Theregulars

Fair point, I suppose it comes down to how much you wanted to win. Even if it’s just to play 10 mins, 10 mins of him is better than 100 days of Chris wood

We’ve now had enough of a sample size. There’s no point being a striker if you don’t score goals - he doesn’t even look likely to score goals. He looks petrified to be playing for us. Should have netted at least once against Leeds and ridiculous miss tonight. Nice header for the first goal can’t be denied, but on balance he just doesn’t appear able to score goals at this level. Much like Murphy, it’s best for all parties to move on.

It’s time to move on from this guy. He’s had so many chances and been with us for years, his contribution just isn’t what’s required. Don’t give a fuck that he has a big funny mouth and supports Newcastle, he isn’t good enough. Most infuriating aspect of him today was mentality. Looked intimidated and like he didn’t want to be there. When he was out through 1 on 1 he just stood there waiting to be tackled, and the attempted lob was inexplicable. I ask the same question I’ve asked of other players: would he get minutes in another premier league side? I’m not sure he would. Perhaps Bournemouth, Southampton or forest, but even then as a substitute most likely.

I’ve got to be honest I wasn’t sure it was strong enough. League 1 is a bit misleading, they have championship players and are down there more due to financial stupidity and corruption than lack of talent. They’re also playing well and winning a lot. I wasn’t confident in Murphy, Lewis, Anderson or Ritchie (the latter proved me wrong), and I thought it was bonkers to play dubravka after he rocked up unexpectedly last week. I was also not confident in the decision not to have Wilson on the bench when Isak was coming off and there’s no logical argument in favour of Chris wood.

We were unlucky that none of ASM, Shelvey or Targett were fit; and Isak back after ages out. Have largely considered my way to accepting the circumstances but can’t get past Wood and Murphy.

I think he made 2 small mistakes, no Pope and no Wilson. If you know Isak is playing 45 mins only, you’ve to have Wilson on the bench if you need a goal. It’s anti-factual to believe Chris wood will score, he’s largely not done for a year and looked pretty poor in the process. He doesn’t get blamed for (1) how bad Murphy, Lascelles, Anderson, wood and Lewis were; or (2) the 3 missed sitters (Anderson’s was criminal, Wood’s worse). He was right to rotate but he didn’t leave himself enough leeway given how little a lot of those players have played. I hope this focuses his mind away from his FFP/injuries dictating transfer chat, which I know is political, but that was incontrovertible evidence that the squad is shallow beyond the first 11, ASM, Shelvey and Targett (and to be fair we were unlucky with all 3 of those being out; the drop off to Murphy, Anderson and Lewis was savage).

Going to try a reasoned take. The right score was 1-1; their first goal was offside. With that said, they deserved the win. We failed to do so many basic things right, especially passing and finishing. Wood’s miss was unacceptable, there is no way around that. What frustrates me is that they didn’t actually have to play that well to win. The Leeds game and this game reveal how ahead of the game we are - we were naive again, panicked when they scored. Aside from Manquillo and in part Ritchie, none of the reserves did themselves any favours. I just don’t understand what anybody in football sees in Jacob Murphy. I can get past playing poorly, but today he was cowardly. Bullied about, shrunk, head down. I’d really like to see a spell on the sidelines for him now. Going out to L1 opposition twice in succession is really embarrassing, and it hurts tbh. We just don’t need that degree of embarrassment right now with how well this season is going. I hope Howe is tearing into them, but I also hope he learns that he shouldn’t use real football matches as a training exercise and an experiment. Changing 4 of the back 5 wasn’t a good call, and no reason not to play Pope in my view; goalkeeping can’t be that exerting.

Manquillo played really well

Come on man

I don’t like him but great header for the goal

This is really poor.

Made all the worse with this arsehole Keown. “A hint of offside”, “well machined oil”, arsenal bias dripping through.

We seem allergic to this competition

Whatever happens from here, I think the case has been firmly made for some reinforcements. Our squad is paddling pool shallow.

Excellent

We’ve got to get Murphy off the pitch, he’s having a really bad game even by his low standards.

As a pointless aside, how the fuck would this kit have clashed with Brighton?

Surely Ritchie isn’t playing in central midfield? That can’t be right.

Hoping Schär and Wilson just rested. I’d have had the latter on the bench just in case. I’ve lost all faith in Chris Wood

Does this bloke have a secret stash of kompromat or something? So mediocre.

Semantics really, but yes this contributed to that sense. With that said, Murphy is the RW back up and Maxi the current LW backup, so Maxi wasn’t coming on for Miggy.

I get the distinct sense that he’s not trusted defensively, and currently team defence is so crucial to what we’re doing that he won’t get more minutes without improving. It’s a difficult one, he’s so talented and productive at times, really hope it can be worked out.

Which definitely happened in time before £83m on Maguire. Back in your cave, troll.

Go home, Alan / Mike

Paully’s pre-match tweets have taken on the status of Bruno’s for me. Essential parts of the matchday experience now. Full marks for that breakfast of kings.