KaKa

5 minutes ago, Bompeter said:

Hayden wasn't hurt. He was going to get up, thought he might get the ref to stop it and went back down. Pathetic.

In the replay you can see Schar was considering doing the same thing but then quickly got up, which of course ended up with him being out of position to properly cover Jota. Players just have such a losers mentality. 

1 minute ago, Smal said:

There was nothing wrong with Hayden at all. Absolutely pathetic stuff from him.

Yeah, I agree completely. Looking for an easy way out of by forcing the ref to stop the game.

Completely rattled the team now and thrown them off. Absolutely terrible stuff. 

21 minutes ago, Happinesstan said:

When? When did we see this team set up with a plan?

Well, the previous approach has mostly been sitting in deep. If you're saying that it was done without any proper organisation or sense of how to counter from that setup, then that's fair enough.

Ultimately though, I think this team needs more work continuing to work on being more effective with the ball, and playing the way Howe wants to, as that will be better for us when we go up against more beatable teams.

46 minutes ago, Rafalove said:

 

Think others have mentioned but isn’t he quite slow? If we’re going to play a high line shouldn’t we be after someone with more pace? He’s been mentioned before but Ake could be perfect 

It's a valid point, certainly.

On Sunday Lille didn't sit in deep defensively, and he was up against Dembele and Slimani who were playing upfront together for Lyon. Both are still very mobile and have decent pace.

Interestingly, I wouldn't say he is quick, but I wouldn't say he was overly slow either. I think he had a really good sense of how to manage his pace against quick players, as he didn't get caught out too often at all. 

Really liked the look of him. He just had a great presence defensively and was very active. 

1 minute ago, reefatoon said:

We desperately need to upgrade our midfield. Our current bunch don’t protect the back four or assist in attack. Teams just walk through us. Bringing the right players in for CM will be massive for us.

There are a number of links popping up with Arthur from Juventus who has fallen out badly with Juve and looks like he would be available on loan with a view to a permanent move next summer. Both ourselves and Sevilla are apparently showing the strongest interest.

If that is the kind of midfielder we are after we will be in very good shape. He is excellent at taking charge in midfield and affecting every phase of play for a team. We seem to be targeting someone in that mould as we've also been linked with Tolisso, Winks and Renato Sanches.

I agree we need top quality in that area, and it will determine where we end up come the end of the season.

25 minutes ago, Happinesstan said:

I think it's more his adaptability that is in question. Sure e has an  attractive philosophy, but if you don't have the personnel you need to be able to do something else. you might make a mean apple pie, but if life gives you lemons...

The thing is though, we've seen this team setup to be defensive and we hadn't won a single game this season with that approach.

Far more likely to survive if they continue to drill the team on using the ball better and being more confident going forward as ultimately that should pay off against the teams we should be beating.

22 minutes ago, Joey47 said:

 

Flashbacks to the last player who was linked to us and AC Milan

Caught Lille vs Lyon this weekend and was really impressed by him.

Very strong imposing defender and was really comfortable on the ball too.

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

I still think the squad is capable of finishing midtable and has done for a number of seasons. Its just a squad that's been chronically miscoached for a number of years. Howe isn't going to fix this in a few weeks. There have been promising signs, but we are still going to put in poor performances.

 

That doesn't mean Howe is incapable of bad decisions or poor management, but its very difficult to get a good grasp of his work after a handful of games.

 

Yes, absolutely. Very well put 

14 minutes ago, Minhosa said:

I'm not digging him out btw. I like him and he seems to 'get it', I'm just seeing nothing in four games of football to give me much hope that he can keep us up.

Key bit in there is 4 games of football.

Just now, Menace said:

I'm a downer for not being overjoyed by the prospect of Eddie Howe? Alright then...

You're just waiting for every bad result to let us know how right you were, we get it already!

You'll be proven wrong in the long run though, so enjoy it while you can I guess.

1 minute ago, joeyt said:

Think Pickford should save that though

Coleman being a dick trying to kick the ball against the Palace player ends the game

1 minute ago, Menace said:

Right I forgot, criticism of the current manager = Ashley fan

 

If that was Bruce in charge of the dug out today what would've you of said out of curiousity?

Hey, you're the one talking about how Bruce beat them last year, as if you were reminiscing on the good times.

If Bruce was in charge of the dug out today I would have been lamenting how we were still bottom of the league and still hadn't won a single game this season.

5 minutes ago, Tomato Deuce said:

I’m not sure this is true at all.

Of course it isn't. So weird how so many people thought we were going to have an easy day against them with the team they put out.

5 minutes ago, Menace said:

Who's saying that?

Sounds like you miss them man.

3 minutes ago, Menace said:

 

Somehow I doubt that, a better manager at least puts in respectable performances. Let a lone a whooping from a second class Leicester team (that Bruce beat last year btw)

 

Not saying these lot aren't shit. They are, but Howe has barely done anything out of the ordinary since coming in, at least the players are training more though, right?

 

 

 

Crikey. Get Bruce and Ashley back in then. My God ...

Happy for Rondon. Especially after that pathetic petulant nonsense from Richarlison when he got subbed.

9 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

 

What can he have learnt from today that he shouldn't have learnt already? 

Well I think Willock has been given enough of a chance now in midfield. He's giving him a run of games in there and I'm sure has tried to coach him up to do the job, but he just isn't going to get it. Sometimes a good smacking like today makes that a lot clearer I think.

1 minute ago, midds said:

Zaha is such a fucking prick. Does this every game. 

The guy is so mentally weak. That's why he ended up stuck at Palace. He's pathetic.

One of the rough things about having a new manager come in is having to give him a bit of time to come to a realisation on certain players that we all know a lot about. 

Think today will have been a big eye opener for Howe. Really hope we see some changes to the midfield combo in particular. Not sure Lascelles will be dropped though, that one will be a problem till the summer maybe. An improvement in midfield should help the defence though and so lets see.

3 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

We don’t even have a recruitment team do we ?

Of course we do man

Steve Nickson heads it up I believe, and the new owners have since returned all the staff since they've come in as I believe Ashley still had some of them furloughed

1 minute ago, ManDoon said:

Im worried about who we can attract in Jan now. This is the most important Jan window for a long time, we might have to go championship/norwich

It's a concern for sure. Think we'll have to end up looking at the top players in the Championship or in the lesser leagues in Europe, like Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Maybe some of the better players in the mid table French clubs too.

There'll be players out there. The recruitment team are going to have to put in some serious hours over the Christmas period to figure it out. We need players that are hungry for a shot at the Premier League and want to prove themselves.

1 minute ago, TRon said:

 

I was gutted when Evans went off tbh, they looked awful until Ndidi dropped back there.

Yeah, Evans is decent but he's the sort that Wilson can get rattled with his pace and persistence, which is actually what caused him to blow a hamstring

13 minutes ago, ManDoon said:

Yeah, I really like Howe, and think long term he is the answer. I just personally think that he's making a mistake by persisting with this midfield two, and I personally think we will go down. If we cant turn up in a crucial game, where a team has a CM in CB, and is knackered from midweek, has been shipping goals all over the shop, that is extremely worrying to me. I'm a fan ffs, of course im emotional during a game.

Completely understandable. However I will say that Ndidi has had to drop into central defence for them before on more than one occassion and he is very good at it. He is a class player. Unfortunately for us Soumare then stepping into midfield is another that is very good on the ball and uses it very well too. Ironically it might have made things more difficult for us defensively in the end.

For me personally once I saw Ndidi, Tielemans, Maddison and Barnes where in the team my heart sank. Thought they would be playing the likes of Choudhury and Albrighton today. 

2 minutes ago, The Bonk said:

 

Amazing post, @KaKa and couldn't agree more. Those 3 players are class and could easily undo our leaky defence at a stroll (as we saw). I should blame myself for building up hope we'd build on our only win.  

 

If we do go down, I think Willock would be a player who could benefit from a season down there.  I'm not ready to completely write him off, but on current form, nothing warrants him being in the starting 11. 

With all the fuss about them missing a bunch of players, I couldn't believe their team sheet when it came out. Those three are their best creative players and they were all available, and Daka's pace and movement is a headache in behind too, not too dissimilar from Vardy. Very bad day but a chance to learn some vital lessons.

The win against Burnley was incredibly big. The table still looks so much better. Lots of teams in the mix now that really aren't too far away from us. This whole thing is far from over. A couple of key signings in midfield and defence could improve us so much, and I don't even think they have to be world beaters either.

Just really unfortunate that we are missing such a key piece in the most important of positions.