Mikky

For me it’s no coincidence the 433 stopped working the minute we dropped our defensive line - we are too deep - largely due to a lack of mobility in the squad

My gripe isn’t so much with Howe (no matter how much he frustrates me at times) it’s more so the vision and planning - there isn’t any - we hold onto players for too long - Wilson and Miggy we should have sold the season we qualified for CL - maximise their sale value and try to stay within PSR To virtually fail PSR was unacceptable imo and cost us Anderson and Minteh Trippier/Willock/to an extent Murphy - still here Where was the additional left back cover? I just hope this season end Wilson and Suds and whoever are there to support Eddie because he’s been on his own virtually - we panicked in the summer - but who wouldn’t in that situation?

Bielsa is a good example of a 2/3 year press then it goes horribly wrong I think the tactics have been really muddled this season and a number of factors need to be considered Ageing back line - Pope - Trippier - Schar - Burn - we’ve lost the ability to press high due to a lack of mobility from these Note how in the first few years our defensive line was high - and since last season it’s dropped by at least 10 yards hence why we concede so many soft goals We have played with 3 at the back a few times, again with an ageing back line it no longer works We can’t keep the ball in midfield - countless wasted passes Our right wing is technically very poor and hurts our ability to create genuine goals and assists We basically have no effective 9s even though there’s 3 “strikers” in the squad Given the squad, we should have played a 4231 this season to try and counter those deficiencies

You have a 3 week break post the derby, arguably your most important match of the season in terms of league position - you don’t rest your best CB this season.

It was blind loyalty to Trippier and Burn - 2 players who lack basic mobility now

These guys - Howe, Wilson, Suds, Senior Scouts need to sit down (or should have sat down multiple times now ) and developed a clear strategy going forward - the last 2 years have been a disaster - the summer CAN repair a lot of damage but they will need to work around the clock with a number of targets identified and checks done to move these transfers on

Calamitous defending … there isn’t a club in the PL that has conceded the amount of soft goals we have - in my 35 years of supporting this club I haven’t seen us concede goals like we have this season - it’s Sunday League level defending - whether it’s individually, as a back line or as a team

It’s all about having a strategy - we’ve not had one in 2 years

For me, Ramsdale, Trippier, Krafth, Burn, Willock, Murphy, Osula, Wissa all go and get replaced (with Krafth you buy a LB) Gillespie and Ruddy binned I would rather keep Schar than Burn and retain Alex Murphy for 1 year just as an emergency cover GK RB, LB, CB CM RW 9 All round forward Then god knows with Tonali and Tino

Elanga is also available

350k a week for a guy who is no longer offering anything They’ll go for Achlouche

I kind of disagree with this - your next leadership should come from within - from those who are established and are fully connected with the club Bruno - Hall - Botman - Gordon - Barnes at al

And he was pretty much our back up at LB Scandalous squad build

Just imagine where we would be if we had 2 competent 9s

Holy crap perfectly conceivable he doesn’t start at all until season end You then have to ask serious questions considering he’ll be 30 and we paid 55m for him - regardless if he got injured early on

Ideally you sign 1 centre back and 1 project CB - our strategy needs tweaking - you don’t have to spend £50m per player - Mosquera cost Arsenal 12m, Milenkovic 12m, Murillo somewhere similar, look at Bournemouths last 2/3 years of defensive recruits Identify talents and develop them still further

For me is the volume of soft goals we concede - I can’t even remember the last time we conceded and I thought fair play, that’s a good goal

I have nothing but admiration for what he’s done - fair play - but there comes a time when you take sentiment out - I don’t see it any other way - I don’t see how we change this, I really don’t

So what happens next season should we accidentally qualify say for the Europa and he loses his “training time” the following season?

He is tactically not there - I have no idea what we are - what’s our identity? We can’t defend, our defending is Sunday League level - we can’t pass or keep the ball for a sustained period - we can’t break defences down - £130m plus spent on strikers and we play one of them in CM - blind loyalty to players - 31 games into the PL season and we are still as shit as we were at the start of the season.

I don’t even know where to begin so I’ll start with the forward line Woltermade - Wissa - Osula None have a future here beyond this season - there’s no way Nick can be here next season when he’s being used as an 8 currently - what makes EH think he’ll be a 9 especially when he’s obsessed with 3 8s Wissa - shite Osula - no point having him 3rd choice - needs matches on loan to see if he’s good enough And Gordon isn’t our first or 2nd choice forward next season - he doesn’t have the striking instincts of a natural striker

It’s not so much 2 games a week being the issue - it’s the fact we are littered with average/underperforming players the biggest concern

Let it all out - everyone is entitled to their opinion so long as it’s clean

You have that sixth sense when watching us knowing how the game will go from certain points onwards - so many times we lose all of our discipline - over commit players - panic in situations - lose our nerve - not know how to construct a move

Trippier - Burn - Murphy - Pope They will all be here next season - no way Howe will get rid of these - his boys