Shak

Moukoko would be an absolute dream. Long term you'd assume he'll be seen as a Wilson replacement but short term I'd definitely love a left footed player who could play Almiron's spot too. Do feel if he gets injured we'll lose a lot of our balance. Imagine bringing on Moukoko instead of Murphy when we're chasing a goal late and Miggy has run out of gas. Would be ideal as at his age he'll likely be OK with playing off the bench for a while but he seems like if he was needed to play a lot he'd be dynamite too.

Page 540 is pretty good stuff, right when we'd lost to Cambridge in the cup. Obviously was a rough time but man some of the posts are funny now, looking back

If we sell ASM I'd hope we would get some money for him like. Maybe don't let Heron be part of the negotiations.

Hope when we sign a midfielder it's just someone there's been no real noise about recently. Someone like Haidara or Koné.

So somewhere between a week and seven weeks then, technically.

Would make a lot of sense tbh, much needed depth until the end of the season when there'll hopefully be some more money to get someone in more long term. Then blow our wad this January on a CM.

Gonna be very interesting to see if Howe tries to play him and Wilson together from the start at any point and what changes we'll make to the setup to accommodate that, if any.

Shame for him that he basically missed two key years of his professional development when Benitez left. Both Rafa and Howe have been able to get some really solid football out of him, had he not had cabbagehead in charge for two years he might have been able to develop his game on the ball a bit more. Think he'll be a valuable squad member for years to come.

Presumably both of them will be needed alongside Longstaff in midfield with Bruno out.

Thought it was one of the finest performances we've ever seen at SJP, personally.

I think it's fair for people to question Howe's choices. I'd say we got a bit lucky today, for as well as we did in stifling Fulham we struggled to create much more than a few half chances and had Mitro not slipped and we'd gone on to not win we'd likely have half the forum ranting and raving about setting up too negatively in home games coming off the back of this and the Leeds game. Personally find it a bit frustrating that we're not starting ASM in home games like this. We don't look like creating much when teams sit back against us and he's capable of things nobody else in our team is. However, I do get it. Firstly, he may not be where Howe wants him in terms of fitness. Secondly, it's clear that Howe's priority is to stop teams from being able to have the ball as much as possible and making us incredibly solid. Win the ball in dangerous positions and take advantage. He's turned us into an incredibly formidable side doing it, we can have no complaints. It's obviously going to be frustrating, at times. Had we drawn 0-0 today for the second consecutive PL home game then of course it'd be frustrating that we're starting 3 CBs and 4 CMs and wondering why we can't score. However, the trade off is that we get to go into every game for the rest of the season knowing we're going to give everybody we face an absolute battle. We've lost one game all season for a reason and I'm at the point where I'll be absolutely shocked if we have a game this year where we lose 3-0 and just never look to be at the races. It's a worthwhile trade off, for me. Give it a couple of windows and we'll have a left winger who's as dangerous as ASM going forward but can press like a fucking maniac too. A CM who gets around the pitch as much as Longstaff but is absolutely top class with the ball as his feet. A LB who is defensively solid as fuck but can bomb on and turn into an attacker when needed. Then we'll win the fucking league.

The game on February 18th against Liverpool could be so fucking huge.

I think he's rusty and not quite match sharp but it's hard to notice because even at 70% he looks dangerous.

The key for us will be not drawing too many games, especially at home. It's great that we're so hard to beat of course but at the end of the day a win and a loss is generally going to better than two draws (possible exception being when one is against a direct league rival) Today felt possibly like a bit of a turning point? Game looked for all the world like another like the Palace, Bournemouth or Leeds games. Frustrating home games that were just two points dropped. But finally we actually pulled one out of the bag. Helped that we were able to make such positive changes from the bench, of course. Still think it's Spurs and Liverpool that we're really focused on. Finish ahead of both of them and we'll get top four. Both have to come to SJP too.

If it's a significant injury then we'll have to move for a too quality replacement. Luckily Bruno is such a complete midfield player that he'll be able to play with anyone we bring in.

Guy is just a beast, should never play out wide again IMO it's an utter waste of his talents.

They've also got Man U on Wednesday so a short turnaround.

Anyone heard anything about this guy? Read that he got injured warming up at half time the useless waster.

I thought not starting ASM against Leeds was a mistake but it's hard to know how much of it was down to ASM's fitness levels.

Will be interesting to see if he starts to mess around with the setup in home games against weaker opposition. Last two games we've looked pretty ineffective in open play when teams are willing to defend deep and frustrate us. Happened a few times earlier in the season too, the Palace and Bournemouth games come to mind. Away from home it works great as we're so solid at the back and teams find it very difficult to pin us back with how good we are at pressing. At home... it looks a lot more noticeable that we're playing with three CBs and four CMs. I guess the theory is that you don't want to sacrifice the defensive stability by changing it too much, I don't know. Might just be as simple as committing to playing ASM or Isak on the left in home games instead of Willock/Joe? Would be great to have Targett back to give us a LB with a bit more attacking ability too.

Not sure what he was complaining about?

Fuck me, the stress of that

Aye, so often we're playing a pass without committing a defender. Almiron to Wilson was the worst one but been happening all day.

Man, Almiron plays that way too early. We're fucking putrid at picking a pass in the final third at the moment.

Trippier been fucking useless all game. Counter attack started because of his shitty cross that didn't beat the first man from a great position, then he just goes in and hacks at the guy. Braindead, massive let off.