Smal

He's rapid, like. Gambia are just punting it long at every opportunity though. It's horrible

The area he can most improve on imo is his movement in the box. Too often we'll have the ball wide near the touchline and he'll be behind a defender rather than in front of them and ready to be on the end of a low cross. Think this is what Eddie meant in his comments in the Shearer article too.

yeah. As mad as it sounds, getting Jacob Murphy back will be transformative for us.

yeah, don’t mean it as criticism of Miley, he’s pretty much a square peg in a round hole. His profile suggests he’s a 10 to me too.

Think we can do something if we get some support for Galloway. We’ve been too eager to go long I think.

hmm, not really got much to play to when we get the ball back here. Wonder if we’ll get McQuade on for the second half.

Decent enough start but Man U have had some good chances already. Boddy and Kelly key for us I think. Feel like they’re winning the midfield battle.

If our midfield line is pressing that high then the defensive line has to step up higher too. We can’t put all the focus on the midfield shape. The defence can’t be that deep when the midfield are pressing, it’s crazy.

I think we win the game if Joelinton isn’t injured btw . Miley is fantastic with the ball in the final third but he can’t play as a box to box CM yet at all. Swap him out for an athletic player who is strong in duels and we don’t concede De Bruyne’s goal.

It was good to see him out-pace Foden on one occasion when he came on. Hopefully a sign that he’s getting closer to what Howe needs from him physically.

League only: xG conceded per 90 pre-Pope injury: 1.02 xG conceded per 90 post-Pope injury: 3.16

the biggest problem with the system at the moment is that the defensive line is playing about 15 yards deeper than it usually does since Pope’s injury. That’s why those gaps between defence and midfield are even bigger than usual. Last season we had Schar and Botman stepping up and marking opposition forwards into midfield, but it’s just not happening anymore because the distances are too big. It’s not a coincidence that our xG conceded has gone up massively since Pope’s injury.

It’s a difficult one because you could see that coming a mile off and he didn’t do anything to change/stop it at all. What could he do though with nobody on the bench who could come into the front 6? Lascelles on to make a back 5? That sounds like something Steve Bruce would do.

felt inevitable in the second half, really.

If this ref was giving yellows for dissent they’d have 6 players

Big Dan Burn winning offensive headers from our goal kicks is an underrated part of his game

Miley is a #10 imo. His final pass is almost always fantastic. Can’t do box to box or recovery runs required for his role tonight (yet).

agreed. Gordon should’ve just done what he did for his goal

When our players aren’t fucking knackered they can do some pretty incredible things, like. Miggy is a different player to last month’s version.

Fabian Schar you beauty

that is a disgrace

Isak had to get in front of his man for that cross.

these commentators are an absolute mess

Our bench is always so funny, man

I really don't see why we need to sell our best players unless they actively want to leave tbh. We need to bring in more young players to develop and sell for profit. I've no idea who like, but that's what scouting is for.