TRon

The main issue with them two playing has been Bruno getting caught upfield with no cover behind him because Tonali has been right of centre. He was more central yesterday and that closed a lot of gaps. Ideally the double pivot mentioned by TCD would be the way to go, just not sure how you would fit the rest of the players round it.

Does feel like the sort of game where a later kick off would suit us more than them. Even so, I think this is a great chance to beat them, we'll be up for it after yesterday, and they will be worried about coming up here needing to win to stay in touch with Liverpool and City.

From where I was sitting it looked pretty awful but it was the other end of the pitch. I said immediately to the bloke next to me, is that not a red? Very relieved it wasn't tbh, I thought we got the better of the decision yesterday.

The thought of playing Dan Burn or Kelly at LB now seems utterly ridiculous. Hindsight-tastic obviously, but this lad is such a good footballer, and he's absolutely bursting with confidence right now.

Tbf, they probably should have some light shed on it, no doubt they will be diabolical. I doubt it will be stopping us doing business with them any time soon though.

They don't just buy one though, they buy 3 just in case.

Said in the pre-match that their reserve side would cost double our first 11. Looks like I wasn't far out.

He really needs to be played as a CB so he can get himself match hardened for the position. He clearly was growing into his role again once he got a handle on it.

Think he's been pretty good in both games against Chelsea tbh, don't think he looked off at all. I bet they'll be glad to see the back of him.

It also highlighted that pace through the centre is quite important if you are going to play the high press. I did suggest bringing in Kelly and Krafth to counter this, although as part of a back 5, in the event Howe stuck to his own formation and made it work. Also having Tonali in the centre instead of Bruno also reduced the lack of pace, and bringing Longstaff in on the right gave us more cover.

They weren't exactly straightforward chances like, the ball was flying in at pace. I thought Joelinton's effort was pretty good in the circumstances, he hit the post and was inches away from a goal.

He might get caught for pace on occasions, but his positional sense is still great. He was in the right place for the last ditch blocks a few times last night.

He was fantastic. Totally bossed them all over the pitch.

Nice to see that old left side combo with Joelinton back in gear again.

It's easy to miss his contribution on a tv screen and I think that's because he doesn't carry the ball much, but he's a pest to play against because he's on his man in a flash when we press high, and he moves the ball so quickly he can cause real damage if team mates are alive to it. Looked great tonight.

Thought his pace made a real difference tonight. He looks a good tackler as well, very happy with that performance.

They did get through us into our penalty area on a few occasions but we always seemed to find a last ditch block or tackle.

That we are 12th instead just proves the fallacy of putting too much stock on a player with a terrible history with injuries. Although tbf I think we would definitely have sold if he hadn't managed to get crocked again before the season even began.

Not sure that's right. He tends to stick with what he knows, but after Bournemouth he did travel extensively to learn other methods when he got accused of being too dogmatic with the attacking style he likes. In general most of us are on board with it, far easier to watch than the stuff we've been fed for the decade or so before he arrived. I think he does adapt, but he seems reluctant to change until he's forced to when it just stops working. He's not someone who can switch formations to suit different opponents, or maybe he just doesn't want to confuse his players. You rarely see him change shape even mid-game when we are losing, he just tends to swap like for like.

Chelsea's weakened team is probably worth twice as much as our first 11 tbf. I don't know about strong favourites. But I do think they'll switch their players around a lot and that might mean they aren't as tuned in as you would expect, so there is a chance for us to hit them while they are finding their feet tonight. We need a win though, we aren't going to go through on pens.

Getting £10-15m would be good, but it's more likely he'll just stay here until we give him another new contract. He doesn't want to leave, and Howe gives him plenty of time on the pitch.

Maybe not, but I don't think fitness is going to fix the pace deficit of players like Burn, Schar and Bruno. All of them are good players, but they are not designed to recover from losing the ball implementing a high press.

Hopefully this is a sign of Mitchell's input and there'll be plenty more to come. We won't reap the immediate benefits, but a year or two down the line.

I don't know if I mentioned this already, but Maresca's interview after the game really stuck in my head. He criticised his own players for lack of patience which turned the game into "basketball". In one way you could count that as a success for Howe because it's an admission that we imposed our game on them. But on the other hand we are often coming out losers in these exchanges as some of our players can't cope with the high speed turnovers. So yeah, the players don't really seem comfortable with the tactics. They certainly aren't executing them effectively.

Tbh, my impression is that during Staveley's time here, Howe pretty much got what he wanted in players, seems that if it was a player we really liked - examples being Gordon and Barnes - we would chase them over prolonged periods of time, even if there was no pressing need in that position. It's one of the reasons the squad is imbalanced. So if we aren't signing players suited to Howe's preferred style, then either he doesn't know what he needs, or there's a disconnect somewhere between the CEO and him.