Pilko

Nice to see him back, great idea to let him have a little cameo and also let Tonali get some well earned applause.

We'll get Liverpool away. Good things aren't allowed to happen.

He was very good. Solid and reliable as per. Would be more than happy if we move Lascelles along and retain him as the occasional defensive cover for another year.

That was much more like it, I know Chelsea were abject but he shuffled his pack to good effect and then made sensible changes to ensure we saw it out. We all know how quick the tide can turn either way, but get something at the weekend and suddenly it's a 3 game week that most people would have settled for at the start of it (okay, depending on the cup draw in a bit ).

Much more organised tonight. Tonali ran the show, we need to find a way to allow him to do that more often. Isak looked much more at it and hopefully his tail is up after 2 in 2 now.

He's a proper player like. Can definitely improve his defensive positioning but technically he's excellent for his age and experience.

"I was gonna say like that but nobody can see us" fucking great commentary

Much better this so far.

Schar again there, he's having a horrid week so far.

That's twice in as many games Schar has lumbered over like that and been way too late to win the tackle.

For fucks sake man. Another sitter wasted

Schar is so slow, that was frightening how he didn't reach that cushioned header.

Gordon right, one of the Joes left, Isak up top?

Southampton are absolutely awful. They've brought on a 6'8 unit of a striker and then proceeded to deliver a succession of crosses that wouldn't trouble Danny DeVito playing at centre half.

Gutted, he was doing a superb job.

It's not pointless to discuss though, we knew this about Wilson's fitness for the last two windows and the club chose not to act. We've gambled on Isak's form and fitness yet again and this time (so far anyway) we've lost in a big way. I said it in another thread but look at our rivals in the table all with genuine options to bring on up front, and we've deliberately chosen to buy a kid without a PL goal who we only trust with stoppage time cameos. It's bordering on negligence and as you've articulated in your post, you can start racking up the points we've missed out on because of it and we're only in October. I can't bring myself to be mad at Wilson himself because we all knew he'd be available sporadically at best, but for some reason the club chose to ignore this fact and it's playing out exactly as you'd expect.

I'm fuming at him for today, basically cost us the points with the shit touch for their winner and the ludicrous indecision on that massive chance second half. He's horribly out of form, I know he scored and I hoped that would give him a confidence boost but he was chronically shit after that for the rest of the day, again. Lack of competition and options is definitely costing us. Every other side we're competing with around us has a genuine option to bring on - Jesus, Duran, Richarlison, Evan Ferguson, Nkunku... and we have a kid without a league goal who we barely trust with a stoppage time cameo. It's scandalous that they've allowed us to go into a season so short handed tbh.

To be clear, I don't think we should be binning Howe, but I wonder how much longer these absolutely limp as fuck away performances can continue before the tide starts to turn against him. We can't retain the ball, the shithousey streetwise edge has completely disappeared and the horrible flat 3 in midfield is so easy to play against but he just won't change it. Same 65 min subs every time too, you can absolutely set your watch by us we're that obvious. Things aren't as bad as some people are saying, but between the lack of investment in key positions and Howe rolling out the same predictable, easy to play against soft touch set up away from home every time, there's a feeling of malaise about the team at the moment and that's the bigger worry, in my opinion. It's only going to take a few more weeks of dropping points before we need to put together some seriously good consistent form just to stay in touch, and so many of the lads look out of form and shot to bits. I really hope it turns round quickly but I have a nagging feeling he's started to run out of ideas and is just putting blind faith in sticking with the same old til it works. Same goes for the shit clipped corner to Burn, that's 50-odd without a goal now, please change it. Tough week coming up but getting through in the cup tie would be a huge boost that we desperately could do with.

The lack of change to the formation is like that press notification you get in FM when you've been on a shit run and it suggests your stubbornness with it is why you're losing and a change might do you good, but he's ignoring it.

It's getting harder and harder to defend this absolute fucking twaddle he's spinning up away from home, like. It's awful to watch, he isn't getting the best out of most of the players and he won't change the system.

Fucking pathetic, Isak.

Does feel like we're doing the same things every week and it just isn't working. Part of that is on the board for not investing in the side for a year, but his lack of willingness to try a different formation or change that horrible flat midfield three is getting starker by the week. If he's not worried for his job now, he should be.

Isak and Pope. Fucking hopeless the pair of them, soft as shit away from home yet again.

It's not all on him, but this looks bleak so far today. Hope it changes fast.

Hooper is a cunt, that's so blatant