Lenny

Paqueta must feel really special

I thought he largely tried to do the same against Brighton however every time it came to the cross or pass it was of poor quality. It was a poor performance, but not through lack of trying to do the right thing. Very good sign that he's working to align to our way of playing.

Or we sign another quality attacking player that makes it impossible to double up on him without consequence elsewhere.

Having seen the attention that Bruno received against Brighton, I do think that for his sake it's imperative we sign another central midfielder that makes it impossible for other teams to double up on players without freeing up another that can cause problems.

I think Brighton book-ended the half with the stronger performance, with us a little stronger in the middle. Couple of thoughts: - Almiron has been our best player. Had a couple of opportunities he could/should have done better with, however. - ASM is trying to do the right thing but failing every time. Hopefully with continued persistence something will come off. - Trippier has been pretty poor, noticeably sloppy with his passing. - Bruno has been very quiet and conceded possession in bad positions a couple of times. - Willock has been poor; looks very lethargic. I'm sure the heat will be playing a big role, and imagine the latter stages of the second half could see a few individual errors and wouldn't be surprised if there were a few late goals.

He does it a lot, however we unfortunately have wingers in particular that are a combination of difficult to anticipate as a striker / inconsistent in their delivery, or simply not good enough in their delivery. The anticipation from the striker buys them a yard and if you don't have wingers that will put the ball to them when they've made the space, the chance is wasted and the strikers output significantly diminishes. For example, as much as I like Almiron at his best; having myself played as a striker in Sunday/local league, I would find him the most frustrating team mate to play with. He'll work himself an opportunity to deliver a final ball to the striker that's made the necessary run, only to inexplicably cut back or carry it too long, totally nullifying any threat/opportunity that the striker had earned themselves. He turns a 75% chance of a goal into less than 25% chance of a goal. I've even seen Wood make the right runs only for the wide man to cut back and slow the play down, however I fear this observation might downplay my entire post

Say it's true, how do you know it isn't standard practice?

Fair

I genuinely think his biggest strength is his confidence and how he backs himself. You can see it in how he talks and how he carries himself - there's no doubt in his mind that he's going to successfully do what he's trying to do. I can't imagine you can easily coach such unwavering self belief into a person.

It was an outrageous finish, but you could only really appreciate it when watching back the close up replay. Initially, I wasn't sure if it was even Wilson that made the connection.

I thought he was superb, but he did make some mistakes that stand out because he's held to such high standards. His passing is world class; he and Bruno are on a different level to everyone else in that regard.

Thoroughly enjoyable overall, that. Very promising performance even if we can improve our end-product. We play some really nice stuff, I can't get used to it

I think it's strange that his "footballing ability" or technique or whatever is being called into question. His finishing, based upon his time at Chelsea and his frequent offsides, maybe, but whenever I see him he seems to have good vision, a crisp pass and a decent touch. All characteristics of a technically sound player. Throw in his engine and [I presume therefore] his ability to press from the front, I think think he'd be perfect for Howe's play style.

He'd better not play through any injury this time...

Impressive that kid met Fraser's high five in these conditions.

Wood is so cumbersome with his movement.

If only Shelvey hadn't mistaken Ritchie for Usain Bolt, then.

Eh?

Good half, that. Benfica are the better side but we're showing promise. Both of our goals were very well taken. I really do hope Almiron can keep this up, his biggest flaw since Rafa left is his lack of belief in himself. With the increased confidence will come increased decisiveness, and as I've mentioned, he should get plenty more chances with the players we now have, capable of using his movement.

Whilst I think I'm going to remain realistic in terms of the level and volume of players we can bring in this summer, my tolerance of the poorer quality players is going to be quite minimal. Harsh maybe, but with increased ambition comes increased expectation. Mistakes such as Lascelles recklessly abandoning his position, and the likes of Longstaff being forced into errors as we've seen are going to tire quite quickly. Thankfully, effort is no longer all we can expect, and those that aren't good enough rightfully should and ultimately will be removed.

I really hope we can find a way to play without isolating the striker this season. Feels like we've done that for years (probably because we have).

I just think between them they were a touch out of sync.

Longstaff simply isn't good enough. He just can't keep up.

Very good save.