The College Dropout

Weird how we have 2 CMs that are runners but can’t really play.

Love how aggressive Wissa is.

Ramsey has looked good tonight

Tonnes first choice RB and second choice LB. with everyone fit but Hall out he plays LB so he’s the backup. We only have 3 serious fullbacks. No other CL team has only 3 fullbacks. Krafth and Burn are are stop gaps.

I think we’ve looked good going forward. a mess athe back but these are strangers

For me it's his whole career. Isn't he fit now anyway and has been for some time?

There is something special about Ronaldo that has led him to play over 1300 professional games. It’s definitely not luck.

Not saying he could’ve. But over the course of an entire career, I don’t think most players injury situations are purely down to luck. Likewise with recovery. Is he giving it 100? Has he recovered 100% mentally? Ferguson and Klopp have questioned the mentality of injury prone players like Hargreaves and Sturridge. I think there’s something to it.

That's the core of my point. I don't think that is purely luck. The only luck part is composition/physical genetics. But like.. mentality (might be genetic too), professionalism, lifestyle etc. is probably a bigger factor.

I no longer believe this over the long-term. Well not the luck element but there are patterns. Some players rarely being injured and some players always being injured is like systemic "luck". Some times it's their bodies, the composition, their lifestyle or simply mentality or a combination. I don't think it's luck that Ronaldo & Messi have been able to play so many games. Or even Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro or Frank Lampard. Or Shearer bouncig back from a couple major injuries.

Nah Murphy always tried hard and he gets groans

Think this is more squad quality than style of coaching imo. If Tonali doesn’t get suspended we get European football the first year despite the injury crisis.

In defence of the home crowd. It’s rare for a team with that much support to be so bad in our history.

Nah it’s an awful signing at £55m and someone’s influence or job should be questioned. I didn’t pay that much attention to him at Forest. But within 2 games at NUFC I could see this wasn’t what we needed. You can see he’s technically so poor. It’s an Antony level signing. Same thing. Could tell very early he’s not worth £80m.

He also has been ‘available’ a lot and hasn’t played much or played well. If it’s injury related that goes back to previous fears many had.

But like.... where do you expect us to be in the league? We are talking 2-4 points we should be better off right? I view everything that led to our success as being Staveley, Mehrdad & Ashworth leaving and only Howe/coaching being the key element still here. I guess you meant pressing and such.

The focus should be on all those other things proving to be effective then. Not Eddie Howe.

Do you have the data on Height in the league? A big reason for not scoring more is a lack of quality service too. The conceding late thing. We just need to defend better. Thats always been Howe’s approach. We did it last season and the season we finished 4th. I do think if we remove Joe and bring in Wissa we should be able to be better in Possession. We have never been built under Howe to be a possession side. I accepted that some time ago. We aren’t going to possession our way into regular top 5 anyway. We need to maintain our physical edge and mental age while raiding the technical ability of the squad. We failed to do that in the summer and it’s going to cost us a big European position imo. I don’t think there’s a manager in the world that gets this squad top 5 by the end of the season with the expected CL games and cup runs. So when people are quibbling over possession or set pieces I don’t hear it.

Part of my issues with the criticism is that some of these are longstanding things. Our possesion stats this season are up .2% on last season. We've never been a possession side, why is it an issue for you now? 9th for set piece goals scored. Hardly wank. Our new signings aren't great and that's a culmination of poor leadership and lack of consistency and direction by the club. Howe has contributed to that but it's not his fault ultimately. And yes the conceding last minute goals is bad.

No we're not. We're looking likely to qualify for the play-offs, that's not the next round of the CL. It's a massive distinction.

This is a valid point and there are examples and caveats. I think w/Ramsey he has the least valid reason to not be trusted by Howe. Even Elanga is semi-trusted. Being 24 years old with over 100 PL appearances and being 6th choice CM is a amber flag at the least. He's behind a 19yo and 2025 Joe Willock. And deserverdly so based on performance too.

There's definitely groans at home when he miscontrols a ball and it goes out of play which doesn't help him at all. But it's also piss poor from a £55m signing. I remember he did it in a game where he had lost the ball cheaply a few times just before. It has has happened to Murphy too. He has those games/moments where he gives the ball away cheaply time and again and the crowd groan. I've also seen him then turn around and get an assist or deliver a quality ball and motion to the fans to get off his back. As much stick as I give Gordon. It happens to him far less because he's technically pretty sound. In terms of first touch, getting the ball under control. He can also be careless in position but it's rarer than Murphy/Elanga. It doesn't happen to Barnes much because he's just better at the basics. I guess i'm saying it happens for a reason - he's playing especially shit.

Agreed. At the stadium he needs support. On social media too. It is hard for match going fan to watch a premier league football not be able to control a football. I don’t agree with it and I don’t think it’s right. But I’m not mad at them

That suggests the last line of defence and that not what they mean. They just mean any open grass to run into.

I’m a level headed guy you know.