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I think he's going to struggle in a team that is going transitioning to a posession based game. 

Perhaps a move to a right where he won't be cutting into traffic and being able to whip more balls in?

Like this version of Shelvey and he did well tonight tbf, but he's in an absolutely key position and improving on him ought to be a high priority. 

26 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

They're fucked I think if they drop yeah. Already in FFP shit, have very few sellable assets and have shit players on big contracts and high wages that no one will want. Then they've got the stadium stuff going on as well. Absolutely knackered if they drop, definitely the worse run club in the league by far.

Aye that's exactly my read on it too.

Won't even be able to get a decent manager in after they've binned off Lampard either. 

FFP would surely fuck Everton if they go down?

Amazing what 1 bad game can lead to.

Not sure this discussion ever exists if he played like normally does. 

16 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

I’ve got to disagree, RW is massively important don’t get me wrong, but we can’t go into next season relying on Wilson again. A top striker has to be the number one priority.

Aye, don't completely disagree with that all tbf, but Dubs also spends a fair bit of time out and the alternative to him is Darlow who we know seems to have a negative impact on the team, whereas we've ground out brilllaint results without Wilson. 

15 hours ago, SUPERTOON said:

How on earth can a striker be your 5th choice for priority ?

Not 5th (no particular order) but slightly lower importance than the first 3 because I think improving in those 3 positions makes the biggest difference to us as a team.

Improving on Wilson seems slightly less of a priority than improving on Murphy/Fraser/Almiron, Shelvey and imo Dubs. 

GK is an underrated position and can have the biggest influences on the defence as we've seen ourselves with the clear difference Dubs makes when he plays over Darlow, improving on that seems to make sense to me, whereas injuries aside, Wilson will always bang the goals in given the chances. 

Edit: I do want a striker.

RW, GK and CDM are my 3 priority positions. 

CD and ST after that assuming Targett signs. 

"football hipsters" 

Rui Costa and Guti are criminally underrated. 

Which reminds me, Guti he held his own in a team full of Galacticos that didn't really achieve much and yet Zidane of all people manages to pull plaudits for being one of the worlds greatest and yet someone like Iniesta never gets into that conversation, and I don't understand why.  

Zidane was obviousuly an amazing player and deserves to be in the conversation of greats, but not near the very top like he always is. 

*tin hat firmly on*

Would be fucking delighted with a £90m spend tbh 

Poor mistake but he shouldn't have needed to be defending in that area of the pitch in the first place vs 10 men.

Poor play all round from us. 

2 minutes ago, Rod said:

Keep what up though?  Everton were awful.  No shape whatsoever and basically running aimlessly around for most of the time.  We should have stuffed them but we weren't good enough on the night, simples.

The intensity that they played with. They pressed all game and stopped us getting a foothold in the game. 

We had a few players who played poorly who were rightly replaced but for the main part the majority of our players weren't exactly Bruce era levels poor were they, we just couldn't settle and get into any real rhythm, that was because of hoe they played from what I saw.

Personally thought he was really good tonight but I'm not sure that role is the right one to get the best out of him. 

5 minutes ago, Wolfcastle said:

I think the relative desperation lack of desperation was a factor. That X-factor you just can't coach.

All things being equal like the first half I thought we were distinctly better than them, we are, part of why I'm so pissed off at it. Also at those horrible b8stards staying up.

Aye, Everton won't keep that up for the remainder of the season whereas we'll continue with what we've been doing the past few weeks, some huge players to come back into the fold as well. 

Tbh I think they've just inflicted on us what we've been doing to other teams on our run. 

They seemed up for it from the get go and were pressing pretty well all game so I don't really play into this notion we played poorly, we were just made to look poor, especially in the second half.

Stupid goal to concede though, cardinal sin conceding against 10.

Perhaps we should have changed shape a little to disrupt the momentum Everton had, but not gonna lose sleep over this loss. 

9 games till bliss. 

Forum and Twitter economics is wild

The thing is he's always up there with the pressing stats and seemingly up there with the tackles as well and we know or knew at least that he had real quality on the ball so unless injuries have absolutely robbed him of that quality there's surely still a brilliant player in there?

It's not like he didn't hold his own against 2 of the very best midfielders in the world.

This is why I'll always think there's something there with this lad. 

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

Over short distances I think he's slower than Shelvey. He's got no real acceleration.  Although his overall mobility and stamina seems much better than Shelvey's. From what i've seen so far anyway.

 

He would compliment Jo really well imo. Jo has that acceleration, pace and strength. But can Jo play the intricate passing game with Bruno?

Hmm, he's definitely not slower than Shelvey but I'm not even sure pace and acceleration is the type of quality you'd hope for in that type of midfielder anyway. 

As for Jo and him in midfield, honestly yes, I don't envisage any problems at all with whatever type of football we decide to play.

33 minutes ago, Khalidao said:

 

All I know is that the responsible individuals (with their real names and occupations fully revealed) have been convicted and are in jail right now.

 

Khashoggi's real family has applauded the verdict, traveled to the US and back shortly after that. Why didn't they apply for US asylum? If I had to guess they would've been granted a permenant stay quicker than anyone else.

 

BBC isn't Saudi, is it? here you go:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45988533

Do you think they have the freedom to speak out against the regime and MBS?

19 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

People can’t take honest takes. 
 

he does look a bit slow. He’ll need to think fast In this league to compensate. 
 

Comparisons to Busquets, Pirloa and Iniesta… I mean ok.  He’s more likely Granit Xhaka level and his lack of speed is a problem. 
 

Bruno has excellent ball control, good under pressure that’s great. But I was hoping for greater athleticism. He looks fairly fit and mobile. Just not quick. 
 

jonjo jo joe works well because 2 lads are extremely mobile and quick, Jo is v. strong for a midfielder and Shelvey can be strong in the tackle. 
 

i don’t think Bruno has the athleticism to play that Mezzalla role in the PL 

Eh! Slow?! 

He's not slow at all, he's just not quick. Those are 2 completley different things. 

We have ourselves a special manager here. 

Said it in the match thread but if you were watching closely you'll have seen him constantly covering passing angles to Jorginho from the centre halves. He played a vital role today and deserves credit despite being really poor on the ball. 

Woods been screening off Jorginho all game. He's playing an important tactical role from I can see but ultimately been poor in the ball.