Stottie

The other way, it would be "he went to ground and was not in control blah blah">

Dive #1

Neutrals cheering on a European Super League team!? Fuck that sideways!

In fifteen games since Jan 1, we've conceded 13 goals. West Ham have conceded 19. This is in spite of them having a better DM. I think this is fair evidence of their defenders (and goalkeeper) not walking into our team. fwiw, in those 15 games, we've also scored three more goals than West Ham.

Yeah, my main fear is us being up against twelve or thirteen, not just the eleven of Liverpool. The ironic one is that Liverpool were one of the major drivers behind the European Super League and clearly have their sights above the Premier League as a fair competition. Neutrals should never forget this.

Please stick around WillDanceForChocolate! Great insight. It's a shame we have so many Championship era players to replace, because it is likely to limit what can be achieved in the coming transfer window. Ideally, we'd be getting to see just how ruthless Howe can be, with essentially every player aside from Bruno and Trippier in the crosshairs, but that would just rip the heart out of the team and leave us with a group of uber-talented strangers.

Those 23 games also began with one win, three draws, and four defeats. That was by a team and playing style now irrelevant to what we do now. Aiming for 7-10th with deadwood removed from the squad, more competition, and presumably better attackers next season strikes me as a step backwards. The aim has to be Top 6-7. If it isn't, the risk is that we'll lose Bruno just like Wolves lost Jota. I certainly don't want to see Bruno playing for Liverpool.

Pickford saves that with longer arms.

Pickford's gone full Flaposaurus.

It's getting to the point now where we're Top 6 (Chelsea have played fewer) over Howe's entire reign, not just since January or last fifteen games. That's 23 games now, so 60% of a season. Far too big a sample to fluke. Those 23 started with Joelinton as striker, Darlow in goal, and the likes of a Murphy, Clark, Lascelles, Ritchie back four. We only got six points in Howe's first eight games. When Pardew got fifth, there were Kurl heroics and opponents missing sitters. When Everton pasted us on the final day, it felt like it had been coming. There is no anomalous feel this time. While we've only had two routine wins, vs. Brentford with the sending off and yesterday, I suppose you could say Everton as well if you wanted, the team has been really solid and I can't see why this form would not continue. Wilson in a strong Howe team and with Howe's team's conditioning protecting his hamstrings etc. is still an unknown. I think there could be a lot of goals in there. His finishing is certainly good enough.

Thanks for that WillDanceForChocolate. While Bruno G is looking as amazing as all the European football nerds and stats people said he would be, I hope we still get to see Howe find more hidden gems like Targett and Burn. It would be a waste to have Howe as manager and just throw money at the same big names being mentioned for Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham etc. If we have a manager with an eye for players putting 12 hour days into the job, we have to make use of that. I would not swap Targett for Digne even if the latter is 0.1s faster going up the wing or averages 0.1 assists more.

Mo Salah will hit the deck like a bag of hammers at the first opportunity. He's done it twice against us in the past. Him and KDB are the best players in the league, but man, what a cheat!

Ignore the Spurs game and that is eight goals conceded in fourteen games. For context, Woodman conceded twelve (!) in our first four games this season. Even with the Spurs blowout included, thirteen against is only one more conceded than Man City. With our defence already this stingy, we do not need Kalvin Phillips. What we need for consolidation is to score more, and especially to get a second when leading. The few goals we are conceding tend to be from set pieces, Leicester, Spurs' first, West Ham, Everton, .... where a DM is not the issue.

Not helping Everton is it?

Don't understand why Almiron's not playing, I think we need to evaluate him before the summer. The rest is in Eddie we trust! He changed things up at short notice against Chelsea and that game went very well. I don't know if Howe likes that formation, but the players he's picked could play 3-5-2 with Murphy and Targett as wingbacks and Willock or Joelinton as second striker.

Gale's off in the summer so no point playing him. I thought Wood would play as a relatively easy game to score in and get some confidence.

Burnley gave us our biggest win of the season, the first one. If its going to be a meaningless game for us, perhaps we could return the favour. Salvation through sacking Dyche with no replacement is also a great managerial twist.

Why would he go to a poorer club?

Yes, Everton have lost their last six away games and failed to win their last thirteen. Burnley only have one away win as well, but at least it was in 2022. Both teams play Watford away. Everton have a game in hand, but as Colo says, the fixtures mean Burnley have one more home game. One vs. three games against the Top 6 and an already better GD mean its probably advantage Burnley.

Seeing this angle in slow motion got me wondering whether Mitchell would get away with fouling Almiron here. Just after the header, and the position on the field suggests there is good chance it would not be given as DOGSO. We'd get a free kick, Mitchell would get a booking, and us fans would be denied a strong contender for our goal of the season.

The only time I can remember a team at the bottom going on an extended run of CL level form is Leicester under Pearson in the season before they won the league. They finished that year with 22 points in the last ten games. We've just gone P19 W10 D3 L6 for 33 points, equal with Chelsea under Tuchel, one point fewer than Arsenal, and two fewer than Spurs under Conte. They are all CL contenders, so our form must be CL level form over what is now half a season. We'll get some attention next week, but only because we're playing Liverpool and City and may throw a spanner in the title race. While it would be nice to see Howe getting more credit, it is also beneficial to fly under the radar and keep the expectations and pressure low. Our people did a good enough job to sign Tripper and Bruno when we were staring at relegation, and it's tempting to think that any player who wouldn't join us now due to insufficient media recognition of Howe's ability probably hasn't got the right mentality anyway.

Yeah, we've done it with their reject left back and Brighton's number three center half, not so long ago their number four, given that they sold their best one to Arsenal.

I think this is a free hit and we should change the team. Miggy has to play, because it's borderline whether we should keep him. Krafth is going that way too due to huge improvement under Howe. I'd rest ASM and play Murphy. Give Wilson some minutes if he's ready. Play Longstaff instead of Joelinton or Shelvey who both look knackered. While I'm saying "changes", I don't want to see anyone already destined to leave the club in the summer. Being safe means focusing now on next season, not hitting the beach or dabbling in sentimental send-offs for players who've been here too long already. The main one is to have a proper go with full strength at Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal, and see where we really are. I think we are already Top 8 , but our form from Jan 1 suggests we could be snapping at the Top 4/5. A team challenging for Top 4/5 needs to target much better players in the summer than one simply seeking to consolidate the Top 6-8 form we have already been achieving. Btw, this is from before last night's game, but shows where the points we have have come from. Our most recent games against the Top 6 are should have beaten Man U, matched Chelsea and denied a stonewaller, and the off-day against Spurs, so 1 point from 9 games isn't quite the full picture.

Since he took over, including the blowouts vs. Liverpool, City, and Leicester. A couple of points off fourth.

Maybe could have done with replacing Shelvey and/or Joelinton second half after their changes, both struggled to get involved, but got away with it and that's a great three points.