I never rated Kouyate particularly highly, perhaps I expected him to be a bit more than he actually was, but one thing is for certain, I'm sure that his presence alongside Doucoure, the extra bite in the tackle, the general nuisance factor that he brought, would have made a huge difference to what we are currently witnessing without him.

I would add to that his Premiership nous. Would be valuable alongside a young player still learning the game at this level.

Old, Ungifted and White

Yes, great tackler and blocker but no creative ability at all like most of our midfielders in the past few years

Given the current options he should put Riedewald.in with Doucoure Saturday. He can pick a forward pass and gets the odd goal. Left foot would bring some balance

The recent views in my opinion are balanced and correct. A two year deal would not have been outrageous. particularly given he can fill in at centre back.
I sense PV doesn't want to play two holding mid fielders, although he kind of got that as well with Gallagher and his high energy. Jimmy Mac did that as well, but precious little chance of that again - sadly.
Yeah try Jairo, albeit I'd go for Hughes till the break. As they say keep doing the same thing .......