Thumbheed

He's such an intelligentplayer - always seems to release the ball at the right time. Don't think it's a coinicident Tino has looked fantastic on that side whilst playing alongside Barnes. I'd noticed this too with Hall when he'd come on late in games, the 3 of them seemed to link up so well (Joe, Barnes and Hall). Maybe a lesson for Gordon as whilst individually he's far better he does have a tendency to hold on a little too long at times.

I don't think he didn't suit our style of football at all. We need attacking players who can operate in tight spaces and he doesn't have that to his game.

Only watched him on YouTube but he reminds me of Di Maria

Replacing a world class centre back won't be that easy, and besides, I'd rather not lose a key player 2 years down the line. We might as well go for the player we'd end up replacing him with.

The thing with Huijsen is he's clearly got his eye on Real Madrid and they've got their eye on him so it will most likely be a profit turner rather than genuine recruitment.

Pretty average? He completely rebuilt the team after both Gullit and Dalglish turned a squad that should have been regularly challenging for the title into relegation fodder and was stitched up in his last window with Lee fucking Bowyer.

Think it is. Feels dirty.

We're also incomplete without an enigmatic French winger.

Yeh they are, but with more fixtures next year and a high pressing game that's more often than not won in midfield, we need to ensure we're injury and fatigue proof. Lose Tonali for example, and we become far more vulnerable on the counter, which changes the entire dynamic of the game no matter how good the other 10 players are.

I feel like we're underestimating the need for another top midfielder.

Oscar Bobb back from injury.

He's an A and I've thought it for a long time now. Said it before, but to me, one of the hallmarks of an elite manager, outside the metric of pure results, is the effect they have on top players. The very good managers are able get players punching above their weight, the top tier managers are able to make already very good players, elite and he's done exactly that with the likes of Tonali, Bruno and to some degree Isak. The one question mark against his name would be his ability to manage egos, which is where the likes of Ancelotti, Pep and Klopp excel, outside of that I see no reason why he couldn't manage one of the elites.

Been waiting for this one. A - technically up there with the very best and could improve any side in the world. His lack of pace is a major flaw but he makes up with it with his general positioning and what goes unheralded is his injury record, which is worth its weight as a player.

Is it me or is the yellow ticker not working?

Now imagine this man managing a 25 man squad of absolutely top class players.

Immortal

Guy's a mental giant.

I've waited 15 years for us to be a good team. I'm OK with waiting a bit longer to be a top one, if it means we get to avoid saying our success was bought.

Not that I disagree that we'll not likely sign anyone, but we literally tried to sign Khusanov.

Our Dirk Kuyt

Tbf, heading is a dying art so bit unfair to judge a player on it nowadays.

My favourite player to watch in this team. Such a clean and tidy player.

Howe is turning excellent players into elite players and doing that without a world class infrastructure to support. The only limit to what he can achieve at this club is PSR.

Not really our fortè

Wing options now looking a little bit sparse. This was one of those games where our lack of pace at the was exposed but ultimately, the our issues today came from the front and middle.