Cronky

Yeah, I think Anderson is calling it right. He often gets caught out with a ball in behind him. He might well be better off as a wing back or even in midfield. Having said that, he offers a lot to the attack and certainly far more than Kelly or Burn. On balance, I’d play him. In any event, the only way he’s going to improve now is through experience.

The underlying question is - should there be any spending restrictions at all? I’d say yes, because otherwise you end up with one team dominating, as we are gradually seeing with Man City. A cartel of five is being replaced by a cartel of one. Whilst it’s a nice thought that we could be that one club, personally I’d much rather achieve another way. I don’t understand this support in some quarters for Man City. Apart from the moral issues of spending enormous amounts in a game that is already awash with money, it does look like they’ve broken the rules that the other clubs have had to adhere to, and it’s happened by organised subterfuge rather than accident or error.

I think they’ll be found guilty of breaching the regulations. The evidence seems clear. They’ll get a massive fine, 40 points deduction and transfer ban, but will avoid relegation. However, ultimately I think they are relying on contesting the legality of the regulations, and that could take ages to resolve. What separates City from the likes of Everton and Forest is that those clubs took risks which didn’t come off. The charges against City suggest that they undertook a pre-planned strategy to cover up a significant breach of the regulations.

Gomes did well in that holding role. I'd like to see how he operates against better opposition though. Assuming he does okay, then for me it's either Bellingham or Rice for the box to box role, and for me it's definitely Bellingham. (I agree that he should not be a number 10 for England.) As Coffee Johnny says, it's then either Grealish or Foden at number 10. Grealish has really imposed himself in the last two games and seems to lift the side with that devil-may-care attitude, so he should get the nod at least for now.

Jack Grealish has given Carsley a selection headache when Bellingham and Foden return. He did very well in that roaming role, and the team seemed to have a good shape to it.

Had to share this with you guys - just wait till the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr-rD3Wwlm4

From Howe's initial comments, it's clear that the relationship between him and Mitchell didn't get off to a good start. I get the impression now from Mitchell's recent statement that things have been patched up and there's now some mutual trust and understanding between the two men. Of course, the media are going to want to milk this, and the Sun seems to be the chief culprit. But I think Eales and Mitchell are aware of how valuable an asset their manager is, and Howe is aware of the realities of decision-making within a big club.

I'm not sure that Antony can adjust to the physical demands of the Premiership. He's certainly a talent, but is probably better suited to playing on the Continent.

Best performance I've seen from England for a long while. Best performance I think I've ever seen from Grealish. He's really enjoying that free role.

It's an odd selection, with three wide attackers, so maybe that's the way it'll go. I've never seen Grealish playing in that position though. The alternative is a 3-4-3 with Trent and Gordon as wing-backs, but Gordon is a lousy defender. We'll see.

Eddie is the Napoleon of football management. He fights the battle that he's got today - not the one that he'd like to have or the one he had last week.

Man U still seem stuck in a pattern of impatience, where they make signings who aren't significantly better than the players they've already got. Our club has been criticised, from inside and outside our ranks, for not bringing in more players, but the more I think about it, the more I feel Eddie is right to hold his nerve. Having said that, I think Ugarte will prove to be a good signing. He'll be a round peg in a round hole.

This is providing much entertainment, but sadly all these incidents have long disappeared from my mind. Erm... apart from Pele v Uruguay in 1970. I watched the Isak chip against Spurs again and it is well worthy of inclusion in this company. He won the ball from a defender, made himself only a little bit of space and time, and then produced an attempt from a very unpromising angle and with the ball not really in the right position for a right footer. It seemed to be a cross between a chip and a toe-poke. His ability to improvise is brilliant.

Is it just may imagination or has he bulked up a bit? Sorry if this has already been mentioned.

That was an interesting article. Thank you for posting. It goes some way to explaining how we only conceded one goal, despite a makeshift back four. Joelinton's physical fitness, for a big man, is phenomenal. I can remember a couple of years ago, it emerged how hard he was working on this aspect of his game, privately as well as at the club. He was determined not to be the failure that we all that was his fate at one stage.

I actually thought they were quite fair, really. They pointed out that whilst their high press and all-out attack allowed them to dominate for long periods, the flip side was that when their press failed, their back four (which ended up as a back two really) was very exposed on the half-way line. Postecoglou seems determined to stick with this method, and no doubt his persistence has paid off in the past. But he's up against a different level of opposition and he probably needs to adjust if he's going to achieve his club's potential.

Roy Keane is not my favourite pundit, but he made a good point when he said that if you have pace in attack, you've always got a chance. So it proved.

Eddie has made it explicit that he only wants players in who will improve the squad. That sounds obvious but amidst the general pressure to achieve and progress, it's an important issue to keep hold of. Man U have spent the decade since Fergie left in bringing in players who aren't any better than the ones they already have. They also did that in the 20 or so seasons between Busby and Fergie, with the same results. Likewise Liverpool between Dalglish and Klopp. In the summer before Fergie won the league, he brought in hardly anyone. He had the nerve to give his players the message that they were good enough, despite narrowly missing out on the title to Leeds the season before. Later on, he was prepared to take a step backwards in order to allow his younger players the experience they needed, and the team benefitted greatly in the long-term. Years before, when Clough's Forest were remarkably chasing the title in the season after they had been promoted, he was tempted to bring in a player before the close of the transfer deadline (as it then was). It was tempting to respond to an impulse to 'make sure', but he decided against it because that would be a failure of nerve and would give his existing players the wrong message. It looks like Eddie put his foot down a bit in resisting the desire of others to bring in new faces of less than ideal quality at more affordable prices. I don't think that was just a matter of saving money for the bigger buys. I think he was also wanting to maintain the morale of the existing squad, and give them the message that they would only be replaced by others of significant talent. It's a delicate balance which that very naive Mag article doesn't deal with. On the Mitchell / Howe relationship, there probably have been differences of opinion. If both men are good at their jobs, that's bound to happen. Providing they are able to reach some form of resolution, that's okay. Final thought re Mitchell and Eales and the concept of a DOF. Given the turnover in Head Coaches at any club, it does make sense to make sure that there's some continuity in player recruitment, and that things don't have to start all over again when a new guy comes in. However, Eddie is very much a man with a long-term approach who likes to grow a strong identity with a club. He tries to create a solid atmosphere of mutual support. He's not one to have his head turned the minute a bigger club comes in. We've seen that commitment with Bournemouth. He may well be an old-style manager like a Fergie or a Busby. That's who we've got and he's done very well so far. His is the route that we're on.

It's disappointing, but let's cut our regime a bit of slack. We're in a delicate position with PSR, and it looks like Eddie's judgement was that the players who were available wouldn't represent a significant upgrade. Declining to spend can be seen as holding our nerve. It also seems that we wanted to free up funds by selling Miggy, but he didn't want to go. Many of the comments I see here and elsewhere remind me of Wenger's remarks about the 'supermarket trolley' view of transfers. Players don't come with a set or stable price and there's a lot of negotiation and maneuvering involved. We're not popular and it's inevitable that the media are going to pile in on this. Let's resist the temptation to join in. It's a long game we're playing.

My hero

Looking at the BBC viewer player ratings after Bournemouth, Longstaff got 1.66. The rest ranged from Barnes (6.67) to Joelinton (4.99). A similar thing seems to happen every week. Now come on, he's not that much worse than his team-mates.

Hopefully Tonali will step up, but I'm not convinced that Willock offers a better package. Yes, he's better going forward, but defensively he's very weak. I think that Longstaff has become the new Shola Ameobi. All the attention seems to go on his limitations and none on his strengths.

On the brighter side, it's quite something that we've had Burn and Krafth at CB for 150 minutes and only conceded one goal.

After 60 minutes, I'd have definitely settled for a draw. Hall's arrival seemed to transform the team. I was surprised that the Bournemouth goal was ruled out. It didn't look to me like a 'clear and obvious' error on the part of the ref. Similarly, I thought VAR was going to call the ref to the monitor to check Joelinton's foul on the keeper. It should have been a red.

Joelinton and Longstaff look vulnerable on the ball. Murphy does some good work, but he's wasted a couple of good situations. The limitations of our midfield are being exposed, but we're hanging on in there. As long as Isak is around, there's always hope.