Thumbheed

Well, it was either medical advice or because he wanted to play Clarke. Not sure how much more wiggle room we can give Howe on that.

Really good again today. Probably one of the stranger career turnarounds I've seen.

Tbf, when I made my original post I talking generically, not just today. But to answer your question, yes, Schär should have started today instead of Clarke. Which kind of reaffirms my view that Howe is making mistakes with his selections, because as you say, it was literally the only decision he could possibly make for today's defence and still got that wrong imo.

Tbf, that stat was in response to a point made about mistakes being the reason we're conceding where as I was taking the wider view that Howe has selected poorly and not seemingly improved our organisation.

I suppose it boils down to what degree you class a mistake as a mistake, and yeh I suppose there has been a few more clear errors BUT ultimately, the vast majority of goals are as a result of a mistake, no? I'd select my best defenders, I'd put more thought into which CM are going to provide the best protection for our frail defence and I'd take a leaf out the books of managers who are all able to coach a well drilled defence and make it greater than the sum of it's part.

We're definitely more intense but again, I think some of our closing down can be quite disjointed and uncoordinated. Agree with everything else tbf, I've said in another thread that I'd actually love to defend like we did under Keegan; with better attacking players who know how to manage the ball and therefore don't give opposition the oppurtunity to build chances against us.

Yeh agree with the point about fitness, but to counter that, fitness levels are now up and we're still defensively disorganised and uncoordinated. I haven't made my mind up in Howe and was actually excited by his appointment, but I'm judging him on things that are in his gift to change and so far, he doesn't seem to be making the impact I'd hoped.

We've conceded 11 games in 3 games. How many individual errors are you seeing that I'm not?

My concerns with Howe were and have always been he doesn't have a record of improving defences, which funnily enough is our weakest area and exactly what we need. So far, I've not seen anything to suggest I am wrong. As for team selection, he put Lewis in because Ritchie was suspended, Ritchie was 1st choice in all his games prior to suspension. (For someone who's analysed us for his interview, being unable to spot that Ritchie is poor and should not have been 1st choice is not a good sign) Clarke was suspended, after Norwich and again should not have been selected in the first place. (We all know this) Burn out? What burnout? We're not even half way through the season. Fernández has played one game for us, inspite of clearly being our best defender. (Again, something which everyone should agree on) Shelvey and Willock have played the most games together, again, inspite of them both being defensively poor leaving massive gaps through the centre. None of what I've said is new to any us. I'm not saying anything which isn't a shared opinion for the majority of us, which, which makes it more frustrating that after a year off to reflect on his own weaknesses - and ours - he's still seemingly not addressed our defence in any meaningful manner and keeps making the most basic of mistakes. Ultimately though, whatever defence you have of Howe is applicable to Bruce, so blaming the quality of the players just won't cut it.

His management of the defence, in terms of selection and organisation, has been appaling and I don't see how anyone can say otherwise.

Maybe a bit left field, bit I actually think our midfield and attack need more of an overhaul than our defence. If we're moving to a possesion based game then we need better players on the ball who can hold onto the ball better, play the right passes and make the right runs. Right now we have legs in midfield but we concede possession so easily with mindless play which immediately puts us back under pressure.

All these last few pages have taught me is that we need to bring back Carr.

Tbf, Varane wouldnt have been Varane if he was being coached by Pardew, same for all the good players we were linked with.

I just think we're woefully imbalanced and have been for a while. Having someone who poses a legitimate attacking threat on the right alongside ASM on the left would surely make a world of difference to our play.

Honestly, his positioning, work rate, use of his body is all top drawer. A few sketchy moments in possession in tight areas but I think that can be worked on. I'd love to see him him a more refined midfield postion tbh. Fucking madness.

Think I laughed when people were putting him in at CM in their formations but I'm starting to think it's a real possibility, his defensive work is his greatest strength and is actually high quality.

That's to me should be the game plan for us going forward. Poorer sides are going to give us breaks in possession more often than a side like Liverpool will and that plays into this game plan perfectly imo.

It's the taking part that counts

Not seen us linked with one?

Am I the only one who thinks we desperately need someone who can play on the right and lessen the burden on ASM?!

Yeh true. I just seem to remember that being reported pretty unanimously though. I'm confident they'll stay were we to go down but I'm also confident they'd sell if we were to stay down.

It was widely reported that they would still be willing buyers even if we'd gone down last season, so I think there's far far more to this purchase than an advantageous FFP position, hence why selling up just seems incredibly unlikely.

I cant beleive it's 2021, and we're still trying to adequately replace Jose Enrique and Daryl Janmaat/Debuchy.

But Ashley's loan didn't count towards FFP did it?

What's to stop PIF injecting cash into the club via an interest free loan like Ashley did?