Kid Icarus

Yeah the why is where we'll always fundamentally disagree. Despite that I would still think we'd agree that regardless of why, it was still shite though.

No they didn't

Nah, he's also a good defender.

Least of our problems today

Side point to Andy, but the summer being shit doesn't necessarily have to be about whether players will come good or not. You're absolutely right to say that it's too early to judge the individual players that we ended up getting in November, particularly with the huge overhaul we had. However, that we ended up with those players and how is another matter. Then there's the overhaul (which we know Howe doesn't like), the drama, the very public nature of everything we did, the huge additional workload on Howe (and it taking his attention away from coaching), all the pressure that comes with it, the decision to sell Isak - all of that caused varying degrees of damage in different ways imo and I'm a strong believer in off field problems transferring to the general vibe around the club, to the crowd, and in the end, into performances and results.

He made a mistake and it cost us. Very good apart from that imo. Don't rate Ramsdale at all, so we'll see where the dust settles if he gets the nod.

It doesn't help that his best attribute (playing a really slick pass into midfield or the forward line) feels like a suicidal move when all bar Woltemade can't seem to hang onto the ball and as soon as they lose it the opposition are bearing down on us with players out of position.

FWIW I've long thought that Burn does a really good job of making up for his obvious unsuitability to LB and do still think that for what he is - our third choice LB - he's doing a good job in that context. Not today though, today was when the usually hyperbolic stuff you see about his performances was actually the reality.

Yeah, I've thought that, particularly after we go 1 up. Wouldn't mind if it was a case of us blitzing teams to go 2 up then did it like we used to, but we're so slow and ponderous. Easily outmuscled and literally the worst in the league for winning 50/50s, which is mental considering.

Hung out to dry by Howe unfortunately. About as clear cut a case of that as you're ever likely to see.

It was shit in that it was a huge overhaul and we've had to change our style more than any individual players. More often than not in situations like that it's going to take time and as we know, Howe prefers players to have that time behind the scenes rather than bring thrust into the limelight.

Because there's much, much more to our situation than that that shouldn't need to be brought up.

I vividly remember us playing badly at the start despite winning, then having a bad run of results where we played well but couldn't finish chances, then Brentford away was a sort of watershed moment, Howe put a fire up their arses and we started winning. Very hard to see where the run starts from this season, if at all.

To come to the conclusion that he's the thing that's not working is definitely a bit mental.

Have to be honest, I don't remember us being this bad last season. Weirdly we played poorly and picked up results, then played well and didn't, but it felt like it was coming. This time we're playing poorly and aren't getting results, but it's the work in progress part that makes us an unknown. Last season we just needed to be more clinical in what we were doing. This season we need to find out what we're doing before getting to the clinical part.

Lemme know when it's anywhere near half this

Fucking hell that was bad. Really bad. There's not an element of our game at the moment I can point to and say at least that's good. I missed West Ham so today was a real shock to see like. Everyone, including Howe were poor at best today. It's at the point now where it feels like the worst thing we can possibly do in any match is take the lead. I love Howe, but for him to not see that shocking non-pen decision as an act of God and immediately take Burn off when he was on a yellow is genuinely staggering. Every conceivable part of the scenario where you bring Hall on had been fulfilled. Hall fit, Burn playing badly, Burn on a yellow, Burn gets away with a blatant pen, and looking like he might get a 2nd yellow. Kept him on and not only did he inevitably get a second yellow, he gave away a pen. I'm shocked tbh. It's such a basic thing to do for such a clever bloke. It seems like how that all played out is basically the only way Burn was going to drop out for Hall. Only plus point I see right now is in there being an international break. They're terrible when you're in form and welcome when you're not. Hopefully Howe can figure this out, because it's not just poor performances and being a work in progress, right now we're failing at the bare basics - particularly tackling, second balls, and press resistance. Could say loads more but I'd be here forever. Could have summarised by saying it was shite. Pope: 6 Trippier: 6 Thiaw: 6.5 Botman: 5.5 Burn: 2 Joelinton: 4.5 Ramsey: 4.5 Bruno: 6 Tonali: 4.5 Murphy: 5 Woltemade: 5 Barnes: 6.5

That's 100% a pen. I'd be absolutely raging if that happened to us.

He's the only player I know who nearly always puts topspin on his finishes. Surprising that more players don't do it tbh, it's a great way to still score even if a player gets a touch on the way in.

It's also new, he's generally incredibly reliable on crosses.

You can see confidence is down. All of our forward passing is right on the edge of us losing it. I'm convinced we're going to click soon, but it does feel like something needs to change for that to happen. Burn has performed valiantly at LB, but in this match it's as clear as it's ever been that Hall can't come back soon enough. Wouldn't surprise me if Howe tried to shoehorn everyone in though, dropping Burn might be the right thing to do but it would also feel canny unfair.

Was sooooooo close to going for 2-2 in the predictors as well.

Spurs 2-1 Man United Everton 2-1 Fulham West Ham 2-1 Burnley Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal Chelsea 3-0 Wolves Villa 1-1 Bournemouth Brentford 2-1 Newcastle Palace 1-1 Brighton Forest 1-0 Leeds Man City 2-1 Liverpool

All of that does sound to me like it means he'll be going, but I absolutely cba to fret about it like we did in the summer.

FWIW the worst thing about it is something that I was unable to do when designing it from memory. The stripes on the front are also on the sleeves, with nothing acting as a barrier and no matching up. Me not being able to do that in the design makes it look better. So it actually clashes like this at the top of the shirt as well. Also, I'm sure that if I've seen it, I'll not be one of the only ones and the photo will end up on FootyHeadlines soon enough.