Smal

we deserved it

was always coming the way we set up, sadly

I reckon Woltemade comes off soon, looks knackered

Botman so good

Miley on and Joelinton to the left imo. Get more height on, more crosses.

he can't be human

good goal but needs to do some upper body stuff I think. Lost 8/8 duels so far, not that he's had much support.

Sandro is really holding that midfield 5 together rest of them are absolute passengers.

sub Gordon

this is going to be a right pasting

god, Gordon is so shit

he got the ball first didn't he?

I think it's probably 3-5-2 but it could also be Pope Tino - Thiaw - Botman - Burn Bruno - Tonali - Joelinton Murphy - Woltemade - Gordon I guess.

man, I hate 3-5-2. 3-4-3? Sure. I just don't see where goals come from with 3-5-2.

Longstaff

what a hit

Sesko really does look terminal

he would be my number 1 transfer target to be honest. He’d be ahead of Joelinton straight away for me, but I think he’d be a great successor for Bruno as well now that he’s become more accomplished in a deeper position. Think Forest could have PSR issues in the summer as well. Would be the ideal time to bring him back.

We beat these last season with a Burn-Botman CB partnership. Can’t see why we wouldn’t do that again with Schar out tbh.

couldn't watch last night but have just watched the full match through. Thought it looked like a game where we tried to put into action what we've been working on in training with the new front line. There was far more central play than we've ever usually seen under Howe, and I thought it was very apparent that Joelinton was constantly getting into very forward central positions (Barnes was also doing this when he came on from wide), which is exactly what someone has to do if Woltemade plays up front. I also think with Botman you have an additional line breaker, which is again something that is a necessity when Woltemade is in the team. Wolt only played 20 minutes or something but was heavily involved - probably moreso than a striker manages in a full 90 in our previous Howe seasons. Really enjoyed how we were trying to play. The downsides imo were that a) Gordon seems to be carrying on with his main character syndrome where he thinks he's the main guy and has to score all the goals, and b) Miley made quite a lot of errors - I really hope whatever crap he's been getting online hasn't gotten in his head. If you exclude the errors he played really well, but I'm not sure it'll have helped Howe trusting him for bigger games in the immediate future.

his weight of pass is ludicrous

he looks like he could develop into a PL level player out wide, I think. Especially alongside a profile like Woltemade up front. Decent running onto the ball with space in front of him. Horrible with his back to goal and in general play centrally though.

experienced he’s still played more for us than for anyone else

he really grew into it. Was dodgy for the first half an hour but then started winning a few duels and picked up significantly second half. We really need him back and playing well. Gives us so much control when he’s evading the opponent’s press. Love Trips but he’s 35 now. He should be the one who comes in to give players like Hall/Tino a rest.

yes, he clearly has more in his locker which is why it’s frustrating. Like I say, don’t really want to be critical because he was fine and Bournemouth are a difficult opponent.