Colos Short and Curlies

I'm not buying the Tonali signing as being a vanity one, but the Barnes over the likes of Pedro and Palmer points towards our signings being 'system' buys and not just how good a player is. I'd say P&P are better than Barnes with a higher ceiling but based on our 4-3-3 intense press Barnes was the safer bet. Hall is the same, if he gets up to speed then he fits the profile of what we need in a full back.

exactly, we’ve basically tried to play the same way throughout the injury crisis which lends itself to ‘we had none to bring in to give Gordon a rest.’ we could have gone 3 at the back with Tino and Hall at wingback, we could have brought 1 player from the u23s in to at least gove someone 20 minutes less in their legs. i said it earlier that yes the injury situation. Is a freak and a genuine excuse but Howe has not done anything to play the hand that he’s been dealt other than to keep flogging a handful of players. he also chose to give Ritchie and Dummett extensions, there are players out there who we could have brought in on loan or low fees as a low cost riskier option. We didn’t and if they are in the squad then they should be considered first team options

Almiron and Longstaff were part of a team that got us top 4, a cup final and a Tonkin of PSG. if you can’t criticise Howe then you can’t criticise the players either. You could even flip it and argue that the players have made a fairly rudimentary playing style (all intensity and pressing) successful. youd be wrong on both counts of course, plaudits are right for the past but questions are right for the future

Howe was the one who decided it was better to give Ritchie and PaullyD new contracts rather than look at a couple of risks from abroad. If he’s happy to have them in the squad then he should be using them against the relegation threatened teams at least

so you adapt and literally park the bus in a game like today. the fatigue and injuries are a genuine excuse but he has also played the hand dealt to him pretty poorly at times

Anyone who is looking for us to spend on 3-5 players in Jan May as well be looking for a new manager. its just not Eddies style and they wouldn’t be making a difference to the team for another 10 games anyway

one was on a red shirt, one was by a red shirt

Hulk

just start casually dropping in to the locals that Castlemaine XXXX was named XXXX as Aussies couldn’t spell beer.

he’s not called Big Dan Burn for his height

And of course Salah goes to AFCON straight after this game

so it could be John Carver or Steve Bruce then

I’d love it if this was actually the King

I can see us getting to 66 points, would normally be enough to be 5/6. we’re only 2 wins down on Spurs, it’s the losses rather than draws that have done the real damage first half of the season, a few players back and we can fix that

is it 3 years we get to ‘bank’ the sale proceeds for FFP? Got to be a way we part ex Dubs for £10m but pay £10m over the asking price for someone to make it work

nah got to love the complete lack of appreciation to the wider game and just being caught in his own moment

we know that Howe is the type of manager who puts a lot in ‘system’ players and doesn’t just look at the individual attributes of them. we can see that ekitike in particular can play in the current system and if he’s available on loan feels like a no brainier to see out the season

Top 5 will still be the goal Winning the FA cup will still be the goal. european football of some sort will be the minimum accepted finish. Top 4 last season may have been ahead of schedule, but playing in Europe in 2024/2025 will have been part of the strategy

it’s not total mitigation though. everyone knew this season was going to bring different pressures and the summer was a time to put in a plan B ready for when the fixture stress hit. its weird as we moved forward summer of 22 but didn’t last summer.

genuine question - has there been progress? Not in results or even performance as there is obvious mitigation to those but have we developed since last May? Maybe it’s behind the scenes where this will show but on the pitch there’s little sign of evolving play etc

If PIF are planning on spending in Jan then he’s gone before Jan 1st. I can see them being ruthless

Are the prime games available on demand later? at the in-laws for lunch so can either half watch parts in the background or pull a likely lads

Tonali in disguise ready to nip into William Hill. Eddie looks like he’s desperate to get off for a shite.

I did say Europe, not specifically the CL. and I’d argue that it’s a bit different at Liverpool where they’ve challenged (and won) the league constantly for a number of years. Last year was obviously a blip for them. the players we’ve bought have now had a taste of CL and know they are good enough to go and play for a club pretty much guaranteed to be there year in year out.

no Europe and we probably lose one or two of Bruno, Botman and Isak so a rebuild will need to start, again looking at players who buy into the project. we may have overachieved last season but we need to maintain it if we are going to continue to build. and if that’s what needs to happen, so be it - we’ll just go again