ponsaelius

I thought Joelinton was awful.

I'm sure Martinez is a good player but signing him to play CB in the PL just looked like a total disaster waiting to happen.

About time he got booed tbh. Was all getting a bit Make A Wish Foundation every time he played. Bit of tribal normality restored will do everyone some good.

He's tactically and technically an outstanding footballer but there's a small hint that a physical decline is incoming. Agree that it's a little bit of a worry.

Definitely agree about the kits. And the sun. Watching on TV admittedly on a crappy stream I thought it was really hard to tell who the fuck was who. There was loads of sloppy passes in more instinctive and transitional elements of the game - from both teams. The passing moves that are more hard-wired by the coaching and tactical set-up were less affected by this.

It no surprise that Bruno and Joelinton had their worst games in ages. Brighton are brilliant out of possession. A very good side who just lack forward players.

Think it's important not to overreact or be too upset. Brighton are a good side, it was 31 degree heat, and we're the long distance travelling away side. Everything Howe wants them to do was still there I think, just far too many players not able to get anything right whatsoever. Lots of missed challenges, sloppy giveaways and general poor passing broke down the structure of our game and we never really got going. Despite that we've took a clean sheet and a point. The main thing is how clearly we need at least 2 attacking reinforcements.

Miggy and Pope both good today. Pretty much everybody else was crap.

Plane looks a bit propeller-y for my liking. Worrying.

Brilliant to see this level of engagement in this thread. Hope you stick around and contribute as the season goes on. My biggest disappointment with the transfer market in Serie A this year has not been the lack of big signings. That is expected - and reflects the financial situation of the clubs. It's the fact that clubs are still not banking on young Italian players in the same way that happens in Spain, France or Germany. In fact there's quite a lot that have left the league (including Serie B) altogether. Lucca to Ajax and Scamacca you mentioned. But even the likes of Mattia Viti from Empoli to Nice, Inter looking to sell Casadei abroad etc. We know that Italy isn't producing the same talent that France is - but even those that have something are frequently not banked on by both big and small clubs. Also can somebody rename the thread to reflect the new season?

I know we did late business in January but it has got to be getting a bit worrying now tbh.

There's a lot of what I'd have thought are 'backburner' type backup signings we could have made that are now going. Gotta hope we get our targets.

Think he'd be a pretty shrewd signing overall. Lack of understanding regarding relegation not an issue now we're pushing on.

Says in the article he will.

The boss has said yes. Get in.

Oof, decent. Fancy that if the lass will let me get away with it and Wolves in the same week.

Hugo Almeida, that's another one. He did score the best goal ever scored behind closed doors though (COVID has probably took that honour away).

Postiga, Pauleta, Nuno Gomes. Never really rated any of them. Andre Silva falls into the same category too imo. Jota and Ronaldo are wingers who have become forwards or have goalscoring threat - which if anything supports my conviction that they can't produce proper strikers.

Always skeptical of Portuguese strikers mind.

22 days left of the transfer window. I think we're into the stage where we can now stop saying 'theres plenty of time left'.

Yeah I'm surprised that we haven't even been mildly linked to Gakpo - seems like half of the PL have been at some point and he fits the profile of what we'd be after.

Do we think we knew this hence the pivot towards Maddison - IE a midfielder who could also do a job out wide - rather than a natural winger.

Agreed to sell him next summer rather than now. Barely even a real transfer tbf. Red Bull corp have basically just decided to keep him in house until they can sell at 'proven in Bundesliga' value in 2-3 years rather than now.

Potter being better than Howe is quite a prominent opinion away from this forum I would say.

10 goals in 90 league games. Some boy.