The College Dropout

If Wissa is fit he neeedd to start away a games.

We’ve become a weak team. Pope, Burn, Trippier, Joelinton all heavily criticised for their limitations. But they are such big players. Big personalities. Play with character. STRONG. Ramsey, Miley, Ramsdale. It’s too weak.

Good enough for? i don’t know what we are building atm.

Confident of a result. Draw more than a win mind

Agreed. But reasonable wages and a small maybe 2-year extension. He may want to leave if that’s the best we can offer mind

Gordon is better than Martinelli imo. I liked Martinelli a lot but he’s lost his way. He needs to leave Arsenal. Not to us but elsewhere in Europe and he’ll find his best version. He’s a shadow of himself. He scored what 15 league goals some time back ? He’s not managed that in the last 2 PL seasons combined. This Arsenal attack stinks and doesn’t suit him either.

As much as he was a part of their success he was also a big reason they crumbled. And that’s why he was replaced straight away. He’s a soft touch as a keeper.

He didn’t go full pelt because he was thinking about what to do next. contrast to his best moments for Forest where he’s just playing off instinct. In those circumstances he definitely should’ve passed.

Best case scenario for him would be back within 3-6 months. If it’s the ankle that’s broken it could be a year. The injury justifies the move for him tbf.

Because goalkeepers were less involved in general play and just used to hoof it when they did. Pope is more involved tha Given was and. Is expected to pass it about a bit. You rarely see Pope 1v1 against an attacker. He sweeps up a lot of danger. The same way he punches a lot of danger.

The difference in work rate off the ball is clear as day. Us fans aren’t making this up. The tenacity he showed on the weekend often goes missing

Given wasn’t great with his feet in his own era. He was worse with his feet than Joe Hart and the likes of Petr Cech who were as bad with their feet as Pope when asked to play out as they had to under Emery or Guardiola. Worse even. For his time Given was decent at the long kicks but nothing spectacular. A GK the size of Shay is going to need to be extraordinary to command his area an give confidence to the defence to the same degree as Pope. And he didn’t. He’s physically incapable of doing it (same with Ramsdale). There’s things that will look like worldies for Shay that Pope makes look easy. I love Shay but man is he over rated. He was the cornerstone of what was a weak team for a reason. He was also physically weak for the day. Pope has been a part of the sturdiest defence we’ve ever had and his strength and command has been a cornerstone of that.

Definitely a CM I think. I think the only reason Hall is not a CM is his stature, size but he played CM in the youths. The size of Miley ye doesn’t have that issue.

Been watching this - what a great side this was going forward. If Gordon had Bellamy’s mentality, he wouldn’t be here. no way was Given better than Pope though. No chance

No he didn’t. So many goals we conceded with the ball bouncing in the 6 yard box. Also made saves look better because he was much shorter. Maybe a marginally better shot stopper. Far less presence and stature. Far less command of his era up against more physical opposition he just couldn’t compete.

Pope is way better than them both.

Aye an uptick in form of around 60 points is likely 7th/8th. Big reason is we don’t have the squad depth.

Lewis Hall was an inexperienced kid. That’s the reason why he wasn’t playing. He wasn’t consistently playing poorly - he wasn’t consistently playing. Because it was clear Howe thought he wasn’t ready and needed developing. Thats not the same as what’s happening with Elanga. Elanga is getting minutes. And playing decent amount. He’s just not playing well. You are talking about the perception of silly fans - not the actual situation. Plenty of us at the time (me) read the situation for what it was. The closer comparison is Gordon tbf. Elanga needs a confidence boost.

We’ve faced all of the top 6 at home (bar one maybe). We have to go to all of them away. We are lots of points down on last season already with tougher games to make it up and another 4 CL games probably. I’ll give you £100 and I’ll take £10 that we don’t finish top 5. *

Also I like that about Wissa. Seems a fighter. High energy. Sharp on the press. Aggressive.

That team that finished top 5 twice and wok the league cup. Sure it had a lot of talent. But what took us over the edge was character. We neeed to replace those with equal characters. Look at Spurs man. It’s a talented squad but it doesn’t have character. I don’t want us to become a shitter northern version of them. (this is where Eddie’s Brexit mags is useful)

I agree he wasn’t positioned greatly. He made it an easier chance. Pope would’ve started further in advance and would’ve rushed Pedro more. Probably still scores though. overall - Howe’s success has been built on a toughness and strength. Especially in the first 18 months and even mostly last season. We ain’t give leads away. In the 4th season sometimes we would be against a good team and just see out a 0-0 away from home by going deep, and not letting anything through (Brighton, Arsenal, Man U away). And Pope’s strength as a player was key to that. We aren’t going to our football the top 6 to consistently overcome them. I accept that. But we can outrun and out tough them sometimes out man them. I like that profile of player. That was peak Pope and I want a better version of that. Doesn’t have to be great with the ball for me - just passable. But he does need that presence, that command imo. Ramsdale is just a weak player. It goes without saying but we need more Tonali’s and Bruno’s. Tough as but they can play. I like Ramsey as a player more. But with him and Ramsdale in the team for Pope and Joelinton we lose a lot of character and strength.

I don’t expect European football next season. i think we’ll finish 7-9 probably 8th or 9th. We don’t have the alchemy of a team to finish top 6. Arsenal City Chelsea too strong of a squad. Expect Liverpool and Villa to be there or thereabouts. I can’t see us finishing above all of the rest of the field. If we crash out CL in the group stage or strengthen in January that may change. But we fucked it in the summer.

Lewis Hall’s name needs banning from this thread. Lewis joined with 12 first team appearances to his name at 19. And was largely banished to the subs bench to develop on the training ground as Howe didn’t think he was ready and was totally untrusted. But it was clear the reason we signed him was because he’s a baller and he would eventually show it. Eddie keeps giving Elanga minutes and he doesn’t produce. At 23/24. With over 100 PL appearances. And is evidently, not a baller Elanga will improve with time under Howe that I agree. I guess some thought Hall was useless and now think he should be England’s left back. But Elanga doesn’t have the footballing ability to go from too early written off (which I agree is foolish) to a potential world beater. That we know he can never be.

Just talking general ability and skills. Elanga has pace and shooting and crossing off both feet. But that’s literally it so far. And we haven’t seen much of any of if. Work rate, movement, passing, mentality etc. not seen it