clintdempsey

A draw is a good result but fuck me we’ve been absolute shit going forward. And to be honest they have created loads of chances (especially in the first half). I still feel we’re a long way off our levels from last season and haven’t really got going yet this one (nowhere near “Intensity is our identity” and can’t string more than three passes together). Still proud as punch seeing us in the Champions League though. Onwards and upwards!

Well, that could definitely have been worse. We could’ve played a lot better and still been down a couple of goals. Just need to keep calm and string a few passes together every now and again and maybe, just maybe have a crack at goal in the second half.

We’re not exactly pushing them so far to say the least. ?

Still don’t understand why we aren’t a pressing team anymore. Other than one half against Villa we’re standing off teams every single game this season.

Wouldn’t hurt if Pope was to try and catch a ball instead of punching every single one of them. ?

?

Take a bow! I’d never thought I’d say it but Anthony Gordon is a cracking player and a lovable character at that. ?

Better the last few minutes. Keep up the tempo lads!

Might be. But our starting positions are so low compared to last year and it’s not doing us any good. We don’t have anyone apart from Gordon who can transport the ball up the pitch with pace.

There’s a clear lack of intensity in our game compared to last season. We don’t press nearly as high, we don’t bomb forwards nearly as quickly and we get caught on the ball way too much. Something feels off. ?

Absolutely - would probably give him a lot of experience just being in and around the 1st team though even on match days. I’m sure he’ll get minutes the longer the season goes on as well - and maybe even when the mood and performances start easing up a bit.

He did look great in preseason tbh - not sure it translates directly to the PL though. What’s odd though is that he hasn’t even been on the bench so far? (Not really sure who’s left at home instead ?)

Pope is (or used to be) a commanding GK with great cross claiming, shot saving skills and bad feet. The thing is - after the red card against Liverpool his cross claiming has gone down, his save % is down and we’re left with an (at the moment) average keeper with bad feet. We don’t really have an option at this time but within the next 2 windows I’ll be amazed if he isn’t upgraded.

I don’t think we ”should” achieve a Top 4 finish this year. I’d wager that the aim is European football through league position. The thing is though we haven’t really been at the races this far, maybe we’ve had a real tough preseason and things will start falling into place after the break or maybe something is more “off” than we realize. We have a run of good fixtures after the break and if we want to achieve Europe through league position we really should be aiming for 15 pts out of 18 before Arsenal to show that we can do that. We’ve had a horrible fixture list so far but we could definitely have been more impressive even in defeat in my opinion.

There’s no one really calling for his head though is it? But if this level of performances (dropping all 3 pts from being 1-0 up against 10, being outclassed, outpressed, outrun, outpassed against Brighton) it won’t matter what we as fans think. Of course he deserves a chance to turn things around after working wonders but this is has been breathtakingly poor as bad as we’ve seen since the dark days.

This is diabolical. There’s no way around that. Bordering on embarrassing.

Pope again. What the fuck is he playing at?

That would absolutely make us turn in a better performance. Agree ? Joking aside - we have been really poor there’s no denying that. Pope’s kicking and dropping the Gilmour shot was shocking and Tonali bottled the clearance as well as blocking the shot. Of course we can turn this around - doesn’t mean that the first half was anything but utter shit tbh.

We’ve been absolutely awful so far. No intensity, sitting too low, sloppy with the ball and all over the place positionally. Other than that we’re brilliant. ?

Pope is so fucking bad with his feet. FFS! That’s a clanger and a half that…

There does seem to be something off tbh. We’re overcomplicating things and are nowhere near as cohesive in our press as last season as well as standing off/too low.

Another thing that both Willock and Longstaff have in abundance. (Not they score much either though).

Pope has got weird technique for sure. ? Weather the ‘storm’ here for a bit and then go after them. Should be able to beat them if we’re on it. Not much evidence of that yet though.

That would be?

I for one am not local. Nor do I question Howe’s position. But on the other hand I’ll be critical when there are reasons for it. At the same time though I wouldn’t want him replaced by any other manager. But I still don’t think he’s perfect. At least not yet. A poor performance/result is just that - a poor performance/result regardless of where I as a supporter am from or who the manager is.