Andy

Fair enough the Bournemouth game we had injuries, but the team we had out was more than good enough to do a job against them like. The only other team they had beaten to that point was Burnley. The other games (Milan, Brighton, Wolves) are subjective, but we were backs to the wall in two of them and the wolves game turned on its head when their best player went off, before that we were under the cosh too. The point is, Shef United aside we have obviously been unconvincing away from home. We have 5 points on the road and have conceded 20+ goals, it's not some outlandish statement and not all of this can be attributed to the injury crisis given that the home form hasn't mirrored it.

Were they though? Milan, Brighton, Bournemouth, Wolves (until Neto went off), Dortmund were all very poor performances before the injury crisis really kicked in. Can only remember us playing well against Shef Utd (obviously) and we were "okay" against West Ham who mainly sat back. We've set up differently on the road to how we do at home all season - we're much deeper, more passive, the full backs don't push on, the striker is isolated, there is no intensity etc. Could just be a mentality thing since we don't have the crowd behind us I guess, but I think it's at least partially instructional.

I think that's partially true, but the away form in particular this season is worthy of criticism, taken in isolation and disregarding what happened last season. We have 5 points away from home, second worst in the league, and one or two games aside, the performances on the road since August have been shocking - that is obviously not good enough and needs solving, but we are just taking the same approach every week. We may be limited in player choices but we don't have to be backs to the wall for 90 minutes struggling to keep a hold of the ball - that just adds to the fatigue if anything. Anyone who's played football knows how difficult it is chasing the ball constantly. I don't think he should be under pressure, but he definitely shouldn't be immune from criticism.

That's probably the worst decision I've ever seen, how can you review that and not see that it's a dive?

More by luck than judgement like they literally should have scored ten.

You can go back further than that, Milan away and Brighton away were similar too. Wolves, Bournemouth...

There is no way Lewis Hall is worse than this version of Dan Burn at full back like, it's literally impossible

Where is Burn going there man, absolute schoolboy ball-chasing

The amount of times we go from a promising set piece to the other team cutting through us like butter at the other end is ridiculous

Not for me. ASM wasn't really a huge factor in our performances last season. Obviously it would be handy to have him as a pair of legs though. The intensity is the big issue for me, it's been the case all season, PSG and Man Utd aside.

Massive let off but it's still only a matter of time. We continue to look an absolute shadow of last season's team, no organisation or intensity whatsoever.

It was a penalty imo like. It's one of those where if he stays up you immediately say "why didn't he go down?"

We've shown we're capable of doing that while riding the wave of positivity, it'll be a different task if we lose the next few though, especially the Sunderland game. There's already a big change in mood and slipping down towards mid table will solidify that in large chunks of the fanbase. People underestimate the value of mood and momentum in football. Ourselves and Villa are examples of what it can do for the better when it's going your way, Chelsea and Spurs (last season), the opposite. We're obviously capable of top six but it's definitely hanging in the balance and will be a bigger task than a lot of people think. There needs to be patience and an acceptance that it may be beyond us IMO. The best bet is probably to get a few players in during January to try and shift the mood back in our favour a bit.

It will be hard to shift the momentum though. We could be 9th tonight. If we lose the next 3, which is definitely realistic, we could be sitting 10th or 11th. It's not easy to suddenly turn that around into a good run of form. Unless we pull something out the bag from this tough run over the next month, we will definitely have our work cut out to finish top 6.

Phillips would be an okay signing I think, a bit meh though. Kinda bored of us signing English players, want us to get in 4 sexy unknown foreigners that could either turn out to be mint or turbo shit.

The problem is, we'll never move forward beyond where we were last season with this kind of setup, and we'll struggle to even get back to that kind of level now that the league has generally improved. If you look at Liverpool, Arsenal, City and Spurs, their wide forwards are not great at supporting defensively. You don't look at Son, Salah, Saka, Martinelli, Doku and think how good a job they do at reinforcing their fullback. Same for Villa with Bailey/Diaby when they play in a system without wingbacks. At some point you need to move away from having fullbacks that need protection from your wide forwards; we have a three man midfield and some baseline protection should be coming from them, but it shouldn't need to be a constant thing which is what happens when Burn is against any kind of half decent player. You end up completely nullifying a player like Gordon if he's wasting energy in our defensive third.

Brighton were good because we played into their hands imo. They've barely managed to replicate that performance this season, especially against other top 10 sides at home.

We've played without intensity almost all season tbf. I posted about it below after the Brighton game which was back in September. Injuries and fatigue are an issue but they're not the only reason for the lack of intensity and change of style. It's either instructional or there's a bit of a motivational issue IMO, as we've managed to play that way in certain big home games (Man Utd, PSG, Milan first half) but otherwise we've lacked that identity that we had last season. This is obviously a glaring issue as we don't have the technical or tactical nouse to make up for it.

Our starting 11 today was much better than Forest's.

Howe is a motivator and is great at capitalising on and maximising waves of positivity. This is a massive test for him, as there are shades of his last season at Bournemouth - obviously we're not in danger of relegation, but there is an injury crisis, players look frustrated and demoralised, and there is a sudden turn in mood across small but vocal sections of the fanbase. He needs to get away from selecting players based on what they've done, rather than what they're doing. There is no way Burn, even arguably Trippier should be starting on current form when there are other options there. It was good to see Longstaff hooked instead of Miley, but I suspect this was fitness related and it would've been the other way around if not too. The next month is going to be extremely difficult and may determine his fate here. Much as the level headed amongst us still love him, there will be a big change in climate if we lose to the mackems and struggle to amass points in some very difficult fixtures. Today felt like a must-win and we completely flopped. He is in by far the most fragile situation he has been in since Bournemouth imploded imo.

Nah this isn't a Championship level first 11 like. No excuses in terms of the respective ability of the two teams.

I guess the difference there is that our strikers are crocks. Was obvious you'd struggle to even get half a season out of Wilson, and Isak is clearly prone to muscle injuries too, so it always felt a risk.

We have an extremely dodgy run of games after Forest. If he loses that Sunderland fixture, it's realistic we also get nothing from Liverpool away, City home and Villa away. If all of those results go against us I can see a chunk of our fanbase turning on him unfortunately.

Agreed on the creative midfielder. We'd benefit far more from an athletic DM to bridge the gap between midfield and defence imo, with Joelinton and Bruno playing a bit further up. Bruno is good in the "6" role when we're in control of a game, but in games with high turnovers he struggles and huge gaps appear.

The recent run of form goes to show how important belief is in football. Last year we were riding that wave of positivity and were gladiatorial. The players looked taller, stronger, faster and more technical than the opposition. It's obvious that the injury crisis has caused a physical issue, but there is a clear lack of belief away from home. We're playing within ourselves and look small, weak, slow and clumsy on the ball. Players are making bad decisions, playing too safe, dropping too deep, not being brave enough in the press. Some of this can be down to fatigue, but not all of it, as our home performances are still relatively similar to last year. Lots of work for Eddie to do. A few good signings in January are needed to change the mood imo .