Smal

Seen nowt to suggest we shouldn’t carry on with Tonali central. Bruno either side of him + one other.

love Krafthu

stat padding the pass completion numbers

who was actually offside? Didn’t look like anyone was tbh

it’s not the only reason but Trippier’s ability, experience and leadership have been a big miss this season imo.

Mudryk has been more threatening since we stuck Joelinton on him. Just looks a weird change to me. Krafth was doing well 1v1.

looked a pen to me

Not sure why we’ve swapped Jo and Gordon. We had good combos down the left.

Isak’s work with his back to goal has to get so much better.

been a bit hopeless with the ball but feels like Longstaff’s made a lot of really good recoveries which have been important

great stuff. Tonali is doing a fantastic job here.

it’s irritating that Schar is having to play every game, like. He’s 33 in a couple of months and looks like it’s catching up with him a bit this season.

I like Tonali in Bruno’s role so far. Covers the space much quicker.

spectacularly bad from Kelly

please check your carbon monoxide detectors

always though this would be Miley’s best position in the future. Kid can play a final pass as well as anyone in our squad.

At Lyon he played as the more advanced player in a pivot with Maxence Caqueret as the deeper of the two. I think him and Tonali as a pivot is worth a shot but it's just a completely different way to how Howe currently uses his midfield. Tonali and Joelinton are almost out on the touchline half the time we have the ball.

I don’t remember him running back much. If anything it was the opposite because, by his own admission, he was really unfit.

according to fbref, he has not completed a single cross or carry into the penalty area so far this season. Also has the lowest shot creating actions p/90 of all full backs in the league. Also the highest amount of mistakes leading to an opposition shot . I've been shocked at how poor he's been because he is an obvious talent.

the 6 months after Gordon signed? He was shocking imo . The good U21 Euros he had really turned it round for him.

Gordon had just spent 6 months looking like an average champo player when we signed Barnes, mind. We didn't know whether he was going to play left or right for us either. In hindsight it does look like we could've spent our money better though.

I really hope we identify the issues from yesterday's game. It was way too easy for them to play a straight pass into either Palmer or Jackson, who were then able to turn easily and be straight at our back 4. Palmer in particular was being man-marked by Bruno in one phase and then Schar in the next, which was either a really bad plan or just executed terribly. Would rather we just stuck one player on him (either Longstaff or Tonali). Longstaff in particular is good at that role and has done it against the likes of Maddison very effectively in the past. Chelsea are still not a good team imo - especially defensively. We can beat them at St. James' with some tweaks.

bit depressing reading his numbers this season Prem 23/24: 0.84 goals p/90 from 0.81 xG p/90. Outperforming xG by 0.03 p/90. Prem 24/25 (so far): 0.31 goals p/90 from 0.54 xG p/90. Underperforming xG by 0.23 p/90 - joint worst in the league alongside Solanke. Dunno. Could be a couple of things at work here: 1. We need Wilson back as a genuine alternative to push him. 2. He's a confidence player. Iirc he had this at Sociedad where he was banging the goals in one season and then the next season he only scored a handful.

Tony Pulis with a billion quid would’ve looked something like this Arsenal team

nah, don’t think it’s got anything to do with that. He’s constantly running around and trying. It’s a system issue. We’re making him do the same stuff that we make Sean Longstaff do instead of taking advantage of his increased ability on the ball to try and control games.