Will we qualify for the CL?

[eye digress]

But why would we change our winning formula?

[Toronto Villa]

But why would we change our winning formula?

We haven’t been winning much of late. Losing three critical midfield players and a less effective Ollie means we have to change how we approach games. We can’t just keep doing things the same way and expect things to change.

[eye digress]

The mantra "trust the process" would say exactly the opposite, however. No?

[PaulWinch again]

I think it makes sense if you have all the pieces in place to deliver on that process. I’d argue we don’t right now. I don’t think it’s fundamental change, it’s about intent. Also if you trust the process you play Torres, I think there’s some muddled thinking at the moment.

[Toronto Villa]

The mantra "trust the process" would say exactly the opposite, however. No?

Part of trusting the process needs to include the ability and willingness to adjust and evolve. The best example is Man U under Alex Ferguson. Their dominance wasn’t down to always doing it the same way across 20 years. He changed players, systems, philosophy. Sold some top talent and bought new ones and continued to win trophies. We’re a long way from that of course but Emery has to also evolve. As an example, our transfer history of bringing in legitimate starting players in his time with us has been awful when you consider how many of the Smith/Gerrard team is still playing every week. Right now, he’s playing different players but the same system and tactical approach. It’s not working so we should change it until the likes of Tielemans or McGinn can return.

[garyellis]

I think Unai believes we have signed players who can generally fit into our process.
He is not changing how we play overnight we have overall been far too successful to do that.
I think Pau is probably carrying a knock and/or given key injuries we need to be even tighter at the back so Mings gets more game time.
There are as always team selections that I don’t necessarily agree with but like everyone on here we owe our manager a lot of benefits of the doubt.

[boozey182]

I think Unai believes we have signed players who can generally fit into our process.
He is not changing how we play overnight we have overall been far too successful to do that.
I think Pau is probably carrying a knock and/or given key injuries we need to be even tighter at the back so Mings gets more game time.
There are as always team selections that I don’t necessarily agree with but like everyone on here we owe our manager a lot of benefits of the doubt.

I think he started using Mings over Pau bit at the start of the season when we were struggling. Sort of like he's thinking 'if we're not playing well, let's make sure we're more solid at the back'. Which I get, but with Konsa's reluctance to move the ball forward quickly (which is so frustrating, because he's much better at it than he thinks), we become quite easy to contain. It all has to come from Mings and he struggles. Even more so without Youri, Bouba and McGinn, who all help us move up the pitch in different ways.

For all of Watkins' faults, and there are many at the moment, he made so many runs on Saturday that were either ignored or seen way too late. There was a ball down the left channel on for most of the game, but we never tried it.

I think Pau will start on Friday.

[PaulWinch again]

I hope so, we need to start trying to attack teams rather than just focus on containment. You can absolutely see what will happen if we let Wolves get up a head of steam. They’re not good, but they don’t have to be. They showed that against Arsenal once Arsenal stopped trying to attack, and they’ll be really up for this game.

[Holte L2]

I think Unai believes we have signed players who can generally fit into our process.
He is not changing how we play overnight we have overall been far too successful to do that.
I think Pau is probably carrying a knock and/or given key injuries we need to be even tighter at the back so Mings gets more game time.
There are as always team selections that I don’t necessarily agree with but like everyone on here we owe our manager a lot of benefits of the doubt.

I think he started using Mings over Pau bit at the start of the season when we were struggling. Sort of like he's thinking 'if we're not playing well, let's make sure we're more solid at the back'. Which I get, but with Konsa's reluctance to move the ball forward quickly (which is so frustrating, because he's much better at it than he thinks), we become quite easy to contain. It all has to come from Mings and he struggles. Even more so without Youri, Bouba and McGinn, who all help us move up the pitch in different ways.

For all of Watkins' faults, and there are many at the moment, he made so many runs on Saturday that were either ignored or seen way too late. There was a ball down the left channel on for most of the game, but we never tried it.

I think Pau will start on Friday.

And funnily enough I would start Mings on Friday.  Wolves will be up for a battle.

The changes I would make are Digne for Maatsen. 
Push Rogers to the left and play Barkley as the Ten. 
Sancho for Bailey
Tammy for Ollie.

[Chris Smith]

If we change how we play now it will involve a huge effort from the coaching staff to put over the new ideas only to have to revert to type once we get McGinn and Tielemans back and I really don’t see us wasting the time and effort when there are importantly games to prepare for.

[WarszaVillan]

We've got 8 points out of our last 15, haven't lost in three. Keep this up and we'll be fine. No need for major changes.

[PaulWinch again]

We don’t have to materially change how we play. We just need to play with more intent and purpose early in games. This isn’t about changing shape etc.

[Percy McCarthy]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cj0npqv9rylo

This from the BBC'S Sport website.

5th place should be good enough for a Chumps League place.

Yes, it’s been nailed on for a while now. Football Rankings had it at 100% weeks ago. We’re miles in front and we’ve only got to finish in the top two:

MOST WINS in this European season:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England, 50-11-14
🇪🇸 Spain, 33-10-24
🇩🇪 Germany, 32-9-18
🇮🇹 Italy, 30-11-20
🇵🇱 Poland, 29-11-12
🇵🇹 Portugal, 28-9-12
🇫🇷 France, 28-8-25
🇳🇱 Netherlands, 22-6-33
🇨🇾 Cyprus, 21-12-12
🇩🇰 Denmark, 20-10-8
🇬🇷 Greece, 19-19-13
🇧🇪 Belgium, 19-6-15

Football Rankings again:

✅ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 To Secure the Top 5:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Arsenal - 100%
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Man City - 100%
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Aston Villa - 97%
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Liverpool - 85%
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Man Utd - 62%

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chelsea - 59%
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brentford - 4%
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newcastle - 3%

🚨 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England are given a 100% chance to enter the Top 5 into the Champions League!