Conjo

10+ years too late. On par with news article comment sections.

Just started my free trail with Amazon to binge watch the series. Dan Burn reading out the man in the arena before the cup final....fucking hell Dan what are you doing to me

Agree that he's not close to Joelinton's level when fit. If you watched the Brighton game in particular and thought how Joelinton performed was better than what Anderson would have if he had started...well...I wouldn't agree with that, to put it as nicely as I can

Not a single person has said this afaik. Of course he isn't....but he's better than a wounded Joelinton who hasn't been physically able to do what he's done so great for us the last 1.5 season. It doesn't bode well for recruitment within if Howe has more faith in theJoelinton we've seen so far this season, who if I read correctly wasn't in shape to train between the Liverpool and Brighton game, than an Anderson who's done everything that's been asked of him, performed well in pre-season and then some.

Tbf nobody except people closely involved with the team knew that Joelinton wasn't really fit to play at the start of the season, so of course for anyone on here it'd be hindsight. Nobody is perfect, neither is Howe and I'd agree that one of his, so far at least, most annoying traits is that he isn't comfortable giving youth players a decent chance in competitive matches. His other trait that annoys me a bit, last game excluded, is how long he takes to make substitutions, which unfortunately also impacts the amount of time Anderson (or any other youth player on the bench) gets to make an impression coming off the bench. He's good at talking them up in interviews, but his words rarely match his team selection. Anderson came back in the best shape of anyone in the squad, had a good pre-season and scored in 3(?) matches, Howe praises him constantly for it yet opts for an injured Joelinton. I'd have Anderson starting until Joelinton was 100% fit 10/10 times. Miley surprised everyone since his first appearance for us how good and composed he looks and is not allowed to go out on loan (which I agreed with, on the assumption he would be somewhat involved in the first team picture), yet isn't even on the bench as an option. I wouldn't change Eddie for anyone in the world at the moment, so please don't take the above as anything more than it is meant as - well intended constructive criticism.

Wasn't that just the first 1.5 season? Stats wise he did worse than his last 1.5 season at Sporting as well.

Still isn't, and will be completely off the media & football fans picture in a week when their transfer window closes.

If I ever create a youtube channel about something that interests me I'll certainly not be one of those cunts who wants others to watch my videos

The criticism is probably amplified by the fact that all the keepers we have faced so far this season have all been levels upon levels ahead of Pope in terms of footwork/passing/sweeper duties. We won't face many better than Martinez, Edison, Allison and Verbruggen.

There's obviously a fee that outweigh the negatives of leaving us short at CB cover, but I don't think that fee is something we'll be able to justify as fair market value or whatever the term used is. He'll stay.

I have no idea what Howe will do. I suspect it'll be unchanged line-ups for both games injuries excluded, but maybe that's just me being a bit pessimistic based on him sticking to his team as much as he did last season when the fixture list was a lot more forgiving I really want him to get results and at the same time showing us he can rotate the squad effectively to keep every player as fit and fresh as possible.

Last season whenever I watched analysis from Alcott, it always seemed like we had a good structure within the team when he went over the player's average positions. Compare last seasons average player position in our away game to Brighton to this one: It does look like we were all over the place, which it felt like we were when watching. My own analysis only stretches as far as "the one from last season looks nicer than the one from this weekend" though

I feel very comfortable predicting we won't be starting Isak and Wilson against Brentford with 3 days between this and AC Milan, and both of them having been away on International duty.

He went with Chelsea to their pre-season in the US. (Not counting OT) He played 28 minutes against Wrexham, 10 minutes against Brighton, 0 against us, 29 minutes against Fulham and 9 minutes against Dortmund. He seemingly hasn't had any injury problems either. Considering he's been part of their whole pre-season and featured in all games except the one against us, I struggle to understand what Howe means when he says he's not really had a pre-season for Chelsea.

Replace "like for like" (Barnes for ASM as cover for LW) while getting more leeway with FFP for other signings.

Is it too wild to suggest Livramento starts this one since Trippier is away with England and we have AC Milan 3 days after Brentford? Gives Howe time to work with Livramento during the international break as he's not picked for the U21s.

Top marks to Arsenal for playing Rocks walk out song as the players run out for the 2nd half.

20 minutes debate about the rules of football, 3 minutes of ball being out of play, 2 minutes of actual play so far this game.

Nice rat-off between Kai who misses the ball in a great chance created due to Brunos mistake.

eh? Raya, Tomiyasu, Jorginho, ESR, Jesus, Trossard not impressive players to have on the bench?

10-0 please. 3xIsak, 2xWilson, Gordon, Almiron, Bruno, Tonali, Anderson

If he's good enough he's old enough. He earnt the right to be considered in the mix of options at CM in pre-season until proven otherwise imo. The way Howe has managed Anderson though I'm not convinced we'll see him getting any minutes at all this season. Maybe coming off the bench towards the end if we get a really easy draw in the FA cup.

Clearly not more than a 1.5/10 or 2/10 at most due to Willock having an injury set back.

Would you be able to dig up one or two examples from games he played pre injury last season for comparison?

For a keeper who plays so high up the pitch as Pope does it's kind of embarrasing how poor his first touch and passing is. Verbruggen today hit his full backs and wingers beautifully with 30m passes every time Brighton were pressured enough to have to put the ball back to him and allowed them to maintain possesion with a player who was not being pressed. Pope receives the ball and kills it dead like kids were told to do it at 5-6 years old. Then he's out of time because teams knows to press him now and he just has to hoof it (without any technique to get the ball high or with any thought about where to hoof it) in order to not screw up like he's done a few times now. At his age it's probably not something he'll be able to improve a lot on but I really hope he does make an effort in training to, if nothing else, get more comfortable with being put under pressure. Having your keeper as an outlet against a high press seems to be incredibly important these days. We've already seen that first hand today, against Liverpool and Man City.