Dr Jinx

Enjoyed that! Was more like a Europa qualifier, their free kick, can’t complain, first goal, Lascelles.. just terrible positioning and mistiming the jump. Hopefully he won’t play much.

I think it’s going to be fair to say our strongest midfield will be Bruno, Joelinton and Shelvey but Willock looks sharp as well, ideally be great if someone else came in there to give us something different.

Almiron looks confident which bodes well but we need more down that side.

We need another striker, I think assuming Wilson will carry the burden could backfire massively.

Maxi had a better game for what we saw of him. He’s the strongest option at forward left we have. Anderson should be his backup there, whatever position he played at during the first half didn’t do him any favours but can obviously mix it at this level.

Bit ugly, game didn’t need to go that way.

Miggy!!!!!!

“Benfica gonna have a heart attack when he see what Eddie brung them in the second half”

Jesus Christ Premier Sports, sort it out.. ?

What’s the formation? Looks like could be 4-4-2

Just now, Wilson said:

Those using it what do you tend to pay for 12 month? 

I may or may not pay €49 for all the channels and vod a year

There's just this vindictiveness about Bruce, either tow the media line that he's this great bloke or he'll ruin your career.

As mentioned above by many, he's somehow more hated than Mike Ashley by a lot of people on here and that's really something. I mean 14 years of lies and deliberate stifling of our club, somehow gets trumped by 2 years of this absolute whopper.

The club made a mistake allowing him to have his day out but i suppose with everything that's happened since, you'd have taken it obviously.

Are his cheeks actually like that or does he have make up on?

Pinched from Serena’s FB ☺️ They look a happy camp this week

1 hour ago, duo said:

He's never looked fully fit imo.  Maybe that's just me though.

It’s his build I think, he’s got that explosive power/pace but he runs out of steam pretty much in every full game at some point. Some athletes are just made that way and nothing they can do about it. Lactic acid builds up and they just start hobbling around. 

Like McGregor in the UFC, Diaz found him out while he was at the peak of his ability, had to train ridiculously hard to be able to just about make it through 5 rounds with him. Diaz on the other hand would be out doing an iron man competition a week or two later, yet he couldn’t do what McGregor is capable of early doors. Might be a shit analogy but ?‍♂️
 

I wonder if they are doing all those high end physical and blood tests at various stress points with him, he’s unique in the squad in that sense so it shouldn’t perhaps be a once size fits all approach where he’s concerned.

Offer them 40 with add ons. Think this kid could be well worth it. Must admit I was excited about the potential of Ekitike but I think this guy could be as good if not better.

I remember last season as well, Joelinton had one of his first motm performances and was being interviewed alongside Longstaff and he totally stood up for him, saying every player loves being on his side in training because that means they win!

I thought he’d somewhat checked out while Bruce was there but didn’t realise it had affected him mentally so much. Great article and really puts that 2 years in perspective.

Also shows how Matt Ritchie was/is one of the leaders in that dressing room, especially before Tripps and Burn have come in.

That sounds like something imminent in the next week or so.

There could only be a handful of players who have had that interest going back a while too so be interesting to see which one it is.

4 minutes ago, madras said:

Do you mean dispossessed or giving the ball to someone else who gets dispossessed so he does ecactlty the same thing but his stats look different because of others ?

 

I'd be saying they were talking shite and we both know they regularly do.

 

 

 

Serious question, how often do you watch our games?

12 minutes ago, madras said:

You said the better season under Bruce thing was a myth because of those stats.

 

Re Messi is it purely the stats that dictate if he's had a better season than others he's had, could he play better in a season when he scores less ? Of course he could.

 

Him being g the best forward on the pitch without scoring g or assisting g does stand up to scrutiny from someone watching, but not by stats alone. 

 

Last paragraph 100%

 

Stats and data can be used as a guide but they don't tell the whole story.

What absolute twoddle. If Messi was scoring about 5 goals and getting 5 assists for 2 seasons in a row, but he was regularly having games where he was repeatedly beating 4 and 5 players with the ball before getting dispossessed, every pundit, journalist and supporter would be saying the same thing.

'Totally out of form'

Now don't think i'm saying ASM should be getting Messi stats, i'm not. But he should be doing better than he is. He should be aiming for 10-15 assists a season.

1 hour ago, madras said:

There's a bit of a difference between 30 odd goals a season and 4 or 5. 

 

You're saying a wide player who scores 5 goals a season has a better season than if he scores 3 or 4. I disagree and bringing a matter of a couple of assists is even sillier. An assist which could have been a miss kick and poor decision as opposed to not getting an assist if he takes on the entire team, plays a Zidane of a pass to a forward who misses from three inches out so no assist.

 

Callum Wilson had a better game V Arsenal in which he didn't score than in a good few games in which he scored. 

I didn't say he had a better season, i said it was a myth that he played better under Bruce. His end product is pretty much exactly the same.

And yes, there is a massive difference between Messi (even at the age he is now) and a 25 year old ASM. One has high end product, the other does not.

So saying that he's the best forward on the pitch in some games (which you did), doesn't really hold up to scrutiny.

He needs to do much much better, he has the ability but the question is does he feel like he needs to improve. If he thinks 5 assists a year is going to get him the Ballon d'Or he'll be left waiting.

5 minutes ago, madras said:

Do you never see games where the best forward player has neither scored nor made an assist ?

Would Messi still have been the world’s best player if he scored 5 goals and provided 5 assists a season?

7 minutes ago, madras said:

Yes it's silly. Do you rhinknits possible for a player to have a poor game and score, it may be a miss hit, it may be the only time he hit the ball cleanly in the entire game while on another day he can be brilliant but not score ?

We’re not just talking about goals through are we. Goals and more importantly, assists.

They are too low.

6 minutes ago, madras said:

Those stats mean sod all in reality. Not that he played better under o e or the other but to base it on those stats is silly.

Are you suggesting that judging a forward player on their goals or assists is silly?

It’s end product!

On 23/07/2022 at 19:12, Beth said:

Based on the fact he's been the only player to go backwards since we got shot of Bruce. Or do you disagree?

Well last season he scored 5 times and 5 assists, the season before 3 and 4.

So the better under Bruce thing is somewhat of a myth.

Whats consistent is that his end product vastly needs to improve, even for a team that struggled, those are poor numbers for someone with that talent. I don’t think I’m being overly critical with that.

There’s plenty of players who can beat a few and then give the ball away. Maxi just does it much much more stylishly so we tend to ignore it more than we should.

I think (hope) he can improve but he has to want to work on those other aspects of his game, if he doesn’t want to, nothing will change and things will fizzle out until we get a better replacement.

Time will tell, not too far away now either. He’s had a full pre season under Howe so should be fitter and we’ll see if his game has adapted.

I’m warming to him.

He does my head in at times but I wouldn’t ever want to sell him.

He’s essentially a wild card, something you can’t plan for, either for the team he plays for or when trying to plan tactics when playing against us.

The top 6 teams will all hate playing against him for those reasons, just the pure unpredictability.. which version of him will show up, there’s the one that will repeatedly lose the ball in the middle of the pitch and looking like a sulk is nearby, or there’s the one that’s basically unplayable, beating 3/4 players with ease etc.

You’d be mistaken for thinking this was Bez playing in a charity match.

1 hour ago, The Butcher said:

 

 

“Ah yeah fuck it, stick on a relegation clause and we’re on the gravy train”

If Steve Bruce was still a footballer.