alexf

This was our lineup two years ago in the 6 : 1 Says alot about our recruitment that we are possibly starting with 8 of that 11 today with the other Botman, Willock and Schar injured/suspended. On the flip side, you could argue we are fielding essentially the same side that beat these so comfortably previously, so we know they have it in them, with Gordon, Tonali and Kelly/Hall likely to add in.

I hope fans are patient with Botman and Lascelles when they are available again aswell. ACL is a massive injury and they may never recover to the same level. I know neither were quick before and it's not as essential for the position in comparison, but just look at Chiesa. Gone from a potential £100m player to £10m post injury. Took Van Dijk a season or two to get back to good form for Liverpool also after his injury.

Why ban her? Just allow her to continue making a fool of herself. Eddie isn't like Bruce, he won't ever get rattled by stupid questions.

I had never seen Barnes play on the right until the other night. I think there was enough there to show he can do a job and it's about getting our best players on the pitch. Like people said, he and Gordon can switch wings in-game to keep opponents guessing. He's been one of our slightly more positive performers so far Barnes, so think he's earned a league start.

Main bit that concerns me from that conference is that last revealing answer about has the window effected the players. Normally you would expect a straight bat denial, but he admitted that the players were feeling the same as the fans. Hints that people like Gordon and maybe others are potentially not in the right head space right now? Perhaps he just means the likes of Miggy and Trippier.

The fact he was still able to run around a little while he was testing it out is hopeful. I mean if you have torn your quad or something then I guess you wouldn't be able to even stand. Having said that, didn't Joelinton play on for awhile against Sunderland and then he was out like 3-4 months? Fingers crossed for Joe. He is a really important cog in our squad. Could see the heartbreak as he walked off, but hopefully that was just the fear of another injury rather than knowing it was definitely serious.

Will have his uses this season if he stays. But I hope he doesn't start against Spurs. Son embarrassed him in the away fixture last season and on the evidence of the Forest game, he would do it again. Horses for courses. Tino needs to start this one.

I know it just looked like his fitness was catching up to him but he clearly got clattered a few moments earlier and then indicated he got hit in the throat. Can be horrible when you catch a bad one to the throat.

I don't care about Manchester United.

Pocket change I'm sure from all the unreported, offshore income he's probably getting from Man City.

Looked good. Was the pick of the players, although the rest of them were pretty poor for the majority of the game. Liked his controlled passing when he decides to dictate the tempo. Really liked the goal though, if you watch on the replay he showcased some seriously powerful running to get forward after his pass. If he can do that regularly then he's going to pick up plenty of chances.

Bar the first few minutes we have been awful.

Yeah, I'd hope he starts aswell. See how he goes and if really struggling then change at half time. If not try and give him a good 60mins atleast. We need him up to speed as fast as possible and if god forbid we get knocked out tonight, then he will only have league games to gain sharpness anyways so throw him straight back in tonight I say.

What part doesn't make sense? All I was saying was, to outsiders, we may no longer be seen as the next big thing. Think of the momentum we had coming off the back off that champions league season and compare it to now. We are now out of Europe this season. We haven't been able to kick on and sign the players we need to progress the team forward so far this summer and have needed to sell a couple. Now internally as fans we know we have Tonali coming back, unlikely to get an injury crisis as bad as last year and we all have faith in Eddie. But it certainly isn't insane to suggest that to the rest of the world we may now bee seen as a 7-8th team rather than a nailed on top 4 challenger.

That's not how I see it. I think even with the squad we have, if we find form we are a dark horse for top 5/6. But I think that's how the outside are perceiving us now. Just have to look at all the media and there predictions for this season etc. We are definitely flying under the radar, probably due to our lack of activity in the market compared to the others around us.

I think some of our earlier signings aswell like Bruno and Botman were helped by the media hype that we are now the richest club in the world and we're about to kick on to massive things. Due to PSR, dropping out of the champions league this year etc, alot of that momentum has massively slowed down. So we don't really have that extra incentive for ambitious players to jump to us. We are now probably seen as an upper mid table side that might get Europe occasionally if we have a good season.

I love Eddie and back him to the hilt. However, I feel this season we will have to evolve. Our high energy, high press tactics worked great in 22/23. But we fell off a cliff last season when half the squad broke down and too many games, sapped the live out of the rest. Now, it feels like most of the league are adopting a similar high press tactic but with better quality squads. I fear we have become quite predictable now, with teams also likely to target our inability to play out from the back with people like Pope and Burn's limitations on the ball. Without the momentum of new signings, we may need to be more flexible in style and formation this season to achieve success. Unless Tonali somehow really transforms the team on his return.

Agreed. Brighton's squad is strong. I think they are on for a decent season.

Assume today was his first appearance aswell? Excellent

He's on talksport right now it seems.

Not on here necessarily, but your average Joe on the street will have high expectations of him. With the fee aswell, sometimes that can weigh heavy on a player.

ASM didn't get worse due to Howe, but his injuries caught up with him. He looked like he lost that explosive speed that he had during the Bruce era, due to the constant hamstring strains etc. Rarely did he seem physically at his best under Howe. But on the rare occasions that he did he was still one of our best players. That Man City 3:3 home game comes to mind. Best side in the league just couldn't handle him. Injuries just took away his explosiveness. Without it he was just abit frustrating and was right to move him on in the end.

Stick by my original thoughts, that he's not as good as he's made out to be. People convince themselves when there is a large fee involved, just had a decent tournament for England and therefore is being hyped by media, that we are getting one of the best defenders in the world. He isn't. I think he is steady and will make the squad stronger, but he won't transform our fortunes. But for our record signing we sort of need more than that don't we? Happy to hold my hands up and be proved wrong if he helps fire us back into Champions league this season.

If we do walk away. The leaked bids have essentially given away what money we have available to spend to everyone else.