I wouldn’t worry so much about the size of some players if it wasn’t allied to a lack of pace as well. Solomon, Gnonto , Ramazani and Aaronson are all small and there might only be Ramazani with any real pace out of the four of them. We haven’t seen enough of Ramazani to judge just yet, but I don’t think even he has the speed of Dan James. The likes of Raheem Sterling and our own Aaron Lennon are tiny, but if you have genuine pace and are running into space behind defenders it doesn’t matter how small you are. I think the lack of height is a problem for us at centre forward when Piroe plays….or is it that he just never jumps for a ball ? The upshot is that any balls up to him are never won, if ever seriously contended, and we don’t have an aerial presence in the box. Rodon and Struijk are maybe smaller than your average centre back but both seem to compete pretty well in the air. Overall I’m not overly concerned about a lack of height.

I see Firpo out for at least a month.. not good with Xmas period coming up.. Bogle late fitness test today. Thankfully Byram is fit. Schmidt will have to get some mins now no doubt. fingers crossed he's ready for it.

Hope Bogle makes it, he’s been decent whenever I’ve seen him and carries us forward well. There’s rumours Dan James is to be rested, big mistake if they do.

Yeah we need pace and work rate against these tonight, i do wonder if Ramazanni might play but he;s not had many mins of late. I'd go James and Ramazanni personally if not, go James and Gnonto

I think if Boggle has a slight strain then don`t risk him.
Hopefully Byram can step in and like Trebor says time to give Schmidt some minutes which if it wasn`t for his recent injury he should have had by now.
He might end up a very good signing.

that should answer the piroe or joseph question. piroe miles better.
meslier supurb too which should answer some critics.
Rothwell, again, my m.o.m. supurb driving force

What a night. Best atmosphere I’ve heard down there for quite a while and we got a display to match. Some big performances in there last night, thank god they didn’t rest Dan James ! We’ve nobody like him in the team, scored one, involved in the other two, and how he got back from right wing to left back to make that tackle is anyone’s guess. The crowd even managed to sing his name last night which made a change. Big effort and a lot of bravery last night from the lads, and that’s the kind of result that will make the difference between play offs and automatic. It might seem churlish to even mention a couple of negatives, but Struijk gives me the willies at times and doesn’t always seem comfortable in the role he’s being asked to play. The other is Joseph. It might seem harsh to expect more from a player that has had such little game time, but he doesn’t seem to be the same player that looked ready to burst onto the scene. At this point it’s looking grim for him tbh. Would another start give him at least a chance to get up to speed? I’m not sure it would. Do we now look for a stop gap CF in January or hope to make the final push with what we’ve got ? One things for sure, we don’t have a centre forward at the club that is anywhere near Premier League standard if we do go up. That’s an issue for another time, just gonna enjoy that performance from last night.

Yeah, he's not doing enough is he Joseph,sometimes he looks a cracking prospect then other times he looks so raw, he didn't effect the game well enough last night, i do wonder if he needs a loan for 12 months playing every week. He's deffo got something but it's needing time.

Cracking game though and great result. Boro had a good go which is fair play. We got away with one on the no pen, but we've had plenty go against us.

James MOM for me, absolutely superb and i don't think there's a better attacking player in the Champ than him. So dangerous. Messlier yes was very good, full credit to him. Byram excellent too. That tackle which led to the second goal was world class. Aaronson also to his credit excellent, worked hard and kept the ball better. Midfield due excellent again. Good results for us also last night with Sunderland and Burnley drawing.. fingers crossed we can extend that gap now, Saturday will be tough away from home and another early kick off.

proper game at last and I agree that joseph needs a loan. get playing every week.
great atmosphere, best in a long while.
going to preston on saturday and that's huge. get 3 points, beat Oxford and we're flying.

It was a more comfortable game than I was expecting, especially with both full backs out. Farke's tactics were spot on to allow them not have more possession and press them a little deeper than we normally do.

I didn't think Joseph was great, he lookedlikehe was lacking sharpness, but it's clear his profile is more like what we need. He occupies defenders and is much better at creating space for others than Piroe. Aaronson, in particular looks much better when Joseph is upfront than he does with Piroe.
For all the criticism Farke gets for allegedly being a rubbish coach, he's worked wonders with Dan James and turned him into such a decisive player in the final third.