alexf

The yellow Schar got against Arsenal was ridiculously naive.

Neville on commentary needs to stop being a thing. He's awful.

Got the feeling eventually we will see... Tonali Bruno Willock Gordon Joelinton Isak But perhaps Longstaff has cemented his starting place for a while again in Eddie's eyes.

Was Barnes on the bench Vs Chelsea? Seemed odd he got no minutes. Might be a message from Eddie as he was really poor in the reverse Chelsea fixture. However that shouldn't undo alot of the good things Barnes has produced already this season.

I'm struggling to remember the last time this guy lets us down or had a noticeable bad game? Must be going back to the Bruce era no? Definition of a solid squad player who is reliable and always puts in a steady performance. However I think that might be underselling him, as he's had some really strong games for us in recent years.

I like him. Far from the finished article and will likely always have defensive weaknesses, but he brings a lovely balance to the side. It's helped put an end to the Burn at LB nonsense. I know we got top 4 with that, but the rest of the squad was operating at a completely different level, plus he had the 2 Joe's helping lock down that left side plus Botman next to him to support. Burn at LB in this current squad would be a car crash, as we saw many times last season. That's no slight on Burn either, he's a better CB than he is LB and suits that role better. Although, with no disrespect to him, to move forward we need the old Botman back fit and and firing and young athletic partner to succeed Schar.

Have to expect Man U will have a considerable upturn in performance. New manager bounce, dark cloud lifted. We all have experienced the same here previously and it can really help the confidence and momentum. Just need to hope this new guy is gonna be another Ten Hag rather than a Pep or Klopp level manager.

We could play really well and still lose unfortunately such is Arsenal's quality these days. But it would be nice if we can try and put a run of form together and get the season back on track.

Liked the look of him last night. Seemed abit of a natural game for him where he wasn't looking lost tactically. Made a few errors here and there like getting caught in possession that almost led to something dangerous. But don't mind that too much, Bruno has plenty of moments like that too so it can happen. Would like to see that set up with Bruno taking up a number 8 role instead, could work nicely.

Yeah last few games, his lack of legs have been massively evident. But it's almost that aging thing where in his head he can still get there but his body is a yard slower. Needs to retreat more and cover the space instead of being as aggressive is the only thing I can think of, unless we can partner him with someone that can cover for this lack of mobility. But that isn't happening with the current personnel available. Like I wonder if we concede that first goal against Chelsea if he just backed off and tried to slow Neto down instead of going all or nothing. Probably still concede as Burn was never catching Jackson either. It's tricky because being aggressive is what actually helps his lack of athleticism normally by not getting turned and running the wrong way and nicking the ball high instead. But just like Trippier, once you lose a bit too much from the legs, those split seconds being late to the tackle cost you massively. Either you get booked for a late tackle or you miss the player completely and they are in behind you.

Was nice to see him stretch those legs and show he still has that power. Will hopefully do his confidence alot of good as he looked scared to sprint since he returned. Did say before the game will be interesting to see how he looks starting a game instead of coming in as sub so he can feel his way into it. Was definitely an improvement.

First semi difficult away draw for ages and he pipes up

Who's the co-commentator? Mentioned he used to play for us but I wasn't recognising the voice?

That's great news. He's not the finished article, but cannot underestimate the impact his pace and running brings to us. Just hope they aren't taking any risks if there's a chance he could tear something by playing too soon.

If Gordon is back I think we win. If not then struggling to see us suddenly clicking into good form for this.

What's most frustrating is the likelihood of anything we want to do, is going to be a super slow burn ...build a new stadium, build a world class youth academy etc etc. it's just gonna be so slow to see real progress. Little did we know at the time, but that 22/23 season might be the best we have for a long long time and possibly will be our best chance at silverware for awhile also. That was supposed to be just the start but it feels like everything has just gone backwards since. Sorry that was all very doom and gloom, been ill as fuck for over a week now so I guess everything is just bleak to me right now 😅

I saw el clasico live last week, having not watched that fixture for many years. Have to say it was a real eye opener. I grew up in the era watching the likes of R9, Zidane, Ronaldinho etc and then later the Messi/Ronaldo matches ofcourse. Might be biased but I came away thinking that "back in my day" the standard was so much higher. I thought if this is the best we have to offer in this era then it's nothing special. The amount of ridiculous basic offsides by Mbappe despite him being as fast as he is. Then some of the finishing, especially one particular effort from Vini Jr was so poor. Just made me realise today's game is just more about are you an athlete first and foremost. This game was so open with poor defending all over and basically who can break the lines and counter best. Turns out Barca, who had a seasoned finisher in Lewandowski to get them ahead. I'm sure the strikers of the past would score an absolute boat load in this era. It's probably why Haaland stands alone in comparison to most statistically as he's a throw back to the past.

He's been out so long now I'm not sure what player we would be getting back when he finally plays another game anyway. He was pretty poor whenever he played last season I thought. Looked like injuries and age had caught up with him and he had lost most of his pace.

I'd be tempted to start Willock. See if it helps him starting a game instead of coming on for a change. Because he's had little to no impact off the bench recently. Seems scared to open up his legs, or perhaps he can't anymore? Either way perhaps be good to have Joelinton as an impact sub instead possibly. It's true though there is very little we can adjust personnel wise. Whereas they could put out a whole fresh 11 and likely still be competitive.

This set piece thing needs addressing. But embarrassing when you see most other teams are getting alot of joy (see the Arsenal Liverpool game) Was telling before the game that stat flashed up of 50 corners 0 goals.

Chronic lack of pace at the back outside of Tino is always our biggest weakness. Especially as Bruno can't make up any ground so he's essentially pointless being the deepest midfielder. Both goals came about due to lack of mobility. Schar getting no where near the ball and Burn not able to cover in the center for the first. The 2nd, Schar too scared to commit so just backed off to eternity. Both so soft. That doesn't mention the complete lack of attacking cohesion generally though apart from the goal which was mainly down to Tino coming inside and offering something different, we didn't look threatening at all. Not sure Gordon would have changed much. But Barnes was anonymous as fuck. Hardly took his chance to prove he should be starting.

Muric feels like he's constantly dropping clangers.

He's not as good as he thinks he is. Get a feeling like he like he thinks he's the main man now after last year, but he's got a lot of development still to do and needs to keep his feet on the ground and keep working. His pressing and running is great but his composure and finishing has been awful last few games.

Said in the match thread, blaming Eddie for today is a massive stretch. An inform Isak or Gordon and we win that fairly comfortably. We controlled large portions of the game and limited them to very little. What's being proven however, as we play more and more games this year, is everyone's feeling that this squad isn't strong enough to challenge is correct.

Blaming Howe for Isak and Gordon's woeful finishing today is a wild take. We had the majority of the game so tactical he got it mostly right. But we were awful in the final 3rd today and a lack of nous at the back cost us dearly.