Smal

Most touches on the pitch in the first half btw

once he gets some games under his belt I don't think this'll be an issue either. He's never really had the chance for various reasons.

Burn is giving the best CB performance we've managed in months btw.

he must've spent the last 6 months in the gym, like. Winning most of his duels against a really physical team.

Isak is hitting new levels here

cracking goalkeeping tbf

Anderson is so keen to impress. This is exactly what we've needed in midfield.

As long as they've finally realised that Dubs is never going to take charge himself then I'm fine with it.

lol, how on earth is that not a yellow

Hall is really helping us build. Impressed with his decision making.

really could do with the crowd giving Sean some confidence. He's doing well so far today but he needs a bit more belief in his play.

really good foul by Burn.

if Leeds weren't to get promoted Archie Gray is the one to go for. Pretty much guaranteed to be a future international player.

Games in which Murphy has started this season: Premier League: (h) vs Aston Villa - won 5-1 (h) vs Crystal Palace - won 4-0 (a) vs Aston Villa - won 1-3 (h) vs Luton - drawn 4-4 (h) vs Wolves - won 3-0 (h) vs West Ham - won 4-3 FA Cup: (a) vs Fulham - won 0-2 (a) vs Blackburn - won on pens (a) vs Man City - lost 0-2 (played as a RWB) League Cup: (h) vs Man City - won 1-0 Champions League: (a) vs Milan - drawn 0-0 So the record is that he's started 11 games, of which we've won 8, drawn two, and lost one (away at Man City where he played RWB).

Our pressing has been off/late/non-existent since October but that can be put down, more or less 100%, to injuries and the period where we had to field the same XI for a dozen games screwing our players up physically. What I don't think can be defended as easily is that we haven't changed our midfield/defensive structure to defend transitions better. Sticking to your principles is fine and generally what the best managers do, but we have been conceding the same goal 2 or 3 times a game for about 3 months now with zero sign of it changing which surely has to be a major concern.

yeah, Livramento didn’t deal with Bowen well at all and that was highlighted particularly for the second goal. Bowen is a good player ofc but Livramento unsurprisingly seems much more comfortable on the right.

extremely controversial Man City winner in the 94th minute would be ideal

this is it. Yesterday ended up being a great day but performances are how you should judge football - not just results - and yesterday's performance was flat-out bad for the overwhelming majority of it, and we showed the same glaring weaknesses as we have done in practically every game since November. Like, we clearly need to do something about how we defend transitions but we're just doing the same clownshoes stuff every game.

De Bruyne's big game record is so bad. He nearly always goes missing.

game’s so shit they gotta spend half time hyping adult harry potter

Botman for a couple of months

I really can’t wait for Pope to come back, man

Sky had him on MNF explaining how they beat Man City earlier in the season and it was very much about his tactical decisions. A week-long circle jerk followed on Sky and his ego exploded I think. He does seem like a good coach though - especially for and English manager. Wolves have put some really good performances in this season.

he’s obviously a much better coach than Pardew but he has the same levels of unbearable self-confidence and also the ridiculous denial in defeat.

he definitely has leadership qualities as well. Ever since he broke into the team he’s always been shouting at his teammates and trying to lead the press. Again, really think that’s something we miss in midfield currently. Definitely deserves to start ahead of Longstaff atm, even if we just get 60 minutes out of him.