Lotus

Wasn't there a report that mentioned we were scouting Dibling and Akliouche? Bet the Monaco lad would be better value (not saying he'd be a better player...).

I don’t think Isak needs to be in a possession dominant team to succeed more but I think some highly effective passers around him would benefit him greatly. He has some clever movement and doesn’t need space to get a shot off. Our primary way of opening teams up is forcing them into a mistake as they try and play it out from the back. Effectively making our ‘number 10’ an opponent flapping under pressure. Don’t think that gets the best out of Isak.

And Bruno is my favourite player. It would kill me to see him leave. I'm coming to the conclusion that a Howe team is not really the best vehicle to showcase Isak’s talents to their utmost. I think an EH team needs a stronger striker who has a relentless engine for defensive work.

That’s true. If, as a club you’ve committed to squad churn to achieve the maximum potential levels for squad investment then it makes sense to sell when your highest value players at their highest value.

I'd prefer to keep Bruno and spend £150M. But, reality…..

I think when people think of the horror of selling Bruno they seem to be completely overlooking the fact he would obviously be replaced by a lower profile, younger player on lower wages. Hopefully that player would have a similar career trajectory and then we’d sell him. To be able to really invest serious money in the squad we either massively increase revenue (clearly extremely difficult) or we sell high and reinvest in lower value players. If we are to grow the value of our squad that squad will need to have a transitory feel for a while.

Is FIFA or UEFA open to the idea of recognising the proposed ESL? Because if they actively opposed it and banned its playing staff from competing in their sponsored competitions like the WC I’m sure it would look a lot less attractive.

I kind of wondered if the ‘cartel’ clubs wanted to make the PL so unpalatable with them in it that the league would welcome them breaking away and joining the proposed Super League. Whether all this accelerates their desire to do so or seriously impedes it, I have no idea.

Was that Hughes for the ‘defending’?…….awful. The header just looks like he misjudged the bounce.

Tino’s attacking threat is mostly with his ball carrying.

I thought was a decent player tbh but not suited to our league. Think it knocked his confidence thereafter. Reckon if he’d have stayed in Portugal for another year or two and then went to Spain or Italy he would’ve had a decent career.

Tonali has always been a player who tries high reward/high risk passes so he’s numbers have never looked anything special if completion rate is the only metric you’re using.

After 10 starts I expect to see him settled and performing well. He moves very well to create space for our other midfielders. Would like to see JL and Bruno do the same. Opens up the pitch for the player who ends up getting it.

It’s a tough one with him. He's our most talented and creative midfielder but we play him furthest away from the oppo box as is possible in our normal set up. He’s also probably the most press resistant midfielder so that makes him 1st choice to get the ball off of the defenders. Ideally I’d like another player to be collecting the ball from the back and Bruno to be a link further forward.

He was ok and looked better just by the virtue of not giving it away (much). I say this as someone who likes him but tbh he didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have expected Jeff Hendrick to have done.

If it’s any help, I’ve thought the same thing about Targett (when he was out for a while) and Hall (last season). It turned out when they played they were clearly not good enough/ready/match fit and that’s why they hadn’t been getting any starts.

Was amazed they didn’t score either tbh. They had a great chance at the end there. I kind of felt, if that penalty that AG got (was it last season?) when he kicked a defender’s leg as he was about to strike the ball, then that should have been one for DCL as well. Would like to see us defend well for a full 90.

He looked very useful when he cut inside from deep. Was looking for line breaking passes through the middle.

Better today.

I think this season he’s looked better once we past the 65-70 minute mark.

Looked like there might be a possibility of him playing a 10 style role for us if we ever use a formation where we employ one.

Manu still have one of the best squads in Europe, they have a team more than capable of winning the league and the manager is still one of the best of all time. They have the perfect blend to win everything this year. They just need to correct a couple of minor mistakes and they need a bit of luck.

Miggy’s strike was exceptional. Perfect placement and power.

Gordon hasn’t played well there since he moved. Or before, according to them…

I’ve been very slow to understand EH’s philosophy with the midfield but I think I’m starting to see idea with 3 players who can all do a bit of 6 & 8. It really requires CBs who are good at getting super tight when we’re without the ball. Burn is a mile away from that (though he’s good at other things). I still feel we could use a midfielder who can read the game and whose 1st instinct is to protect. If we’re gelling well and our CBs are right up the arses of the oppo forwards then this 6ish CM can go and press higher with the other 2.