Lotus

Clearly starved of Vitamin D since moving north and his bones are crumbling ?

With the Joes for the left and Miggy and Murphy on the right. Gordon can play either. Think we’ll be ok. Very much a shame though.

I was thinking about it after and it was noticeable how often Livramento dealt with his winger 1 v 1, without any real help from anyone . That sort of brings up the issue me and, incidentally TCD have had with Burn. I completely recognise all the good Burn brings. Great defensive headers, very physical, absolute monster mentality, but rarely can handle any 1 v 1 situations. Nearly always needs a teammate to help him push the wide player either in or out so Burn just needs to focus on one direction of acceleration if he needs to. I see it’s not his fault, he’s so tall he just doesn’t get off the mark well and his hips are fairly stiff, doesn’t switch lines well when running. So, I guess what makes him good at one thing does undermine him in the other. Seeing a FB completely lockdown Grealish and, apart from once, Doku. The difference does become quite stark. We’ll see what happens with Targett and how well Hall develops. Until then, you’d have to say Burn has earned his spot as his competition isn’t beating him out of a place.

He managed to cut out a couple of cross field passes with his head. Good timing and decent leap. Was good to see. It’s what Burn absolutely excels at. If Targett can add that to his game it means Burn has to up his he weaker parts of his game (control and passing) to get in the team. Win win. I’m pretty much at the stage where I just trust Howe to play who’s most inform. We clamour for other players but when they get on the pitch we kind of see why they haven’t been starting regularly.

???

I agree, I think he would. And I honestly think Howe would know what he’s doing. When we were clamouring for Targett last season, when we finally saw we realised why he hadn’t been playing. He wasn’t up to it. I genuinely believe Eddie chooses the players who are best able out of what’s available to him. Hall has better athleticism and better all round ability than Targett so he will need to align his attitude and application with the rest of the group. Once he’s there we’ll have a very good LB.

Do prefer Bruno with the bulk of his playing from the half way line forward.

I would think, given the money paid he’ll be viewed as 2nd choice. We can already see he’s quicker and better with the ball than Burn but Burn does continually make strong defensive contributions.

I don’t normally think of things like this but for some reason this imagery is haunting ? I mean, is he into it or is it against his will?

That turn was pure class. The rest of the game he looked a bit overwhelmed. Think he needs to be in peak condition to believe in himself. Will always love his attitude and application though.

Had a feeling it was a pre planned sub and he faked an injury to give the team a breather.

Yep, he was steady. Good for his confidence. Started to look like a player we can really on again.

He was great. Brought the talent out of the players around him too. Reckon he’s f**king sick of City and just wanted to do them and realised tonight was a great chance.

He looks confident and sure of himself and that’s putting the shits up the defenders he’s facing. I’m hoping his pace and willingness to run at players will mean they stand an extra yard off him and that gives him that fraction more time to play a mean pass. And if they get tight, knock it down the line and test their hamstrings ?

very happy for him. He was instrumental in our clean sheet. Kept focused.

Whatever he said at half time should be bottled and patented. What a difference that was. We just punched them in the mouth 2nd half and then played football all over them.

Superb pass to put Isak through. Otherwise looked a little overwhelmed at LCM. Still, 1st game in forever and up against a dominant City side. Only gets easier from here!

That was an excellent defensive performance. I actually doubt Trippier could’ve done better defensively. It’s the other aspects that Trippier brings that’s so important.

He looked alright against SU I thought. Seemed further along than Hall anyway. Wouldn’t be nervous if he started for us as long as our creativity wasn’t being sacrificed with the absence of Trippier.

I think if Longstaff is stationary instead of running at him there probably is barely any contact. Negligible at the most. Anyway, foul and card given and we scored from it. We’d have won anyway.

I think Longstaff’s momentum is as much to do with the follow through. If not more so. Longstaff was travelling faster than the SU player was. Thought it was a good tackle personally. Got the ball. Studs not up, etc.

Could be a better player for us than Longstaff at this rate.

I thought he’d raise his level with the arrival of Tonali. Now Tonali has to raise his level. Hope all the midfielders push each other to pure excellence.

Watched the Sheffield U game again. Schar was pure silk. Clearly playing within himself too. I know the standard of opposition can make you look better but you can only look better if you’re, like, actually better. And he was miles above them.

I remember he fought hard at Dortmund. He had to to cover Guerreiro’s horrendous defensive efforts. That hasn’t carried over to Man U, clearly. Don’t know why but I hope he can sort it out.