Lush Vlad

People need to chill out. They look very good and well drilled. Solid, everyone knows their job. But teams get found out all the while and need to regularly evolve. As we found out. As Liverpool have found out over one summer. Even City to a degree. The more tape teams have of them. The more they’ll be able to try and work a gameplan. They’ll also lose any players that are genuinely decent. Such is this shitty PSR world we all live in. They’re certainly a surprise package. Nobody could have predicted they’d be this good.

For all that he looks crap and uninterested. You could not come up with a system more unsuited to his strengths. Which makes it all the more baffling why they were so desperate to sign him.

Et Tu Brute will be fuming. Another spawny goal with a massive deflection

Serves Liverpool right for just passing it about slowly round the edge of the box. Until they lose it. Rinse and repeat.

Wow

Just clocked Le Fee’s barnet. What on earth is that?! Looks like a Wii sports character or a Playmobil man.

Not sure that’s right? The yellows cancel out no? So back to 4. Burn was on 3 at Brentford. Got two yellows and he is still on 3. Anyway. Isak was anonymous. Again.

Arsenal can’t believe their luck. City suddenly look fragile at the back. Chelsea are unconvincing at times. Liverpool disappeared. I don’t think Villa or sunderland are genuine title challengers. Still early’ish days. But they’re going to cruise to the title at this rate.

What an awful game. Sunderland look comfortable on the ball. Without doing much. Liverpool are playing in slow motion and telegraphing everything they do. Do they never try and break quickly?! They seem to walk out with the ball.

Liverpool look utter shite, again. Mackems have been lively. I’m sure we’ll still take our customary beating at Anfield.

This. He scored so it’s kind of irrelevant. But his technique is weird. Doesn’t usually blast it, often isn’t right in the corner and he doesn’t watch the keeper. So I feel it is a bit dependent on the keeper just guessing the wrong way. His penalty record isn’t actually that bad for us as it? The Everton one was nailed on to miss and he never should have taken that.

They hate each other. Think it's worse than Bruno and Mac Allister. Definitely a Brazil-Argentina thing.

Venturing up this weekend for this. Still looking forward to it, even after last night's disappointment. If we play anything like we did for most of the Spurs game. We should have far too much for them. Not really sure on the lineup. But you'd imagine Hall will be rested and there is some rotation ahead of a massive week. We can't really rest Tino unless we go 5 at the back. But then Hall would have to play on the left, so it doesn't work, anyway. Guessing something like the below: Ramsdale Tino Thiaw Schar Burn Miley Bruno Willock (assuming Tonali misses out) Gordon Woltemade Barnes

Trying to remember my own words from the other week and not go off on one too much. It is quite hard, though. I posted this in the Joelinton thread:

I agree on the last bit and have said it for ages. However he has been making too many blunders this season, to go with his horrendous kicking. Not Marseille levels of shite. But West Ham he was crap for Paqueta's goal. Punched under no pressure and then got beat from 20 odd yards when he shouldn't have been. Arsenal he had a double fuck up late on after playing brilliantly all game before it. Brentford he came for a punch and got nowhere near it. Although I still think Botman was more to blame on that one. Most the gripes this season seem to be around him electing to punch and not try and catch everything. Sometimes I agree with that, but the catch isn't always on. Night and day at set pieces with him in nets, mind. Even if you have the odd heart attack with him coming for crosses. At least he is proactive. Two games in a row teams have just bombarded the 6 yard box and Ramsdale is nowhere to be seen. I think/hope we will see the benefit of Ramsdale in games when teams try to press us. We didn't really need his ability on the ball last night. Maybe Leverkusen will be the game that we notice it. I don't think Burnley or sunderland will press really high or aggressively against us.

Agreed. Which is why we should at least try and attack now and then. Getting the ball in the opposition half would be a start. We’re arguably better at defending from the front than we are when we sit in. At least we can get up the pitch a bit and not camp on the edge of our box. It always feels like there is an air of inevitability about it all. Like we’re just waiting for them to score or have another chance.

Has he? Nonsense IMO. Unlucky not to score against Everton and even watching the highlights back. You notice how involved he is in everything. A lot more in the game than perhaps he usually is. Even last night, frustrating decision making at times aside. He got in on goal again when he glided past Romero and was regularly causing problems. He cut it back when it deflected to Miley who maybe should have done better. He was lively, I thought. Caused Porro plenty of issues. Although the crossing from wide areas and set pieces, was mainly poor all night. In his time here. It has felt like if Barnes doesn’t score or assist. Then what is he actually bringing to the side. But I don’t think that is true of his last two games at all.

He started at Everton and that was his best game and all. Not a high bar, granted

Murphy was atrocious last night and Elanga is hardly getting a run of games or staking a claim for a regular starting spot. I know Howe does seem to see it as those two as the options for the right. Barnes and Gordon on the left. But I just don’t see how starting our two best wide men could be much worse than the inconsistent slop we are serving up from wide areas most weeks. They could even interchange at times and be a bit more fluid in the front 3 when Wissa returns. But that has never really been Howe’s style since being here. Guessing it is to do with the patterns of play and partnerships he wants across the pitch.

It’s hard to judge him in about 4 game’s worth of minutes. If he’d played 10-15 games. Then become a bench warmer that barely gets a look in off the back of bad performances. Then I could understand how some people could be passing judgement on him. It is odd that he’s barely had a kick, though. Plenty of games that would have suited his style. No idea when he is going to get a start. As he seems about 6th choice CM and 3rd choice LW at the minute. He must be shite in training

Minor gripe. As he rarely has a pass on or a black and white shirt near him. But it feels like when he is tightly marked. He sometimes has an extra touch or two and we lose it. When he often seems to have worked a bit of space to shift the ball. Then has that extra touch that brings the ball closer to the defender. He’s not a target man and too often we still play like he is. But he is getting better back to goal and we need to support him better. He still looks isolated a lot of the time. He was quality the first 35 or so, most of the team were. But he did fade out of it a bit. Wissa coming back will save his legs in games like this.

Slept on it. Still fucked off with chucking an easy two points away. Spurs were utter shite and we’ve conceded 2 goals and they’ve barely had 2 actual chances. We have a tendency to get a goal to go in front. Then we massively drop off/and or fail to adapt to the other team having to be more attacking. It happens almost every game we get the lead and it is infuriating in the extreme. I get we can’t play with the same intensity all game and you very rarely dominate a game in all phases for 90 minutes. But it is a recurring theme. Not sure where the blame lies. Whether it is a mentality thing, a physical problem, tactics or enforced with changes, like going 5 at the back late on. Probably a mixture of everything. But it needs sorting. So many late goals conceded and points lost from winning positions. We can’t keep handing momentum to the other team and then conceding sloppy/late goals.

Not really his sort of game at the weekend. But he’s played himself into the starting XI, TBF. He was very good last night. Hopefully he can put in another decent performance and kick on from here. If Barnes is starting as well. I’d play Gordon on the right. But I don’t think that will happen and Barnes will get shifted across.

Aye. Hopefully nowt serious. We’re a different side entirely without him in it.

Pope may well have gifted them goals in other ways but I do believe he saves both. The first isn’t great. But that beats plenty of keepers. The second is a clusterfuck all round. But it’s still wank from Ramsdale. My worry with him is that he is getting targeted on corners and set pieces already and he is stuck to his line worse than Dubravka was. He actually looked proactive in comparison.