The Prophet

Who are Sports Boom?

Huh? I fancy Spurs to win, but I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them, so punting them at odds on is really unappealing to me. Good luck if you take the plunge.

Wouldn't touch them at that price personally. I do think they'll win though.

Cheers man

What's your impression of where the players are at behind the scenes and where the season had gone wrong?

The league is arguably even weaker this season, with traditional top six members looking vulnerable again. We had two excellent spells during the 24/25 season. One of them Isak was electric, the other he was anonymous, so much so it was speculated he had an injury. We were 10th in the away table, but one of a number of teams running up to 6th who finished on 28 points. Brighton and City who were 5th and 4th in the away table took 29 points on the road. Hardly a disaster. Villa finished below us. All in all, revisionist nonsense.

Aye, playing him at RB is bizarre.

They've also had the luxury of being able to drop a substantial amount of cash more or less every summer.

Difficult to say coming off the back of such a dumpster fire of a season. Up until this summer, fair to say Krafth, Schar, Lascelles, Burn, Hall, Bruno, Joelinton, Almiron, Murphy, Isak and Gordon had all hit peaks not previously seen (even if those were solid, but unspectacular). Pope, Tino and Botman have regressed, largely due to injury. Tonali has been all over the shop in terms of form, while Barnes and Wilson had been pretty steady. I'd say overall he is excellent at developing players, but he's still learning to do that playing twice a week, every week.

How would you define a technical player?

Apart from Trippier, Schar, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Bruno and Isak, who've all been used to good effect under Howe.

While I agree we need to keep adding better footballers to the squad, you're always going to need an element of physicality, particularly with the way the league is at the moment.

I'm all for us using these last few games to experiment and see what sticks. More of that please.

No, I don't think we'll be anywhere near it.

Perhaps Eddie doesn't trust him defensively. He has a habit of letting runners go. He is still learning the position like, so I'm sure he'll sort it.

Yeah, that's fair this season. Particularly at home, which has got more messy as the year has gone on.

I maintain that Howe's style is very similar to pre-2018 Liverpool. Klopp had them playing direct, counter-pressing, often chaotic football. First they dropped huge cash on VvD, before going out and buying Alisson and Fabinho. These signings went a long way to helping Liverpool compete for major honours. Alisson and excellent ball playing keeper, VvD a leader, standard setter and rock at the back, along with Fabinho, a solid if not unspectacular anchor in midfield. Obviously we don't have the quality Liverpool had up top, but they usually bought well while staying true to Klopp's style.

Who can forget thos one too...

I agree that he needs to be leading the line, but to do so he needs to be coached to attack the box more aggressively. I know it's verboten, but I find it difficult to be too harsh on any individual attacker this season (apart from Wissa) given how dysfunctional everything has looked from a systemic PoV.

It was his main position. He said one of his motivations for joining was that he wants to play in the middle.

Should be starting for us next season. He wants the ball, he uses it well and he's grown into the position as the season has gone along. In his one run in the team between February and March, he was impressive. Once he cracks the role off the ball he'll be great

Our box defending is so poor and has been all season. We have two really poor keepers who the defence clearly have no confidence in. Pope has made so many individual errors, while Ramsdale simply doesn't seem to save much. It hasn't just been the keepers either. Trippier, Thiaw and Botman have all had absolute brain farts at times this season. We're easy to exploit on the left, particularly when Burn and Hall play. Hall isn't slow, but his acceleration isn't the best, while Burn doesn't defend the near post well. See Spurs and Everton for examples of the opponent getting the cross off and winning the near post dual. A lack of confidence and leadership are rife. For a defence that was so formidable and mean, we're incredibly brittle and no one wants to take responsibility. I'm not just talking about the back line here, but the team as a whole. Bruno can't do it all on his own, he's been let down badly by other senior players such as Pope, Burn, Botman and Tonali. The late concession has almost become a self fulfilling prophecy. I've probably missed something, but the point is it isn't just one thing, it's a combination of personnel, injuries, coaching and confidence. Howe has got a job on his hands fixing it, but first of all we need to get the recruitment right, particularly between the sticks.

I appreciate this is a still (couldn't find the footage), but how could they possibly tell? Did they look at every instance of grappling including Rice and Trossard and determine it was clear and obvious the foul on Raya came first?

It is, but given it's one foul in amongst many, surely the goal should be chalked off and a penalty given? Or preferably no intervention at all and we can actually enjoy the natural drama of the game?

Worst decision of the season that, given the magnitude. Football is finished.