefully state I am right on this now. People wrote him off way too quickly and was not willing to give him time. I wish fans did give patience. In fact who remembers when Modric first joined Real and was voted worst signing of the season... and then look how tables turned. Caicedo is becoming a dominant force for us. Controlling games, winning tackles and has a real eye for a pass too. Not calling you out but just interested to see now, nearly a year on if you think he has proved you wrong? I think a majority of people were unconvinced by him tbh but I think he has been consistently good for a while noe.

He scored a top header against Brighton though Jimmy 😄 but yeah, for a tall guy maybe he could work on being more of a threat aerially I guess.

I don't think they will risk him. My guess would be he is back against Arsenal.