Right, new season begins, it's all just too exciting, so who is in your first 11?

[WES]

I'm guessing he plays 4231 tonight:

Leno
Chambers White Holding Tierney
Lokonga Xhaka
Pepe ESR Saka
Boomerang

[PSRB]

I'm guessing he plays 4231 tonight:

Leno
Chambers White Holding Tierney
Lokonga Xhaka
Pepe ESR Saka
Boomerang

Away to a newly promoted side on Friday 13th..........I hate football

[Luis Anaconda]

I'm guessing he plays 4231 tonight:

Leno
Chambers White Holding Tierney
Lokonga Xhaka
Pepe ESR Saka
Boomerang

For tonight Mari instead of Holding (Gabriel in the long run - he's always going to go with a left-footer, where possible). Would be tempted to play Laca up top and Auba left, keeping Saka as an impact sub. Quite looking forward to seeing Lokonga play

[PSRB]

For tonight Mari instead of Holding (Gabriel in the long run - he's always going to go with a left-footer, where possible). Would be tempted to play Laca up top and Auba left, keeping Saka as an impact sub. Quite looking forward to seeing Lokonga play

Auba looking doubtful as apparently been ill

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

For tonight Mari instead of Holding (Gabriel in the long run - he's always going to go with a left-footer, where possible). Would be tempted to play Laca up top and Auba left, keeping Saka as an impact sub. Quite looking forward to seeing Lokonga play

He looked ok pre-season. Great ball for Pépé that led to Willock's wrongly-disallowed equaliser.

Btw, what do you think of Willock going? I don't think we've given him enough of a chance. He's still young and could develop like Parlour did into a player who'd be fine doing the hard work in a 2-man MF. With a serious goal threat to boot.

[Luis Anaconda]

He looked ok pre-season. Great ball for Pépé that led to Willock's wrongly-disallowed equaliser.

Btw, what do you think of Willock going? I don't think we've given him enough of a chance. He's still young and could develop like Parlour did into a player who'd be fine doing the hard work in a 2-man MF. With a serious goal threat to boot.

I don't think he can do that personally - not in today's game. Think Ray is one of the most underrated players of the past 30 years - extraordinary stamina that meant he could play wide as well as the physical strength to play CM. Wasn't too shoddy on the ball either.

Willock i see more as a Ramsey type (don't start WES), difficult to fit into the team, but you can reap the rewards if you do get him in. Maybe deserved more chances but ultimately I can see why Arteta was reluctant to play him. Decent fee - and for all the quibbling, it's only Newcastle who have come in for him, which perhaps says something.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

I don't think he can do that personally - not in today's game. Think Ray is one of the most underrated players of the past 30 years - extraordinary stamina that meant he could play wide as well as the physical strength to play CM. Wasn't too shoddy on the ball either.

Willock i see more as a Ramsey type (don't start WES), difficult to fit into the team, but you can reap the rewards if you do get him in. Maybe deserved more chances but ultimately I can see why Arteta was reluctant to play him. Decent fee - and for all the quibbling, it's only Newcastle who have come in for him, which perhaps says something.

You say it's only NUFC but he wasn't going to go to a top team given he's barely played for us. Given that, given the Geordies loved him, he knew he'd be starter and how he fits with the manager, he was obviously only going to go there. No point in other teams wasting transfer time as he'd only leave us for them.

There was one game last season where MA gave both him and AMN a start. It wasn't great and that was that for the pair of them. However, Joe looked no worse than GX or Elneny, and he almost scored. He headed it to much into the ground and bounced up for the keeper to catch it. If he's hit it slightly less downwards, he'd have scored and been a hero. The point is that he was in that position. GX or Mo wouldn't have been. And as we've seen at NU, he's good at this.

If Pépé keeps playing well and improving and Saka and ESR hit top form, then we have some creativity. We now have Ben White to ping the diagonals that GX does. a MF who can arrive late in the box and score is useful. Arsène would probably have played him on the right like Freddie, to shuffle across when we're attacking down the left and to arrive late to score.

You predicted he'd play for England when he broke into the Europa side and kept scoring. I think we should have given him more of a go. Had we had goal line tech, he'd have scored the equaliser vs the Chavs. That's worth bearing in mind.

[Luis Anaconda]

You say it's only NUFC but he wasn't going to go to a top team given he's barely played for us. Given that, given the Geordies loved him, he knew he'd be starter and how he fits with the manager, he was obviously only going to go there. No point in other teams wasting transfer time as he'd only leave us for them.

There was one game last season where MA gave both him and AMN a start. It wasn't great and that was that for the pair of them. However, Joe looked no worse than GX or Elneny, and he almost scored. He headed it to much into the ground and bounced up for the keeper to catch it. If he's hit it slightly less downwards, he'd have scored and been a hero. The point is that he was in that position. GX or Mo wouldn't have been. And as we've seen at NU, he's good at this.

If Pépé keeps playing well and improving and Saka and ESR hit top form, then we have some creativity. We now have Ben White to ping the diagonals that GX does. a MF who can arrive late in the box and score is useful. Arsène would probably have played him on the right like Freddie, to shuffle across when we're attacking down the left and to arrive late to score.

You predicted he'd play for England when he broke into the Europa side and kept scoring. I think we should have given him more of a go. Had we had goal line tech, he'd have scored the equaliser vs the Chavs. That's worth bearing in mind.

He's nothing like Freddie and we play in a different way now - definitely would be an odd fit out wide and can't play as a two without seriously compromising the defence. A better comparison, like Ramsey, would be David Platt - another player who needed to be shoehorned into a side rather than being a natural in any formation. I hope he does well at Newcastle but even there he wasn't even starting every week

[Tony C]

For tonight…mine would be…

Leno in goal…his best position.

Chambers
Holding
Mari
Tyranny

White
Lokonga

Saka
Lacazette
Smith Rowe

Pepe

Brentford should be ashamed of themselves if they can’t beat us with Bellend and / or Xhaka in the team. I think Xhaka is going to be their main target tonight.

Want to see Pepe lead the line…down the middle…not trapped to one wing. He’s way better than that. I think the position I’ve got Laca in will suit him down to the ground and he just might enjoy himself more too.

[Eboue's Boutique]

ESR false 9 for top top top bants in season opener