Lotus

Was really feeling bad for him for the first 5 minutes or so. I could tell it really hurt him how he was playing. Was soooooo happy for him for the assist. Thought he was going to go for goal, I actually fancied him to score. He showed great awareness, pace and strength for that set up. Top character.

Tino’ s defending is largely a joy to watch. Think we’re missing Trips playmaking though. In time I hope Hall will provide that but he’s got some learning to do.

I really hope we can improve on our performances before the results catch up with them. Everyone we’ve played so far has moved the ball noticeably better than us. I don’t expect tikka takka (or want it) but being able to play 7 or 8 consecutive passes or at least cross the half way line now and again to relieve some pressure would do wonders for my nerves. We’re pure winging atm.

I read the Athletic article. I want to believe the journalists have credible contacts at the club but I don’t remember them having much genuine inside info before now. Without meaning to state the obvious, I very much doubt that they’ve managed to talk directly to Eales, Mitchell or Howe (not that they’re claiming to have done so). But those 3 have the clearest view of the ‘accident’. I’m loathe to speculate too much without direct quotes regarding specific matters from all of them. Something I doubt we’ll get. It’s behind us now. Let’s see what remedial action is taken over the next couple of opportunities. Fwiw, from what little ive read about PM, his affect will only be felt once we have the significant funds raised by selling a star player and he’s reinvested it in a few project signings.

You can imagine the team is stronger but until they get the same result, they aren’t. My point was though, I think we’ll have to play differently than our old ‘run all over them’ approach because the league has wised up. I did see some evolution at the beginning of last season before it went a bit pear shaped. Looking forward to seeing what our overall approach and philosophy will be.

? Wasn’t the Minteh sale to satisfy last years accounts? Would still leave us with £££ for this season.

I feel any criticism of Mitchell for this window is pretty invalid. We have no idea what his scope and remit is/was for this window. Even if he was just tasked with negotiating for Guehi, multiple reports seem to suggest Palace have upped the fee as it’s gone along. Mitchell may have had a very hard ceiling put on him by Eales/Board and just couldn’t match it so was looking for wiggle room. That is also conjecture and that is all any of us have at this stage.

Silva then (who’s meant to be replacing him at Leipzig). Diomande, already been offered out at less than his release.

Yeah, I agree with many on here. Why we haven’t switched approach to finding a young player, only needs to be better than Krafth (at his unfavoured position) and develop them. Same for RW. Can’t be hard to find players with more potential than Murphy. Develop them, developing players is meant to be the thing EH is best at.

One thing that has bothered me a bit is the idea that, now we have no Yoorup, we’ll be the same team as 22/23. That was 2 seasons ago….the players aren’t the same. Wilson, Trips, Schar, Miggy, Burn. They’re not a year closer to their prime, they’re a year further away from it. Willock was crucial that year, last year a right off and this year he already has (I hope) a minor injury. I’d also be astonished if Miggy went on the same kind of scoring run, I’m sure we all would. Add to that, we don’t surprise teams with the high press. They’ve all seen it now and largely adapted. I’m not sure we’re even the best in the league at it tbh. Other clubs have realised you can be very disruptive by just ‘running a bit faster and jumping a bit higher’ (to quote Pardew). We haven’t made the best use of our footballing talent so far. Last year was difficult, that’s completely understandable. But the players have that season more in the minds and patterns of play than the season before. So far this season, we’ve played Southampton, Bournemouth and Forest and looked the less fluent and cohesive team by and large. We’ve had spells but have not dominated the ball, possession and attacked the way you’d expect us to with the ballers available. Even with 10 men I thought we’d keep hold of the ball a little better. I’m certain Chelsea, Spurs, Villa, Brighton, Manu would have had more of it. As (i think Madras said) we look rusty and a bit ‘off’. I’m not particularly worried because I think we could be easing into it slowly. Whatever our pattern is going to be, it’s not yet evident, very early days though. But just expecting it to be the same as 2 years ago with the same results is blind faith imo.

Would expect inconsistent performances from him for a couple of months then i think he’ll settle into the team and we can see what he does for us. He’s been out so long it’s understandable if he’s patchy for a bit. Hope he’s not obvs and just hits he ground running but would be unfair to judge him harshly if he doesn’t. Thinking EH will protect him if he has an off game anyway.

I would be puzzled if our team had such a had finely tuned and delicate dynamic that there was only one CB in all of world football that could improve us. That could be a possibility if we were a team of utter galacticos who had won everything and swept all those before them. But, there are better and more productive squads that seem to find themselves in a situation where they have a choice of players to attempt to sign and can make compromises. Given the fact that most people accept Guehi is not even better than Schar (currently) it does seem strange that we are so focused on getting this particular player.

Tbf Joelinton is quite the exception. Most players don’t contribute THAT much more then normal when played in an unfamiliar role.

Media ‘links’ are largely nonsense. Any rational mind can see that.

Did Mitchell buy Wilfred Singo for Monaco? Often plays at RB but has experience at CB. Quick, good on the ball and 6’3”…

I agree and we have, Isak was big money and arguably had not shown recent form to be worth the amount. Proved to be a very sound purchase. But the notion that it’s Guehi or no one. A big name or bust, that seems to me to be a strange idea that’s crept up on the forum.

It’s a complete fallacy to suggest we have to pay through the nose for players who would improve the squad and have genuine potential to develop into very, very good players. The fact that we did it twice with Bruno and Botman, good age, plenty of experience and good ceiling (it’s more than possible we didn’t expect Bruno to become the monster he’s become) proves this.

We lacked cohesion before the sending off. No doubt we had a plan for with and without the ball but the players were just that 5% off that makes all the difference. Once Schar walked we became very determined and once they fucked up, and to my mind they were always going to fuck up at least once, we pounced. After that and especially after half time every move, every decision and every effort became dedicated to that one plan. That kind of made it easier for us. I know EH likes to get the ball forward asap and is not in favour of possession without clear fret but I do feel there will be times when it would be handy if we could just keep the ball for a bit, even if it’s just to stop the other team having it. I mean, stats said we had 16% possession yesterday, not sure if that’s just the 2nd half but that is atrocious any way you cut it.

Strong reports Sporting would let Diomande go for less than that.

He looked very good when we sat deep.

Yeah, I hope he'll watch that back and make the necessary adjustments. Still a top baller.

Put in a good shift. Run around loads and supported the defence well.

Agree. He looks a very good signing. Can see him playing LB in the old Dan Burn-really-a-CB role until Schar is back or an adequate CB signed.

Got really loose with his passing. Played us into trouble a few times.

MotM for me