HawK

I think Dubs should remain our no.1 until summer personally. I posted a few pages back about his tactical impact on the team. It's not just Tonali at 6 that's helped us on this run.

Danny Olmo no less, top talent

Are we the second best team in the league right now ? I'd fancy us home or away against anyone except Liverpool

This was the stand-out thing for me last night. They pressed the fuck out of BDB whenever the opportunity presented, and some of his passes into Hall were less than ideal.

I haven't written much post-Arsenal, and I watched the game without having the match thread open. But this is the one player I want to write about now. He actually looked a level above Arsenal, all of them. I'm not exaggerating. His calmness on the ball, he moves with efficiency and without any loss of energy doing things unnecessarily. The perfect passes, the ball retention, the striking. He's ALWAYS running beyond Gordon. He's not afraid to ball carry in the opponent's half. I think he was the best player on the pitch, his quality for me is above everyone in our team and Arsenal's. Everyone. If anyone has a safety net in this team it's Dan Burn, because Lewis Hall is next to him. If Dan's under pressure, he knows every single time he can knock it to Hall, any pass will do, and Hall will not lose it. 9 times out of 10 Hall will find a player in black and white, and when he can't, he doesn't lose it, he lumps it which is what you have to do. Decision making is absolutely unreal for a lad of his age. He might not have had the most impactful game, but in raw ability, I believe he's our best player. He might not be as unpredictable, but his first touch and decisions are on another level to even Isak. Isak can do things that Hall can't at the moment purely from experience and the position he plays, like dragging defenders around with his movement and the snap shots. Isak can make mistakes, can miss the target and lose the ball and it's forgotten 5 minutes later if he scores. If Hall loses the ball or makes a mistake we concede, the stakes are far higher. He's 20, good lord. I want to bookmark this post because I think I might come back to this post in a couple of years when he's genuinely considered the best LB in the world.

I don't think he's ever going to be the England manager. Howe's tactical style is one of meticulous, drilled scenarios combined with elite-level fitness to execute them. He just wouldn't have the necessary time to implement what works for him in a setup when he barely sees the players. And long may he continue.

I seem to remember (might be a dream I'm old) that people called Botman a 'Rolls Royce' of a defender when he came to us after his first few performances. Well, if Botman's the Rolls, then Schar's gotta be Bond's Aston Martin

Aye, what's not to like about our play tbh. Love watching us right now.

tl;dr; 60k expansion or 70k new stadium

Can add Anderson and Wood to the Danny Simpson club of 'I left Newcastle to win the league'

Forest doing a Leicester

Probably the most emotionally intelligent man in the league.

Love stuff like that mini table

Can't wait until you all get up to speed on the Monty Hall problem

Mbuemo does not look 25, hair or no. Full beard and seems to have been around for years as well. 25yr old Mbuemo for 50m, yes please.

Have only just seen that Mbuemo is 25. We should spend our whole pot and mortgage our ground to get him imo

I need some graphs to inject into myself !

Lots of huff but no puff, Spurs toothless for all their endeavours.

Andy Townsend has said it's Willock's role to try and hang on to the ball and receive some passes. Has he watched Willock play

He's not going to get tired Homer!

Need Barnes and Miley on but it'll be Barnes and Willock

I think he forgot to set his alarm

I think I'd rather see Miley for Joelinton like @Mazzy suggested previous page. The idea being to give us some more control and better ball retention. Maybe Willock last 10 to stretch them. Barnes for Gordon perhaps but I'd keep Murphy on the right.

We're now at Howe-substitutions-o'clock. His watch will be beeping to remind him and he'll put someone on shortly