Pilko

Hall, Livramento, Schar all come in

Liverpool

Chose Notts County and their ridiculous short lived money over us and then sacked it off after one game, the tit. Only we were stupider for signing him the following summer when we were a level higher and he was a year fatter and slower.

It's the right kind of player we need for the midfield mix, though. An encouraging link if it's got any truth in it.

So that's Keegan & Robson, failures class.

He scored one for us didn't he? Against Sheff U at home? Maybe not a full bicey like McTom's was from memory but certainly a scissor kick at least.

Yeah he'll need to be fully prepped and tuned in for his fifth sub, 10 minute cameo appearance when we're 0-2 down.

We can't describe Man City as "must win" or even "must not lose" or anything, but I would describe it as "must not deliver performance that looks like the players just met in the car park for the first time". Eddie has said many times that the lack of training time and 3 games a week has hindered things a lot. We now have 2 weeks to prepare for Man City, where 7 of the likely starting 11 (minus Bruno, Tonali, Woltemade and Thiaw) are not away on international duty. We just need to see an obvious marked improvement and coherence to the gameplan from West Ham and Brentford. Even if we end up getting beat.

There's no way Cole Palmer knows what a trademark even is tbf. An agent or financial person will have told him it's a good idea and he'll have strained every ounce of the limited grey matter he has to smile and nod.

I think all teams will have players that are undroppable for most fixtures, cup games against lower division sides apart. I'd like to see a bit more horses for courses thinking though now that we do have some alternative options that are mostly the manager's own pick of signing. Joelinton for the third time in 8 days when he's out of form is ridiculous when you've two senior centre midfielders sat on the bench that are very much the managers choice rather than players he's inherited. Three if you stretch to include Willock.

I think he's doubled down on physical, pace, power etc type players and a few things have now happened all at once to exacerbate that as an issue: Other sides have gone more in that direction too, meaning we can't just run over sides like we used to, particularly the poorer sides in the division. There's too much dependency on a core of players who aren't good enough with the ball (Joelinton, Burn, Murphy, Gordon, Pope). That doesn't make those guys bad players overnight but when we then need to pull the quality lever in favour of the physical/pace one more frequently, it leaves us wanting. Spending £55m on Elanga adds to that issue. Joelinton is being picked for his 2023 form and 3 starts in 8 days is clearly beyond him, when we've got Miley and Ramsey sat on the bench. When you're forced into Burn at LB due to injuries and have a horribly out of form Gordon on that flank too, it makes the entire left side a waste of time in terms of using the ball. There's lots of small problems all adding up at the minute IMO, some are out of Eddie's control (PSR, the way the window played out, injuries to first choice full backs & Wissa) but others are well in his control (signing/selecting too many anti-footballers, in-game subs, running out of form Joelinton into the ground, picking Gordon all the time, Pope v Ramsdale etc). We need to hope he can start to rectify the ones that are in his control whilst the injured players get back and he can start to put one of his trademark winning runs together. There's no doubt he should be given time to turn it around and history tells us he will. It just feels like we need that classic Howe turning point game like Leeds (a) Shelvey, Liverpool at home 3-3 last season etc where it starts to go our way. When it comes, we'll know.

I still can't believe he sat back and didn't make the sub on a yellow carded Burn after that massive let off on the first penalty appeal. Or any subs, indeed, until we're facing a pen and down to ten men. I cannot fathom for the life of me what logic he applied to think keeping things the same might somehow win us the game.

What was the point in paying massive, overflated fees for "PL ready" players if we then say they need 3-6 months to settle in?

2-3 years of knowing we need a RW upgrade to spend £55m on this lad is an absolute disgrace by Howe and the club, like. Murphy isn't playing overly well and he still isn't trusted with more than the scrag end of matches.

This weird obsession with wanting to punch everything he's suddenly embarked upon is absolutely brutal. Cost us in the last two away games.

That's only partially true. He could have rotated the goalkeeper, the midfielders and the wingers and yet he's picking the same ones and leaving the same ones on the bench every week. The last time we literally had 11 fit outfield players. It was Krafth on the bench with sub keepers and a creche. He's got way more options but doesn't fancy any of them, including two of the biggest spends this summer.

It'll be 2 or 3 low key appearances "still getting up to match fitness" and then off to run round on a balding cricket pitch for three weeks. See you in January.

What a goal Doku. Had a belter game today

Tried to punch his own head in I heard.

He needs to be in there starting most games now. Whilst nobody covered themselves in glory again today, he's such an obvious upgrade on Joelinton when it comes to moving the ball forwards or keeping it tighter areas.

Ha ha, get in

Good old VAR

Bugger. Great header though

No way has he said that

7 of the 11 league games we've had so far have been against sides in the bottom half of the table as it stands, including 5 of the bottom 6. Fixtures don't get easier and we've wasted some of the simpler on paper ones.