Smal

yes, you can tell he spent most of his youth career playing as a 10. I don't really know why we see him as someone who should play deeper really. There is no aggression to his game. Final ball is his main skill.

yes, I knew Minteh was going to be great when I watched his clips for PSV. He had that thing that Saka and other top dribblers have where their first touch sets the ball and their body shape to be able to go either way of the defender. Fantastic player with enormous potential. Hard worker and great presser too.

was reading about a SkillCorner metric call PSV-99 the other day which is "Peak sprint velocity 99th percentile - This metric reflects the peak speed of a player and its ability to reach it multiple times or sustain it long enough." I'd be willing to be this is what we use to scout wingers. Feels like it's the main thing we look for with Gordon, Elanga and probably the Minteh signing too. Like you say the hope is to coach stuff into them but I can't see it with Elanga.

Alan Smith is desperate to big up @Grokeres but he's so fucking shit can't kick a ball cleanly at all

I think there's definitely something in that and he pretty much said along those lines himself. It feels like he's not as bothered about playing for us as he was 2 seasons ago. It really shows when you see how much intensity and focus he played with for England compared to how he's playing for us. Barnes hasn't been great either but I would probably pick him atm to try and make a point to Gordon.

he was so good in the two England games, especially the second one where he was the best player on the pitch. I haven't seen him play like that for us for about 18 months now.

he improved the team massively when he came on

Can't believe how bad the defence were to be honest. We never got near their attackers at all. Can only be a preparation/tactical thing. Botman particularly disappointing in this regard.

what on earth is that Pope

Miley low cross, Woltemade Cruijff'd it in from about 8 yards

A like for like replacement for Gordon then

wasn't keen on his signing at all, but was hugely encouraged by his pre-season. He's not looking good at all though sadly.

The entire Brighton front line is now just lining up in the huge space between our midfield and attack laughably easy for them to turn the ball over and get straight in at our back line

If Miley is warming up I'm slightly concerned that Tonali has done a muscle injury

We're a better team with Jacob Murphy in it, like

I don't really understand why Joe is on the pitch. He clearly can't run properly at all

In behind Joelinton way too easily yet again

They're both first choice though. The only back up for left back is Dan Burn. That's a fact.

We only have one player in the whole squad whose primary position is left back. All things equal Livramento starts right back and Hall left back. Burn is therefore our second choice left back - it's not great.

In possession we are guilty of trying to do everything at 100mph again. Sometimes you just need to hold onto the ball for a second and wait for the appropriate pass, especially away from home.

Joelinton is not doing his job really. They're in behind him every time. He's running like I do when a hamstring stops working properly.

missed the first 10 minutes but 10-20 has been bloody awful

christ, that's exactly what we bought Elanga for and that was terrible

everyone is more safe than our midfielders like, but Anderson isn't particularly safe with his passing. Pretty much everything he does goes forwards. He has the most progressive passes and the most passes into the final third in the league this season, and 2nd most shot creating actions if you're talking about how incisive he is. I'd say his best attribute is to break lines whether it's carrying or passing. He's obviously really good at finding space as well. If everyone knows Forest send everything through him then they'd just mark him out of the game like people regularly used to do to Bruno when he played the central role. But they haven't been able to. There's a good reason he's not just playing but staring for England now, who look loads better since he's come into the team. He's really fucking good

hat trick and a few leg breakers inflicted tonight please Sandro