Tsunami

Just going off a figure thrown up in the media about Saudi interest.

If we can get 50M for Big Jo I’d be all in for MGW as a replacement (if he’d come and assuming he still has a 60M release clause).

We need a midfielder who can break lines and travel with the ball. Willock could do it, I suspect we think Ramsey will be able to do it. We are also directing play down the left to an inverted winger who has no end product and down the right to a limited player who has lost his target man or a new winger who just isn’t up to it. Our transfer business was largely poor but we should acknowledge that we struggle to attract players to come here. Semenyo had a lot of interest in him over the summer, no idea if we enquired but another £10M plus £5M add on’s, on top of what we paid for Elanga, gets him in the January window. I find that really puzzling.

This is perhaps a bit simplistic but it has to be a good yard stick, you can tell what kind of team, character and leadership you have in a side by contrasting home and away form. It also reflects the influence of the manager. We’ve lost an edge away from home, Howe needs to find a solution. The Everton game was an exception, we scored early and they didn’t recover. We’ve been too easy to get at in every other away game when we’ve led and once we’ve been behind we’ve been far too easy to fend off.

Clough made a great solid base with the likes of Shelton, Lloyd, Burns, McGovern, Gemmill and then you had Robertson, Withe, Francis, Woodcock, O’Neill. They were some team when they won the League and European Cups. Mad that a club has more European Cups than League Titles.

I’m not one for stats to judge a player but the important stats show that from open play he doesn’t score enough and rarely creates good chances. My eyes tell me he that he fucks about on the ball, slows play down, moves backwards and sidewards, is pretty much kick and rush on the outside, can’t deliver a consistent cross with his left and, generally, has the finishing ability of Big Jo. Give me Barnes every time, he’s not as “eye catching”, however, he doesn’t dwell on the ball, he can pick a pass and he scores goals. I’ve had enough of Gordon, includes for England as well.

Man U were awful and we lost, away, again. Really not good enough.

All fart, no shit from this lad. Absolute epitome of no end product.

He really should be saving that.

I’d guess the fibula is fractured near the base and he’s hopefully got ligament/ soft tissue injury at the ankle joint. Such a shame.

Looks like it is the ankle from some of the photos. I broke mine in 2 places, 3 months in plaster and 6 months physio. Mind you the cheap skates at the QE decided that a Porter trying to push the sole of my foot with his chest while applying the plaster of paris would do the same job as an operation and a plate….pity Isak wasn’t sent to the QE thinking about it.

I’m not saying he was at fault, I am saying he made it easier than it should have been. Pedro is running full pelt, Ramsdale imo should have come up a bit further to close the distance, tighten the angle, reduce thinking time and try to create some doubt. As it was Ramsdale stopped maybe 10 yards from his goal line and it allowed Pedro to shoot earlier, from just inside the box at a static keeper. Pedro may well have still scored but Ramsdale’s position must have helped.

I’ve no real idea what Ramsdale was doing for the 2nd, playing statues perhaps? At least Pope would have been 15 yards outside his box as soon as Thiaw slipped……

Anyone mentioned the really soft free kick for their 1st goal?

He got far too tight, got turned and slipped. He’s been really good however, he got it wrong for that goal.

He was holding his knee tbf.

Chalobah steps across Gordon, clatters his hip/ thigh, uses excessive force and doesn’t lead with his shoulder. It’s a penalty, there’s Sheparding a ball out and then there’s a I’m not getting the ball so I’ll have to make sure the other player doesn’t get to it.

Might be wrong but did Bruno not jump in the wall and the ball goes there? Pope might have saved the free kick and he makes himself bigger for the equaliser.

He’s not a natural goal scorer, he cuts back on himself and he had Wissa running in middle of goals. He should have been aware of where we had runners, he could have taken a look but he’d already made his mind up that he was going to shoot. He was entitled to shot, but, he had the better option - not Barnes, Wissa was the ball. I thought at the time that he’d decided he’d try and be the match winner and it wasn’t the easiest of finish. He’s just not a very good footballer and no amount of coaching is going to improve his natural talent or his instinctive decision making.

He put a good cross in and made a good pass but, he’s just not very good. Not passing when he shot was frankly unacceptable.

He must assume they’re going down regardless so just them as cheap as possible. Wonder how long it takes for him to say he’s not putting another penny into club after promising the good times.

And he received a great reception when he came on as substitute.

He was warming up on the pitch at HT, trying a few tricks. One of them was letting the ball bounce off his standing foot and simply keeping it up with his other foot. He tried and failed 5 times on the trot, the ball was flying all over the place. The balls were being gently lobbed to him from 5 yards away. He’d make Pope look good with his feet, he even started laughing at how bad he was.

Has anyone got stats showing when we concede goals. I know we’ve not conceded in the 1st 30 minutes of a match and that we’ve conceded a fair few after 85 minutes. I’m convinced we must have conceded the most in the 1st 5 minutes after HT. I’ve not seen the stats but the number of times we come out looking like we’ve had a 15 minute snooze is remarkable. We need a bit of a shake up for sure. You have to be 100% up for every game and a big part of that is down to the manager and how he wants the team to play. We have better players than the style we’re playing away from home. We look half arsed and no points from a losing position tells its own story.

Looked dangerous and out of control to me. He was never getting the ball and didn’t need to slide in; he chose to do so. That Reinaldo (sic), Brobby and Ballard all give out in snidey challenges yet hoy themselves to ground at the slightest contact. Miley got a naughty one on his ankle and also got charged elbow first in the back. We didn’t lose because of this but it’s a large part of how they play. I was going mental at some of this yesterday; they’ve clearly been told to do this.