robbo_11

100%. I think it was Miley, who actually got into some great advanced positions for those on here that say he plays too safe, and then afterwards Wissa sort of apologised which infuriated me. If we're set up to play this way, which we seem to be by getting crosses in the box then neither Wissa or Woltemade are able to bust a gut to get into an area to influence this. I'm not seeing it with him, but its been the same on a couple of occasions such as today when Tonali slipped him in and Konsa outmuscled him before he sort of gave up in their box. There was the moment in the PSV match where he just fluffed his lines in front of goal from a Barnes cross. You can let him off for not being match fit or just returning from injury, but fundamentally his goals have been relative tap in from either a mistake by the opposition (Fulham GK and PSV CB) or where it was harder to miss against Burnley. When we play against well organised sides mistakes rarely happen and our creativity is poor.

The one in the first half where Wissa wasn't even in the box and then raised his arm to acknowledge it. Dreadful.

I think they've got potential to work well together, although there was a stat like Thiaw has played the last 31 matches for us and in all but 2 played the full match. I think we've some dip in his performance, as evidenced against Leeds and on occasion today, but I think a back four of Hall, Botman, Thiaw and Livramento would be solid.

Snap reaction post match, but just a boring performance overall. There are too many players that are failing to deliver across the pitch so will start with some positives. Miley is one of our better players, the lad oozes calmness and his versatility this season has been invaluable. I thought Botman had a good performance with some solid tackles and generally breaking their play up. I'd written Elanga off, but in some aspects he brings something we don't have which is getting beyond the fullback. Gordon and Wissa were poor. The frustration is we seem to create a few chances to get the ball into the box and yet neither are switched on enough to be in between the 6-18 yard box. Gordon was ineffective today, frustratingly so, but Barnes was also limited on the right hand side. You can see the Tonali has his moments in the match, recently he has split Botman and Thiaw but our lack of presence across the frontline means we move side to side and end up recycling the ball. With the run of games we have it would be neglect to put the same 11 out against PSG assuming Joelinton and Bruno might be missing anyway.

The moment in the 85th minute when we were breaking towards their box and Wissa checks back and drops out of the area to be a threat summed it up for me. Bar the couple of goals he has scored where he had zero thinking time he just hasn't offered a great deal to us as a collective. If I was whipping the ball in for us at the moment I'd be massively annoyed at our main focal point!

Celtic looking to sign Wilson - would probably be a good move for him at least until the end of the season.

You just have to look back to last season when he returned from injury around this time and was brilliant in the Arsenal semi finals (fairly sure he came back and had to play 3 matches in a week which was a gamble). You could say from the other perspective without a Botman assist we draw 3-3 with Leeds and not back into the top 6. The context this time is again, he us returning from injury, but almost thrown in to a depleted back line. It doesn't excuse poor play or errors, but I'd still rather Botman on the books. I think it is clear A. Murphy isn't as fancied, Howe was always going to say he would trust youth, but actions don't suggest he does. I think we need to buy another CB as short to medium term Schar/Burn will not be adequate cover if we're looking to compete on all four fronts.

If it is ACL/knee he is looking at 9, but more realistically 12 months out. If it is a break and ankle, depending severity it is 2-4 months. Either way I'd doubt we would see him before end of the season.

On Fabian Schar's injury: "I don't know too much, I think it's an ankle problem. Fingers crossed, our thoughts are with him. I think he is at the hospital now." Could be similar to Isak injury, might depend if it is a break including fibula or just ankle and ligaments.

Tino and Botman on

Got an opportunity with Juventus.

Dayann Methalie might not happen this window due to an injury he has been managing - sounds like he would fit right in with our current defensive woes mind! Or it's a cover up and he is missing games in anticipation of a move in January...

When things like this start coming out it is the beginning of the end and you know that they'll likely have who they want to replace him in mind. Man City, Fulham, Charlton, Arsenal, Brentford, Pafos, Crystal Palace, Napoli and West Ham all coming up in January.

Just about to check this, it would seem it was a £47.5m move to Spurs and they're going to receive £35m (subject to sell on fee to Forest). Would this go down as a PSR loss for them?

I'm sure there have been articles stating it was Tindall led who worked with him at Sheffield United and was drawing comparisons with Callum Wilson at the time. I'm assuming this must have also been injury related too.

Saw this from the BBC https://football-observatory.com/WeeklyPost527 where we've apparently been linked to including Smit and Rayan.

Wouldn't expect him to say anything else, but concerning he thought that was a good performance.

Frustration on another level that one. You could see we weren't going to score and they offered next to nothing, a half chance from Bruno losing the ball and then Hall switching off Dalot. Gordon - just doesn't do it enough. End product is poor, penalty goals aside he isn't contributing enough to displace Barnes for me. Ramsey - switched off Dorgu at the set piece, that stutter on the edge of the box and then aimless passing. Can you justify buying him? Murphy - he can deliver a ball, but we don't have anyone to stick it in so he becomes null. We need to invest in January, but given last summer I'd be worried who they bring in.

Have we reached the end of Hopkinson's 100 day review yet?

Granted these are highlights, but he hasn't looked anything like this for us. Several of his assists were set pieces into the 6 yard box which resulted in a goal - whereas he isn't on them for us and we've not been as clinical until recently. The difference between his run and goal against Man United and the one he gave up on for us against Chelsea is staggering. There doesn't seem to be any conviction between his shooting when he has had a chance for us (Aston Villa A, Chelsea H) compared to his goals against Brentford, Ipswich and Man United last season.

I thought he was excellent yesterday in a position he isn't used to. He was the deserved man of the match and got better as the game went on - almost like he has a bit of a spring in his step or extra confidence. When Liverpool had their defensive crisis Szoboszlai was getting rave reviews at RB too. I'm not say Miley is as good as Szo, but I think for 19 he has had a solid season so far and justified not sending him out on loan.

It's being relatively cryptic for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I might start an account but with wrong answers only @FibRamano on X

It's a matter of time

Any reason for the boycott?

Salah states in the interview that the club made promises to him last summer and haven't followed up on them. He can copy and paste this: "When promises are broken and trust is lost, the relationship can't continue. That's where things are for me right now - and why change is in the best interests of everyone, not just myself." Alex Isak