Andy

I think it's a combination of Schar ageing, Burn ageing, loss of Trippier's leadership, and the fact that teams have well and truly figured out how to exploit the huge gaps in our system. I hate to say it but I'm not convinced just throwing Botman in there fixes it, even at his best.

I think both things are true tbh. There is a noticeable upturn in intensity against better teams than the rest of the league. Compare our pressing against Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City, to Brentford and any other similar side (West Ham at home for example) and it's a night and day difference. The fact we're terrible in possession is also true. There are an array of issues on the field this season, unfortunately, it's not just one thing.

I'm absolutely certain the club will have doubts if we're sat 12th/13th come January. It really depends on what happens between now and then as to what we'll do.

I have a suspicion the club won't back him if there is any doubt over keeping him, if the funds are even available to spend anyway.

The interview I saw with him discussing that has probably been taken out of context. He was asked if the storm played a part in the game, he said yes but it wasn't to blame for the goals or the performance as a whole. He blamed individual errors.

Agree with this and I said as much in the summer - if you stand still in this league you go backwards. But the regression is more pronounced than you'd expect. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of our players have turned their eyes elsewhere having been sold a project that has clearly stalled, and that's why we're only seeing performances in big games and failures to turn up against the other also-rans. However, it's the manager's job to motivate them through that ultimately, and the squad itself is still better than the mean of its performances this season.

Completely agree. It even took Eddie a while to start getting results, but we all knew the decision to replace Bruce was correct.

Unfortunately we aren't even performing at that level, though, and we haven't been since the start of this season. You can't drop points against an endless list of poor teams and expect to finish top 8, especially with how competitive the league is this year. The away form in particular goes back even further than this season, to the start of last season. I remember making posts about being concerned by some of our away performances and results a year ago, even before the injury crisis kicked in. I feel like on paper we had a relatively easy start to the season and no major injury woes apart from the usual candidates (or those who were already out long term), so there aren't really any excuses for it. The massive contrast in our performances against bigger clubs compared to the clubs that we should be beating is the biggest cause for concern IMO, as it speaks to a lack of motivation and concentration in those games.

The inconsistency at both ends of the pitch speaks to a wider issue with the balance of the team and the formation we're playing. If we sit back to much, Isak is isolated but the defense improves through force of numbers. If we push on too much, we get caught. I always think goal difference is a relatively reliable barometer of where a club should be after a sizeable number of games. I'm pretty sure ours is 13th best in the league right now.

This is why I'm struggling with Eddie at the moment, unfortunately. If we were losing consistently to the best teams in the league, it would be a case of "it is what it is", but it's hard to buy the arguments about the players just not being good enough when our squad is better and more expensive than every team in that list - only Brighton being debatable, from an ability perspective, maybe. It's even more difficult to buy that argument when against the big six we suddenly start to play like our 22/23 team again. This suggests to me that we just aren't motivated for the fixtures you've listed. That sits with the players, for sure, but it also has to sit with the manager. I don't want to say he's "lost" the players, but the inability to light them up for anything other than shop-window fixtures is concerning.

Tonali isn't an impact player. Midfielders like him grow into games and control the tempo. Throwing him on to change the game when you're losing isn't the answer.

I said it in the pre match thread, but if the decision was purely based on rotation and not injuries, then for me it sends entirely the wrong message over which game was the priority. Games like this need to be the priority for the manager and the players, 3 points against (and taken from) Brentford is far more valuable than 1 point against Liverpool. With that said, it's hard to see the performances against the big 6 as anything other than shop window performances at this point.

It doesn't guarantee performance, but it certainly opens the performance up to interrogation. And I don't just mean the manager, but also those involved in building the squad. You're right that the season isn't over but there are clearly major issues. We look awful against anyone other than the top 6.

We have the 7th most expensive squad in the league, I believe, and I'm pretty sure we're amongst the top 10 most expensive in Europe. On that basis, finishing midtable would be an underperformance. Being around 13th after 15 games is definitely an underperformance.

Very realistic chance that we finish the weekend 2 points ahead of West Ham, who have objectively been awful this season.

Wow changes on 59:30, Eddie means business here

Can always rely on Barnes for a goal contribution

Big Joe loves a mild shoulder injury almost as much as Schar likes a mild concussion

Unlucky from Longstaff. Kits are minging.

To me, it's the choice of games we're rotating in. The message seems to be that the Liverpool game was a more important fixture than this one, which I'd disagree with given that we're sat 12th in the table.

I'd rather Howe had used Tonali and Gordon in this game and rested them on Wednesday, if the decision is about rotation. These are the teams we must be beating, not Liverpool.

Is there a bigger fraud in football than Ange? The reputation he has for someone who has achieved absolutely nothing in a major league is wild.

His striking technique is definitely poor, it's like he's constantly holding the Finesse button in on FIFA.

I think it's prone to happening with him, he definitely goes to sleep at times. His defending is usually sound in general though, but as I said in the match thread, I wish he'd be less passive going forward. He is powerful and fast when he runs with the ball, but he constantly turns back (often into trouble) and looks for the easy pass. I think he's gone backwards massively in that regard since last season.

There isn't a fullback in the world who is stopping Salah at the moment, the slightest error and it's almost certainly leading to a goal or an assist. Was always going to be a struggle. Thought he did well in the first half but was punished for a couple of mistakes in the second. Full backs make those kind of errors all the time, but most teams don't punish them as ruthlessly.