If we had those players instead of the current bunch of snowflakes then nobody would even consider a sports psychologist.

Unless, of course, they were accepting of modern successful practice and not rooted in a sepia tinted past.

I need to see us play a reasonable team before I start thinking we are thru the worst.

Well you won’t have long to wait for that. Man City will provide a real test.

Great result. Much better after the leveller.

Looked awful before that.

Pépé looks to have moments of genius in him but he has to try and cut out some of these silly attempts to dribble out of very dangerous areas.

I'd forgotten what it feels like to win a match….
what a lovely feeling

Miraculously after we got our confidence up and and tails up looking for a goal fest, I'm seeing 2 or 3 players attacking the 6 yard box. Prior most of the game, Pépé would be wide right and no one to get it to in the box.

Its a good time to play them, though. They've lost as many games as we have. Freddie needs to figure out how we are going to defend resolutely and get the ball to the front three pronto like United did.

I was hoping for another mid table team

No idea why Martinelli isn't used more in PL matches. He's up for it. Brings a lot of youthful energy and urgency. Has great movements, and doesn't seem over awed at all by it all.

Feels great to celebrate some goals and a Win!!!!
Thought it was game over at half time.
Didnt see us turning that around.
All good goals and you could see a bit of confidence coming back.
Looks like the players are behind Freddie judging by the hugs at the end.
Massive win.
Really really needed that.
Love that kid Martinelli.
And goal and assist by Pépé.
Brilliant finish.
Keep Luiz on the bench please. Chambers played well.

My tongue obviously wasn’t far enough in my cheek!
The wider point being how we seem to be a very fragile side who dwell on any low confidence, taking an age to snap out of it but can have confidence eroded away by a single goal

Was thinking that Peter Storey certainly could have used a shrink ...

Chambers and Torriera may not be the answer at CB and holding mid but at least it is putting round pegs in round holes and picking two players who have natural defensive attributes. No dribbling out of defence, no long range passing just defend and give it to someone responsible for the attack. Small steps

Both deserve to stay in the team in those positions

That was the first time since 2011 that we’ve been behind at half time away from home and come back to win the game. 8 years!

Not to mention Kiwi himself

' Mama Mia ' ..... hark at this geriatric old faggot trying to appear all modern and avant - garde .

Why not get rid of the bloody " snowflakes " instead of catering for their needs ....... ?

That soon?

What ..? ....... running a brothel , trying to mint counterfeit gold coins , married four times

........ sounds like a well rounded character to me .

Martinelli must have a role to play against City.

Is Özil in any of the goals celebration? Certainly didn't see him for the Aubameyang goal.

not bad Chris .

That's the ticket Gaz ...why on earth celebrate the fact we got a much needed win when you can see a possible gloomy event further on down the track .


We beat West Ham ... okay so they aren't up to much at the moment but I'll tell you something for nothing their fans would have been ecstatic if they'd beaten us .

I'm happy

What concerns me is the 60 minutes of dross. We do that against better teams then we will pay. When I see a committed and flowing team effort I will celebrate

Dash. I was hoping to fool you into thinking that I was hip and cool.

Not a single yellow card for us last night makes a change.
Xhaka, Guendouzi, Sokratis and chambers are all 1 card away from a suspension

Don’t think we can rest AMN, with Bellerin injured and chambers at CB AMN will have to play.

Venereal disease, old age, drink, etc. Possibly even all of the above. There are many reasons for fading recall.

I share your concerns. But hopefully both the players and especially management will be feeling confident and will actually believe they can get results against City, United, and Chelsea, etc at home. That first win was massive.

Liege, Everton and Bournmouth away .. could be a lot worse.

Provided the usual injury curse doesn't strike, we could get a little bit of momentum.

Replace Özil with Willock. Replace Xhaka with Guendozi. And we will have a more mobile fighting unit. It will also strengthen our defensive play when we lose the ball.

Absolutely not. Özil should be playing . The second half he was excellent. Finding space putting balls through. Willock is nowhere near good enough to replace him. I also thought Xhaka played quite well.

So that's what a win feels like. Rather nice.

Hope the injury to Tierney isn't serious.

Ok, I might not have noticed Özil as closely in the second half. But Xhaka was misplacing passes a lot in the second.

We are off to one of our worst starts in the league in years but it doesn't feel like it to me. Yes, its bad but we have been mediocre for several years now.

Paulo Sousa.....

Hi g7,

Xhaka has certainly perfected the art of the misplaced crossfield pass that not only goes straight to an opponent but sets them off on a dangerous counter-attack. I have literally lost count of the number of times he has done it since he's been here

Yeh, when he wasn't misplacing passes or ducking out of headers he was quite good.

I don't think we can afford to have Özil in our team, Gun. He's a stroller who no longer does enough offensively to offset the defensive issues he brings.

Don't agree at all. His vision to pick out a pass and his appreciation of where everyone is is second to none. He was never great defensively even on his best day.l

Be fair to the fella, Soc. It's perfectly understandable for him to duck out of headers. Look what happened to him last night when the ball hit him in the head. He was seeing double (although he didn't seem to see any West Ham players)

Unfortunately I agree. Özil was terrible in the first half yesterday but would Willock or Guendouzi have played those weighted passes in the final 3rd in the build up to the 2nd and 3rd goals ? I doubt it as they are more about energy. I just don’t think anyone else can offer us the ability to connect our midfield to attack.

It’s as frustrating as hell because he’s going through the motions most of the time but until we sign a more creative midfielder with more incisive passing he has to play because there’s nobody else.