STM

Some great cameos here. Isak has been quiet... which should worry Burnley.

Ref is making it about him.

Good football. Started by Tino.

Ref letting Burnley do what they want. Fouls on Wilson and Isak just let go.

Should be a booking for foul on Gordon.

Yeah I reckon it's 442 with Isak given licence to roam. In this formation we might ask Murphy to sit in a touch.

I said I thought Tosin would be a great signing so we are in agreement but his price makes it a no brainer. My wider point is that the club won't be making 5 20m pound signings. They are much more likely to make 2 50m signings and rightly so.

Gonna be 442. That will kill Burnley.

Telt ya Edit: apart from Barnes.

It's been two years since the takeover, we have a horrific injury crisis. I'll take a bet that this is the last year of us having to play "the old guard", like Dummett and Richie. We may have a Murphy or Krafth still knocking about but they will be 3rd choice.

That's two poor examples. Endo was a panic buy after Caicedo and Lavia turned Liverpool down. He's been OK but he's nowhere near as good as Fabinho. So Liverpool are weaker in that area. Trossard cost 30m and is a quality signing. No different to say Barnes. So exactly what we already have been doing. I'm not really sure what the debate point is here? I want them to sign quality and quality costs.

If he's with the squad, I'd presume Howe will start him.

It's hard to really grasp what you are saying though. Give me an example of a player/price you would look at? In general, the less you pay, the worse the quality. Filling the bench with players "just better than Richie and Dummett" is a ridiculous strategy, both from a financial and footballing point of view. I'd rather sign quality, slowly and be patient.

What annoys me is that he played left of the midfield 3 too many times. With that passing/crossing ability, you have to have him in that half space around the opposition box, where Longstaff plays. Do that and Tonali could well get 15 goal contributions, especially with Gordon and Isak bombing in.

Are you saying you were dreaming of penises?

Perfect usage.

I agree that we need to have our weaker areas strengthened. However, I think it's a better strategy to sign quality players and push current players down the pecking order, than to sign what some refer to as "squad fillers". Tosin makes entire sense because not only is he a quality player but he's also a decent deal for us to do. Loyd Kelly would be similar. What we need to be careful of, is losing value on players as soon as they come through the door. Even if Tosin (for example) doesn't work out, we'd likely recoup any signing on fee/agent fee from a future sale. The other strategy is to buy quality young players, like Hall and Livramento who will initially come in as bench players with the opportunity to take their place in the starting 11.

As much as I think this will be tough, we are in danger of talking them up a little too much.

That's fine. He can book Bruno, as long as he doesn't send him off.

To have Miggy, Joelinton, Wilson and Barnes on the bench entirely changes the complexion of our game. If its a narrow scoreline in the second half, we should finish strong.

This will be a high press job for Eddie. Burnley try to play out from the back and I'd be looking to catch them out in that area. As much as I get the counter attacking idea, you can't sit back against Burnley, it sends entirely the wrong message. In an ideal world I'd have Miggy, Joelinton and Pope straight into the starting 11.... Eddie won't, I wouldn't be surprised to see Pope start though.

Micky Van De Slip not having a great game.

The problem is us beating Burnley.

I also don't think Kane would have made that much of a difference. There issues aren't really at that end of the pitch. Their midfield seems super soft too me and they lack options in wide areas.

I think this is where league position and direction are two different things. Spurs 5th and looking weak under Ange compared to Chelsea who are 8th and getting stronger by the game or even your Villa who are only one position above Spurs but look lightyears ahead in overall play. Spurs had a really good start and play nice stuff but are soft as fuck and it's built on the sand of Daniel Levy upstairs. Not sure what this post has to do with Harry Kane mind.