TheInfiniteOdyssey

Wonder if that will cause any unrest behind-the-scenes for players like Mitoma etc.

Chelsea’s transfer strategy just seems crazy to me. Absolute ton of money spent on largely unproven young talents.

Joelinton was doing his part for sure.

Liverpool undoubtedly played really well with 10 men, but how uncomfortable we looked on and off the ball with a man advantage is what really rankles today.

Yep the subs definitely feel pre-planned, rather than an assessment of the game in real-time.

He did okay today, despite that mistake. Nonetheless, I don’t think he’s exerting the same level of control and composure in a midfield that he’s demonstrated previously. That loss of composure is also unfortunately having a notable impact on the team, simply because of how pivotal his role is.

I don’t think that applies to the match context of playing against 10 men for 70 minutes. I think supporters of clubs like West Ham, Villa, even Brentford and others, would also be bitterly disappointed to lose a game in these circumstances. It’s a really bad defeat to take.

With regards to our transfer business, I feel Hall and Livramento were very opportunistic signings. Like our recruitment team have them shortlisted as top young talents, but were unlikely to move for them unless specific circumstances transpired. In both cases circumstances came to pass that enabled us to sign them - Chelsea’s FFP issues and Southampton’s relegation. The cost to this is in the immediate-term is presumably we decided against signing a player on equivalent expenditure like Diaby (as an example), who could have provided a definitive lift in quality to the starting line-up. I have full faith that both players will be a real asset to the club in the long-term, but they’re still nevertheless young lads who have relatively few top-flight appearances between them. These signings aren’t going to really solve our creativity issues either.

Perhaps harsh to say given the opposition, but Longstaff has looked really uncomfortable coming off the bench, ineffectual today and against City, actually detrimental. I wonder if he’s a player who needs to start to actually get to grips with the game rhythm.

I’ll be interested to see how our midfield develops this season, we’re missing Willock a lot, in my opinion. We devoured Villa second half, but they looked punch-drunk by a combination of Mings’ injury and the self-inflicted kamikaze of a high-line. The current midfield structure is missing some qualities for me. I wonder if a genuine defensive midfielder could have enabled us to be a bit more flexible in how we adapt in-game.

Our mentality in the last two games has been poor. Against City, the scoreline was deceiving, we were uncompetitive throughout the whole game. Organised but without any belief we could exert pressure on the opposition. Our only retort to City was the sheer stubbornness of the back four. Today, we were complacent on and off the ball. We actually seem worse the more of the ball we have, evident lack of composure in midfield. Liverpool losing a man seemed to actually hurt us.

Absolutely catastrophic game-management today. We went absolutely flat when Gordon went off. The team didn’t look mentally robust enough or hungry enough second half.

Really rough start for Carrick at Boro this season.

From an onlooker, what will really limit the Saudi league is the climate. The temperatures seem to be hovering around 38c during a match, which is obviously going to stifle intensive play - pressing, passing, dribbling etc. That will surely in matches being of lower-quality and less excitement for spectators. This is less of an issue from November onwards I guess, but August, September and May looks like exceptionally tough months to play football in.

Can’t help but be underwhelmed by that performance. We didn’t lay a glove on them.

Too cheap giving the ball away unfortunately

Bruno’s passing has been diabolical at times this game

Has to take Almiron off, he’s totally knackered.

Tactically just not prepared at all for Foden’s role here

We haven’t worked out how to deal with Foden at all. We’re giving him the pitch.

Almiron is a fucking idiot

We need more belief, too scared on the ball when we break.

Popey with the ball at his feet raises my heart-rate more than my wife.

How’s that not a yellow then

Foden’s off the ball movement is exceptional but we’ve looked unable to cope. He’s killing us.