Shak

Someone must be shagging someone, he's been fairly shite for a while.

God Maxi running at defenders is randy, randy stuff.

Man I wish we'd scored that.

He's gonna stick around the squad for a few years, Howe clearly trusts him to come on and help see out games so as long as he's happy to only start in emergencies then I'd say we'll be glad to keep him.

We had a really good break on when the ref brought it back, bottled the decision.

Lucky to be ahead tbh, think West Ham have been the better team apart from us grabbing a goal from nowhere and then another when they were reeling from that. Really sloppy in possession. Burn in particular having a mare but we seem a bit directionless in a lot of our passing, trying to keep the ball rather than do anything with it. The difference between Isak and Wilson in general play is massive, fair play to Wilson for a brilliant bit of goalscorer play but aside from that he's been poor again IMO. ASM has had some bits of quality but there were a few moments where it looked like he had space to really go at the defence and he didn't go for it. Needs to be just a bit more greedy. Felt like he may have been moving a bit gingerly towards the end of the half, hope to fuck he hasn't tweaked something again.

We've just stopped playing for some reason.

Aye that's what I mean about his movement off the ball. He doesn't seem to have a good feel at all where to run to when his teammates have the ball. When he gets it defenders are usually in a decent position. His immense dribbling ability means he can still beat them quite often but if he could start making clever runs and receiving the ball in really dangerous positions he could be lethal. Would open things up for other quality ball carriers like Isak and Willock if they had ASM dragging defenders all over the shop giving them space to exploit.

I don't know if he'll be here next year but you absolutely can't argue with the effort he's put into trying to become the kind of player that fits into an Eddie Howe team. So much of it is counter to his instincts as a player but he's really putting in the work. Sunday was a glimpse of what could be for him if he stays here. Had a great balance of playing with his head up and knowing when to take players on. Pressed well as part of the front three too. He still needs to work on his movement off the ball but no reason he can't develop that part of his game too. I'd also love to see him absolutely dedicate himself to building his fitness levels up over the summer. If he does stay and play a key role over the coming years then there'll be an argument to be made that it'll be Howe's finest bit of work. Obviously taking the likes of Joelinton and Almiron and turning them into quality PL players from the broken shells they were when he got here was incredible. However, taking a player who was individually thriving and getting him to buy into massively overhauling the way he plays and then having him come out the other end a radically changed player who can still thrive would be immense.

Seeing the job Emery is doing also gives me even more confidence in the people running the show for us. Howe was our second choice. Had we targeted someone like Gerrard at that time and ended up with Howe it would have had to have been considered a massive slice of fortune. However, Emery looks shit hot too.

Lovely little nutmeg and pass by Atsu for our second goal.

There was a rumour that we wanted to move for him in January and he decided to wait until the summer to see what other options emerged. Part of me kind of wants us to have used the extra time (and potentially more money with CL football) to get a better target lined up while nobody else comes in for Maddison due to his injuries. Then he goes to Chelsea to be misused there while we're in the CL. I'm a small man in some ways, lads. A small, petty man.

Turned it on about five seconds before the goal

Aye, I was being sarcastic.

I think we should try to release him on a free at the end of the year personally, send a message to the rest of the squad.

Not sure if it's a controversial opinion but I'm very much of the opinion that moving him out of his current position to get him involved further up the pitch is not necessarily the right move. Obviously right now it's very tempting the idea of him getting into the positions Longstaff, Willock and Joelinton regularly find themselves in but why don't we just replace them with better players rather than move Bruno? Such a massive advantage for us having a player who is as fantastic on the ball as he is in that deep role while also being well able to do his job defensively. Obviously wouldn't be surprised if we unleash him further up the pitch and he gets a bunch of goals next year but I do tend to think we'll find it easier to find an attack minded midfielder that can improve us than we will to find someone who offers us what Bruno does in that role.

I mean Froggy is technically British. Possibly why he's such a cunt?

Pleased for him, seems to have worked hard and can see him being a valuable member of the squad for a few years yet as someone to come on and shithouse away the end of games. Did think Gordon looked vastly better mind, wouldn't be surprised to see him start one of the next two games in Murphy's place.

He's surprisingly competitive in the air, been a pleasant surprise as I assumed with his build and style of play he'd be not up to much. Quality headed goal against Wolves, drew the penalty against Forest with a header and had a decent chance today. Really looks like he has it all as a CF prospect, already a very good player and looks like he'll only get better and better.

Ten Haag's zip situation on his outfit is top class, must be said.

Do people honestly expect him to come out and say "we're just not as good as them, Newcastle are amazing" or something?

Think he was trying to make the point that they didn't want it enough, which is fair enough IMO.

Cheers mate, nice to have a Man U fan on the board with a bit of class if only briefly

His running at the full back never led to a goal. The original post was a comment on his burst when running with the ball. Jesus Christ lads, it was a positive post

Aye, just meant in the sense it never directly led to a goal.