Thumbheed

I dunno how you can look at our injury list and not say it's almost exclusively the reason for our poor showing this season. Man City's win rate goes from 75% to 50% when Rodri is out injured - that's 1 single player out, in one of the most expensively assembled squads in Prem history, who are managed by one of the greatest managers of all time. Pep's career win % is about 74%. A win % of 50% puts him on Pochettino's level. I don't know what more context is needed other than to say inspite of that we're still 8th, practically a couple wins away from 6th. There's no doubt there's been some mistakes made by Howe this season but if anything, he deserves credit for still keeping us within touching distance.

If you're expectations were for us to be 6th or higher minimum then I can understand why you'd ben questioning Howe's future both short and long term but I'm going to question how grounded your reality actually is, especially with the injuries we've had this year. If you were happy with us getting 7th this year and felt that was a realistic acheivment, then you have to accept the performance that come with getting that position. We're 8th.

Meh. If the club employed him (and Howe) in the first place they'll find someone just as good.

Things I think are spoiling the game: Fan ownership rule: The club belongs to the town, city and people it's in. Having private owners do whatever they want to a club against the wishes of the local fans is crazy to me. The 51% rule would kill the strength in the PL but as a concept its miles ahead of anything we have. If not 51% then some other sort of meaningful accountability to the fans. Scrap FFP: Owners are to provide collateral to offset any financial mismanagement which jeopardises the future of the club. Scrap VAR: It's hard to ignore the obvious benefits of it but it's made the game so sterile and not being able to fully celebrate a goal is just ridiculous. I also enjoy the controversy of sports. Keep offside and goal line tech though. Diving: I want more leniency in the game. Tired of the stop start nature of the game and how the most minimal of infringements are deemed fouls which constantly ruin the flow of the game. Handball: I just don't know how to manage this. People say penalise deliberate handbills only but who actually deliberately handballs? And how can you tell the difference between an accidental one and a deliberate one? The rules changes so much for a reason. Maybe make it more objective and say any handball is a penalty on the basis that irrespective of intent any ball that strikes the arm changes the potential outcome of a phase of play and should warrant that penalty. Only exception to this would be if it bounces of a body part onto your hand. Harsh but fairer than the current mess.

I think him playing Miley in that role in order to free up Bruno to play further forward suggests a significant shift on the matter from Howe.

Think a dedicated number 6 is our most important requirement next season, followed very closely by a RW.

Let's let him carry on doing do all that, just further up the pitch?

Can understand why our press has been poor in recent games but no idea why we've become so sloppy with the ball. Almost feels like we've forgotten our basic patterns and are just making it up as we go.

The worst 8 goal game I've ever seen.

His movement looks excellent. I reckon he'll have knack of finding space in tight spots too, plus he basically played up front for England and I imagine alot of teams sat deep against them.

I'm convinced he'd be just as affective up front as he is out wide.

Just want a random South American tbh

Hadn't realised it was still 6 weeks but we've been in this situation before with Shelvey. If anything there's more cover in the wide areas than we there was after we sold Shelvey, from memory.

Gordon Barnes Murphy Isak Willock Anderson Ritchie Hall maybe? I wonder if Howe would look at that and think we can possibly muddle through to the summer?

Outside of Bruno he's our most significant playmaker. Take any playmaker out a team and the team will be impacted. I can see both sides of the argument in this case but saying a team that is already out of form won't "fall to pieces" when one of its most influential players are sold is naive at best.

Was convinced Adama Traore would be world class once his end product came. His end product never came.

Shola Ameobi - a striker who played at the highest level and managed 53 league goals in 312 appearances. Wasn't quick, didn't have great technique, wasn't a clinical finisher, couldn't dribble, wasn't particularly strong or have good links up play, wasn't good in the air, not skillful - no discernable quality which warranted the career he had. I can't explain this career at all.

I'd say the fact they have a world class 2nd team is central to their success. I rate Pep as a managerial freak who as you say is able to constantly innovative and implement, but give him a bench that drops in quality to the degree it does for us then I don't think any plan B, C or D he has gives him the same success he's already had.

Klopp had similar injury struggles when he first implemented his style of play and stuck with it.

If you're playing against a team who press as well as Liverpool you need to be both extra sharp on the ball and have lots of movements off it which takes energy and effort. If your energy levels are down then you just won't get through those types of games, which we're finding out now. We can all agree our midfield had a poor game and have been poor for a while - great - so who comes to replace those who aren't performing at the right level? It was the hallmark of Howe's selctions last year and something referenced numerous times by players such as Willock and Longstaff - you had to keep performing otherwise you'd be swiftly replaced. We just do not have that option and haven't had that option for a while. For the past 2 months if you've played poorly, you're still likely to get 90 mins. No manager and team can operate at a high level with that kind of handicap. Ridiculous to assume otherwise.

I legitimately thought Cheick Tiote could be world class until Pardew tried to convert him to a box to box. Same with Longstaff when he first broke through, just looked like he had so much time on the ball.

If anyone should understand the impact of an unsettled club on a player's performance, it should be us.

I see the work rate in Tonali but my personal observation is I don't think he's as strong in the duel as a Bruno or Joelinton. And for what it's worth I'd say Gallagher is more an upgrade on Longstaff than Tonali and he's definitely shown himself to be a key player for us (in the early part of the season in particular).

I think he's been OK at Chelsea but has played about 3 different roles in that team, not an easy thing to do where he'd be a classic number 8 in our team and would do well in that role. He showed and Palace that there is composure in his game too.

I think he's has exactly what those 2 lack. The composure in the final 3rd that would make Longstaff a top top player and arguably the physicality and work rate off the ball that perhaps Tonali lacks from what little I've seen.