alexf

Rotate him with who though? Kelly? We literally have no other choice until we sign someone better or Lascelles and Botman get back fit and healthy. We went into a premier league season with only 3 fit senior CBs, 2 over 33 and another on a free who is a LB/CB hybrid and so far has looked poor. I bet if we went through every other squad, especially the teams we're meant to be competing with for europe, I bet they have far more depth at CB than we do. Villa, Spurs, Chelsea, Man U, Brighton, West Ham, all have atleast 4 senior CBs off the top of my head.

Don't think the players weren't motivated today I just think once again we had the chances to win the game and defended poorly when we conceded. It was clear in the first half when we showed glimpses that we were the better team but we just seem to have a soft underbelly. 2nd half never got going, most the players began to tire, but that poor third goal seemed to really knock the stuffing out of us to come from behind a third time.

Yeah have to say, I've noticed too when you see replays back of goals it's often Big Joe is at fault recently. Also don't like him in midfield. He's too awkward and gets dispossessed on the ball quite often when they swarm around him. He's alot more useful as a wide player when we need that extra defensive cover for Hall. Agreed also that he looked knackered and is clearly still struggling with that shoulder problem from the palace game.

Feel like we constantly concede sloppy goals. It's a real handicap. Talk of replacing Howe though is annoying me. That weird trait in people always wanting something new and uncertain and forgetting all the good Howe has also done. Howe has his flaws but the good outweighs the bad quote considerably. The summer was a shambles really and we haven't enabled him to progress. The squad is stale and badly needed and injection of something fresh, what we got was deflation and selling two young players to cover PSR. If we finished bottom half and out of all the cups he then may have some more pressure on him.

Gordon and Tonali both put in serious shifts on Wednesday. Tonali in particular was fantastic off the ball. Can understand the decision. Just hope it doesn't cost us today and ofcourse if we are still in the game then they are both good options to bring on later. Missing Willock as an additional option is frustrating though. Joelinton has also put in a serious amount of minutes lately and also is one of the ones on a booking away from suspension.

Just makes games like Palace where he has hobbled off all the more frustrating. If he could just stay fit and when on form he's phenomenal.

Just defend the counters and set pieces properly please and give ourselves a chance. Otherwise it's gonna be a comfortable loss.

Nearly every team gets done on the counter by Liverpool. Will be really annoying if we play into their hands with our slow back line. As others said we need to play the same tactics that always works for us against spurs, where we are the counter attack team, even if we are at home.

Yeah same. Felt like nothing was going out way and that was the cherry on top. If we score then it was around 75 mins or something right? Might have given us the momentum to get a draw atleast. The last angle they showed it was such a blatant foul as it stopped Wilson from getting anything on the ball.

Willock and Longstaff were anonymous first half. But the decision to bring Barnes on, move Joelinton back into a midfield 3 that has been proven not to work and then moving Gordon into number 10 all massively back fired. We score first then we win comfortably I think but as soon as they got that soft goal I feared the worst. However 2nd half was a car crash and that was probably on Howe. None of his changes worked.

Fuck knows who plays CB if Schar or Kelly pick up a knock in the game however. Probably big Joe.

How is Dibling allowed to play with his socks that low only just noticed, just bare legs with tennis socks and no shin pads?

If we can somehow get Trippier and Wilson back amongst the subs, our options off the bench are looking really strong with Barnes and Tonali coming on as "finishers" aswell. Just need to get some defensive reinforcements back healthy aswell. Looking forward to having Botman back as an option soon hopefully, but will still leave Schar as the only fit right footed CB. I think it's a must we sign another cb in January.

Yeah I agree, we should keep what's working and it means we have a strong bench. Same logic applies for Barnes, he's a great impact player to bring it. I was just trying to say I understand why there might be some noise from various people wanting to see more of Tonali, but it's only natural where there is unknown potential, that we all hope he eventually will fulfill. Only heightened by the delay to see him play regularly for a year. But as long as the player isn't kicking up a fuss then there is no need to rush whilst results stay strong. And he certainly shouldn't kick up a fuss after getting himself banned for a year.

See, I take your points. But when you start using language like "local clogger" and "Prime iniesta" and putting them in quotation marks, even though I didn't remember seeing people using these terms to describe the players? It feels unnecessary. There is plenty of evidence of Longstaff playing for long spells in the side and looking poor. Yes he's in better form at the moment and plays a very important and unique role within that current midfield 3. But he is helped by having the right players around him (Willock). Just as much as Tonali would be I feel if he plays. Also Longstaff looks pretty useless in that deeper role when he's asked to do so. In the same way I don't think Tonali is suited to the Longstaff right side runner role either. He likes to get on the ball more like Bruno and seems more suited to that role. So already comparing them like for like seems silly. It's fine to be happy with current results and to keep the starting 11 as is. But we have seen with our own eyes Longstaff now for what 6 years? People know his strengths and limitations. It's only natural that when we sign an Italian international with a strong reputation for £50m+, people will be more excited to see him in the side. Especially as he's now starting to acclimatise to the league it seems and is begining to show that expected ability.

Yeah was just about it say. People bringing up the stats with all these guys playing together are missing the obvious. It's not Longstaff that's turned our form, it's Willock being back close to something like his 22/23 self. He was the missing legs in that midfield. I know we haven't seen it yet but a Tonali, Bruno, Willock midfield will be better than when we saw Tonali, Bruno Joelinton. Especially if Tonali plays the deeper role instead of the Longstaff role as he has recently. A midfield of Joelinton, Bruno and Longstaff struggles just as much as if you swap in Tonali but you swap big Joe for Little Joe and put the big man in the wing instead and you get the success that we have enjoyed in recent games. Eddie knows what he's doing. He's bedding Tonali in and we are starting to see the benefits. His recent appearances have been strong and the whole team is functioning better.

How long does Schar have to avoid a booking? Can he go in a Bruno-esque run of no cards?

I think he's starting to look the player we thought we were getting. Last few appearances have been spot on. Don't think he's out the starting 11 for any fault of his, just that Howe has stumbled on the old winning formula of a Bruno, Sean and Joe and it's working well. It's tried and trusted so I don't blame Howe for favoring it. But having this guy to come on or slot in to start when needed this season will show what we missed last. Seems far more comfortable in that centre role aswell and it seems to be helping Bruno out also by hiding his mobility weaknesses and allowing him to press higher and be more involved with attacks. Positive signs. Still keen to see how a starting line up of Bruno, Tonali and Willock would perform like, and if it would be even stronger than currently but I'm sure we will see it at some stage.

He's definitely starting to hit some form now. You can see it in his actions. When he's fit and firing he just looks sharper, more involved. Hope this is the start of a sustained run of fitness and goals. Really just need Wilson to make himself available for the odd 15-20 min sub appearances to help manage Isak's workload.

I liked that moment when Isak was sprinting for the ball and then Joe came flying past and took over and then delivered a lovely cross for the Isak volley. Would have been a great counter attack goal if we finished it. Said a few weeks ago, he was coming on and making no impact because he looked scared to stretch his legs, which is the biggest part of his game. But then that moment in the Chelsea cup game where he opened up and burst forwards over a long distance, I think was a big confidence booster to him mentally and maybe helped him trust his body wasn't going to fail him again. He's looked back to his old self ever since. Great asset to the team.

Just in time to play against his favourite opponent hopefully.

Didn't realise he was possibly injured. Do we have any other players bar Kelly that can cover CB? I imagine a Burn Kelly partnership of two left footers would be awkward as fuck. Any decent youth prospects in that position? Getting to January without anymore yellows for Schar or injuries is gonna be sketchy as fuck.

Gets kicked to fuck often to be fair to him. That tackle before he went off by Cucurella was particularly savage. I think he's borderline world class. Can sometimes do wonderful things, like that first half against Liverpool couple weeks ago he looked the best player on the pitch to me. But there are other times it feels like he gets overhyped. I guess that goes for alot of players really.

Hope he comes back close to the 22/23 version we saw and not the 23/24 post injury version. Because he was a shadow of himself during that spell, so I hope he was just playing injured, although all the sound bites coming from him at the time was that he was 100% healthy and the knee wasn't effecting him. So I hope he was lying because we need the old Botman back. I think it will be next season before he's back to form from previous other player examples.