Mole

If Thiaw continues like he has started I would suspect any CB signing would be on the younger side and probably less established.

I assume they did an up and down arrow that they plan to continually update this?

Damn it all, I'm just going to listen to the Village People all day now.

Fuck you Ian should be added to the song iyam

Idk why people are bothered anyway, it's just a bit of fun. If you're not willing to be teased about stuff like that then IDK why you're even on a football forum. It's part of it all.

Stamina wise I've thought he's looked pretty good, when it comes to recovery pace you can tell he's 35 but it really helps that Thiaw is on his side.

More so than that I remember the Milan fan saying that he didn’t really adjust to the tactical demands in Italy but England has a much bigger focus on the physical side. I’ll be honest I think it’s as simple this league suits his skillset better.

I think sometimes things just develop naturally, they went for Pedro first because he was high on their list and available but I don’t believe at all that they valued him more highly than Ekitike. On that same token I also don’t believe they rated Sesko higher than Woltemade because they went for him first was simply a case of availability in their eyes.

I think it's important to mention how this summer was from a management pov. I don't believe that they strictly worked on one deal at a time but I do think it's likely that some deals were higher focus at different times than others. Yes on paper it would have been nice to get Thiaw earlier if that's your guy and maybe save some cash in doing so. (that part isn't certain) But when Isak situation, trying to sign another striker and Trafford among other things is happening all at once it's not too surprising that it took a backseat.

As I said I'm not absolutely sure yet, I just wouldn't be surprised if it's something that get looked at down the line. But we'll see, tonnes of football to be played before that's an actual real discussion point.

I think outside of being needlessly antagonistic, I do think it's possible that he might be right about the wingers not being good enough. At least when it comes to becoming genuine threats to Arsenal, Liverpool etc. I'm not there yet, I need to see more and to be fair that isn't a realistic goal for this year anyway but but I have concerns about their output relative to how much of the ball they have.

The only reason the price is a discussion is because Bayern are being obnoxiously loud about it as far as I’m aware. Nobody else really cares. The biggest team in Sweden I guess don’t have quite the same sour grapes as Rumenigge etc

In the second half it felt much better, I said during half time that I found the last 10 minutes of the first half encouraging. Wasn’t so much the chances we created but the team was functioning much better together towards the end of the half. It continued in the second half and quite frankly if it wasn’t for Sels it could have been 4 or 5 by the end, which would have flattered us I think but it does show things were getting better as the game progressed.

Reading the comments was a mistake "He easily could have skied it" How miserable must you be jesus

I haven't watched it back a tonne but I felt in the moment that because Bruno used the defenders as a shield and curled it around them that it obscured his view until it was too late.

5 in 10 apparently, it's very strange he's not on the list. Big Nick to surpass him next game

Which we all should be doing at all times of the day anyway.

Was very obvious he meant it, you only have to look at his eyes.

I think we all are, but I feel like his lack of opportunities to do so speaks to a larger issue overall when it comes to creating chances. I'm sure it will come good, but the fact he's only had 8 shots is telling me that those behind him are not doing a good enough job at the moment.

I think a lot of it was just trying to get the team and himself to gel tbh. It definitely hasn't helped how stop start everything has been.

That or play through Bruno more, I felt many times during the first half today for what Elanga and Gordon were actually doing they were seeing the ball far too much. I’m sure this will come though, right now the build up basically looks like a team which has new guys in it.

That part is honestly on how the team is set up currently than any individual’s fault tbh. There’s barely attacking phases where chances are even developing much less created to be even able to do that. I don’t think any one individual will change that, it needs to be a team wide thing. I was saying this in the match day thread at half time but it felt like the team doesn’t really attack together with any sort of cohesion atm. But I’m sure it will come.

Someone linked a full thread on twitter about his strengths and weaknesses during the summer which included why he struggled (genuinely I have no idea how I’d track it down) at Bremen but also it was exactly why he would probably do well in England. So far everything has worked out nicely.

Aye thought he was excellent, I would actually to see him on the ball even more than he is. Especially if nothing is coming off out wide.

Oh aye it was just watching that first half it was something that keep coming back to me. Both Elanga and Gordon for how much time on the ball they're getting are simply not playing well enough to command that level of usage. Not entirely their faults tbf, someone has to give them ball to begin with but it was frustrating seeing them have so much of the ball and not really providing any impact.