Pilko

"Absorbing" the number one word by commentary teams used to describe a hyped up big fixture which has ultimately been shit to watch.

I don't do stuff about his little hand.

Sharepoint

You're such a OneNote performer.

I'm sure Xhaka has been very good for them but this smacks of the "Catts for me" debate over Cattermole and whichever of our blatantly superior players it was.

I'm sure when we find out who's replaced him in November 2026 we'll think it's a great appointment.

Ultimately Howe and the staff will know where he's at, but the post match comments made it sound like he wasn't ready to play regardless.

These lads have all played in the first team during pre-season friendlies. They're not raffle tickets winners from the local comprehensive. FYI, I'm not being critical and you're right in saying it doesn't really matter so much in the grand scheme of things. I'm just being pragmatic. Putting an unfit player on the bench who's not going to get on there. What's the point? I'd prefer we did stick another keeper on there now you mention it On your last point, I've seen that said on here by others, but I've never said that and don't subscribe to the theory that we don't give young players a chance. Lewis Miley is a great example that if they're good enough they'll get chances.

I don't think it's an entirely daft argument. If Hall's not properly fit to play and putting him on the pitch puts him at massive risk of further injury, you may as well include a promising youngster on there just for the matchday squad experience even if they're not ready to come into the team yet. And who knows, if somehow we're 4-0 up it might be a good chance to give them a couple of minutes and a little taster. The lads who were on the bench in Paris I think we all knew even at that stage of the season that they were of the age where they were highly likely to be released that summer and purely there to make up the numbers and as bodies if we got more injuries only. The likes of Neave, Shahar, Park etc. are still in the "promising youngster" stage and might well be worth including.

Thuggery by Hume

That miss Barry off EastEnders sticks that away FFS.

What a fucking goal Ndiaye.

This is all well and good if us facing low blocks all the time was a new innovation from opponents, but it's not. We all diagnosed about 2 years ago watching Miggy toiling away that we needed some more technical ability in that position and "we" (Eddie/the club, delete as appropriate) decided to spend a large amount on someone who doesn't possess the skill levels in favour of yet more pace.

I said this the other day but a hell of a lot of stock is being put in low confidence. It's definitely a factor but I don't think confidence is the differentiator on being able to correctly execute simple short passes, have a first touch better than a Sunday morning player or not shank the majority of crosses miles away from their targets. His ability levels look way lower than what we've paid for and we barely see the thing he's clearly been bought for - pace.

And yet don't seem to be competing anywhere near as much in the league, it's a headscratcher alright.

It's even more difficult when the team is composed of lads who have a skill set more akin to a school sports day than a football match.

We had the entire second half to try and get something back and created absolutely jack shit. That header for Osula, a half chance, was the output of 45+6 minutes. And yet I knew as we went into the second half that I'd look at the clock and it would be 68-72 minutes all of a sudden and we'd have frittered away time doing nothing. It just felt so predictable.

Shame he couldn't pull one of his red cards out there late on and give us another 3 game break from watching him stink up the Premier League.

Benfica was his best game for the club, that was probably his worst.

Seeing as nobody had the ability to make a successful forward pass of any note in the second half it's probably just as well he was rested.

Who're yee like, Tommy Skinner or Danny Dyer?

I said the same in another thread, it kind of has to be. It was worse than that game & if we plumb depths further than today it needs studied under scientific conditions.

What an absolute waste of time and money.

Time's up. Ramsdale please.

Every single possible aspect of that was wrong today. Not a fucking clue what he was trying to do. Leaving Joelinton on the pitch for the full 90 was sheer negligence. I'll be kind and just pray it was a weird off day from the players and also him. It was exactly the same as the Lloyd Kelly 0-2 home game last season. Same as the shit performances against Brighton and Bournemouth every season. He clearly learns lessons as a coach, but there's certain mistakes or patterns of poor performances that are worryingly consistent. - West Ham arrive in terrible form, unable to get a win for toffee and bereft of confidence - We sit back, play absolutely fucking shit and gift them a lead - We make changes that completely muddle the side up and spend the second half creating absolutely nothing against a low block - We have no technical players who can undo the low block because we've put all our eggs in the "pace and power" basket, meaning if we look lethargic we've got absolutely nowt. This was the case last season and Eddie pushed to get Elanga in for big money to exacerbate the issue. This has to be the equivalent of Brentford (a) last season as the "low point" because we can't have any more as bad as that. Today was a massive exception to his usual standards, it was Bruce and Pardew levels of shit with a significantly better team of players. I really, really hope that's the nadir and we sort out the away form in the league, cos it's nowhere near good enough and Eddie is way better than he showed today.