80

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

So what did he say about Ashley and approximately when?

...For what purpose?

Yeah I'm not too excited about signing a player with overt boo boo face.

I don't hate the guy, I'm not sure many do, but sometimes decisions are taken in life and should be stuck to. I imagine him coming back would send a weird message to the other players who've developed a real siege mentality while Dubravka was trying and failing to skulk off on another baggage train. I hope he's a makeweight in this transfer window.

No real surprise, good luck to him. Funny that 9 months ago I assumed he would be the keeper over Almiron.

Sure, as I say, I have faith, I'm not expecting to get humped. I just think we are a bit psychologically tired and have had the same team playing week in week out for a while, so won't have quite as much snap as we might have had two weeks either side of this game. As Bruno said post match yesterday, which I agreed with, he thought the team played with a bit too much anxiety to get the result against Leeds. A little bit similar to Everton away last season. So I hope we don't carry that instability over into this match.

It feels like this is coming at a bad time for us, unfortunately. All the same, I have faith.

That's the kind of plus we can take from yesterday. In spite of everything, that never really looked like a risk due to our solid foundations.

Yes, I was thinking that might have been the difference between opting to play ASM from the start yesterday. So this situation may be affecting choices on him too.

Not a bad shout to be fair. Better than the alternatives I've heard of.

Listened to Howe's post match interview just now, hadn't realised Targett's apparently been playing through pain with this injury for a while now. So perhaps that helps explain his lack of involvement and form in addition to Burn's performances.

That's a pity. Wonder how long for. Starting to get a bit thin at the back. Assuming Ashby is joining us, I hope it's at the beginning of Jan...