midds

You all just need to get your monocles out and consult your pocketwatches instead then

Brentford (A)

I'd argue that's because we were chasing the game as a result of being behind...which was also an indirect result of Burn being exposed and conceding goals down his side. Tino starts and it's a totally different game with 20 mins to go imo but that's all hypothetical. Personally I'd love Howe to got with a Rafa-esq 5-3-2 next weekend. It's Arsenal away so let's mix it up completely and have 3 CBs, 2 wingbacks with a solid, compact CM 3. Then have 2 (quick) wasps just buzzing about for 90 mins. If we scrape a draw it's a brilliant result but let's just dig the fuck in and make them work for it. Sit in, stay close and flood the CM, force them wide and try and frustrate them. Let's give Arsenal a different puzzle to solve than the one they're fully expecting

Respectfully disagree, I didn't think he was fine today, second goal wasn't totally his fault but he's under pressure in all games now due to how he's been exposed in the last few months. Managers know they'll get joy if they get the ball down his side of the park and run at him, it's happened continually and we've shipped goals as a result. It's not a great situation but Howe's actually got the option there sitting 5 yards away and he doesn't usually take it until we've shipped 2 or 3. Would you start Burn against Saka next weekend?

How many more games would you give Burn at LB before you gave him a rest? If it's happening each week he has to do something. He can't keep starting him, watching him get run past all game before subbing him after the damage is done, that's just not sustainable. His stubbornness/loyalty has a finite length surely?

They'll never know

My overarching point is that Howe's loyalty will eventually turn from a positive into a negative. Burn is the obvious example as we've got someone who could be slotted straight in so it's 100% a Howe decision to continue to start Burn. Almiron situation has mitigation as Murphy has been in and out but I'm baffled as to how he has made so many starts despite contributing little other than hard work. He's still a forward at the end of the day but his meaningful contributions are pitiful over the course of a season. Also I've no idea why Karius hasn't at least been tried out whilst Dubravka is shipping about 3 a game recently. They're all Howe's decisions but I'm not sure he's getting it even close to correct at the minute. We look a shadow of the side we did a year ago

Howe's staunch loyalty to some players has definitely shifted from 'admirable' to 'dangerous'. To back your players and not give in to pressure from fans and neutrals can't really continue if those said players are getting exposed again and again and again in every match and they're still starting each week. To continue to watch Burn get rinsed continually and start him each week regardless is definitely one of those. Teams are targeting him and he's being battered and the boss isn't doing anything until the damage is done. Man-management is one admirable skill but not when it comes at the expense of the team and results. Especially when you've got a player like Tino on the bench waiting until we're chasing the game. The other player I'm thinking of is Almiron who continues to work hard but miss chance after chance of bollocks up the move nearly every time he gets into good positions. The other is Dubravka, at best he's now just adequate but we've shipped nearly 3 a game on average for the last couple of months and he's been largely poor from what I've seen. Howe needs to do something to mix it up and ask teams different questions to the ones we're currently posing as we're being ripped open way too often, we're a predictable dream to play against, you know exactly who's playing, where they're playing and the weak spots are left untouched. He'll need to get his shit in a pile asap or he could be in a bit of bother watching it happen and not doing anything to stop it at source.

No bits?

Realistically he's leaving us and joining them which he's fully entitled to do, you can't force someone to stay who wants to leave. We're in the position of strength though, he works for us and they want him so they need to bend over and pay whatever is necessary to get their man, it's simple logic. When we were desperate for Lingard they made it as difficult and expensive as possible which was also fair enough, they had the position of strength then. Hope we absolutely fleece them for as much as we can and delay him from starting there for maybe 6 months. It would be naive to think that he would have zero contact with Brailsford for 6 months or whatever, he just won't get caught as he seems a sharp operator

Builds the coefficient nicely too. And raises the profile of the club across the continent. And gives the opportunity for the likes of Staveley to build up a few more contacts. And can be dangled in front of new players. And it's more home games so it's more income too. And we'd stand a decent chance of winning the fucking thing too - if West Ham can then so can we

Time to just cut our losses and move him on for whatever we can get for him. It's not his fault he's injury-prone but he's no good whatsoever to us as he misses as many matches as he's available for. Seems a canny bloke but we can't rely on him to stay fit for longer than a month and that's just not acceptable. He's just a talented crock

Still think the fact we're hindered by 'sustainability' rules despite being owned by the richest cunts on the planet is a bit ridiculous mind. Like "oooooooooohhh, can the Saudi's afford this amount of money or are they risking the club's future???" Fuck. Directly. Off

Clinton Morrison

Being honest you can see the appeal of being DoF/Sporting Director at a club like Man U and there's no point denying it. They're still one of the biggest teams on the planet and running the football side of things is always going to appeal to any ambitious bloke in that field. All we can do is thank him for what he's done (not sure exactly what that is as of yet) and replace him with someone just as good, if not better. No point being mardy about it, he left Brighton for us in a similar manner and he's taking another step up again going to Man U. Not going to wish him luck as he's going to one of the clubs we're trying to catch but it's nothing personal, it's a blow but these things happen

Still think the taxi driver is the canniest of the whole lot of them tbh. The kid owner seems clueless and clearly not playing with a full deck, he's got his own agenda and will do what he likes, hence lying about how much he owned and letting us have their hospitality for the derby last month. Huge red flags

I could probably get behind the idea that they're making football affordable to the younger fans, getting 'the kids interested in the club early and you've got them for life' etc angle in some situations tbh. It is good that a local teenager can rock up to every home game for a few quid each time, I can get that slant on things. However what I can't accept is the constant backslapping of each other and outright arrogance they have about it. Bragging about how fucking great they all are (they're not), how many tickets they've sold and giving off small dick energy. Call me old fashioned but 'attendance' should be how many clicks through the turnstile there are. How many people are in the ground - like how many people are 'attending' the game. Giving it the big 'un and boasting about 42k+ attendances looks pretty embarrassing when there's no more than about 23k actually in the ground some of the time, the numbers are just false. Can't have it both ways

Worth noting that we still have Spurs, West Ham and Brighton all to play at SJP. No reason why we can't beat all of those 3 and finish 7th at worst from here on in. I feel 7th would have been about par this season so, given all the shit we've had to deal with, that's reasonably good. If it happens

Really strange game that one today, we won but I wasn't that impressed by how we did it. Some of them ran themselves to a complete standstill - which is admirable and confusing at the same time. We looked soft as shit, easily opened up like a tin of beans and gave away another 2 sloppy as fuck goals whilst converting all of our big chances. I'm going to need to sleep on that. It's definitely not the slam dunk "we won so it doesn't matter how we did it". It absolutely does matter if legit concerns are still there. I'll think I'll just be thankful for the 3 points tonight and focus on Bournemouth now

Don't blame Everton here for they way they're playing the game but as a spectacle it's fucking dreadful to watch. This kick off time generally produces shit games to watch and this as bad as anything

It is and I agree with what you're saying. However, refs had had the means to deal with dissent and bad behaviour for years and have consistently let players take the piss because they're too weak or too scared of booking players en masse. They're refused to do it so the players push it to the limit because there's almost certainly no sanction coming. I'm at the point where I struggle to blame them. They do it because they can get away with it. Had refs acted 30 years ago then it wouldn't be anywhere near as big a problem as it currently is - yeah players are to blame but so are weak refs too.

That's about as dull and uninteresting a kit as it gets possible to get. Can't even criticise it as there's just nothing about it at all, reminds me of the Ian Huntley kit they wore in the 4-3

Nah, they're great tbh. Maybe not quite as good as the stats would suggest and there may be a regression to the mean going on. They're a top team but it's only sustainable for so long before there's a bump in the road and a set back. It's football, it happens.

The cream on the snides is always at least 3 or 4 shades too light compared to the originals. The official colour on the originals was ecru and the snides stand out a mile as they're bright as fuck. I'm lucky I've still got the home and away, both XL, Ferdinand 9 on the home and Beardsley 8 on the away

If it's a M, L or XL and in decent nick then it's a decent price tbh. If it's long sleeve too then it's a bargain