Lotus

Thought he looked very good. However, Blackburn were exhausted and afforded him that extra bit of time and wouldn’t get against Prem opposition.

Still, he very much exploited the situation presented to him and made a very real difference.

I actually thought Tino looked great driving forward but was a little lapse in his defensive responsibilities at times. 
Thought Trippier showed better positional discipline.

Tino may have been sent out with a remit of ‘bomb forward’ though….

I haven’t a clue how to fix this but an obvious thing for me is the midfield rarely creates for the striker or even support the striker and neither is the midfield sufficiently covering the defence.

So, probably the most important 3rd of the modern game, the middle 3rd is not functioning properly in either direction.

Obviously if you have lots of injuries and absentees from the midfield this will undoubtedly explain a lot.

But, the nagging issue for me for some time now is: is our only means of midfield advantage that we outrun other teams?

Tbf, I’d need to see Tino get a run of games with what are most likely the best 11 to judge. It could be that it happens and we see what it is that EH is concerned about.

Who was it said Tino wasn’t fast at all? One of the regulars anyway. Very odd thing to say. Being kind it may that his running style doesn’t look like he’s on the point of breaking a lá Gordon or Miggy so maybe they just felt he wasn’t travelling very quick.

Anyway, I’d be astonished if Tino hasn’t the tactical nous to hold position to allow Trips to venture forward. 
Also, it’s not as if Burn never gets forward because he does. And when he does it is impossible for him to quickly or even moderately recover position.

Anyway. It’s an odd season and it’s raised as many questions as it’s answered. Hopefully we’ll be able to look back in a years time and understand what was going on.

Just now, Shearergol said:

 

I don't disagree with that. I just see the "play the kids" line in pretty much every match thread and regularly in the Howe thread, so I was wondering what the basis was?

I’m guessing people would say try a reserve team player to save a 1st team players legs but we don’t have any reserve team players. Especially in that position. It’s more 1st and then kids these days (for all clubs it seems).

I do worry that Isak’s body is not suited to our the high press intensity.

I have nothing else to go on with this concern other than his repeated soft tissue injuries. 
 

I saw him at Dortmund and RS. He was always a player who played in fits and bursts. Never one to be involved the whole game but would choose good moments to get involved. Either from deep or from the shoulder.

Always felt he was more the sniper type rather than the ‘over the top and at ‘em’ that seems to be our prevailing game mindset (which has worked pretty well).

Odd that Nickson wasn’t mentioned either wrt to Howe’s ‘inner circle’.

Or was he and I missed it?

I do hope this isn’t indicative of some further issues with the running of the football side of the club. If it is I hope it’s quickly identified and resolved. 

Does seem odd of him to want to go. Surely we could match the salary offered by Manchester. 

2 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

From Semenyo picking the ball up about 50 yards from goal, Burn didn't get within 3-4 yards of him leading him getting a shot on target from inside the box. It wasn't a pace issue, was just poor judgement again. That's been the worrying thing for me about today's goal and the Elanga one last week. Can live with him being done for pace like the Luton winger, that's not his fault.

Personally I think it was a pace issue. I thought Burn was worried if he tried to close him he'd just knock it past him. Given Burn's lack of pace I think he took the best position he could. 

Obviously if Tino had been in that position that particular shot probably wouldn't have ended up the same way. Other problems may have come up but I doubt that one.

Would really need to see Tino start a few games in succession before making a judgement call.

Fwiw, last season I wanted Targett to come on for Burn and couldn't understand why he wasn't playing. When he finally got on it was obvious why Targett had been on the bench...

Can't tell with Tino until he gets a run in the team. 

Replacing any player will create new problems. You just hope it solves more than it opens so there is a net positive.

If we get a new RW who's extremely cunning on the ball and has got 2 feet and can really pick a pass but doesn't run 14km a game at near constant sprints, it will create new problems. It will certainly solve a few but having a gifted player at RW will inevitably mean losing Miggy's energy. 

A player as good as say,  Foden (proven, not just potential) with the ball but relentlessly chases lost causes and is rarely injured will have an extremely long queue of clubs trying to sign him

Dan Burn will be 32 in a few months. He won't be speeding up. There's lots I think he's good at. He's got a couple of problem areas that the team covered for last season. This season he hasn't had the help and he's had to defend more 1 vs 1 situations. He's struggled some.

Defenders at a Euro level of ambition club should be able to cope with 1 vs 1s more times than not. Sometimes they'll get done, sure. Not every game though. 

Maybe EH just thinks the team won't cope well with changing shape atm. Maybe he thinks it's better to draw or lose playing the shape he wants now and just wait it out until players return. 

The growing issue is that the momentum has shifted and that's hard to turn around.

Also, reputations are a long time coming but are often quick to lose. I'm worried about PIF. 

Just now, mofo said:

To be fair it was a quality finish and Burn done what you would expect your LB to do as in show him out wide.. 

 

I'd much prefer Tino to start though.

Tbf to Burn, given how slow he is I thought he positioned himself the best he could under the circumstances. Just that a player with more pace will get a little tighter and give the forward less of the goal to aim at. 

39 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

This just incentivises it sadly. Multi club ownership is absolute cancer and a fantastic workaround to all sorts of rules. 

Good point, ban multi club ownership along with it.

I think it’s imperative for the game to be more competitive that the talent is better spread out. I also believe players give more and play better when they’re actually playing for the club that owns their registration rather than one they’re loaned to. 
Not in every instance but most.

A limit on how many players a club can have registered and a limit on how many players a club can send out on loan. To stop the horrific practice of rich clubs buying up all the young talent and then pimping them out. 

Never thought Glasner looked like a man who could grow a proper beard. 
 

I like Palace but having him there would tip it for me. Hope they storm to the bottom.

I’d agree that it’s a lot of money tied up for players that don’t see the pitch much. Given the issues elsewhere in our squad it looks a little like mismanagement of funds. Still, the players we wanted may not have been available so perhaps we bought only what we could whether we needed them now or not.

I’m not sure yet about a Howe style player is. I need a bigger sample size. I also refuse to believe any of the journalists when were linked with whoever. I doubt they have any clue and it’s 99% agent talk. In that though, I am also speculating 

19 hours ago, Myleftboot said:

                    Dubsy

 

trippy.    Sharsy.   Bottsy.    Burnsy

 

        Staffsy.            Smilsey

                     Broonsy

 

miggsy.        Gordsy.        Barnsy

                    

Not sure Barnes has the pace of discipline to play auxiliary LB so might be better to leave Gordon there. He's rapid enough to help Burn out whenever the ball goes to that side. None of the midfield 3 have enough pace to get over to cover quickly.

I'd be surprised if he got any meaningful minutes. He barely played when he was fit before and when he did he looked way off the pace. He won't be a shoe-in ahead of Burn so I can't him being brought up to speed slowly. 

Would expect us to try and shift him in the summer. 

Whoever our 1st team manager is I wouldn’t want them choosing the person who should really be above them in the pecking order. That just makes sense for any sporting operation. Just responding to (probably) baseless rumours ?

I mean, almost all of the players we're linked to never materialise as a signing. I don't pay any attention to players we're linked to because it's 99% 'journalistic' nonsense. I start paying attention when we've actually bid. At that point I believe it's a player we're interested in. Given how many false flags there have been post takeover I don't know know how any of us can sincerely draw any conclusions from what BS turns up on twitter as to what players we're genuinely looking to sign.

I think it is an interesting observation that some clubs seem to get pretty good fees for their players. Chelsea for example. If Mount was a NUFC player I think it unlikely we could have got £60m for him in the last year of his contract. Pure speculation, of course. Still, it is an interesting debate. I wonder if there is some data about how well certain academy graduates perform over others (if sold on) that could justify any price difference (if real rather than perceived).

Part of the issue is that none of our starting defenders are great defending one vs one.  Botman is the best of the starters but he is also susceptible to pace. All four of them have problems in a foot race with anyone even moderately quick so depend on reading the situation and starting position to negate it. That becomes problematic when players run at you unopposed. Last season we always midfielders or attackers sprinting back and forcing the attackers into less than ideal decisions. 
Botman is looking a bit less self assured because he hasn’t got the same level of protection. He’s still a very good defender imo and will get better. Needs a bit pace on at least one side of him though. Especially in our system.

Really looking forward to this game. Expect quite a reaction from us based on the Luton score line and performance against Forest at SJP.

Team should be very fired up!

18 hours ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Also we don’t know if players have been rushed back and we don’t know if rotating in random kids would have made any difference whatsoever. 

This i very much agree with because kids are never tried. 
Personally don’t consider Tino to be random and he’s one at least I would have thought would have seen a bit more pitch time but up to now, EH hasn’t thought so. 
We’ll see how it plays out through the rest of the season. 

The issue is Bruno is better than all our midfield options both tactically and technically. Physicality, no. 
Having players who create dangerous and/or goal scoring opportunities are harder to find than players who can shield and maintain possession. Ergo I’d rather have Bruno further up the pitch if we had a decent midfielder who had the awareness of when to sit a little deeper to protect us during transitions or just limit he option of playing through our centre with relative ease.