Lush Vlad

There is some serious revisionism and after-timing in this thread of late

Shows how much attention people are paying to this new 36 team league shite. It was Barca that beat them 4-1

Andy Garcia.

Dreadful defending. But a great ball. Lindelof didn’t look like he knew where the ball or the player were. 5ft 4 and an attitude nowhere near on the cover.

First one is top class. Second is one for the photo album.

Shit or bust and go gung ho like we did against Brighton from the off. Try and catch them napping. Hopefully, maybe

I’ve not suggested they won’t make big changes? I mentioned a few likely starters and the same on the bench. Hard to say ‘regular’ starters. As like you reference, they can rotate £100m players FFS But it isn’t an ideal prep. Less time to work on the gameplan for Sunday and a lot of players that will be involved will have made a 3000 mile round trip. Like I said. Straw clutching and they’ll probably still have too much for us regardless. But I do still think we match up well against how they play at the back.

Haven’t they got 35 games left?

Thought he looked lively and was great for that counter earlier. Dalot is a very good full back IMO. ASM has certainly been loose on the ball. But he always has been and most players like that are.

It might just be me looking for the negatives. But I’m sure we used to hear from him and see him on a lot of the social media stuff whilst he was out? So something seems amiss there. Perhaps I’ve not been paying attention. But barely read/heard anything from him. Bar one of those post-match win videos.

I wonder if any teams in touch down the bottom of the league or perhaps a team abroad with something to play for. Might pay a nominal fee and/or a % of his wages up until his contract expires? May as well just get whatever we can for him. Either that or he is even more fucked than has been reported and he should probably just retire. I mean, just look at the below. Probably in his best interest to call it a day whilst he is still relatively healthy:

Not an ideal prep playing away in Greece tonight. A few expected starters were in from the off. Plus some on the bench. They were not great against Forest after their last European game. Might have been totally unrelated and Forest have been good this season. But you never know. Clutching at straws? Yes But I’ll look for any positive I can.

Plenty said we should have cashed in when his stock was high after the 4th placed season. But we certainly should have at least tried to sell him for a fee a lot smaller than his ability is worth this summer. I don’t think it was ever reported that we were looking to move him on? Just can’t rely on him whatsoever. Absolutely pointless keeping him around after last season and seems we were all blinded by his strong end to the season the year before. It’s a real shame how it is ending up. All gone a bit sour after him being a bit of a shining light for us during some dark, awful years. Along with some quality games under Howe.

Can't see many coming in for him for decent money. Missed most of last season, had recurring/linked injuries. Came back looking strong and then got injured yet again this season. Was barely a 2/10 against Brighton. I really like him and hope he can rediscover his form. Whether that is so we can get good money for him or he can then start to contribute for us and become a vital part of the team again. I don't massively mind. But as it stands, he looks miles off the player he was for us when he first signed and then again in the 4th placed season.

I mean, if it was verified as true, then I would agree. But we're supposed to believe some gobshite DM journo? Who was regularly vague and non-committal whilst providing EXCLUSIVES about Guehi during the summer. Why would you choose to believe him, exactly?

It did make me think. It made me think about what a cesspit Twitter has become. Just nonsense and bots all over the place these days.

They’re 4 clear of 3rd as it stands after 11 games. Far too early to be making a confident prediction. I get they seem like a well coached team now. But they’ve often started well and faded.

They are. But that is some pass, take and then finish. They were bad at the back last season. Now they’ve got Kompany. No surprise they’ve got worse.

No safety smiley. Brave move.

One game, yes. The last '10 months'. Well, we we have been pretty bad home and away since the Man U at home game last December and the daft amount of injuries and losing our intensity. It wasn't a home v away argument. Our away results were shit, granted. But we just lost our identity full stop. Regarding Fulham and Bournemouth. We have been pretty crap right up until City this season, though. Again, it was barely a home v away problem, we were just not up to scratch across the board for various reasons. I would say we have always been far more aggressive with our press at home, as well. Sort of to be expected, really. I think the last 3 games show that we are getting better and something like our old selves. Just the results haven't quite gone our way. Hopefully that means we are trending in the right direction. If we go to Chelsea and are completely passive that would be a concern. But they are a good side and were playing round Liverpool's press with ease at times. So maybe we will stand off a bit at times. If we followed up with another soft showing at Forest away and not pressing when we have the opportunity. Then yes, maybe you might have a reason to be so angry

Sorry, Everton was away from home no?

We have a huge amount of evidence from 2017 and 2019 to suggest that Murphy and Almiron are pretty much ineffective on the right, though? Bar that purple patch for Almiron and the odd game under Howe for Murphy. It has been pretty grim stuff for the most part. How many games have we actually persisted with trying Gordon right and Barnes left? How many times have we seen this overall and for how many games in a row? 1 or 2 consecutive games at most, at a guess? It is too much of a small sample size to make any cast iron opinions. Whereas that isn't the case for the other RW options mentioned above. I might be going all conspiracy theorist. But I think the few times I have seen it, Gordon has sulked when he's played there and Howe is opting to keep him happy by playing him on the left. Gordon hasn't really looked good wherever he has played this season, so it's a bit of a moot point IMO. He was at least lively the last two games. But his finishing was atrocious. Not saying it is the case. But what's to say he wasn't going through a right purple patch sort of similar to Miggy last season when it came to hugely increasing his usual goal return? I don't think he has suddenly became a good finisher, even with all of the goals last season. His attributes are more his ridiculous pace, engine and work rate. I think he is relentless and gets a lot of opportunities to assist or score because of this. When on a going day, there is no let up and he is constantly at the full back and up and down the pitch. Looking at a lot of those positions Murphy had on the weekend and the space he had to attack in the first half. Fucking hell, Gordon would have had a field day IMO. If they want to shift over to double up on him, then great. More space on the left for Hall and Barnes. Barnes is a natural and ruthless finisher and I think we should look to at least persevere with the front 3 of Barnes-Isak-Gordon for a while. It has been pretty fluid at times and Isak will often take up wide positions, Gordon and Barnes could swap, which teams used to do all the while. Pep has certainly brought it back into fashion this season, for example. FWIW, I don't think Howe will do this and it is a big complaint of mine with Howe currently. That and his subs.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/anthony-gordon/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/503733 Anthony Gordon has played right wing 48 times. He seems to only play there for us as a last resort, when we have players missing or when we are chasing a game and he gets shifted across to accommodate Barnes. At this point, he often looks knackered so not as effective due to it being late in the game or perhaps when he plays there, he is even sulking a bit at moving position? I really don't buy that we can't play him there. Especially when the alternatives are Miggy and Murphy. He is quite a versatile player that can play along the front 3 and I don't think his skill set means he would be ineffective on the right. Is he better on the left? Yes. Are Murphy/Almiron on the right and Barnes on the bench a better option? No. Barnes has been involved in 4 of our 8 league goals (3 goals and 1 assist) and all the goals were great finishes. When we are going through a scoring drought. I just don't think we should be leaving his kind of production on the bench or taking him off early'ish in games, personally. He is always in and out of the team and seems to always be the one to make way when subs are made or when we revert back to Gordon starting on the left.

Might be blind optimism, as I'm going to this one. But I actually think despite how good they have looked for a lot of this season. I think we match up quite well against them. Just the away form is obviously a bit of a worry.

Looked alright to me the last 3 games.