Ah, OK. Of course it has also to be remembered that de Twat was shite here.

He doesn't seem to slot straight into that position as Kouyate has done at centre-back. But he has been getting better at it with each appearance and I don't suppose it was Hodgson's plan to use him there. It could also be more of a lack of game time I suppose.

Anyway he will have to play for a bit now!

Yeah, I think he deserves a chance although I suspect he would rather be in the DM slot. If he gets a chance there it probably means our midfield is decimated though because Kouyate, McCarthy and even McArthur can do a real job there. Showing us what he has at LB is a start though.

Give the lad a chance. He had the FdB horror show but has stuck to it and did ok when he came in, playing out of position. Remember Jules had a horror debut, kept fighting for a place and went on to great things.

Was a fantastic tackle. We have no alternatives, let’s just hope he is fit enough and not rushed back like it seems patrick was. A few players carrying knocks and playing through it so if he can get us through the next few games then a great chance for him

I agree it was a great block and he deserves credit for it. But, watching it back, that was his man and he had let him go in the first place, which meant that last ditch intervention was necessary.

That doesn't stop him deserving credit for it but does highlight there are still concerns about him playing in that position. For now he is our only option of course. Let's hope he builds on it.

Put that way it seems a bit harsh to me. While the ball was out there he couldn't just abandon all of the space behind him to stand next to Snodders (really don't like that guy). I thought he did exactly the right thing. Held off him in a position where he could react to the short or long cross and then reacted quickly as the ball came across to make the block.

Also it's probably a nice little vid for coaching isnt' it? Tomkins had Antonio and Sakho had Snodgrass in the centre. Seeing the runner had got through Tomkins left him and stepped forward to close down the space - the greater danger, Sakho spotted that and stepped forward to seal off Antonio who had a couple of yards space. Jairo was left with the danger area to mark on his own. He did as it says above.

Maybe more worrying is Wilf who completely ignores the overlap from Zabaleta even when he seems to be screaming for it :) but hey, it's Xmas.

I don't know what the coaches/Roy would say and maybe even they wouldn't agree but what's indisputable is that the block was crucial.

PVA isn't that hot at this aspect of the game and can often drop back onto the line in these situations to act as some sort of second goalkeeper. Not sure which manual that comes from mind you. :)

Considering he had illness also. Great impact, we have to remember he’s still young lad and technically he’s sound as pound. Could turn out be real gem.

I know you like to find fault with him for some perceived fatness (ffs) but that was not a last ditch tackle that was good reading of where the ball was going and anticipation. He stands off Snodgrass and is watching him when he starts to make the sliding tackle as the ball come through. His starting position to make the block was very good.

Thought he had a very good game today it's nice to see a player so comfortable on the ball with great passing and movement.

Think he needs to improve his fitness but promising signs from the young lad we looked a very good passing side in the 1st half with good link up play.

Great block against West Ham hopefully he will get more opportunities. His best position is probably Centre Midfield but we have a lot of competition there at the moment.

JR needs to improve his match fitness, which will come with minutes, whilst MM needs to improve his physical fitness as he barely lasted for half the game and had pretty much dropped off the radar before then

Interesting that all the overt squawking for MM's creative presence in the team has reduced and the positive talk is mostly about JR. Roy vindicated once again

MM scored a wonder goal today (sadly disallowed). There could have been a lot of positive talk about that if Andre M didn’t hate us!

It is good both are getting a chance now no reason why MM can't continue in the Townsend role for the foreseeable future and Jairo while PVA is out. Good opportunities for both to show what they can do with a run of games.

To be honest with you i'm not a big fan of MM but have liked him when he has come on late in a game to influence it. The big reason for me is his lack of physical presence gets knocked off the ball too easily but if you play him wide that is not such a big problem.

Yeah he took it well, an example that he has quality. He needs to get fit in order to use it though

Not reading too much into it either way, yet, but although he has been part of a front three I notice he often tends to arrive quite late into the box, eg this goal and his cross for the Ayew miss on Boxing Day. Is it tactics, intentional, a lack of awareness/concentration, or a lack of fitness/pace? Hopefully the former, time will tell

Another indication that he has quality but not fitness, although personally I am not sure just how much influence he really exerts

Well I think MM will be getting a run of games now to see what he can do.

Always one to give someone a chance to see what they can do.

It is interesting though that when he was up on a Free transfer there was not massive interest for him.

Anyway big Jairo fan think he looks quality but just needs to get the fitness sorted!

MM was poor v Southampton. Rarely involved in the game. As Woosie pointed out in The Athletic in the post match chat section, MM only touched ball 19 times. The next lowest out of the starting XI was Sakho who touched it 44 times. As we all know, defence is not a strong point for MM and he did little to help Kelly who was struggling with the sub Djenepo. So it made sense to remove MM and get a midfielder who could help Kelly onto our right.
As soon as Townsend is back or we sign a CF and Ayew moves to wide right, MM will be out of the team IMHO.

Roy maybe vindicated but you sound vindicative. I thought both Riedewald and Meyer played well despite their lack of proper match fitness, both are clever footballers.

Reidewald has been playing well.

JR is a very classy passer of the ball.

Hopefully he has done enough to convince Roy he should be used most weeks.
I feel for the guy to be honest. He was quite young when he arrived and has been frozen out for so long. It sounded like he was offered out to any club.
I think he has a presence and passes well. Keep it up Jairo.