TRon

He can play whatever formation he wants as long as it's making use of our best players. Tbf he can make use of our worst players if he ends up winning with them.

Thought he might have brought Trippier in for Tino tbh. Anyway I'd like to see Tonali playing the no 6 and Bruno further forward and see if that works better.

But I suppose the elephant in the room question is, would City have done any of those things if they weren't allowed to build a winning team? They might have done, but the first thing they did was spend gazillions on building a title winning side that qualified every year for the CL. I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing more. But I can understand why there is less gung ho about it when so many obstacles are carefully being placed to make sure we don't implement the one change which would send us crashing into the stratosphere.

Except City's leadership was backed by being able to spend more than everyone else on their squad which we can't replicate. Would be interesting to see successful how City's USP would have been without the money.

We had two weeks rest before playing West Ham and Eddie was saying we had a good week's training to back it up, then we got beat 2-0. I don't really put too much stock in the idea that teams are fatigued by Europe. Especially teams like Liverpool who can probably put out two teams which are worth more than our first team. I don't know how many games we've lost to Liverpool in Howe's time here but it feels like just about all of them.

But then they could afford to poach your management structure if they really wanted to. It's an unsustainable model for being Number 1.

Every time we drop points to a bottom half side we need to beat a top half side to make up the difference. Palace aren't a top half side but with Liverpool up next we need to win this one.

It is still quite useful to showcase just how desperate the cartel is to prevent anyone threatening their dominance. In theory I would probably have supported a move to stop state ownership of a club...if it hadn't already happened years ago and those same clubs winning honours and automatic entry into the elite competitions.

Would be interesting to see if Bruno got into the box more if he was played as an advanced midfielder. He scored goals in his first season here, can remember one really late winner where he arrived to head it in right at the whistle. That doesn't happen any more, maybe because he's more conscious his role is the deep lying midfielder.

Yes, that's what I said basically, I think that's why there will be some friction with Mitchell and Howe, it's inevitable when the owners are setting expectations of Europe and want to increase PSR headroom at the same time. Howe believes he needs good quality PL ready players to deliver, but that model doesn't leave any margin for failure. Don't qualify for Europe and you are basically forced to sell players as happened this summer.

I just don't think any of Willock, Joelinton or Longstaff has the deep lying midfielder profile. Murphy RW though...would never write that off, could definitely happen!

Depends who's perspective you are looking from. A manager will want the best players right now, so you get Eddie willing to pay a premium for PL proven players. His job is on the line depending on results, he's not got time to take a year developing great prospects. But the owners will be conscious that paying big money and wages only pays off with success. If we don't get Europe then those same players lose value every year, and your top assets start getting itchy feet.

Yeah that's not going to happen.

Don't think that's the worst thing tbh if it means Tonali gets to play at 6. Will be interesting to see how we line up.

I think you probably did.

It's hard for me to comment really because I wasn't able to watch the Brighton game, was only able to keep up with it via checking the score every so often, but we supposedly missed chance after chance, then they scored. Once that happened I sort of knew we weren't going to win. The West Ham game, again couldn't watch the first half due to other commitments, but we were 1-0 down when I tuned in second half. Never felt like we were going to get a win, and we conceded again. To me they looked pretty much in control and we were just throwing stuff at them in desperation. For all the loads of chances we supposedly had, their keeper barely had to make a save. There's days when you don't score and every team has them. But combined with giving away soft goals most games this season, it doesn't inspire confidence.

Tbf describing him as a shite signing isn't quite the same as saying he's a shite player. He's clearly a quality footballer, the question mark is whether he fits into firstly, a Howe line up, and secondly, the Premier League in general. I think he can definitely look good in the PL, but not sure whether he fits into Eddie's preferred formation. Even Eddie himself doesn't seem sure how to use him.

I don't think the problem is the finishing, yes we've missed a few recently but Isak is a very good finisher for the most part. I think we are struggling to create clear chances because the supply's not great from out wide. The left wingers are good at cutting in, but when that's blocked their delivery from wide is patchy. There is no right wing. There's no one other than Isak arriving in the box so the defenders all mark him.

Even that puts too much onus on a full back for attacking options down the right. Then when Tripps gets caught up the pitch he gets slaughtered for goals conceded on his side. Also think we need more goals from the midfield. Longstaff chipped in with a few but it's not consistent, and Bruno is playing as a 6 so not going to get in those positions as much.

There's some teams who seem to recognise our flaws and set up from the off to neutralise our threat...which isn't that much considering it's mostly down the left side and finding Isak. Stop Gordon/Barnes from cutting in, mark Isak out of the game and that's the defensive side wrapped up. Then if you get the ball you know there will be big gaps you can exploit on the counter.

Just fucking mental.

I think we put too much faith in scoring goals by pushing aggressively. It looks great, but our goal scoring record this season doesn't suggest it's particularly effective. You can blame shit finishing, but after enough games, you just wonder if there is actually finishing ability in enough players to warrant such optimism.

Ultimately this is what staff at the club responsible for squad building will be held accountable for though, whether that's Staveley, Howe or Mitchell.

I'd be surprised if it's settled even then tbh. They can just keep rewriting the rules and kick off a new case which will take 2 years. Worth every £multi-million of the cartel cashpot.