Mole

Yeah midfield is the only place where I would consider it. Genuinely chilling on the rest of the team, would like Hall obviously but if he was ready I'm sure he would be playing.

This is probably true mind, Miley (Brighton aside) has mostly played in that role when he has played.

Good insight for me to understand, thanks for sharing. In that case it's much more understandable, but I think I would like to see more rotation between the midfield options as you mentioned because as you say he's more reliant on the physical aspect and keeping him fresh will be important.

It's Miley I'm more annoyed about tbh, he's looked great every time he's played and we've been crying out for an extra passer in midfield all season long. I just don't think Joelinton's performances have really earned repeated opportunity tbh, but like I said I wasn't watching before this season and if he was great before I can kinda see the motive behind it.

I wasn't watching last year and previous seasons but he must have been really freaking good before. Because from what I've seen this season he really doesn't deserve to be playing.

Yeah but he's actually funny.

It was true then and it’s true now! Like it’s not the end of the world but eventually you have to start putting wins on the board with regularity. Which means winning games which admittedly aren’t the easiest to do so.

In isolation maybe but we need to start winning games. So it’s necessary to win games that on paper is difficult to do so.

Is there a reason so many people are predicting 3 at the back? Not against it in theory as long as the personnel is right for it but just wondering why it's a topic for this game.

Oh sure I think in a lot of cases refs make their minds up about certain dudes and that reputation is hard to shake. With regards to Woltemade I think if it gets too out of hand we might need someone to stand up for him publicly, for some reason refs seem to like that

This is true in Basketball too, the small guys can literally be breathed on and get fouls where as the big guys literally have to be dragged to the ground just because they’re bigger and stronger. I just think refs are cunts no matter the sport tbh.

As with most things I think the lingering feelings/frustrations from the league has carried over into people's minds. I agree though, it's awesome that we look very good in the CL and qualifying for the next stage is beginning to look very possible. Which would be great for all concerned.

Oh I know he isn't, I've just felt all season that he doesn't get on the ball as much as he should be. Poor timing from me all things considered and in fairness to him he's hardly the issue.

The most damning part of this is Bruno only attempted 33 passes. That one stat says an awful lot about how it's going currently as far as attacking goes. He has to get on the ball way more.

I literally said outside of the midfield and I already said I would rather Joelinton didn't play. Also he already made a change on the wings. I think Gordon playing is fine, yes there is depth but not enough to make sweeping changes. Those are two very different things.

There’s also the point that realistically there isn’t a tonne of options to make those changes. Midfield is really the only place you could make more changes if you wanted to make a point and maybe play Schar and Ramsdale? So even if he wanted to he realistically can’t.

I was hoping Joelinton wouldn’t play but purely because I believe for the team to improve they need to either go with Miley or Ramsey (not really bothered which one) and figure out the 3rd CM but the rest is fine. Barnes from the start I'm actually excited about because I think his skillset lines up with Woltemade pretty well.

Because of my limited exposure I assumed they were under some sort of instructions tactically that led to that. Not that is necessarily a bad thing because being solid defensively has been extremely important considering everything around them. But if that isn’t the case I agree they both need to take on more responsibility with regards to getting the ball into dangerous areas much more often.

Tonali I have mostly been extremely impressed with. At times he covers up the space of multiple people (although I wish he didn't have to) and when he gets on the ball he doesn't from my impression give it away all that often and is capable of playing some sublime passes. (the one in the cup to Thiaw was really great) Bruno I was a bit unimpressed to start with but as the season has progressed I think he has gotten much, much better. My criticism of him (which maybe it's an instruction I'm not sure, you guys can tell me better) is that he doesn't command the ball as much as he should, when he gets the ball 35 yards from goal I feel like it's always very positive but it should happen wayyyy more often, he and Nick should be seeing the ball in the final third more than anyone else. My issues overall have been the wingers see the ball far too much for their levels of production and the 3rd midfielder simply hasn't come to the party this season, whether that's inconsistent game time, form or injuries. To me the 3rd midfielder has been a big issue all season and will help a lot if we're able to nail that down. To be clear though against West Ham, everyone was terrible. This is more of a general view of the entire season as a whole.

As someone who only started watching this season I agree with this. The real issue is there has been too many players who don’t treat possession with the importance it requires or just lack the technical ability to be able to be consistent with it. Luckily there are players in the squad who can do this and I genuinely believe we’ll start seeing them more often, the goal from what I can tell is to maintain pressure and it’s pretty hard to do that if you keep being sloppy with the ball and giving it away. Howe is obviously no possession fanatic (nor should he be) but I doubt he’s particularly happy with how sloppy some of the performances have been so far this season.

Since I started to watch I've had two main issues that can be controlled. Joelinton continuing to play despite it being very obvious that everytime Miley plays the team plays much better and the wingers being far too involved in build up. If there is to be progress, Joelinton needs to be phased out and there needs to be a bigger focus on Tonali and Bruno in possession. I'm not clamouring for a completely different style, but an evolution of it because as far as I'm concerned the wingers see the ball far too much for their level of production. I still want them involved but there should be more responsibility on the midfielders in possession IMO. I want to be fair to Howe though because most of the issues are far out of his control, We've had injuries that certainly haven't helped (Wissa and the full backs are probably the biggest ones) But I think there are things that are within control and I hope at the very least he will start to phase out Joelinton, the wingers one is less likely I just feel it would help them be more consistent with less responsibility. But even if he doesn't decide to make it an emphasis to get Bruno on the ball more, having an extra passer in midfield in Miley as well as Hall coming back from injury should help.

I'm the not a moron for attention kind. 10/10 can recommend.

This is the thing, people seem focus on the 1 v 1 duels with regards to Burn but each week passes and he rarely gets exploited like that. Mainly because it's really hard to exploit a well drilled football team like that, teams at this level just simply don't get that easily exploited. I remember the same concerns regarding Minteh and it barely happened.

When I watched their highlights in the summer I thought he and Woltemade's "tape" looked head and shoulders above the other strikers signed in the PL. That has also come to the fore in reality, they both look much better than the others that were signed for big money.

Was thinking that too