Smal

yeah, I mean I get why people are upset and this season has just been consistent anguish over and over again (not to mention the huge mitigating circumstances from the summer), but given what we've had from him in past seasons it's flummoxing that so many won't accept a bad season from him.

yeah, it's kind of exactly what I mean. I have no issue with him as a player, he looks really good individually. I just think it's pretty clear that whatever we're doing defensively has not worked this season and I'm trying to find explanations. Thiaw defends much lower on the pitch than either of our CB pairing from the last two seasons, and that could be one of the main reasons why.

I am really confused by this guy. Seems like such a good player individually but... the team completely falls apart defensively when he's on the pitch. Brobbey won a few duels with Botman in the first half but they never had a sniff of the goal whatsoever. I posted it in the squad and tactics thread a couple of weeks ago but, for "high defensive actions" (a metric which records tackles, interceptions or clearances in the opposition half): Burn ranks 88th percentile in the league vs other PL defenders (including full backs who generally score higher in this metric), so very highly. 1.21 actions per 90. Schar 73rd percentile. Also high. 0.87 per 90. Botman 23rd percentile. 0.3 per 90. Thiaw 6th percentile. 0.18 per 90. He is one of the least proactive CBs in the league. I need to watch for it when we play but there has to be something in it, and it would explain why we don't concede as many goals when Burn and Schar play together. Dunno if it's affecting the defensive line, ability to play offsides, the positioning of the other defenders or what.

I should add that some of them will be mine

is he trying to get his price down or something

three weeks of reading utterly shit opinions now

suspect he will have lost a lot of the crowd after that. No idea what's happened to the mentality of some of these players. They've been absolutely pathetic.

not sure why but the team is a disaster defensively when Thiaw is on the pitch

such a good chance that, like

gerrin

this Willock performance

Would like Gordon LW and Osula on up top at some point.

what on earth are we doing at HT atm

ffs

yep. Hit shots hard at him and follow them up, can't see him catching any or pushing it out to safety.

Botman should score really

get shots on this keeper, clearly levels below PL standards

Ramsey looks knackered to me

honestly just give them goal kicks at this point

Joelinton has looked a yard quicker since coming back from injury

playing out from the back with O'Nien

I guess this is where we find out if Woltemade has the necessary mentality tbh. If he’s not super motivated to do something today then I don’t think he’ll ever make it here. A midfield of Joelinton, Ramsey and Wolt should have plenty of possession against these cloggers.

letting 7 goals in is a bit embarrassing like, no? First half performance was great. I doubt that’s what will be remembered though.

wow, our mentality has been appalling this half

Burn and Thiaw have been absolutely embarrassing all night