Stottie

Haaland full beast mode for that third. A defender on each side of him and it made no difference.

Firmino hauled off after two goals and three assists. It won't affect us, but maybe harder for Nunez to get back in the team.

After all the praise we got this week for unlocking Man City tactically, its disappointing to see someone else get a two goal lead simply from two corners, while thwarting them by defending en masse.

Just on Paqueta, but West Ham do play 4-2-3-1. I quite like Fornals in it, so Paqueta may not be such an upgrade. My casual impression of West Ham is that Antonio needs to lead the line and not play as some Joelinton-wannabee box-to-box midfielder. It works for us because we have another striker playing striker in the team.

For me CF (at least as cover) and RW were the priorities. The strange detour for me was the pursuit of Maddison. Paqueta I could understand from his versatility and physicality, but Maddison is too dedicated an AM to simply slot into the team as we've been playing. He's a fantastic player, but I think we'd need tactical changes to accommodate him.

To save anyone looking it up, it looks like Lyon played a mix of 3-4-2-1 and 4-2-3-1 with Bruno on the right of a double pivot and Paqueta at AM. Whether that matches what Howe might plan to do I cannot say. We did bid for Maddison though, and he would bring something different to what we have now. Leicester do not play 4-3-3 either.

How much of the love for Paqueta is an extension of love for Bruno? Bruno is world class, but I think the jury is still out on his best role. It's a shame Shelvey is out, because he's our best other deep-lying midfielder. At the end of last season, the initial clamour was for us to buy a DM to replace Shelvey, not an AM who will force Bruno into playing at 6.

The link is just points per game in 2022. I think if you look at other metrics, goals conceded etc. they will also suggest we're near top 6. That's if beating Arsenal, nearly beating Man City, and being denied a clear penalty and probably lead at Chelsea away aren't enough for you. We have a number of easier home games coming up, so the near two points a game streak of 2022 may well continue.

It's a real shame for him, and I hope it is 3-4 weeks. The hamstring injury he had early last season was six weeks = four games. The longer injury after Howe came in was a calf tear.

This was obvious last night at Tranmere. They eventually cottoned on and started pressing him hard, leading to turnovers. Our lads should have done more to give him short options once Tranmere switched tactics. At that point, we were winning and simply needed to keep possession, not work it downfield to create chances.

I had to look it up but Darlow's nearly 32. I think its worth foregoing a few million to keep Dubravka as second choice. The gap between him and Darlow is too great. Gillespie is 30 too, so its hard to see him as a prospect.

Enough quality to overcome some very dirty play that should have been punished. Hope Krafth isn't too serious and that Lascelles can be back with a mask. Credit to him for playing on and scoring an important goal. Otherwise, job done and a match and opponent to forget. Hope its a home draw next time.

Amazing news! Isak is right footed but has a two-to-one left/right split in the goals he's scored. He even outperforms xG on his weaker foot. His record is 1 goal in 2 games in La Liga based on minutes played. A big dribbler too. One problem we have is teams doubling up on ASM, but that won't be possible with other major threats in the team.

Sorry not a rumour, but I wonder if our people have reassessed or recalibrated their aims or how much the budget should be given how the transfer market has been going. There are lots of crazy-sounding fees out there. What may be thought of as a "Saudi tax" is probably just the new normal. I thought Gordon looked useful against us and in the Liverpool derby, but 70M for him is very very high. Perhaps Grealish, Ben White, and Harry Maguire were just signs of what was to come.

The sneering from some quarters at our owners and renewed (post our takeover and Abramovich's frozen assets) lesser sneering at Man City for theirs mean this match will never be celebrated as the best of the Premier League. However, it was a bloody good match, really top drawer entertainment driven by very high levels of skill. Exceptional dribbling, exceptional throughballs, an exceptional freekick, and exceptional goalkeeping to deny an exceptional explosion of pace. None of the goals came from a clear error, like Mendy at the weekend. I've not heard any tactical analysis yet, but you could make the argument that Pep was naive to not set up more defensively against us given what happened to Arsenal at SJP. I would expect the next Top 6 side coming to SJP to be more wary and look to cancel us out in the manner usually seen in matches between Top 6 or certainly Top 4 sides. I'd like to think we'll see more games like this, but have strong doubts that we will.

On tactics, but with three games played, ASM is leading the league in short and goal creating actions, equal to or higher than KDB. He also leads on carries into the opposition third and into the opposition box, and probably on forward distance carrying the ball. That is not ranked on fbref. Trippier is third in the league in progressive (=forward) passing distance. He's our new deep-lying playmaker, the role we associate with Shelvey and Schar. Bruno has been fouled nine times, third most in the league. ASM has been fouled seven times, or at least seven of them have been given. Its not tactics, but Pope is third in save percentage.

Nice one ON. TheOther14 on Twitter have something similar, but their points target is 39 to avoid relegation. We have four hard games in our first five fixtures this season, and should set our expectations accordingly. Howe had the same thing when he first started, with Bruce having pissed away many easy fixtures at the start of 21/22.

This lad sounds good to me. Given Howe’s transfer success at Bournemouth, I do want us to sign some under-the-radar type, not-so-high-profile players with potential that usually, given Howe's record, goes on to be fulfilled.

Well played to the players, but Eddie is the key man, I reckon. For training them, improving them, and organizing them. What was that stat that flashed up after they scored? Man CIty's record when scoring first since 2021(?) under Pep, P31 W30 D1 L0. We came close to winning this match.

In games against the top six, its P4 W1 D2 L1. In both draws, we were winning in the second half.

Fantastic game, I would say one of the greatest ever in Premier League history. ASM with two assists and also won the free kick for the other goal. Easily his best ever performance for us. Pope was exceptional too. Coming after Brighton last week, I think there must be some Fortress St. James magic going on as well. Onwards and upwards!

BENT REF.

Whatever happens from now on, better than the first Liverpool 4-3 I reckon. This is incredible.

PURE SEX!