It's not really a dead rubber. We can finish the season 12th - 17th. The team that finishes 12th gets about £10m more than the team that finishes 17th, money which helps enable next year to be different.

As soon as I saw our back four I thought, and was going to post,that Danny Ings must have thought Christmas had come early. Then I thought: 'Don't be so negative...you never know.'
But of course you do. Are we better than Brighton? Burnley? Newcastle? Southampton? For some, all that seems to matter is that there are three teams in the division who are inferior to us.
The preference for Ayew over Townsend is to me completely baffling.
More positive: another goal for Benteke who seems now to be playing for another contract and Wilf looked a bit happier. But our defence this season! Two goals a game conceded on average. What happened to our 'hard to break down' reputation?
Perhaps last night showed that there is only one way we can play, and when we try to be more adventurous (4-3-3)we just don't have the players to deliver.

Responding to each in turn:
1) It may simply be a case of recovery time needed by Townsend after the weekend game and that Hodgson wants Andros for the Villa game.
2) The short answer re our defence is the ones who provided the glue have been injured and are getting long in the tooth (Cahill is 35).
3) We already discovered that against Liverpool and when we tried to get at Spurs after half time in the away game.

We have to accept that with the current squad our options are very limited. Hodgson has shown in his previous clubs that he can set up his teams in a more attacking way but he needs the right resources to do that and we currently don't have them, essentially because our defence is too old and slow and our midfield is weak.

I suppose it comes down to temperament AS.

There is no dispute with what you say about how we play, the tactics, the management and the players. Thing is everything you say has all been said ad nauseum and we are now at the fag end of the season.

There are just 3 games left to play and one way or another we will see change next season, maybe change that we don't like at all. But change there will be.

Being somewhat long in the tooth, what we saw last night, uncomfortable though it was, tended to wash over me. I could not summon the strength to build up the level of angst that was exercised by some and that needed becky to intervene to calm things down.

Don't get me wrong. I do care. I get very down in the mouth when we lose. I have done on and off for over 60 bloody years.

Let's just agree to agree then.

Responding to each in turn:
1) It may simply be a case of recovery time needed by Townsend after the weekend game and that Hodgson wants Andros for the Villa game.
2) The short answer re our defence is the ones who provided the glue have been injured and are getting long in the tooth (Cahill is 35).
3) We already discovered that against Liverpool and when we tried to get at Spurs after half time in the away game.

We have to accept that with the current squad our options are very limited. Hodgson has shown in his previous clubs that he can set up his teams in a more attacking way but he needs the right resources to do that and we currently don't have them, essentially because our defence is too old and slow and our midfield is weak.