Lush Vlad

Should have had that knee op based on the last two games

Deserve fuck all and I’m sure we’ll get fuck all. At least Dubs has kept it from being an embarrassing score. For now, anyway……

I thought there were some signs of encouragement. A couple of tasty tackles, some blatant attempts at breaking up counters. Certainly a bit of needle towards the end of the half.

Annoying that we have so much space on the counter. But Gordon looks like he can’t/won’t run in behind. Isak is in acres but doesn’t look sharp and on top of that, we rarely get it to him. No finesse or ability to pick a pass when it matters again.

No idea how it’s 0-0. But I’ll take it. Midfield has been a non-event on the ball. Some good work now and then off it. Gordon miles off it yet again. Either he’s still injured or just lacking any belief in these big games. Are we sure Botman didn’t rupture his ACL? He has been terrible. Fair play to Dubs. Under pressure and he has been brilliant and kept us in it.

He has looked like he can barely break into a sprint the last few games or so. So wouldn’t surprise me if he’s injured again.

When I did my ACL the first time. Prior to my MRI, 3 different specialists and physios checked and all thought it was fine structurally and just an LCL rupture. Then had the MRI and the ACL was completely ruptured. Then when I had the op, another ligament and tendon needed doing and all. I did prehab and all sorts of movements that I couldn’t believe. But I know people who could barely walk for weeks after and prior to having the op done. I guess because Botman is such a machine. He has great strength and support through his legs and it would be hard to pick up. For him and the medical team. Strange he didn’t go for a precautionary scan, mind.

It’s not just about the rest for me. It’s how Longstaff and Burn for example. Clearly look like they have been brought back to early and are not fully over their injuries. Botman looked equally as bad against Forest. Not sure 5-6 days suddenly helps them there. Then you have players that have been playing through injuries like Gordon and Isak. Who look like they can’t break into a sprint because of what’s ailing them. Again, are they suddenly going to have recovered and be close to 100%? Oh and Trippier is playing some of the worst football of his career. Clearly something not right physically and/or mentally. I do genuinely think it’ll be a hammering. I think their style is kryptonite for where we are at the minute. But hold out a bit more hope for when we play City and Villa.

Nah. The Isak one was soft and I didn’t think it was a pen. The non-penalty earlier on Isak was more of a foul, I thought. But the Duran one was far worse that it was given. It’s a dive after being brushed on the side of his foot, following a heavy touch and running away from goal in a crowded box. I see we are back to the ‘well, there is contact’ argument from pundits. Seemingly the refs think the same. It isn’t a non-contact sport FFS.

No idea how Elanga has done overall for them. But the few times I have seen him, he’s looked dangerous. Decent enough signing for £15m or whatever it was.

Scored against Luton.

Catching up on highlights. Everton could and probably should have conceded 5-6 based on what I saw. Wolves fucked up some quality chances and a great save from Pickford.

Hard few games to really gauge where we are. But I think if Barnes, Willock, Murphy etc come back in Jan. Then we perhaps get a couple of new players in. Then from Feb onwards. We really should be seeing some results and decent winning/unbeaten streaks again. Seems a fair starting point. Of course it would be nice to see some green shoots over the next 3 league games. Even if the results don’t go our way. I want to see some of the intensity back, at least. The shithousing. The antagonistic stuff that fucks off the opposition and their fans. We’ve lost our way a bit with this lack of rotation and our identity with it.

Also. We were not ‘overrun’ by 10 man Liverpool. For all that it was pathetic defending to end the game and infuriating to watch. West Ham we were decent for the most part, bar some crucial mistakes and they’re proving to be decent this season. Then the ridiculous injury crisis really kicked in from around Wolves onwards. Coincidence? Brighton is a fair enough shout. But I actually think the Luton and Forest games were two of the worst performances all season and hard to excuse. Even with the ‘fatigue’ factored in. You would have thought we might have worked on a slightly tweaked system. Even with limited time between games. As we had clearly been burning out in previous weeks. Regardless of all of that, we shouldn’t be getting outplayed by Luton and Forest. There has been a clear difference between early in the season with the energy levels and how we look as a team. You’d be able to see that off 5-10 minutes of highlights for each game. It’s night and day and not sure what Jinx’ argument is there. As you point out, Holmes. If the same mistakes keep getting made or this bad form turns into a really long run of shit results. Then I’d imagine he will be getting some stick. Premature to be hammering him now.

Genuinely interested as to what the long term vision and plan is supposed to be under him? I know you’ve had injuries. But I don’t understand how he wants his team to play? This season. It regularly seems like everyone’s just behind the ball and sitting deep. But then not really looking to counter? Even last season. Outside of that purple patch and even at times during that run. I rarely watched you and thought you were dominating a game or out-smarting the opposition’s manager (cup final aside) Feels like he would get more support if there was some kind of identity there? I said similar about Arteta, albeit for different reasons. But Arsenal fans pretty much all stuck up for him and said he was building something. Despite him being an insufferable waxwork cunt. They are now reaping the benefits. So perhaps I’m missing something as I don’t watch you for 90 minutes every week.

Us under Bruce Surprised we managed to even win games looking back at how shit and unorganised we were. But aye. Bar that mad run, when Rashford was unplayable and Martinez looked like the best CB in the league. They have looked crap under Ten Hag. But still get results.

Aye. They always seem harsh. But I suppose if it is stopping the ball going in. Which I’m guessing that one was on first glance. Then they will almost always give it.

You’ve raced into the lead with that Never change

Not sure who loves a retrospective pat on the back more. You or TCD

Probably a bit knee jerk. We actually played some lovely stuff going forward at times yesterday. Then conceded a shit goal at a bad time after being too open. Then ran out of ideas and puff late on. The away form is a worry, of course.

Right on cue

Jackson has 8 goals in 20?! Wow. Surprised it’s that many.

The ref getting the wrong card out for the Palace player a minute earlier and nearly accidentally showing him a red

Hahaha. Jackson missing another sitter.

Conversely he’ll keep putting in nervy, crap performances and plenty of people such as yourself will be telling us all he played well