Andy

it's not entirely untrue, either, to say we did play "okay" for a good chunk of the game, we were just toothless and went into panic mode towards the end. If we'd taken our chances it could easily have been been 4-1, 5-1, and we're calling it a job done. Of course, it does sound daft when you've just lost against a side from the lower leagues. But the problem IMO is less the performance itself and more the bluntness up front, which is only going to be solved by adding new players. If you have a squad full of players who are scared of scoring, it doesn't matter what league your opposition are from.

Yep, happy to see the defence strengthened but I hope Howe is making it clear just how important it is to get goals into this team. This attack would see us relegated even with prime Baresi and Maldini at the back.

Better when the game is being taken to us IMO. He's effective at turning in midfield and getting the team forward, not so much at probing.

I think the issue there was that was that he was trying to change a style of play that was effective to begin with, without understanding it. It just came across as tone deaf.

Bruce had this team winless and on trajectory to be comfortably one of the worst premier league teams of all time. That's what Howe inherited, not the team that finished last season. The names might be the same, but the rot is the problem. Momentum is a hard thing to turn around in football.

Jesus

Hmm. The way I would see it, Bruce systemically destroyed an established team and was rightly slated for it. Howe has inherited a winless squad, completely bereft of confidence, fitness and tactical awareness and is in the midst of an incredibly tough rebuild. Performances so far have been up and down and results obviously haven't been great, but I'm not convinced any other manager would've done much better in the games we've played with this bunch of players. He's not immune from criticism but I don't agree that it's hypocritical to not hit him with the same criticism Bruce received either, the two scenarios are vastly different.

True to an extent, although a lot of the deficiencies in the squad were, and still are, of Bruce's making.

Hatem's end product was on a different level to ASM's still though, even towards the end.

Thought he always looked better from Bruce coming back from injury, or after the covid break etc. Think he struggles to perform at his best over a large number of matches.

It's more than the goals that are missing this season like, he looks weaker, slower, technically worse, mentally worse and just completely clueless every time he's on the ball. The decline in literally every aspect of his game this season almost makes Kennedy's second season look ballon d'or worthy.

Certainly very poor today, sick of seeing him turn back on himself over and over again. Can't work out if it's low confidence or over confidence with him, but he's been a lot less direct lately, which was previously his biggest asset.

Confidence in front of goal has been the biggest factor today like, with a decent striker on the pitch we would've put the game to bed comfortably. He literally has no viable options up top so it's difficult to be too critical until that problem is solved.

I know we don't want to be messed about, but I hope we're not wasting valuable time messing about for the sake a few million quid's worth of add ons like. Let's just get this one done.

We don't know he doesn't want to come tbf. People hang on Romano's every word, but while he's right more often than many, he's still dropped some clangers lately. Having an actual bid on the table could change things as well. Players are just as prone to sudden heel turns as any of us, the Trippier signing might turn his head, and if that doesn't the potential money might. I doubt we've put a bid in and made it public without reason.

It can be fine if you mix them in with a good balance of hungry, young players. The problem is we'd be integrating them with our current crop of players who are almost all on the decline.

Hopefully they can get this done, would be a great statement signing to open the window with. Bringing in someone like Trippier will undoubtedly have a snowball effect on attracting other players.

I've never seen him play and know nowt about him, but I'm still completely, unrelentingly confident that he's a vast improvement on what we've got.

Shoe-in has got to be one of the most common ones, see it on here canny frequently.

The bar isn't high, but easily one of the best midfield performances I've seen from one of our players in ages. Absolute monster today.

Aye, never thought I'd say it but Joelinton is genuinely the least of our problems at the minute.

Worth remembering that before today we'd only lost one match under Howe, like. It's perhaps understandable that he's stuck with Willock, Shelvey et al when the results have been improving a bit and the other options in midfield aren't exactly much more appealing. Let's see how he reacts to this result.

It's definitely fair to question the persistence with Shelvey and Willock like, but I'm not sure there's a pairing that would be much better. Every combination is just a different shade of shite

We're shit and in deep trouble, but we're not down until the teams around us start picking up points. We've said all along that we need to be in touch by January and that still applies tbh.

Really frustrating how slow and listless we've been on the ball against an off form, rattled Leicester like. Caused them absolutely no worries at all and allowed them to play the game at their leisure. Easy to twist about the ref and VAR but we've done nowt to help ourselves.