The College Dropout

I don’t think this is true anymore about 2 attack minded fullbacks. City started Stones and Ake at fullback yesterday. Their most attacking fullback is Walker who is defence first imo. In the top 5 only Liverpool and Spurs play with 2 attacking fullbacks.

Honestly hate this 3rd striker BS. City have Haaland, the Argentinian lad and then who? It’s a false 9 situation. Arsenal have Gabriel J, Nketiah and then another player out of position Villa have Waktkins, a young lad and then who? Man U have Hojlund, Martial and then who? I could go on. Only Liverpool have serious depth there. Isak, Wilson and Gordon is up there with the best 3 in the league. The lack of winger options is a bigger problem.

Errr that’s what I said.

I would love to catch them but I don’t think we will. We’ll do well to finish within 3 points of them imo.

Would take 7th. The ceiling is 6th and I think Man U will take that. Even if Villa fell off I don’t think we have enough about us to get to 5th. Not enough CMs, too many reinjuries.

Tbf if Pope was playing that goal never happens. But I get your point. Burn was rippped multiple times and was an obvious weak link. And Pope isn’t playing so hopeful balls behind Burn with the attacker giving Burn a 5 yard head start will continue to be a problem.

No im not saying that at all. I’ve never suggested that. I’m on record as to saying I like Burns profile as a LB. A defence first left footed LB who is tall and can tuck in to make a back 3 in build up. I just don’t think he’s good at it. I’m also on record as saying I think Burn brings a lot of leadership to the team. I know Howe has his reasons for starting him, there are numerous reasons to start him. I just think atm he’s wrong. The weaknesses outweigh the strengths. Burns confidence is clearly going too. He’s a weakness in the team and it’s getting exploited. He doesn’t have Joe infront of him to protect him and he doesn’t have Pope behind him to sweep up hopeful balls behind him. He’s becoming a liability. Football fans know a lot about their team. We watch them week in week out. You have eyes and a brain. Howe is a professional and knows a lot more than us aye. That doesn’t mean he is always right and we are always wrong.

A year removed is a long time. EH seems perfectly happy bringing every other player back from injury and playing them nonstop until they get injured again. So I find it hard to believe he’s doing this to protect Libra from injury. He doesn’t even try to protect an injury prone 32 year old from injury in terms of minutes. Burn is not long back from injury himself and he’s only getting subbed after he’s at fault for multiple goals in a single game. He’s started damn near every game of note he’s been fit for. Thats the biggest evidence. obviously I don’t have all the info or answers. But we have a lot of evidence to come to some understandable assumptions. Protecting Livra from injury or burnout has little evidence. The concept alone is something I’m not sure Howe believes in in terms of minutes. He’s flogging everyone he rates.

I was going to say - you can’t underplay the commitment and work rate Howe gets from the players. It’s a big factor in why the team can sustain a lot of pressure and not concede the goals we probably should. We are also scoring a lot of goals which is great and we never look totally down and out. We have fight. But we don’t look a well coached team atm - particularly defensively. Glaring weaknesses again and again with what looks like good options sitting on the bench. I’m not a betting man but an Elanga goal contribution was inevitable the moment you saw Burn starting.

Which injury is this? I really like Howe and he does so much right. But he does a few things that is difficult to understand. His continued selection of Burn is one of them. Livramento is a good 6ft by the looks of things and decent in the air. We lose some but not a crazy amount. I think he likes the left footer in there a lot. Plus the leadership. Ive never thought Burn was solid defensively. He’s been a weak link 1v1 for a long time.

He just rates Dan Burn as a LB much higher than anyone else in the squad. Dan Burn has started nearly every match of note that he’s been fit for since he joined.

I think he’s inferior to Lascelles at CB. And I think the level we aspire too we need to improve Lascelles as 3rd choice. Happy to have Lascelles 4th choice. Burn? Never been a top half premier league CB.

We were robbed by a bad decision. But the second half we were battered. We could have had no complaints if we conceded 4 or 5. Pope was magnificent and PSG were awful in front of goal. But we had no control, defence was committed but porous. Chelsea was the same. Howe just sits on his hands and hopes for the best. It’s infuriating to watch I’ll be honest. Wolves was the same for 20-25 minutes. Burn just on toast. Trippier on toast. Livra sitting in the bench. Time and again he does nothing until we concede. I wish he was just a little more proactive

Today’s a big day. Luton felt like a new low point. I think a change in shape is perhaps more likely than Burn being dropped. both would be seismic shifts. Howe is seemingly wedded to Burn and starting as 433. We’ve seen Lascelles jump Burn as CV when Botman is out. But it took Brighton battering us and it was Targett who lost his place who isn’t genuinely fancied anyway.

Don't think Burn is good enough to be back-up CB.

No i'm not. Like I said, i didn't think it was possible to successfully attack 4 competitions with our squad. I advocated resting players even against Chelsea at the QF stage. I didn't see how we could play our strongest team there, and then win the more winnable games in the league. And we didn't As you say - I can't have it both ways. You either rest some players, risk a bad result or two in the hopes you win many more matches down the line. Considering the small squad and injuries - that is the only sensible option to me. Obviously Howe thought otherwise. I am the first to put my hands up if Howe's plan worked. I didn't criticise him after the Chelsea result.. because it almost worked and the draw would've been kind. It would've been worth losing the next couple in the league IMO which I think it almost guaranteed.

Aye but what is that worth ? Could they become a CL powerhouse like Juve of 5 years ago?

Desperately need another passed in midfield. Could be at CM or wide. We just need attackers that can pass it forward.

Would Roma have a higher ceiling than us?

There's been so much talk of that on here and I don't know where it's come from. It doesn't make sense. Stadiums are expensive to build for any club.

He’s made his bed now, he’s not going to switch it up. And we have gone past the worst of the fixture congestion. I’ve accepted the personnel thing. Now I’m wondering if he sticks to the flat midfield 3 or goes to 5 at the back. If I’m taking Wilson at his word, he’ll not start until he is actually ready.

I'm praying for another Villa performance. I don't see it with this team. It's so poor on paper. But I have hope.

One last thing actually - personally I didn't think it was possible to challenge for all 4 competitions with a fully fit squad. Much less an injury-hit one. I think we played too strong a team throughout the league cup campaign. I think to try and win every game in every competition with our best team, with our injury crisis was naive. A huge dip in form was inevitable imo. If we were sitting in the League Cup final, I would be eating my words and holding my hands up that I was wrong or at least - it was worth sacrificing league points. But a major part of why we aren't in the final is because we couldn't stop a barrage of Chelsea attacks and eventually killed ourselves due to fatigue.

1) This is a choice. 2) By overplaying players in the short term we effectively conceded games in the medium term due to fatigue and injuries. Howe refused to rotate in late November into December and we won 2 out of 11 games as a result. Losing 7 in 8. Personally - I think there were several games where any warm body would've been better than Alexander Isak for at least 20 minutes. Maybe 45 minutes. When that lad runs out of steam, he can barely move. Literally any of them. IMO we didn't have the legs to win all games in any block of 3 games. You could either play the same team and get progressively worse performances and results (the Howe approach) or sacrifice one to attack the other 2. Or halfway sacrifice one. That's not Howe's way of thinking. It's pure conjecture but this is a very football league mindset. It relies on momentum, belief and toughing it out for it to work. It can work superbly but it can also backfire and lead to slumps in form. Someone like Rafa - managed in Europe for a decade straight - prioritises fitness and sharpness and rotates throughout the season to keep players sharp and fit in crunch periods. Rafa wouldn't have taken the Howe approach not at all. Not to say I want Rafa. Howe is overall the better coach at this point in time and it's not close. However, Howe's inexperience at this level has led to costly mistakes. I don't think any manager with a lot of experience in elite European football takes the Howe approach on fitness and injury. I'm repeating myself so I'm out.

I read/heard somewhere that Man City will use any legal tool to defeat the PL. Their strategy is combative. That's why they haven't cooperated with the PL in their investigations. They will dig in their heels, not cooperate and take everything to court if needed. I think that's the right approach.