Smal

think it’s time to start playing Ramsdale

Burn looks like he might be having a difficult game

Either this or we’ve put Woltemade back up front and it’s Willock in midfield with Gordon left wing. Hope it’s what you’ve put though.

glad Cherki and Foden aren’t playing. Thought Botman was back but guess we need him midweek after Thiaw’s suspension.

should be a points deduction for drawing at home to that Burnley team, like

I think Wissa had to hit the ground running to be a worthwhile investment given his age tbh. Fair to say that hasn’t happened by a long shot. He could still be a decent player for us maybe, but investment-wise we needed him to score goals for us this season to be worth anything even approaching the fee we paid. As it is he has 1 PL goal and it’s March next week.

I wonder if we could play a Joelinton-Tonali-Woltemade midfield tbh. Batter them on set pieces.

there is definitely a weird culture around atm where fans are more passionate about hating other teams than supporting their own, like. You can especially see it online in mixed forums, social media etc. Just go and touch grass if that’s your mentality.

the best thing for the team is to score the penalty; which you have the best chance of doing if your best taker is taking it.

probably one of his biggest haters on here but he was spot on last night with the penalty thing, and I’ve enjoyed his performances up front recently. His first two games there he lead the press well, but last night he actually looked like a genuine goal threat for the first time as a striker. I do think it’s pretty funny that only a month or so ago he was banging on about how well he’d been playing and that people were too obsessed with stats; and now that he’s scored a few he’s piping up about how he wants to get his goal numbers up as much as possible . I suppose that’s the mentality of a sportsperson though. Let’s have some open play goals in the PL now please. One all season and none at all in 2025 is crazy.

the eye test doesn’t suggest otherwise though though. If you watch the Villa game where they had some settled possession, Woltemade was part of the flat midfield 5 when we switch to a mid/low block. Exactly the same as when Joelinton or anyone else plays there. When we have settled possession Woltemade is playing between the lines from the left of a midfield 3, just as when anyone else plays there. It’s exactly the same system. Banging my head against a wall when people keep saying the system has changed/we’ve gone 4-2-3-1 . Just look at where Ramsey vs Villa or Willock vs Qarabag played, they get into the same high positions as Woltemade does, just from the other side. They aren’t playing as part of a midfield 2 at all. We played a 4-2-3-1 against Bournemouth I think in January and that looked very different. The question long term is whether he’s athletic enough to play the role. For some reason he looks like he has a hell of a lot more stamina as a central midfielder than he does as a striker though, I guess it’s just from not having to sprint to lead the press as often.

the hand/arm has to be in an “unnatural” position. To me, putting your hand on the floor whilst sliding for a tackle or block is not unnatural. It’s not likely to be given as a penalty in England.

that map is the average position of their touches on the field, so it’s entirely in possession. But even out of possession he dropped back into the flat 5 like he did at the weekend against Villa. the left sided centre mid (Joelinton, Willock) is nearly always more advanced than the right sided one (Longstaff, Bruno) in Howe’s 4-3-3. The main times he played on the last line were when we wanted to launch it long from the back and needed an aerial presence, just like we do with Joelinton. It’s good. If we can fit him in the existing setup as a more creative but perhaps less athletic Joelinton then it’s exactly what we need for certain games.

he didn’t play as a number 10. He played as an 8 in our usual 4-3-3 (again)

Brilliant. Top notch professionalism to approach the game like we did first half. Should've scored 10+ but it’s fine.

this keeper has stopped us from scoring 10+ like, fair play

convinced the 67 minute sub thing is Howe doing a bit for his kids

feels like we don’t occupy opponent CBs very well when we play against a back 5. Wingers are too wide I think.

not that it matters in this game but Pope has cost us so many goals this season

yeah, it’s just something that could’ve waited for the dressing room at HT. Very silly.

players falling out on the pitch when 5-0 up is not great is it like, gotta say . Hopefully gets nipped in the bud at HT.

Think it would be sensible to at least get Trippier and Hall a rest if we can. Probably Barnes as well. All played loads recently.

I think Gordon did the right thing and is correctly the pen taker, but probably says a lot about what the likes of Trips think about him tbh

what a night for the lads who travelled over haha. Mental.

they absolutely cannot deal with any kind of movement