Conjo

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.

So what you're saying is that we have 7 players for 3 positions, and thus in fact are fairly stacked?

Wish you had waited with that post until a new page

Part of what made us great last season that hasn't quite come out so far this season. The Trippier/Longstaff/Almiron bond needs to be replicated/improved with Tonali. Joelinton protecting Bruno/Willock/Burn like a rabid rottweiler with separation anxiety has also been missing. Would like to see Brunos heat map so far this season compared to last before his ankle injury too. It feels like hes much less free to roam. Whether that's down to instruction, his own form, not having the confidence in Joelinton to cover for him or not being familiar enough with Tonali I don't know. He hasn't been poor this season, but we know he can be a lot better and we need someone with his movement and vision to make himself available for the pass in our opposition half of the pitch as much as in our own.

First time in forever I actually welcome the international break if only to give Joelinton time to properly recover from something that is clearly affecting his performances this season and to hopefully see Willock available on the bench at least. Pope should not be allowed to touch the ball with his hands for the next two weeks so he is a bit more comfortable with the ball at his feet going forward. I also hope we can see improvement in: - how our three midfielders moves both with and without the ball - how we collectively press as a team rather than one and one player at a time - how we play the ball out of defence so we don't get caught in the press and forces us to hoof the ball up towards an isolated striker - how we make Tripper more available to contribute offensively (and maybe see some of Livramento & Hall)

No more subs

Got Ferguson on my FPL team I just remembered. Silver lining.

More than the unhinged whining on here.

Don't think it's relevant for Bruno (he just need to release the ball a bit quicker in this game than he has so far), but Joelinton was carrying a knock in the first game and seemingly haven't recovered properly since.

Doomers out in full force. Players are shit, Howe has lost it, team has lost its identiy, our player aquisition team is shit and haven't done enough, we NEEDED this, NEEDED that wah wah wah What we really need is for a lot of people here to read through their own posts 2-3 times before hitting post.

Somethings not right with Joelinton. Looking sluggish today too. If hes still carrying a small injury let him rest and play someone else.

Or a striker being put on the wing, or a right back being put at left back

He's had a few chances where he didn't look close to scoring and half chances where he's not even hit the ball clean, but is a real handful for defenders to mark due to his size, strength and pace. He's good at holding up the ball and passing it on to the wings and quick enough to turn and have a go himself. Seems pretty fair assessment to me based on his first 60 minutes of PL football, no?

Beto looks frustrating. A ball ache to play against as a defender, but (granted not even a game completed yet in the PL) at first glance looks fairly useless in front of goal.

Was hoping for a little more love for the more subtle placements of Trippier, Isak and Gordon rather than the hyper fixation on Schar alone tbh

Trippier who's played a whole 10 games at LB in his whole career for clubs and country. I'll take Targett at his natural position instead thankyou

Lascelles - Burn pairing is a damn good one for a team who has both their starting CBs out tbf

Easiest would surely be Burn slotting in at LCB and Targett at LB?

Yea he was good that day, but if you needed proof for the existence of the multiverse through an average Newcastle player socring in the Champions League, surely it has already been proven?

Poor Fulham.

Yes, we're definitely ending up in mid table obscurity or worse if we lose away to Brighton.