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But please not as a full back. Almost every moment of danger came down his side. He simply cannot defend - not just on the ball, but positionally he gives too much space and time away. Push him up the pitch. Compare him to Byram. One of them is a full back.

Started well, Pukki missed his customary chance, we then give them two goals with abject defending, unsurprisingly both coming from the player Giannoulis is "marking". The second goal was a bit lucky as he completely mi**** it but he had enough time to score three goals. Second half was OK only because Liverpool gave up and we didn't care enough. Sargent back to his old self. Rowe was bright(ish). Rupp and Byram both solid and hopefully will both start on Saturday. Zimbo surprisingly good alongside Gibson apart from the first goal. Gilmour anonymous (again). Pukki needs to score his chance on Saturday because unless we score first we will lose.

Unfortunately Giannoulis isn't good enough for the PL. Defensively suspect all round. Decent going forward which is why I'd prefer to see him as a wingback.

All the pundits keep saying what a great talent he is, but we haven't seen a lot of it. Almost completely anonymous in every game. Bypassed as if he wasn't there and does nothing going forward. I've got nothing against him at all and if professional coaches and managers think he's a good player, I guess he must be - I just can't see what he does.

Zimmermann and Gibson hardly fills me with optimism. Could there be a slower CB pairing? I hope Klopp rests Mane, Salah, Firmino and Jota. Maybe Origi will get a start with Diaz and Minamino - we might then hold out for only a 4-0 defeat.

Jonathan Woodgate. 🤣🤣

We will be closer to surviving this year than we were last time and our squad overall is better than what we started with last season. I don't think the Championship has improved at all and we will comfortably be in the top 6, whoever the manager is because we have better players than most other teams in that league who would be guaranteed starters for pretty much every other club. They're just not quite good enough for the PL.

I wouldn't keep Normann or Gilmore even if they wanted to stay - neither are Championship players. Assuming we get our £11m for Cantwell and £15m or so for Aarons and our wageroll reduces by the same level as our TV income, we should have plenty of money available to get what we need for the level below. £25m still buys 3 or 4 decent players at that level. If Rashica also moves on for another £10m or so, even better.

If we get a bid above £5m he'll be off.

It really doesn't matter who we play, we have little chance. If all our players deliver a 9 out of 10 and all of Liverpool's produce a 6, they will still win. The gap is so huge it's ridiculous. Just watch the final yesterday - they play a different game to anything I've ever seen a Norwich team play.

Thanks to the OP for his advice and instruction but if it's all the same to you I pay my money and I'll do what I like, thanks. I call myself a "supporter", by the way - you might want to look that up sometime.

Too injury prone for me, irrespective of whether he's good enough he's seldom actually available and/or match fit. We already carry too many similarly afflicted players. Get rid.

Getting Phillips, Cooper and Bamford fit will be what saves them. I still don't think Watford have enough to get out of it. Nor do we, unfortunately. It looks like them, us and one of Everton, Leeds or Brentford. Everton were excellent against Man City yesterday - should have drawn it if the officials had done their job. I don't think they will have a problem. Our next two games may decide - perhaps we can drag one of them with us. Brentford still have to play everyone at the bottom - their fixtures are truly horrendous and lose to us next week and then Burnley, having just lost badly to Newcastle and they will be in freefall. For that reason I think it will be them who come down and Leeds and Everton will ultimately have enough.

We were largely outplayed from the first minute because our set up was wrong. We sat way too deep from the kick off. Smith was screaming at our back four to push up but they never did and our abject midfield never showed for the ball. I'm not sure I can remember a time as a supporter (going back to 1962) when we didn't have one remotely exciting player in our team - no one who when they get possession, you really think they might be able to do something. Rashica has shown glimpses but so often runs down corridors or allows himself to be shown down them - this is really basic coaching you know. He and Placheta have the same skill set as Sarr and Zaha but are largely ineffective at this level. Likewise, receiving the ball on the half turn, which most of the Southampton team did, and we didn't. Sorensen is really good at that, and Normann too has shown he knows what to do. Byram also. Yet two of those don't get a start. All three should be shoe-ins given what else we have available. Unfortunately Aarons seems to have convinced the world (a bit like Godfrey did) that he is a decent defender. He really isn't. Frequently caught out of position and is now targeted by every team we play. Again, this is coaching. Giannoulis has strength and speed and no little skill - but dreadful positioning ability and his one on one is poor - all coaching. Play him as wingback though, or on the left of a three and perhaps he contributes more. Gilmour and Maclean have had enough chances. And whatever you do, you play your best goalkeeper. I don't blame Gunn at all for the recent defeats - he has done well. But he's our number two keeper for a reason. So my team for Brentford: Krul Byram, Hanley, Gibson, Williams Normann, Sorensen, Giannoulis Sargent, Pukki, Rashica Subs: PLM, Gunn, Kamara, Rowe, Aarons, Rupp, Placheta

Such a shame that the donkey of a referee and the VAR official managed to not give one of the most obvious penalties you will ever see. What? It was against a top 6 side? OK, now I understand. On this occasion I agree with Lampard, who himself profited from years playing with Chelsea and Man City and getting decisions week after week after week. It's either incompetence or it's corruption - it really can't be anything else.

He wasn't alone in being abject tonight - Aarons was dreadful yet again, so was Williams. Normann is so clearly unfit. The set up was completely wrong with the players available. I don't get how Byram doesn't start at right back in place of Aarons and Sorensen should be there instead of Maclean or Gilmour, who are both just pointless. Gilmour has started 15 games and has done precisely nothing in any of them - a complete passenger again tonight.

It was fairly obvious that our players weren't good enough by November. Tonight we were up against Romeu, Armstrong and Ward-Prowse and never got near them. Walker-Peters and Livramento were all over our full backs. We had no answer. Watford's players aren't good enough either. It doesn't matter what Hodgson does, they're coming with us. Burnley have remembered how to get results (plus they found a striker for £12m which, apparently, don't exist - along with Southampton's centre back Salisu who cost £10m and Livramento who cost £5m - they don't exist either), so it might be Leeds or Brentford who also come with us. However, we will be fine in the Champs next season. The gap is so huge now it is almost impossible to bridge - £150m? £200m? you certainly need 5 or 6 players of £20m each to add to a Championship squad to have a chance. We are bringing on Rupp and Dowell off the bench FFS; they have no chance.

Defensively they have been hit hard with injuries, much as we were two years ago, and similarly Bielsa can't play any other way just as Farke couldn't. Not sure when Phillips is due back but without him they are in some trouble.

Last time we got relegated we rebuilt a team to get us promoted. We bought Dowell, Hugill, Sorensen and got Skipp on loan as a potential solution. We didn't know he would be as good in that position as he turned out to be - Rupp actually started there. I think this time needs to be different We have built a more solid base for the PL and even though we won't stay up we will ultimately make a better fist of it and only be two or three players short. Under Smith/Shaky we have better chance of being able to build that squad further so that when we next go up we are not that short. I too think we will probably lose Cantwell and Aarons. That brings in perhaps £30m (though I'm not sure anyone will actually pay £20m for Aarons anymore as he has gone quite a way backwards). We could then keep Normann if they want to - but I suspect they won't, at least not for £11m. I can see him going to Fulham or Bournemouth. Rashica will stay unless we get a £20m bid - I don't think we will. I'd take our money back for Dimi, who isn't as good as he and his agent thinks he is. I don't think anyone from the PL will be too interested in anyone else. So we will undoubtedly have money to spend on that CDM and a striker, both of which need to be £10m players, to flesh out the squad even more. This year more than ever the 3 who come down will fill 3 of the top 6 places next season.

He'd be a much more consistent player at City or Liverpool though don't you think? He might even win a trophy......

I don't think Fulham will have a chance of surviving in the PL next season unless they spend another £100m. Mitrovic, Wilson etc will barely get a sniff. The team that played last night will struggle to get to 20 points. Tim Ream started at CB FFS! The gap is enormous.

Absolutely. This has always been Spurs. The year Leicester won the title was their chance and they choked. They constantly buy players who don't have the cojonas required to grind out results; they have always been a glamour club that win an occasional cup. Winners don't play for Spurs. Kane is a classic Spurs player. A 9 out of 10 performance against City, he was magnificent. A 4 out of 10 against Burnley because he can't or won't adjust his game for the difference in opposition. Really great players don't do that, they produce 8s every game with occasional 9s. Son is similar - outstanding one week, pants the next. Man City and Liverpool - even Chelsea - are full of players who deliver in game after game after game. Spurs are miles off.

All true, and the Asian/ME block will do little to stop Russia because they need Russian money even more than we do. But rich Russians don't want to live there. They want to ski in Courchevel, safari in South Africa and live in London, Paris, Milan, New York and Miami. They want to walk the catwalks of LA and buy yachts from Germany. They want healthcare, education and fine dining. Freezing of all assets held for any Russian national or organisation and a complete travel ban would hurt them hard and put a lot of internal pressure on Putin. It's pointless being a rich Russian if you can't leave Russia or buy anything in the West. In population terms Russia is a quarter of the size of the EU but with 100 times the natural resources - but massive wealth is worthless without anywhere to go.

Though he only used that connection once the UK refused his visa application in 2018. Many others have used the golden visa scheme to buy UK citizenship and now we can't kick them out.

Abramovitch has an Israeli passport now doesn't he? Lots of the "oligarchs" have been busy buying citizenships over the last few years.