Stottie

Two handball goals for West Ham. Antonio one is obvious, and should be spotted off one replay.

Ideal prep for this yesterday, obviously the result and morale boost, but also a good runout for Joelinton and minutes for ASM. I had a look and a nil-nil under McClaren was the last time we got something there? With the Colback - Anita dream team double pivot?

All going to plan. Just to treat this as a stats analysis thread, our record in the first half of games is eight goals for and just two (Man City and Wolves) against. xG is 10.5 for, 3.5 against. Teams are adjusting and coming back at us second half, where it's nine goals for and seven against. xG is 10.5 for, 8.7 against. In the league as a whole, there have been 103 goals in the first half and 143 in the second. a 43/57% split.

Great result, and a fitting way to celebrate the anniversary of the takeover. We didn't play that well, but enough of our lads did the business in the moments that mattered and the system, the hard work, the planning, etc. did the rest. It looks like we're genuinely going places, and we're going there without the "billion pounds in transfer fees" that that idiot Luke Edwards says we need to get into the Top 4. Regardless of where we're heading though, we all know where we've been and it's a place that demands every big win like this is celebrated. Five fucking one! Get in!

Preseason tells no lies!

Bruno's got this!

A bit lucky with their offside goal, but great work aside from that. Deservedly ahead. Both the set piece and the mistake we forced with the high press looked like they were coming in recent games. Both earned from what we've been doing. Wilson with a rare assist too. Keep it up lads!

Brentford are decent, but fairly confident here. I'm looking forward to a great display from the flags, with it being the takeover anniversary and all, and hope they can lift the lads to a first home win in a while. The lads have been playing well, that's not the problem, but the chances just haven't been going in.

I love Wilson, he's great. Only 10 touches vs. Fulham, only one more than Mitro, but scored once and nearly scored two more times. I mention the number of touches because it may contradict certain expectations about what a forward is and should or shouldn't do. The usual stuff like "focus of the attack", "hold the ball up" etc. doesn't really apply. What he does do is find space in dangerous areas and exploit it ruthlessly when given the ball there.

The five thirty eight supercomputer thingy has finally caught up to our form in 2022 and now has us as eighth with a huge points gap to ninth. While we had more points per game in the run from January to the end of last season, aside from points per game, pretty much all of our stats are up this season. Shots, shooting distance, possession, key passes, ... We're playing in a way that is likely to win games, even if that has not been the result on the day a few times so far. Keep playing the same way and wins will come.

Thanks to Citeh letting in three today, we've conceded second fewest goals in the league. Or we have the second-best defensive record, if you prefer.

We're now joint second top in the goals against column. We would have been joint top with Everton but for that one conceded yesterday.

This makes a mockery of expressions like "Top 6". Man U look closer to a Champo club (under Bruce) than Man City.

That third was something like a three-on-seven attack and they just cut straight thru them.

Add on two points for the Palace robbed goal and I think that's a good start. Eighth most goals scored, sixth fewest conceded, with both of the top two played says its a fair position. Miggy joint top scorer!

Man City type goal.

Great job lads! It's my birthday tomorrow and it certainly feels like it.

October goal of the month!

Yep, out of control.

Bruno at #8, Trippier, and Wilson in the same team hasn't happened before, no? Whatever the formation is, Howe will have told them all what their role is, so let's see what happens. He's played unexpected formations before like Chelsea away and its gone well, so I'm still quite hopeful.

In Eddie we trust! Doesn't look like our normal 4-3-3 but good luck to whatever it is.

Just Understat's numbers but our expected points per game this season has actually gone up vs. last season starting from Jan 1. Last season starting Jan 1 was 27.33 points expected off 19 games (1.43 per game), versus 38 actual points. We massively overperformed by sneaking many single goal wins. This season so far has been 10.34 points expected off 7 games (1.47 per game), versus 8 actual points. Actual points is disappointing, but expected ones is not bad when you consider the difficulty of the fixtures included in this small sample. Expected points is based on chances alone, and does not consider decisions. 1.47 pts per game is a 56 point season. I think we're doing okay and pretty much as expected, but have been unlucky with decisions and injuries. The Palace decision alone cost us two points, which would have had us at 10pts off seven games, a much better looking start. The injuries have underlined an ongoing lack of squad depth and prevented Howe from using the bench from going for it in games where we are dominating possession. Bruno's injury sounds like it was caused by him playing in a game (Tranmere) in which he ideally would not have featured, and feels like a case of injuries begetting other injuries. Tranmere were kunts though, and I'm pleased Howe did the necessary to win that game. For Krafth, Darlow and Lascelles, if not for the cup itself.

If you have time to waste, fbref shows us in the top 7 for lots of metrics. Shots per game, shortest average distance from goal per shot, passes into the box, crosses etc. The defensive stats are all sound, if that's not obvious from watching the games. The one stat we are rock bottom on is "expected assists minus assists", in other words, chances actively created but missed. Our goals per shot is also very low, even though we are shooting on average at the fourth shortest distance from the goal. So we can add poor finishing to injuries, more sinned against than sinning with decisions, and weird circumstances like the Brighton heatwave and Bournemouth mournfest, both I reckon the two worst performances. Ditch the morbid stuff at the Bournemouth game, get the flags up and the music on, and the increased momentum probably gives us two more points. The injuries include that awful Tranmere game and Maxi running the length of the pitch to defend an attack featuring a clear shove. Just keep working hard, be patient, and it will come.

No need for the Spanish Inquisition, but not a good set of results so far. It's all very good doing "evolution" but its not going to happen with Championship level wide players against an organized defence. If we did spend all the budget that was available, then fair dos, the road ahead is a long one, but if we kept some money back based on Miggy's output in preseason, oh man what a headfake.

Arsenal played him in a DM-type holding role didn't they? Maybe they were right after all.