The College Dropout

Great time for TV. Terrible time for travelling fans. I used to love watching la liga on Sunday evenings on sky. As a viewer and a travelling fsn early Saturday matches are shit.

We spent more on Livramento than Union Berlin did for the entire transfer window btw.

Isak would go to ASM and Willock when they had the ball to play with them. He doesn’t really do that with Gordon. I think that’s partly because Gordon looks to cross it more from wide so he better be in the box.

My big concern last season was a lack of quality in the final third. And as a team that was our biggest problem. We drew a lot of games that we would’ve won with a little more quality. I probably said that after Bournemouth and Palace and I don’t regret it. That was our biggest limitation last season. But we defended well, progressed the ball well etc. it was just that last pass or finish that let us down. Our press ended up being a reliable enough playmaker and various players hit goal scoring super patches. This season the midfield can’t protect the defence. The press isn’t working like it did last season. Strikers are isolated. We Struggle to progress the ball. And we regularly have £100m worth of talent sitting on the bench. Fixing the press will solve a lot of our problems.

I don't really agree. Last season we played well against City H & A and only got 1 point. We played well against Liverpool H & A and got 0 points. AC Milan really let us play. And we offered nothing. This season Liverpool were lucky to beat us again. But we didn't play particularly well ourselves. We were much worse against Milan but got a better result. The result is mostly down to the quality of the opposition. But the performance is our own.

We played well in most of those games. Looked a bit toothless on occasion. We got less points than we deserved. The good results followed pretty good performances. This time - the results are pretty much on par in the league and above par in the CL. But we're playing much worse which doesn't bode well for the future (except the fixtures are as good as it gets in the league).

It's just my observation. I don't think Tonali is being set up correctly. I think a lot of our midfield work has been improvised by the lads playing because Tonali genuinely doesn't look like he knows what he's meant to do or where he's meant to be.. apart from really far up the pitch. Longstaff is always looking for Bruno so he sits in. But Tonali seems to focus on doing whatever he thinks he's been told to do.. to worry about filling in for Bruno. That can be fixed on the training ground. The jogging is all him and a bigger issue for me. From what I've seen he's not as intense off the ball as I thought he would be. But part of that again might be tactical as in he's not sure what to do or where to be... maybe.

TBF he's not interchanging. Sometimes Bruno goes forward and Tonali is doing whatever it is Tonali is doing..

He gets back. But it's a jog, you know? Sometimes Willock is a bit of a jogger too tbf. Longstaff, Bruno & Joe run back like the other team stole something from them.

You know ball.

Joelinton is good offensively and defensively at LCM. Why move him? He won't be as dangerous going forward from the right. While he's out. Sure Tonali at LCM. He's trying to run into advanced positions for progression but it's not working, nobody is finding him. We can keep at that but I think we'd be better off trying to pass it forward. Ideally with Hall at LB who can push into midfield and link with Tonali and the winger.

Nobody's worried about the points mate.

Tonali played LCM yesterday and didn't link with anyone. Neither Joelinton nor Tonali know how to cover for Bruno. Joelinton is still learning the CM role positionally and Sandro doesn't know what to do positionally yet. For now it's Longstaff + Bruno +1 IMO. Teams are targeting the space behind Trippier when he attacks. When he attacks the RCM is usually in support even if deeper. Trippier mostly sat last night, but Leao & Hernandez broke off him and Murphy to create the Giroud chance. Those 2 combined again for the Leao chance and the one off the line. Here Trippier had pushed forward and Murphy sat but Murphy didn't know what to do defensively and Hernandez played a good ball into Leao. The only true answer to combat that is to have a CB who is great in almost fullback like positions - like a prime VVD or even a Martinez... or a Tomori. That AC Milan left handside is elite mind and Trippier did brilliantly overall. But the reason he's deeper is largely because teams are targeting that space.

Aye. I'm unsure what he's meant to do, he looks unsure. It's hard to judge. He's lazier off the ball than I hoped for though.

There's a massive gap between defence and midfield when we don't press. Been evident last season but more so from GW1 this season. Keeps happening. When we do press the CBs can press whoever drops into those positions. Our system last season was largely personnel-dependent and not working this season. We progressed the ball greatly through Joelinton and Willock running with the ball last season. Without them - we can't pass our way up the field. Bruno passed and ran his way up the pitch for us. He's being man-marked and struggling more to do either - we haven't had an answer to that. He's been man-marked for a long time now. His post-match presser proves he's trying to play in a similar way to last season. But the lads aren't able to do it. And we continue not to have a functional plan B. It's not even just a poor "attack". The build-up is slow and ponderous. We rarely get the ball to our best attackers in semi-dangerous positions.

Yeh but it looks like running forward. Not backwards from what we've seen. And Longstaff makes intelligent defensive movements. Tonali doesn't seem to know where to move.

Ultimately that's true. But Longstaff and the team made sure there would be no tap ins or lots of space to shoot. We were committed and hard-working. Epitomised by Longstaff.

I just think Gordon is doing what he's been asked to do - to the best of his ability. He could reasonably improve in some areas (his general pressing for example). But overall he's getting the ball on the touchline a lot, he's not well supported by the LB and he has no chemistry or connection with the LCM and passing isn't one of his strengths. I've got no complaints. He's doing what he can. There's areas he can improve on but he's doing as much as can be expected at this stage.

It’s just a simple question.

What does Howe want him to do?

Bruno has great progression stats for a midfielder. Joelinton and Willock had great progression stats through running/dribbling. As did ASM. With 3 of those all out the side now. We are struggling. We were never the slick passing team. Our 8's aren't passers. Our wingers now, aren't the best dribblers.

Semi agree. A win and another clean sheet here goes a long way. It's not season defining. But it is very important.

He pushes high up and is just never on the ball. Off the ball he lacks intensity too.

He's key because he makes the midfield more functional. He covers for Bruno a lot. And is great defensively. But he was pap on the ball again today. Similar performance to Brentford. Key in the clean sheet. Covered every blade of grass. Movement was good. Poor on the ball. That's Sean init.

Yes but not the only manager from the UK.