STM

Ramsey, Elanga and Botman, dont really deserve to be in the team. Miley is unlucky, but is young. We cant just rotate and not care about the result.

Ramsey, like Elanga, hasnt hit the ground running. I think hes playing within himself. We will see the best of him in time.

Willock looked like the old Willock last time we saw him. Besides, hes an entirely different player to the others. Hes the only one who will carry us up the pitch.

For 95% of his game, hes fine at LB but for 5% he gets absolutely rinsed and it kills us. It wouldnt shock me if he was man of the match or if he was exposed.

Almost certainly Burn at LB. The rest of the team looks good though.

Another team prediction: Ramsdale Tino Thiaw Botman Burn Bruno Tonali Willock Elanga Gordon Ramsey

Weve already done alot of our work in the CL though. We are in a great spot. Everton is much more important than Marseille away, in the grand scheme. I wouldnt want to make the decisions on the game tommorow, mind. We need to build momentum and part of me wonders if Eddie will go full strength.

I think we all have a tendency to overreact. Gordon is a good player. Barnes is a good player. Both perform better when the team performs well and the team performs well when we have our wingers ticking. Gordon had his best performance in black and white against Benfica and his worst against West Ham. Im not sure on his attitude, but I know for certain that Eddie will be on top of it. IMO he does come back in vs Marseille but in order to give Woltemade a rest. Its not ideal having Gordon up front, but it might be the right tonic for the side on a tricky European away night when counter attacking might be the way. Barnes pushing him out of the team is fantastic news. Gordon will either have to put up or shut up.

Yeah id go along with that on both counts. Osula has shown that hes good enough to command a fee from abroad but just not good enough for where we are at.. And id be really interested to see who they go for at fullback, since both of our fullbacks are essentially our long term options. Do they go for experience or for a young project player.

Merinos pass was superb.

Personally dont blame Spurs one bit for sitting in. If anything, its entirely un-spurs.

Calafiori sounds like a shite resort in Spain.

That Odebert is absolutely shite.

This has routine 2-0 Arsenal all over. Spurs look somewhat organised, for a Spurs side, but it wont be enough.

Trying to think of what Howe could do to help with legs. It's possible he will go unchanged but here's an alternative: Pope Thiaw Botman Burn Murphy Bruno Tonali Hall Ramsey Woltemade Barnes Something like this. Howe has quite alot of options but I suspect he will go unchanged for this.

Arteta is such an excitable little gimp.

Id have Tanaka at Newcastle.

With the options on the bench depleted, we might as well have 10 minutes of Wissa, rather than 2 goalkeepers.

Yeah he needs that deal.

He seemed a little off to me. I agree that its hard to judge defenders in a side not performing and not protecting them. Moyes going in to Everton has made Micheal Keane look decent, for example. Right now the challenge is on Botman to perform. I suspect he will start against Marseille.

Sounds like something TCD would criticise the club for. "Chelsea have a cloning device, how can our owners claim to be serious if they dont invest properly?"

I stood up and clapped watching in my kitchen.

He misplaced one pass. Thats it, that's all ive got. The best thing he did was a pass to left back which completely cut out the city press and got us away up the field. It was a moment of pure class and the difference between a great defender and a great footballer. In similar situations, poor defenders just play long and lose the ball.

I echo what most are saying... This is base level Woltemade, hes not even in his stride yet and hes an absolute handful. Hes also shown tremendous character, given the pressure on him.

Hes playing within himself, hes completely out of form and his heads gone. Its nothing to do with attitude, and its not (entirely) to do with ability. He will come good but theres alot of work to do and just like with other players, it might take 18 months before we see a significant impact from him. Im putting him on the back burner. If he comes in and does well, great, but for now hes a project for Eddie and the team... an expensive project.