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He's a false 9

Flanked by Ashworth and Mehrdad? Great way to integrate a kid.

Took me by surprise.

I think Isak would've torn them a new arsehole tonight. So we've got that to look forward to...

Must be great to be on the pitch and literally feel leadership backing you up from the sidelines. He's gonna single handedly be responsible for a rule change sooner rather than later, mind

One of the few players that seems to have gone backwards rather than forwards this season, unfortunately.

The man's a hero. And his presence is growing. Looks like the only way is up.

He wasn't perfect, but I thought he was even handed overall which is the main thing I ask for. I thought 'here we go, death by a thousand yellows' when Bruno and Wilson got booked, but then he started dishing them to Arsenal too, in fairness.

Marvellous.

I know he was offside, but couldn't believe he didn't bang that one on one chance he had at the end His self belief must be through the floor.

Tremendous performance in really difficult circumstances, well done to all. Worked themselves to exhaustion.

Agreed, but if he was a better player then it would have been, that's my point. Willock's legs were falling off well before he was subbed.

Definitely, but the argument would be that to realistically remain with us, he'll need to get to the level that we don't fear shipping goals when he's on - not so much as we expect to get the ball and score at the other end at least, anyhow.

Yep. I was a bit disappointed Howe didn't feel confident enough to bring him on sooner, but if that's how it is, that's how it is. He did try to defend but I don't think he'll ever really get the concentration and alertness that I'm sure Howe will demand from his players.

deserved more than just a like.

"Howe believes pleasure is integral to success. “The players have to keep enjoying what they’re doing – that’s key to our second half of the season,” he said. “They shouldn’t feel burdened by expectation, or any of those types of emotion. They should be relishing the place we’re in and enjoying every second" Howe's comments in the press conference were spot on. Neuroticism is our enemy, joy is our ally.

I agree with that for sure. I think it's basically a case of the pyramid being a lot less steep than it was a few years ago. But it's certainly still a pyramid. And yes, because one or two clubs have nearly unlimited resources, it'll possibly become easier for them because they'll be the only ones with guaranteed at any cost access to so-called unicorns - the kind of players like Haaland and de Bruyne that just put in relentless, error free, state of the art performances 49 out of 50 games a season. Those players being necessitated because MOST PL competitors are error free 45 games out of 50, rather than maybe a 35:50 ratio 10 years ago or a 25:50 ratio a quarter of a century ago. Of course, this may not actually be fun to watch... There's a reason professional wrestling consistently chose to invent fallible performers and referees.

I'd say it's about relative advantage. Chelsea and co. are stumbling partly because other teams have closed the gap and it's really hard for a Conte to maintain a supremacy over a Brentford when roughly speaking they all have the same nutritionists and recruitment procedures. Once upon a time, Steve Bruce wasn't arcane, he was typical, so it should've been no surprise when Arsenal Wenger came and blew away his post-match pie and pint players.

I broadly agree. As an historical parallel, think of it like the industrial revolution. British industry was ridiculously far ahead of the ROTW in the 1830s but eventually, everyone else had railways and steel factories too. We had legacy successes which gave us advantages, but there was still plenty of scope for up and comers like Germany to hurt us. The leaders of the pack have to spend a LOT to deliver marginal returns, and it's exhausting.

I'll panic when it's time to panic... For now it's just tittle tattle. Ironically, this is one thing corrupt, overly-attentive regulators might be protecting us from.

I think he can be a solid squad member for years to come. Just very much someone who knows the ethos of the club and just rotates in when the main players need a rest, rather than being a lynchpin as he has this season. We're not going to be in a position where we can have 30 galacticos in the squad, many happily warming the bench, for a little while yet... Fact is, we've proven we can win difficult games with him in the team repeatedly this season, and that's with other less than stellar players like Wood alongside him, too.

Sounds mental to be honest...

Thanks for that. Read his quotes towards the bottom of the article. Main thing I got from it is that he's thick and only thinks words other people have spoken. Got mixed feelings about it. I'd need to be bitter towards a hell of a lot of people, not least everyone who kept attending matches in the past 10 years, if I held onto it. From what I hear, Shola genuinely does other good things in his less public life that balance it out at least.

Assumed he was being sarcastic re: the decent signing and elite coach parts, to be fair to him.

That was on my short shortlist of valid reasons