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I think he was having a purple patch last season, but I also think that's his long term level. I was shocked by how consistent he was last season, it was as though he'd skipped a season or two of development. And that incredible form helped paper over cracks in a very difficult season. This season he's needing colleagues to take up some slack but it's not happening.

He was lumbering like an old man shortly after coming on. I was half expecting him to be coming back off with a re-injury. I fear he's cooked.

I genuinely started losing hope after about 12 minutes and thought the writing was on the wall. We're officially poor at pressing home the advantage nowadays. Our centre back pairing is one of our most dangerous combinations nowadays, and that's crazy.

It was a painful moment.

He kept running away from where the balls were played, which didn't help.

Same. The game was basically over when he came off, our last real ballplayer in the opposition half given Willock (sadly) looked fit for the Masters' League today.

Not being funny, but could Bunce be a factor in Tonali's limited minutes? I'm giving a lot of leeway on decisions like minutes and games played for our players this season.

I didn't think it was him letting the side down today, he was the best of our front three. Wasn't perfect obviously, but made things happen when others couldn't and was as up for it as anyone.

If we'd signed an extra defender, we'd have won that one 3 or 4-1. We have no problem scoring goals.

Great gesture.

Keith Downie claiming the reason he didn't sign was he wanted a fee release clause in his deal, which we didn't want to get into the habit of offering. Supposedly the wage he's getting from Chelsea is basically the same as what we'd agreed, but they gave him the clause too, which is a new story. The rest of our summer transfer window spiralled from there.

Definitely agree on that bit.

I think people don't give enough respect to how precarious a manager's career is. Particularly if they've not made a lot of money in their playing career.

Well, half the results you've listed there (the most impressive ones) came before the date of the decline I referenced in my post. So they probably support my point if anything. And I wouldn't expect us to play to the PSG standard every week, that would be crazy. But you can go back to a ton of games over the 18 months or so prior to it and have similar thoughts. The goals and results are halfway irrelevant to what I was saying. I did say, we've had good games and times since. But what we've generally missed is the cohesiveness that we displayed in the clean majority of games we played prior to that December going back to early 2022 (again, regardless of the results). Even when we lost we looked like we had a plan and a conviction, whereas even during several wins (like the Sheffield United 5-1 you mentioned) we've spent a long time looking totally discombobulated. We've won with greater desire, quicker reactions in chaos and more exceptional moments of talent - which is laudable, but not as solid a foundation for future success. So I wonder where the other bits went, and I don't want to pretend we never had them to make myself feel better about how things are now. I'm ok with how things are now, and I generally look for the positives because I don't think the team deserve to be given up on. There are justifiable possible explanations for many things, like Trippier's inevitable decline, the novelty and optimism wearing off, the hangover from that November-January fatigue etc. etc. But ultimately I'm hoping we can get back to what we were and what we need to be, as we proved over a prolonged period it can be done.

...Which is a perfectly legitimate view. It's the idea it can't be considered under any circumstances that I find silly.

We're so far away from what we were. I've found it a bit weird that people don't recognise that - like they've forgotten what these players were capable of, particularly in terms of the decision making. Not to say we've never been good at times, but we've never been the same - that December/injury crisis seemed to rob something deep in us, and I've found it hard to explain our overall standards since.

What if he gets more quality scoring opportunities when Callum Wilson is one of those 10 players? And what if we get more points? (Humour me - I know Wilson's not actually getting on the pitch...). Historically under Howe, we've thrived when goals were well distributed throughout the team. My position is we've been poor and haphazard going forwards for a year now. Our goals have come through chaos rather than method - not so much pulling the blanket too high or too low as twirling it above our heads. Isak has spent a long time looking wasted with us, and it needs to change. I'm content enough with him being our lead striker, but several fingers need to be pulled out if we're going to see him as one of the world's best at our club...

It was one of the highest in Europe for nigh on two years, never mind our league. They were absurd numbers for a right back, and took the strain for us having nothing like it at RW etc.

This, big time. It was almost inevitable that whoever succeeded Trippier would be considerably worse at several very important parts of football - and those parts are even more important to the way we in particular have played for nearly three years. He wasn't just the horse for our course, he was virtually the course designer.

Because the sum total of that might add up to more than leaving him up front totally isolated, delivering him nothing and asking him to spend all day chasing stray balls? I'm not saying it speaks greatly of our squad or management, but we've been getting very little out of him for a long time, and I don't really blame him for that, so there's no real harm in examining alternatives until we can fix the fundamental problems.

This hasn't been the case since the late 1800s though. Your best chance of achieving it would be something like only allowing clubs to sign players born within a catchment area of their stadium - otherwise there's always going to be an issue with the best sportsmen choosing to gather together in one place to win more. It's been showbusiness before sport for a long time. Why were the best clubs, before Man City were the best club, the best clubs, though? Things like sports science have developed to where they are largely because rich clubs wanted to know how and why less rich clubs occasionally can come along and upset the applecart. Success in the game was much more evenly distributed when players were fueled by a full English on the morning and a skin full the night prior. It made almost anything feel possible with enough dedication. But we are where we are.

Need a win to get ourselves back on track really... I have hope, but it doesn't feel good knowing we've got an embarrassing defeat in us, here.

Too much to ask, but the perfect scenario would've been him voluntarily handing over the kick to one of the others. Thought he had a reasonable game overall. He was definitely knocked by the penalty, but in fairness I don't think he was swallowed up by the situation, either.

Seems a bit off that Eddie gets criticised short sighted, immediacy-focused transfer management, and then criticised for signing players more with a view to 2 seasons' time. I'm not saying there isn't room for criticism - there is - but you can see how it looks a bit damned if you do, damned if you don't, also.

We do have a first choice forward, but we don't have a first choice RW worthy of the title, though. So the balance of the decision is different. We had money enough to condemn Murphy and Almiron to permanent bench duty if we'd wanted to.