Stottie

Everything points to a Norwich-type open game. They're a determined team for sure, but are riding their luck to be as high as they are. They've only conceded two more than us. Second in the league in long balls, so over the top or knock down from Ulloa is a clear strategy. Bottom of the league in short passes per game and a lower average possession % than us, so we should see plenty of the ball. They concede loads of goals for an average number of shots conceded, so no keeper heroics by the sounds. League leaders in goals from penalties, five, which is two more than anyone else and five more than Arsenal, so may be prone to going down easily. Pretty good in the air in terms of challenges won, but not so many goals from set pieces.

17 PL goals in 45 games. Turned 22 in the summer. 10 goals in 11 England U21 appearances. Should be a handy PL striker for a good while yet. The U21 top goalscorer record includes everyone from Shearer and Lampard to Francis Jeffers (joint top), Carl Cort, and Shola. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_national_under-21_football_team#Leading_goalscorers I looked it up because I remember hearing Shola was top, but it must have been among regulars at that time.

I think we'll be okay. That said, Bournemouth type injuries to key players and we won't be, so I kind of hope we won't be too well placed in January and two or three players get bought. Twenty something points by mid January and you can see Fatty leaving things as they are. The brinksmanship we had last time, and that year the Bosingwa howlers kept us up. If the whole thing about transfer windows is just a bluff and they have no intention of buying anyone, we need every single point we can get any which way and pray that Ayoze, Mitro, Wini, Janmaat etc. stay fit.

I thought Moyes did well at Everton. The following famous stat notwithstanding. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-23/moyes-record-under-scrutiny-following-city-humiliation/4975340 No wins in 43 suggests there was systematically wrong there. On several occasions, they must have faced teams with suspensions or injuries or tiredness from CL or some other weakening circumstances. The reason I still rate him though is that he set up several defensively strong teams on a shoestring. He must have a really good eye for defenders. Weir, Yobo, Lescott, Distin, Jageilka, Baines, Coleman....

It'll take a huge paycut for Rooney to go somewhere else in the major European leagues. Good on him if he's up for it, but I can't see it happening. The dream for Man U would be for a rich club in China or somewhere to offer him unrefusably more. If that doesn't happen, it might take a manager having to kick up a stink and force the club to pay for him to go somewhere he's happy to play but not for less money. I'm not a fan of Van Gaal, but if Rooney's not doing it for England either, you can't blame his recent form on Man U's tactics.

Sports bar in Malaga?

Very poor yesterday, especially his distribution. Numerous simple giveaways. We gave the ball away so often that I hope one of our coaches goes back through the game and analyzes how and why it kept happening. Was it the formation, was it players hiding, was it players taking the wrong option, was it poor delivery, etc.

Garbage yesterday. I reckon it was his worst game for us. Gave it away numerous times and put us back under pressure.

My kind of logic! But I thought Bournemouth created low quality chances. About half were Gouffran level shots from outside the box. The best chance was the Gosling header and that was on a tight angle where the keeper just has to stand up big. The header from about 15 yards out on the sweeping move about a minute into the second half would have been scored by a good striker, but Bournemouth haven't got one that's fit. Small box = low quality chance. Big box = high quality chance. Pink = goal. Based on that game, I think bet Bournemouth look a good bet for relegation. The commentators and pundits were bigging them up during the game, but that was just typical condescension toward a minor player (we're one too) in the league. They should have criticized Bournemouth for creating poor openings and a poor final ball, not praising them for having "chances". All energy and no quality points to relegation.

Because they were shit enough to create nothing more than mere half chances that their players weren't good enough to take. Butland played better last week than Eliot this week. Against Stoke, we failed to score from better chances than Bournemouth created today. I'm not saying our win was deserved, but it was not undeserved. We created the best chance and took it. Most teams in the league will create better chances than Ritchie hitting hopeful ones from outside the box, so conceding this much possession every week is not an option for us.

Cisse on. That'll get the workrate up!

Too right!

Straight at Eliot but their best move so far, I reckon.

They're energetic for sure, and we're making them look good. The conditions will also favour that type of football. We need to get on the ball and slow the game down. Nothing drastic because we've got the goal. If they're coming onto us when we win it back,hit them on the counter because they look defensively very vulnerable.

Absolutely shocking ball retention from us, we are just inviting pressure. Bournemouth are struggling to do anything clinical with it, but law of averages says they'll score if this continues. Our best hope at the moment looks like them tiring.

Super shit defending there. Well played Ayoze all the same.

It's a pisser being so desperate for points that you're terrified to take chances, but this would be a decent opportunity to give Gini a go at CM and play Thauvin. Thauvin is not going to improve sitting on the bench. The notable risk might be a reduced forward contribution from Gini, rather than any reduction in CM cover of the defence.

Why? Because they have a player called Daniels? Well I liked it. I did too, but not a lot....

Shame for the lad, and the team. I trust the "team-mate" going in on him for 50-50s in training isn't Mitro....

Chelsea under Ranieri were pretty good but the press grabbed the "Tinkerman" narrative and wouldn't let it go. They got to the CL semi and really should have won the tie. Ranieri's leaving present for Mourinho was Petr Cech. In the same year we lost in the UEFA Cup semi to Marseilles, led by Chelsea-bound Didier Drogba. How far we have fallen.

Center midfield battle with our two vs. Dan Gosling. Greatest league in the world etc. etc. I remember the bugger getting into lots of great positions and fluffing the chances, so I hope he's still got the same shooting boots.

First of all, glad we didn't concede one to Jonathan Walters, who for some reason I cannot stand. He's more meh rather than inept, so I can't explain it. Other than that, we managed the average number of shots Stoke concede, so no big achievement there. Mitro unlucky with the header, and Sissoko very close to squeezing it under the keeper, but the rest were wide or saves you'd expect Butland to make. More urgency would have been nice as Ronaldo suggested. Some wayward passing throughout the game too. I thought de Jong was poor and moving Ayoze made it a lose-lose substitution. Thauvin would have been more of a plan B. Gini cleaned up nicely after a terrible ball out of defence by Anita or Dummett (both made howlers so don't remember which), so a glimmer of him doing something we'd need from a CM if he is to play there sometime. All in all, two points dropped. Not terrible, but we've had a terrible start to the season and need to get better soon because the pressure will mount.

Clattenberg bottles second yellow for Lucas.

I must say I never expected the FA to rescind last week's red, so I hope that's some credit in the bank against knee-jerk refereeing for a few games. Stoke have somehow got good away results this year, much better than their home form, so a bit wary going into this. Maybe they're better with the opposition coming onto them. They concede lots of shots though, like us, so they might just be riding their luck. Their keeper does look good though. Anyway, another match we need to be doing well in. I feel we got hit with some derby voodoo last week, so this is more of a game we can use as a benchmark. Fail this week and next and serious questions will need to be asked.

They've won their last two away games at Villa and Swansea, but in total have scored fewer goals than us. They've conceded half as many goals off nearly as many shots allowed as us. I've only seen them in highlights, but their keeper looked very useful. On the whole, their stats make them sound pretty bad, so we should be looking to win this. In addition to needing to, that is.