Newcastle away, Sunday 17th May 17.30

buffybegood

Soneone's got to bite the bullet on this one, so here goes.

The most important game of the season until, possibly, the next one.

Win this and we move ahead of Spurs before their midweek fixture away to Chelsea who may, win or lose, have a hangover from their FA Cup final on Saturday. A draw or defeat against Newcastle and we could be down before our final game of the season at home to the same Leeds team that did us a bit of a favour on Monday by holding Spurs to a draw.

COYI ⚒️⚒️⚒️

Over to you ASLEF.

DJ Hammer

I just hope that the FA cup final is a win in normal time for either team, as extra time could be detrimental to Chelsea beating spuds. They only have a couple of days rest between games. But as I keep saying we can’t rely on other teams, let’s focus on beating the Geordies and hope that rumours of Gordon being transferred will unsettle them.

Kuchinghammer

Could go either way, DJ. They could be deflated by the poor season/manager uncertainty etc, or those nice quiet Geordies could push them into playing out of their skins. But we'll beat them anyway.

DJ Hammer

Kuchinghammer said:

Could go either way, DJ. They could be deflated by the poor season/manager uncertainty etc, or those nice quiet Geordies could push them into playing out of their skins. But we'll beat them anyway.

Just as an aside, Newcastle fans will obviously be urging their team on to finish above Sunderland.

claretandbluesky

It's really simple for us, we must get three points to ensure we take it to the final day. On a tense final day anything can happen.

Lukerz

Hermansen
Wan-Bissaka - Mavropanos - Disasi - Diouf
Bowen - Fernandes - Souček - Summerville
Taty
Wilson

Win & pray Chelsea do, too.

alderz

I’d still start Pablo, personally. We’re so much better as a team when we’ve got the two guys with energy up top than when Wilson comes on. I know he carries a bigger threat, but I’d rather not see him before 60 minutes

EXETERHAMMER

Thing is, we need goals.

Wilson takes his chances.

alderz

EXETERHAMMER said:

Thing is, we need goals.

Wilson takes his chances.

I just don’t think we get many chances if one of our strikers can’t move. And the opposition keep coming back when we don’t hold the ball up top

chicagohammer

I live on a claret and blue island within a vibrant red and white home so whenever we play Newcastle there always exists an element of banter, but this time,……the stress level is off the charts and whilst I am generally comfortable in holding my own, I think that it will be a slightly strange atmosphere in the house on Sunday.

I have noted that the boys have strangely been reluctant to suggest the normal family full English

I think that even they sense that it will be better if I watch this one on my own.

Lukerz

alderz said:

I’d still start Pablo, personally. We’re so much better as a team when we’ve got the two guys with energy up top than when Wilson comes on. I know he carries a bigger threat, but I’d rather not see him before 60 minutes

I think at this stage of the season, the performance of the team is not as important. We need 2 wins, which means goals. We haven’t scored in our last 3 away games. With Pablo on the bench, we get to bring him on for fresh energy in the second half, whereas usually we’ve run Taty & Pablo into the ground & we end the game with Wilson & an extra midfielder.

alderz

Lukerz said:

alderz said:

I’d still start Pablo, personally. We’re so much better as a team when we’ve got the two guys with energy up top than when Wilson comes on. I know he carries a bigger threat, but I’d rather not see him before 60 minutes

I think at this stage of the season, the performance of the team is not as important. We need 2 wins, which means goals. We haven’t scored in our last 3 away games. With Pablo on the bench, we get to bring him on for fresh energy in the second half, whereas usually we’ve run Taty & Pablo into the ground & we end the game with Wilson & an extra midfielder.

We haven't been able to grind out results, so I think the chances of us winning are synonymous with the team performing well now.

ASLEFshrugged

Something odd at Newcastle, its not so much who's been in the starting line up recently but whose been on the bench

They've got a few injuries at the back with Schar, Krafth and Livremento all out. Thiaw and Botman have been the centre pairing with Burn at LB.

With Livremanto unavailable CM Lewis Miley was preferred at RB to Kieran Trippier, out of contract at the end of the season, then when Miley got injured Howe played LB Lewis Hall.

In the middle Tonali and Guimares are back from injury, starting the last three together.

Up front Osula has started five in a row and has scored three. Behind him Murphy has started on the right the last three and Joelinton on the left the last two but last weekend Willock was replaced in the middle by Woltenade after two starts

Gordon, Ramsey and Elanga were all on the bench for the last two but none of them were used, add in Wissa who hasn't started since the beginning of February and that's £224m in transfer fees on the bench

Someone who seems to thrive as a substitute is Harvey Barnes who scored in the last two games after coming off the bench

Against Palace

Pope
Hall Thiaw Botman Burn
Tonali Guimares
Murphy Woltenade Joelinton
Osula

buffybegood

Traore out injured for this one according to Nuno in his presser.

OutcastLondoner

Lukerz said:

alderz said:

I’d still start Pablo, personally. We’re so much better as a team when we’ve got the two guys with energy up top than when Wilson comes on. I know he carries a bigger threat, but I’d rather not see him before 60 minutes

I think at this stage of the season, the performance of the team is not as important. We need 2 wins, which means goals. We haven’t scored in our last 3 away games. With Pablo on the bench, we get to bring him on for fresh energy in the second half, whereas usually we’ve run Taty & Pablo into the ground & we end the game with Wilson & an extra midfielder.

I think Pablo and Taty up top at the beginning is what gives us results. Pablo later on doesn't offer us anything. Pablo without another striker on exposes his limited ability much more e.g. before Wilson came on against Arsenal. But when he comes off, that's when Wilson gets more chances.

thornburyiron

I’m really annoyed at the way Villa are playing against Liverpool tonight compared to the lazy shambolic way they played against Spurs.

MrsGrey

Although it is quite good fun to see Liverpool being trounced.

ASLEFshrugged

Why be annoyed? It's perfectly understandable

Villa put out the B Team against Spurs cos they had the Europa League semi against Forest 4 days after

Now they've got Freiburg in the final on Wednesday, Freiburg are currently 7th in the Bundesliga, they've lost 4 of the last 6 and they've got RB Leipzig this afternoon so most likely 5 of the last 7

We played Freiburg 4 times in the Europa, won 3 lost 1 for a combined score of 9-2

Forest was a tougher challenge than Freiburg

ASLEFshrugged

From Howe's press conference

Lewis Hall is available, Joelinton "will be assessed"

I reckon Barnes could be on the left

Gordon hasn't played cos he's just back from injury but also "with a partial view for the future" - at Bayern Munich

"At this stage of the season, you've always got an eye on the future. We're going into a transfer window with a lot of unknowns for us. There will be a feeling of change this summer, I'm sure. We need to give players opportunities and try things for the future with a view for next season"

Here's a link to the BBC summary

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c0529lqzvvqo

thornburyiron

Aslef the side Villa put out wasn’t the whole problem, it was the lack of real effort they put in.

alderz

ASLEFshrugged said:

Why be annoyed?

Because it directly affected us. Hope that helps!

ASLEFshrugged

Again, understandable. They were fairly sure of holding onto 4th place and had their most important match of the season coming up

Clearly Emery told them to go out and not get injured. We've done it, everyone's done it

alderz

ASLEFshrugged said:

Again, understandable. They were fairly sure of holding onto 4th place and had their most important match of the season coming up

Clearly Emery told them to go out and not get injured. We've done it, everyone's done it

Nobody said it wasn’t understandable. Simply that it’s annoying. Two things can be true.

ASLEFshrugged

Fair enough

buffybegood

Matchday.

COYI ⚒️⚒️⚒️

Lukerz

3-1 Irons

Slacker

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we get given a dodgy penalty after last week

buffybegood

Neither Taty nor Pablo start, 3/5 at the back again:

Hermansen, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Disasi, Todibo, Diouf, Fernandes, Souček, Bowen ©, Summerville, Wilson
Subs: Areola (GK), Walker-Peters, Scarles, Kilman, Potts, Magassa, Kanté, Pablo, Taty

alderz

I guess he’s hoping we can get a goal and then turn to the running lads later on

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Wilson from the start seems like a risk

claretandbluesky

It's either a master gamble or a ludicrous idea!

If you gave me ten guesses I would never have seen Tatty on the bench.