Andy

The video is from years ago isn't it?

His best bet here is to own up to it and put it down to a mental health crisis caused by the way players and managers are allowed to shout at and abuse officials. The FA/PL have done very little to control that over the years so it would potentially be very bad optics for them to then fire him, particularly if other refs backed him up. The way Klopp was allowed to behave was ridiculous, everyone has known it for years.

Didn't he just fail to give two stonewall penalties against Liverpool a few days ago? I think it's more that he's just a shite ref than he has a bias towards one club or another. He consistently makes bad decisions, just as he did when making this video.

He seems to go through phases in games where he's day dreaming and just not on it at all, especially away from home.

I always find it funny that in football we view 34 year old blokes as if they're 54. Aye he's old enough to know better, but I know plenty of people who have made questionable decisions and fucked their marriage up in their early 30s. I'd imagine 35-45 is the most common age range for divorce. Unfortunate that it has had such a large impact on his form though.

The only strong argument I've seen for Longstaff improving us is the win% argument, but that's really only valid if you choose to ignore every single other variable that could possibly determine the outcome of a football match. It's the whole correlation/causation thing.

I'm not convinced by this; over the last two seasons we have given some rancid performances with Longstaff in the midfield where his own personal performance was equally bad (including earlier this season, despite the wins). He has his use in the squad, but it's too basic an analysis to only look at win% when he plays vs when he doesn't, as it ignores a load of other variables. For as much as we improved in the last two games, I think that's more down the overall balance of the team. The tactical switch of moving Joelinton to the left has made the biggest impact IMO.

Without wanting to be overly negative, as we were obviously excellent today, this is the kind of game we generally show up in. I'll be more convinced we've turned the corner this season if we can put in good performances and pick up positive results over the next three matches. It's no good putting on a colossal showing like today if we get rolled over at Forest and Palace. This result needs to kick start our season.

Bizarrely comfortable, Arsenal looked a shadow of the last couple of seasons. Some great performances all across the park from us. The two fullbacks were excellent.

His end product has been really poor. Generally fine defensively though.

Good win. Looking forward to Liverpool away in the next round.

He isn't though. He's played the same system for three years whether it's working or not, we rarely change tactics or have a plan B. Howe has a lot of strengths in terms of coaching and getting the best out of players, but tactics and systems have never been what he was known for.

I think saying we've been honking for the whole year is obviously hyperbolic. We have certainly been honking at times during that period though, especially away from home, regardless of whether you're judging by post-takeover expectations or pre-takeover expectations. Some of the performances have been well below the required standard, and what's concerning to me is we haven't really changed anything to shake it up. It currently feels like we try the same thing every single week, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It seems like teams have found us out a bit and its edging more towards the latter this season.

I don't want to fall too far into the realms of questioning him, but I do think he is at his toughest point, and I do fear that managers of his type often run out of steam at clubs, especially when the squad begins to get stale as well. This season is a perfect storm for him. Stale squad, ageing players in key positions, Isak losing form, Gordon losing form, Trippier and Wilson being unavailable (and in the case of the former, a shadow of himself), Bruno looking out of sorts, two kids at full back... Add all that to the fact that he hasn't changed anything tactically to accommodate, and it's clear he could quickly find himself in a very tricky position. I'd like to think he can turn it around but I don't think he'll do it by playing the same system week in week out.

I think the big problem Eddie has is that he's never really been a big tactical manager. He's a motivator and he coaches teams to play with intensity. It seems like that motivation just isn't working this season, particularly away from home. There were signs of it fading last season too. We don't have a tactical setup to fall back on so we end up looking incoherent.