Tiresias

Fair but i would have hoped would help when they turned us over but it felt they had so much space behind our midfield

Trippier was sitting deeper coming into midfield that inverted full back thing and bruno was playing more as a no 10. Bruno thing worked not sold on the trippier thing as we never looked much in control and in fact our defence was opened up way too easily with pace.

I was sure var would overturn. It's one of those ref probably entitled to give pen based on letter of law but there wasn't a huge amount of contract player made most of it when chance had already passed rather than being deliberately clattered preventing a goal I know though in reverse situation I'd be pissed at no pen for that

With noting Gordon won player of tournament in the u21s euros playing as striker did he not? I personally think he's a handy different option there to have as a false 9 with Barnes and miggy (well hopefully new rw) running into space that makes. I don't think third choice is the issue more maybe can we get anything for Wilson and replace as feels like he's just not able to play enough any more. Maybe next season without europe will be better but he's just unfortunately too easily injured

I don't think it's outrageous to ponder if howe can be upgraded it's just i think the are huge benefits to sticking to a manager and building club around their vision, see the benefits arsenal have got from sticking with the lego cunt when could easily have been sacked first few seasons. Continuity in how we play and team spirit are rewards. Howe very clearly still has huge buy in from the dressing room and that's important and shouldn't be taken for granted. What impressed me about howe was he had changed things from his Bournemouth time, and what i want from him is evident he is learning and gets more proactive with in game management. I too want to win things but also feel last season got everyone dreaming that maybe it wasn't such a long term plan that the owners set out that we can build rome in a day. We can't, we've paid a heavy price for last season's exertions and even then we have had some fabulous results and games even if they haven't strung together into an impressive campaign. I think there's plenty of life in Howe yet, i do wonder if there will be a ceiling and we have to get a pep style superstar genius manager in to make final steps but i don't think that's yet and i don't think there's any need for vitriol even if the Dan burn obsession is annoying.

Also Joelinton is fucking everywhere when he plays. Just can't replace that easily.

we super miss Joelinton in the middle. He was fucking everywhere so many times and ultimately can't easily replace that energy.

Kompany spewing motivational talk in interviews. They are desperately poor miles off it, clearly got promoted too quick in the grand scheme and appreciate keeping Kompany on to build it long term and will walk championship i am sure next season but 7 points behind Luton is embarassing for such a feted and highly rated side when they came up. their build up play and attacking is good but just long way short of good enough.

Feels a bit of whole defense not quite functioning midfield backwards, exposed too much

I too am finding it hard to go through the match threads, but i am also not at all immune of getting really annoyed and posting as such, but it is winding me up how incredibly negative some get.

Sigh really getting hard to understand now

I like Richards sometimes but sometimes its too jokey and sometimes his analysis is utter bs but some of the stories are great. It is interesting to hear richards talk candidly about how he didn't really get good attitude right until it was too late and his body wasn't up to it anymore

Where did the 10 minutes come from? Genuinely can't remember any extended stoppages? Even for the new regime of more time on feels a lot for not much

Feels like he has been the next big thing for us for so long he should be rights be 30 by now

If a player is clearly better than the other players manager may feel gains nothing playing those games better training with first team, however man city tend to have a plethora of talent in the u21s so that would be a bit of a surprise

Love Rafa for what he did but we'd all be raging at how negative we were after the football of last season injuries or not

I'm inclined to agree that Howe has made some mistakes overplaying players, even if that would mean playing some out of position who weren't really adequate replacements but due to the latter fact I can't be overly harsh on Howe for it. A win or even a draw over a loss can mean finishing the season a position or two higher which means players get bigger bonuses, probably get higher sell on fee, may mean qualifying for europe which means huge extra revenue for the club and job security for the manager etc etc etc, the pressure to play particularly a forward who scores needed goals is huge. Learning experience for sure, but it's easier for fans to think oh better not risk this game is a write off anyway than the manager. Hmmm maybe but his 18 goals last season were surely the difference between champions league and maybe scraping europa conference?

Bruno wasn't meant to be a DM, more deepest of the midfielders to collect the ball in the most congested spaces and creating from that. I agree btw I think he's best further forward but it's not a two midfielders attack and bruno defends midfield 3 I think Howe anticipated, it's more they defend as a collective but Bruno would probably be the one with most licence to go left or right side of pitch.

I'm all for giving Joelinton infinite cash tbh

Not sure why commentator thought allison was with describing as 'imperious' considering that game

Should not be shipping even 1 goal really at home. What has happened to our solidity? Good for them

Ffs

Absolute classic former player stuff here, was about to joke he was going to score a hat trick to my everton mate just before he scored the first and thought would be too cruel

Comparisons are always tough. I really liked Colo, but no he wouldn't be able to play quite so high a line but not sure I've seen many CBs better in one on ones with strikers, often just would calmly take the ball off them when most our other defenders since would retreat panic and just watch as the striker scores. He also did decline terribly and stuck around too long. Fab is great, he's just very low key somehow, barely rated by anyone else and it's baffling.

While I doubt this the lack of spending this window may be sign that the inflated prices of often average players last few windows is unsustainable, with clubs such as us and apparently arsenal up against FFP maybe enough will be unwilling to spend quite as big in summer and thus bring prices down. Somehow doubt it, but felt chelsea's ludicrous spending rather made everyone suddenly double their prices.