Andy

We have absolutely no "x factor" at the minute, just look like a bunch of plodders. I really miss ASM's unpredictability at times, especially during games like this where the opposition are getting back into shape quickly. Much as I like Gordon he's really predictable most of the time.

Only problem I have with Bruno in that role is his lack of positional discipline. He's literally everywhere, which isn't always what you want from a "6" and contributes to (but isn't the only cause of) the huge gaps we have between the lines IMO. Last season we had Willock and Joelinton bombing about everywhere to plug the gaps, and we had a generally higher defensive line, which made it less noticeable than it has been this season.

Where has this gone this season? No yellow cards against Arsenal at the weekend, only six fouls against us in the entire match. Last season we would have broken the play up with niggly fouls, wasted time early on... it feels like that cynical element has gone missing from our game. I'm sure this is mainly personell based (and because Bruno is on 9 yellows), but I do think it's been the case all season that we've generally been "nicer" - Villa (a) and Arsenal (h) spring to mind as the only real exceptions. Last season we were uncomfortable to play against, annoying, got under teams' skins. It became a big part of our "us against the world" identity. Surely it isn't all just down to Joelinton's absence?

I wondered if you're both talking about different games? Milan away was definitely backs to wall and was indicative early on of what our away performances would generally look like this season. Milan at home we definitely had a go, arguably naively so at times.

He's a player that relies solely on his engine. Unfortunately he's clearly knackered at the moment, so he has very little left to offer apart from the occasional late arrival into the box. On the ball and off it, he's always two yards slower than everyone else. Watching him is like when you haven't played five a side for ages and you have to readjust to basic things like controlling the ball, and you take two extra touches before passing, except that's Longstaff every week, scaled up to PL level.

Agree with this, at least as far as FFP allows us. There needs to be no sentiment this summer. There are a lot of players kicking around who have "done a job" but are either past their past (Wilson, Ritchie, Dummett), or are younger but were never really all that consistently good to begin with and have reverted to type (Longstaff, Targett, Almiron, Murphy, maybe even Lascelles I'd include here too). Maybe keep one or two around as squad players, but we shouldn't be seeing these players starting games next season unless it is dire circumstances.

The point re: Burn was in reference to the posts above praising him for the clearance. There's a weird situation formed where you're unable to criticise Burn without it being framed as a pile-on. He's been one of our poorer players recently, it's acceptable to call him out on errors and he did make another one yesterday in the build up to that incident. He also did well for the goal yesterday, as I pointed out, which you decided to omit from your quote. His general performance when coming on was as mixed as every other player, and definitely not enough to make me feel all that differently about the left back situation. Edit: also, RE the first goal, Livramento did try to clear it? Botman's leg rises after his initial whiffed clearance and his knee blocks the ball. It's 100% Sven's error.

I'd have Livramento down as being responsible for Saka's goal (arguably should still have been blocked like and came from Botman's poor error initially), which other one would you say he was to blame for? The first OG was definitely Botman's error, completely missed his initial clearance. Second goal is Botman/Trippier not being switched on. Fourth is Miley turning his back on the cross and poor reactions from Karius.

Did well for the goal, but was the cause of the one he cleared off the line with a very poor bit of play in the lead up to it, so I'd be hesitant to give him credit for that particular incident. I thought Tino was okay last night, should've done better for Saka's goal, but I thought our other three defenders were worse than him both on the ball and off it. I'd prefer to see Livramento start going forward as I think he can offer more in general, especially against weaker teams where we have more control and need to offer a more dynamic threat going forward. One assist doesn't really change the fact that Burn has often been very limited going the other way, that cross last night was an anomaly.

@Nobody in the mud

First half was minging. Second was at least not an embarrassment. Until we have Pope back and midfield reinforcements, it's difficult to be too harsh, but the lack of appetite in the first half was annoying, it was like we were surprised that Lego Head had them fired up after what happened at SJP.

It's the midfield and lack of Pope, just that simple for me. Botman and Schar are massively exposed without the sweeper keeper, full backs are massively exposed without the athleticism in midfield.

Disagree.

Arsenal have been good but I doubt they'll get an easier 45 minutes of football all season, it's almost unbelievable how off the pace we've been, Trippier, Schar and Botman passing from the back has been absolutely suicidal stuff, made even worse by the midfield hiding and all of our attacking players suddenly having the first touch of a trampoline. Isak is isolated but is running around in jeans. Looks miles away from being fit enough to start, Gordon up top would have been better. You expect them to be better than us, but they've looked much hungrier and that isn't acceptable. Karius our best player. Damning.

This is rancid. Can accept being beaten by a better team, but they are more hungry and switched on all over the pitch, and we can't even make a 6 yard pass.

we're definitely about to see the worst game of Tino's career. Might whack him down for an OG.

His full quote was "closer with every game", so it can't be appearance based given that he hasn't kicked a football for us since 1997.

Hope so, that sounds like a transfer embargo and points deduction for yourselves, and huge damages for NUFC just waiting to happen, as well as Ashworth losing all credibility in the industry. No way a business like Manchester United or individual like Ashworth would risk this though obviously, if you live in the real world.

Re: the first window, weren't Isak and Botman already on the club's radar prior to him starting? I think Pope may have signed before he started too? Gordon was a good signing, but otherwise the two January windows were obviously very quiet. As for last summer, good signings individually (Hall excluded?) but as has been done to death on here, we were left weak in positions a lot of us would have liked to have seen strengthened (RW + CF in particular) in exchange for bringing in youth.

An important role perhaps, but to justify this furore? I'm not so sure. I remember seeing him interviewed on TV on the pitch either before or after one of our matches and just thinking it was odd for the role he's in, I can't remember seeing other sporting directors putting themselves in that kind of scenario very often. Just finding it hard to feel anything other than bewildered by the whole thing tbh.

Honestly if we can get £15m-£20m for him I think it would be a greater achievement than if we somehow sold Miggy for £50m. The transfer windows since he took full control have largely been underwhelming. I know that's not solely his responsibility, but it's the only tangible thing we can judge him off, other than random soundbites about how nice his laptop is. Said it before but I genuinely think he might be one of the most overhyped people in football. He's a sporting director, they're ten a penny and way down the levels of importance when it comes to actual results on the pitch imo. The media coverage has almost been Ronaldo-esque.

To be fair, based on our performances since November against teams we're expected to beat, that might be his point

You'd think if it was FFP based the club would just come out and say it (or leak it) to take some of the spotlight off what is an obviously strange situation - even more so today with White coming on ahead of him. The lack of any explanation suggests he's either not good enough or Howe just doesn't fancy him.

Lack of pace across two thirds of the pitch is definitely an issue, we are about as undynamic as it gets at the moment. Our defensive line has a tendency to drop back due to the risk of being caught out (or after being caught out), and this is where the massive gaps form when the attacking element of our team are chasing the ball down like madmen at the other end. A high press starts with a high line, but we just aren't capable of it due to the lack of recovery.

I watched that game and the result looked more comfortable than the reality tbf, Bournemouth had something like 25 shots to Fulham's 6.