Cronky

It's not just the manager though, it's the situation in which he finds himself. Whether it's all salvagable I doubt, but if so, I think three things need to happen. 1) His body language and his public statements need to be a lot more positive, whatever he's feeling inside. Stuff like 'one of the worst situations in the club's history' will not help to inspire the players. Or himself for that matter. 2) I think his project of bringing in a new system has to be parked until the summer, when he'll have more opportunity to change the squad around. If his current time is as restricted as he says, it makes no sense to institute major changes. Harry Maguire has talked about concentrating on the basics, and that sounds sensible to me. At the moment, it looks like a classic case of a new manager trying to change too much too soon. 3) He needs to get rid of Rashford. That won't be easy, because no club in their right mind is going to shell out a £50m transfer fee and 300 grand a week in wages. He will need the support of those above him, who won't like taking the hit. There also seem to be journos out there who are happy to keep this pot boiling by taking Rashford's side. However, you have a senior player who is not pulling his weight and who has reacted to being dropped by saying he wants to move. It's a team game and he has to go. Good luck (after Monday).

Interesting, but you never saw Eddie with his head in his hands, staring at the ground, or moaning about difficult the job was. He always projected faith in his players and faith in himself.

Amorim looks and sounds like he's overwhelmed. He's got to stop going on about how difficult the job is.

The best manager in the world will fail if he's put in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I can't see things getting sorted out any time soon. They have a fan in charge of the football side, and he's made a bad choice of manager. I don't think they've got much money to spend, and they look a bad proposition for any player who is good enough to have other options.

In which case I think they're pushing at an open door.

Why has Osimhen ended up on loan in the Turkish League, at what should be the peak of his career? He's one of the top three strikers in the world, but I wonder if there's a problem.

Amorim has issued the inspiring observation that this might be one of the lowest moments in the club's history. I think that might also be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Please can someone get this guy to shut up. I'm beginning to feel sorry for them and I don't like the feeling.

Firstly, I appreciate your willingness to come on here and face the enemy. I don’t think you’ve addressed my point about Amorim’s attitude on the touchline. Honesty is one thing, showing despair is another. Thank you for the info on Garnacho, but it does reinforce my point. What the player did was clearly a disciplinary issue so why did Amorim try to assert that it wasn’t? If you can’t be honest, then it’s better to say nothing rather than end up lying. What’s worse, he hinted about the truth in his public statement. It feels inept to me. On Rashford, you have my sympathy. He is a good player but not a great one, yet somehow he’s ended up with a great player’s contract and is not delivering. That’s a problem without a solution because getting rid of him won’t be easy. I don’t think he’ll want to go to Saudi. A final point - with Garnacho and Diallo you could have a deadly wing combination for many years. However, I think that would only work in a 4-4-2 because I can’t see that you could play both as wing backs. A manager who is wedded to only one formation may not be what you need.

I think when Ratcliffe picked Amorim it was a supporter's choice rather than a professional's. He was acting on the dream of landing the next Mourinho or Guardiola, rather than looking for someone of more relevant experience. More than once, Amorim has looked the picture of despair on the touchline. Surely he's got to put on a more positive face in public. He seems to have tied himself in verbal knots over the Rashford / Garnacho situation, claiming that they haven't been dropped for disciplinary reasons when they clearly have. It's ended up with Rashford saying he wants to go and Amorim saying he wants him to stay, despite the fact that Man U would be well rid of him. I'm not sure why he picked on Garnacho, who, from what I've seen, gives his all and is a talent worth nurturing. He may have lost him now. Amorim seems a nice guy in a role which needed a bit of a bastard. He seems to be oscillating between the two.

We've been recruiting young players who show potential for the future from all over the world and that opportunity may occur again in January, but what I think people are hoping for is a player who can fit into the first team almost immediately. I think there are several reasons why Eddie has wanted to damp down expectations of that happening. One factor is that a couple of years ago, there were several areas that needed strengthening, so there were plenty of options. Now I think we're only looking at centre back and right-sided forward. Furthermore, we're unlikely to win a transfer battle with a Champions League club, and the player's current club needs to be willing to sell half way through the season. We've done well in picking up players of quality whose form has dipped a bit, and where the bigger clubs' interest has faded as a result (eg Isak, Gordon, Tonali). That would still be a possibility for January, I'd have thought, but overall we may be looking for a needle in a haystack here. What came across to me in Eddie's interview on Match of the Day is that he genuinely feels he can get more out of the current team, and that there's no need right now to buy in haste or take a risk. Tonali has found his feet at last, Bruno is pushed further forward, and the dynamic of the team is changing. Some of our attacking play in the last three weeks has probably been the best I've seen since Eddie arrived.

Arguably the best striker in the world at the moment. Haaland is struggling, and Osimhen's career seems to have stalled in Turkey.

Okay, I've looked at the clip again. Eddie actually said that we 'probably' wouldn't be looking to bring anyone in from outside, so I'll modify my reaction. He's trying to dampen expectations, but in a perfectly realistic way. I think the main issue that the club is struggling with is that in order to bring in a player who will improve the first team at this point, it would need to be someone of Champions League standard, and what player of CL standard is going to choose a club which doesn't look like they'll qualify for the CL? They would have other options. We could either over-pay to overcome that obstacle, or bring in someone who is not quite of the standard that we'd like, and neither of those possibilities are tempting.

In the post-match interview on Match of the Day, Eddie was asked about our plans for the upcoming transfer window, and he said that, at this moment in time, the club was going to concentrate on getting the best out of the existing squad rather than bring in anyone from outside. It was as clear a message as you could get - we're not going to be entering the market. Now that the team has clicked, I can see the wisdom in not rushing to bring in anyone new at this point. The summer is the better time to integrate a new player and, of course, the January window doesn't offer the widest choice or the best value. Our guy has a habit of getting things right, and I continue to have faith in his judgement.

All very promising - no-one else has done that to Ipswich this season.

No I didn't. But as for Zidane, remember where you heard it first.

Just how good is Morgan Rogers? He reminds me of Zidane - virtually impossible to knock off the ball and very creative with it. City's high press has gone. They used to be able to win the ball back straight away and dominate possession. Without it, their slow build-up looks ineffective. Pep has been very successful with a particular style, and he doesn't have the answers at the moment.

I think that's the best draw. It's better to lose Schar and Bruno for the away leg (I think) and we know we have the beating of Arsenal at home. I don't think they like playing us.

When we were taken over by PIF, there was this idea floating in the media that we were going to buy success through a massive spending spree, in the manner of Blackburn in the 1990s, Chelsea under Abramovich, and Man City under Sheikh Mansour. This idea has died hard. Despite the restrictions on our spending, it has been supposed that the expectations of the owners would be similar to those three other clubs, and that Eddie would be dismissed in the event of any failure to achieve on that scale, as was the case with Mark Hughes at City and Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea. Well there are two realities in the face of those suppositions. Firstly, PIF were going to be compliant with the current spending rules, which do make that kind of quick dash for success impossible. Secondly, Eddie Howe has proved to be a manager of the top drawer, and the growth that he has brought to the club, within those restrictions, is fully appreciated by the PIF. I don't think they have any intention of replacing him with a better manager, mainly because there isn't one.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/crmn4g47lyzo Be prepared to shed a tear or two.

I'm not sure he was given quite enough credit on TV for that second goal. He was floating about 2 foot in the air when he hit it, but he got right on top of it. Brilliant finish. My doubts about this player have ebbed away. I think Bruno is getting used to his new role, which is helping a lot. It's starting to click.

I think I know what you mean. We're starting to open teams up with intricate passing moves around the final third, which we didn't see much of even during our top 4 season. Defensively we're a bit more dodgy than before, but Botman's return should help there.

Man City used to starve their opponents of possession with that high press of theirs, and their ability to keep the ball for long periods. That seems to have gone for the time being. It's probably a combination of the loss of Rodri, and a group of players who seem to have grown old at the same time. Man U weren't all that impressive but Diallo was outstanding and won it for them in two moments. Amorim made a bold call in leaving Garnacho out, but it's worked out for him.

It was good to see Gordon and Hall combining so well. In previous games, I'd seen Hall making a number of good runs that Gordon had ignored, preferring to try and create something by himself. I think there's been some work done on the training ground, which bore fruit yesterday.

Very impressed with Bakayoko on the basis of a You tube scouting. Then I come on here. It looks like a non-starter, at the moment. He seems to have a very high opinion of himself too, which may not go down well in the dressing room.