AyeDubbleYoo

Couldn’t stand how well organised and motivated we were.

I’ll be fairly worried if he goes back to playing midfielders at fullback again.

I think we’ll know if we have a chance before the transfer window really. Although obviously it’ll make a big difference.

Lewis was shocking but the context has to be taken into account. He should have been given another chance way before now, Ritchie was responsible for about a goal a game.

Ultra HD I guess, is that 4K? iPlayer oh my TV looks immense as well.

Didn’t look like they played too bad based on MOTD. Loads of errors.

Monopolise the ball, keep it and tiki taka it where possible. But important to have the ability and instinct to transition to deadly fast football in the right moments to create breakthroughs. I like 3-man midfields with a DM and a couple of passers. Kind of like the current Chelsea. Ideally a couple who can carry the ball and break away from an opponent to create gaps. Iniesta/Kovacic style. Not sure about formation, I like back 3 but the CBs have to be exceptional. Helped out by the midfield. Possibly a number nine who can hold the ball and bring people in, with two wide forwards to do the real damage. Overall emphasis on input rather than pure results, and keeping calm and patient always. Only exception being the frantic few seconds after you win the ball, to try and snatch it back as quickly as possible. On FIFA I usually play with a purely defensive unit and a purely attacking unit, with just a pass from the DM to bridge the two. But not sure that works in real life

Are the negative stats just based on number of wins to this point? Like how few people have survived etc? 6 points behind with over half a season left doesn't really seem as impossible.

Feel the same, and there will be at least a couple of signings. It’s just absolutely gutting the amount of time we wasted with Bruce.

Sadly the fact we can't afford it isn't really too actionable or relevant, it will take time to get the improvements he wants. It was bad luck that some must-win games cropped up after a couple of weeks training and a bout of covid.

I thought the atmosphere was great, singing all around the ground again. I was disappointed by the boos mind, found it strange. I guess it was the people focusing on not winning a must-win game, and believing we’re relegated.

It’s a shame Ritchie is such a liability at fullback, I do like the drive and the effort he adds. But sadly it’s not enough and there’s no way he should play.

We can't possibly go back to Ritchie. Please no.

Disappointing we had to resort to this simplified poll. We've let ourselves down there.

He seems to go over while running, rather than when backing in or jumping with a defender. Which isn't really the free kick that strikers tend to get. It’s a bit of a harsh criticism since he’s only doing it because he feels it’s the only way to retain the ball again multiple defenders.

He had a good game. Not sure what happened with that block he seemed to make almost accidentally, I was at the other end. Pleased he did enough (presumably) to give Howe a reason to keep Ritchie out.

I have mixed feelings about him, hard to really blame him since he gets so few chances. His pen was really bad, got lucky that Krul didn’t save it. Also continually tried to win free kicks by falling over, despite the ref having none of it. Very hard job today though, he worked himself into the ground.

It was interesting that Howe moved him out of the middle after the red card and asked Joelinton to cover inside. Looked like that to me anyway. Possibly worried about how often he lacked awareness and gave the ball away. He did show some good moments today, mainly his running with the ball to relieve pressure.

I’m not sure I can bothered to spend a whole season constantly assessing and reassessing whether we’ll go down. Just get a couple of wins and give Howe some more time with the players, we’ll see where we are.

Good post. Whatever happens we have a proper club and a proper manager, that’s class. SJP was loud all around. I hope we can get a couple of wins soon to make it a contest though, it’ll be sad if we just trundle along the bottom to relegation.

We should have purged Jones with the Steves, these little mistakes can add up if you’re not careful.

We just need a game against Burnley where we play like this and nobody makes an absolute critical howler. Then we’ll be hopefully up and running. So unlucky for him today, although he did select Clark over Fernandez.

Have to say the gameplan after the red was very good and we probably deserved the win. Such a shame that Howe wasn’t afforded any time to really look at players, and these must-win games came so early in his reign.

Time to put aside all doubts, let's fooking gan.

No it's not. They didn't wait several years and loads of legal action to sell us a few months later.