Smal

we are mint.

We have got some absolutely fantastic players haven't we.

Bellingham is so good man. Sat here laughing

That's a pen imo

If Howe can get Phillips back up to speed then he'd be a very good player for us. Also potentially allows you to play a more attacking player at left back because he will sit much deeper and be part of the 3 alongside the centre backs (instead of Burn tucking in to make the 3) at times.

I don't think Howe is particularly suited to international management. That's not a criticism, it's just a totally different job. One of the biggest reasons for Howe's success is how fit he's managed to make the players. You can't have that kind of impact in international management. Another factor behind his success is working with individual players to improve their tactical understanding. Again, you do not get time to do this in international football. You basically have to be a politician who gets the media and public onside. It's preferable to be a good tactician who can change games (which is largely where Southgate has fallen down and why he hasn't won a tournament), but I feel like it's not essential to doing well.

hasn’t corona done enough the last few years ffs

I’d be tempted to play Wilson and Isak together as an out and out 2 for this. If they’re missing Eze and Olise we should be fairly dominant with the ball.

I’m not saying you said he’s shite like, sorry if that came across. I just want people to see what I see with Burn in truth . He’s a player who is predominantly in the team to a) provide the structure of our rest defence shape and b) assist in our first phase of build up (you will often see him and the two centre backs for a 3 at the back shape when we have the ball deep whilst Trippier pulls high and wide as part of the attacking unit). I think given this role in the team it’s impossible to also expect him to provide overlapping runs into the final third *regularly*. Whilst this might seem frustrating, the left side of our attack is instead designed - purposefully - for the left sided forward player to combine with the left sided midfield player rather than the full back (unlike ie Trippier and Almirón on the other side). That’s why you see Willock/Anderson/Joelinton often position themselves on the touchline even from the left central midfield position. In our setup it’s their role to combine with the winger rather than Burn’s most of the time. Absolutely no top side leaves only two defenders back apart from maybe Brighton sometimes - and they regularly get exposed for it. Most good sides build with a 3-2 structure (ours is often Burn-Botman-Schar with Bruno-Longstaff in front for example) and have done in the PL since Conte’s Chelsea.

this is it basically. That his kicking has been worse since then too tells me it’s entirely a confidence thing so hopefully it can be resolved, but it has been quite a long time.

Burn played him an absolutely lush through ball today like so it’s a bit weird to single him out

Easy to forget that he’s not had a full season with us yet. Sometimes we don’t pick him out which isn’t his fault and then sometimes his movement seems a bit off and he’s not where ie Wilson would be to score a goal. Him and the team are still getting used to each other, which is exciting because when it does fully click we’re going to start turning games like today into hammerings.

Never get tired of these, mind. Every game he's the most effective player on the pitch.

He hasn't had multiple poor performances. Outside of this one he's started 3 games this season and been good in all of them and made the most progressive passes in two of them. In his first season getting regular minutes in the PL. At 20.

He's not the least of our worries, I'm afraid. Both goals were preventable on his part and I think he would've stopped both last season. He's definitely been short on confidence I think.

I have no idea why you'd go after a young homegrown player this hard after one poor performance

everyone in the wall just full on shithousing without any shame

Dan taking up the Zidane role because why not

Big Dan been class again today

I like Anderson a lot but it’s not been his game today.

I think Tonali has been ok

74% possession but just no pace in our play today.

that’s a yellow for Pacqueta as well like