TRon

Well there was one major injury and now this back issue which once it's diagnosed might just need a proper fix. It could just be two injuries that have happened but are not necessarily chronic in their own right. When he did play earlier this season it looked like his knee issues were a thing of the past. I see him as a major asset and a player for the future. The last thing I would want is to have him here for his injury period then watch him blossom somewhere else after we got him right again.

100% this.

The actions are they hired Hopkinson in the first place. If they just wanted to milk the club there would never have been talk of a new stadium at all. Neither would there be any talk of PIF funding half of it, they would just take out a bigger loan like most other owners do.

They can all fuck off far as I'm concerned. I want our owners to be making big statements. I like this guy Hopkinson as well. If you'd prefer a Charnley, well each to his own.

Honestly I thought the same after the West Ham and Brentford defeats but we came out fighting against City and Everton. You just have to hope there will be the same reaction after dropping points to a poor Spurs side on Tuesday. We can't keep giving away late goals, especially with the mackems looming.

Sorry, don't recognise you from previous posts. Are you a sunderland fan?

Isak's too good to flop if we are honest. What would be better is if his groin muscles have just debilitated beyond repair.

This has always been the issue going back to the days when SJH tried to build a new stadium back in the glory days of the 90s. There just seems to be so many hurdles in the way you can understand why it's not the most urgent project under development. That doesn't mean it won't happen, just there are obviously a lot of moving parts.

He seems like a nice enough bloke but it's like watching someone else's home videos. Tried sitting through one of them and switched it off after 5mins. Absolutely nothing of any use to me, if someone else gets something out of them, have at it.

Well I'm hoping Isak's groin turns out to be a chronic injury tbf, not really an apt comparison.

Well it doesn't look great but it's early days. I'm hoping Elanga is still finding his feet (literally) and we'll see him improve once he's had a few starts under his belt.

Agree on the lightweight assessment, that's why he gives me Willock vibes. Although it's still early days, and even if you aren't the most combative midifielder, you can make up for it with skill and end product. He might still have all that in his locker, I just haven't seen it yet.

Being wrong footed due to a mis-hit is usually enough to throw a keeper off balance, then you add in line of sight getting blocked by two huge defenders in front of you, and it's harsh to put too much on the keeper there.

Well you can only form an opinion on what you have seen. These are PL ready players so if they are not playing more, it's because they aren't performing.

He does fit the positional criteria as being a replacement/competion for Joelinton, but he doesn't really look like an upgrade. He had an injury which kept him out for a few weeks but other than that we've barely seen him. I would have expected to see him used a lot more considering his PL experience.

One of the problems of Murphy is that his excellent right foot provides great quality in delivery, but his actual footballing ability is pants. So when it comes to giving up possession, he's one of the worst culprits.

It's also due to availability. I haven't had a season ticket since the Ashley days, but if I want to go to a game I usually want at least two tickets. If enough tickets were available I could probably spring for four most weeks. So there's another argument for a 70k stadium, there are plenty of people out there who would go if they thought they could get in with a partner or with family.

If this is a tough game, I don't know which ones will count as on the easier side.

Mind you would have thought Pope would save Paqueta's long range shot against West Ham where he had it covered but it deflected under his hand.

You said when he's crowded he's diabolical. By that metric so are most of our players. Bruno and Lewis Hall are the exception maybe, but there's a reason we don't keep the ball well when we are pressed. Joelinton holds onto the ball in an attempt to manouvre the ball out then release players forward. I'm sure I've already said this somewhere today. The alternative is to pass it early but for that you need options. Or you can pass sideways or backward, but that just puts the pressure onto whoever you pass it to. I do think we need an upgrade, but I don't think the turnover in possession is just on him.

He'd run out of players to pass it to, since most of them are equally shite.

That's especially true this season, the keeper is usually surrounded by players blocking the jump.

I thought he was pissed off at the defending as well. He was really having a go after it went in.

Don't see anything other than a comfortable win here.

Maybe we overrate the players then. Bruno is great at ball retention, Hall as well for the most part. Not sure how many others you could put in that bracket. Thiaw and Tino maybe, Tonali on a good day. Miley is good but he plays very safe mostly so easier for him.