Conjo

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.

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)