STM

I'm more than happy for him to stay as a back right back until he retires, however I don't think Trippier will want that and he's one of our higher earners, therefore the club might want to move him on.

Have to bring Tino back in. We need someone with pace in our back line. Trippier is fine when you are absolutely dominating the game.

I agree with Froggy, no chance Amorim gets the sack and nor should he. They have to have a cull, even if it means losing vast amounts of money in the short term. Amorim should have hired Roy Keane as a temporary assistant, merely for the purpose of terrorising the squad in the dressing room and setting some standards around the place. Once that phase is over, they can start thinking about building a side which can play Amorims football.

I think it's clear we won't be signing players already on big wages, we've never done that yet, so I doubt we will do it now. It's also become less likely now we have Mitchell IMO.

He will have PL options because, believe it or not, he's not as our own fans seem to think.

I reckon by the end of January someone will see him as a useful cheap option for a couple of seasons. Everton perhaps.

Yeah but they are winning the ball on occasion and just cant find a teammate. It's a lack of quality on their part IMO.

Aye he's looked absolutely shite but I'm not going to give up on him. I remember what Krafth was like before Howe. Next season i reckon we see a different player.

Jesus Ipswich just can't get out, they are utterly shite.

Love that Eddie is almost certainly watching this right now as homework for our cup game.

Yep, exactly the sort of bargain we shouldnt be afraid of.

Na couldn't find it.

Try beanyman sports on YouTube.

Disagree. I think he's class but he needs a strong coach who will get him making better decisions.

We signed Dan Burn for 14m. Where are those signings now? An absolute bargain in retrospect. I'd love us to not be afraid to think outside the box. Especially if we may have Europe on the cards next year. I'm not saying we shouldn't primarily sign young players to improve but there's something to be said for finding experienced players who aren't as expensive or coming to the end of their contracts etc. Is there someone on loan we could attract? A striker to see us through to the summer in case Isak breaks? Thoughts and ramblings perhaps but I just hope the club doesn't become narrow minded.

The key is to remind their players they are out of form and lacking confidence. What we absolutely can't do is allow them to remember how to play football. When you aren't in form, a negative mindset from everyone can set in if you set about them quickly. Midfield need to go hard and fast.

66 points is average for 5th over the last 5 seasons. 66 points over 38 games averages as 1.73 PPG. We are currently sitting at 1.61 PPG. You could look at that and say that we are performing below the required level, or you could look at it and say, given our inconsistency, it's a miracle that we are so close to the target. Personally, and this is just my opinion, if we continue to perform at this level we will absolutely smash that target. The level we have played at in the last 4 (including the cup) games is easily top 4 material IMO. Ok, so we played 3 lower end sides but we didn't just beat them, we actually brushed them aside, which is what top 4/5 sides have to do. I think what will make or break this challenge is: a) how we perform in our tough away games: Liverpool, Man Utd, City, Spurs, Villa and Arsenal. b) when we do drop points, how we respond to it. For example, if we go to Arsenal and get beat, there's no shame, we just need to get back up and go again. c) injuries. So far this season we've done well injuries wise, how do we cope of we miss Isak for a month or Tonali and so on. Botman (and Lascelles) returning and dare I say Wilson at the back end of the season, could be crucial.

You can see when a game is tight where his problems lie, he just doesn't have the speed of thought or technical ability under pressure to play the cute stuff that Tonali, Bruno or even Gordon can. To be fair, even Joelinton can struggle with this aspect but Joelinton gets away with it because he can physically hold people off where as Murphy can't. Once a game opens up, his pace, crossing and shooting is really decent. We need someone of a different class to play there long term but credit to him for making the most of this chance.

Spot on. It's been bugging me that nobody has mentioned it.

I just think he waited too long to try Tonali 6, in the same way he probably could have used Hall sooner but for me, that's barely a criticism of Howe because most managers struggle to even identify the problem, let alone fix it. I'd rather a manager that slowly tinkered in order to find the solution, rather than one that threw the puzzle pieces in the air and hoped that they would land in the right pattern. The one great thing is that now Howe has found the solution, you can bet he won't fuck about with the side unless he absolutely has to.

He tries to get him 3 times. Left foot, right foot across the back and then flicks the same right footed trying to catch Schar on the head with the follow through. Of course all 3 were just unfortunate and accidental, there's simply no way he could have avoided implanting his studs into Schar 3 times. To me if you've played any sort of footy, you know exactly what Duran is doing.

If Leicester score again it will be called off.

Apparently they get on really well.

He's a clear upgrade on Bruno and Bruno is a gargantuan upgrade on Longstaff.