Holmesy

Utter bollocks! It’s nothing like saying Haaland doesn’t score goals at all. Goals is the ultimate measurement of an attacking player. He either does or doesn’t. Winning headers is only relevant if those headers actually do anything. Chris Wood could statistically be (and probably is) the best striker in the league for heading the ball out of play. He’s still won headers, but ultimately achieved fuck all. It’s not even close to being the same thing. ? Look up the statistic for how many of Chris Wood’s headers have actually led to anything positive and let’s discuss that stat. I imagine we might be hearing tumbleweeds

Ok, I stand corrected on that one point. And the rest of them? How many of those aerial duels won actually led to anything constructive? It’s a genuine question. Statistically if he outjumps the defender and flicks the ball on to no one or even heads it out of play, it’s an aerial duel won, right?

So am I, in theory. I get the ‘Eddie trusts him bit.’ Same with Rafa - whoever he picked I was comfortable with. But I also have eyes and I’m pretty sure what Eddie isn’t saying to Chris Wood is ‘don’t hold the ball up, don’t win any headers, when you do, cushion it back to the opposition keeper, don’t use your physical strength to dominate defenders etc. We are winning despite Chris Wood, not because of his contribution to the team. It’s fantastic that we can carry him, but just like Sheffield Wednesday, it will come back to bite us at crucial moments.

Out of interest, what have you seen from Wood that would make you pick him over Maxi?

Put him down to a 5.1 and the point still stands. He offers a shit load more goal and assist threat than Wood and that’s not even up for debate.

Seriously?! The worst? Ok mate ?? We’ve seen this before with lots of shit players (especially under managers like Bruce, Pardew etc.). When you have a player in your squad, there’s always the temptation to use him. If he’s not in the squad you HAVE to use a different (better) option. Hence, stronger squad. Wood, isn’t good enough and nowhere as good as Wilson, Maxi and Isak. Therefore, the average quality of our attackers is reduced with Wood in the mix. Wood - 5 Wilson - 8 Isak - 8 Maxi -7 Average - 7 Wilson - 8 Isak - 8 Maxi - 7 Average - 7.66 This is merely for illustrative purposes obviously. No exact scientific models were applied.

Getting rid of Wood and not even replacing him leaves our squad stronger. Obviously replacing him would be the ideal scenario but knowing he wouldn't be involved in games any more is benefit enough. I'd rather have Maxi or someone from the academy playing than someone we absolutely know can't and won't perform at this level.

Adama Traore is just Jacob Murphy but quicker - does the hard bit and then either makes a wank decision or fluffs the final pass. So frustrating! He’s like 5% away from being world class

Not sure where people are getting ‘not a penalty’ from. Take away both of a player’s legs anywhere else on the pitch and it’s a stonewall free kick.

It’s all good lads, Murphy’s got this!

I’m sure Longstaff used to be able to shoot?! It like he’s got his boots on the wrong feet whenever he’s in front of goal

To be fair, he looked alright at the World Cup but he was never good enough for Barcelona. He's a decent Premier League performer but he's no Miggy

We're one injury away from having to dip into a poor group of bench players. The step down from Botman/Schar to Lascelles is significant, Trippier to Manquillo is not a nice prospect and any scenario where we're relying on Murphy doesn't bear thinking about. We need more strength in depth as we get into the second half of the season or we risk not capitalising on our great start.

I was thinking exactly the same. I loved him in that CM destroyer role. If we put him back there, we could drop Longstaff and put Maxi left wing, everyone wins (except Longstaff)

Bruno joining in with the Joelinton song after he scored was class. He knows!

Schar won absolutely everything in the air and played some class cross field diagonal passes. Burn was an absolute monster all game! I think he overcommitted a couple of times and left us open down the flank but he's not a bloody robot, and he's not a left back either so what do people expect. Some people watch the matches through shit-tinted specs? Baffling!

The fact that he has zero aerial ability will stop him getting a move. Physically he looks like your typical big CF and there's still a place for that type of player in the game, but since he can't hold the ball up, shield the ball or win headers, what's the sales pitch? "He's a nice bloke" doesn't warrant a £20m price tag and blowing your wage budget for

I didn't realise he was 31. I had him in his mid twenties for some reason.

You only have to look at what Liverpool paid £85m for to realise how short the game is of top quality strikers. Isak could turn out to be the steal of the century (after Botman of course)

The shithousery and speed of winning the ball back in central midfield when we lose it mirror Atletico. Undoubtedly things Eddie picked up from that dirty Argie, but i'm delighted he did

Bit of an odd statement! Trippier is one of the best right-backs in the league, Botman is one of the best CBs in the league, Pope is one of the best keepers in the league and Schar is possibly the most underrated CB in the league and has been for years. On paper and in reality, those 4 are class and i say that without any bias at all. All 4 would walk into any side outside the top 5 or 6 and Botman would arguably walk into any team in Europe right now

This is by far his biggest weakness and why he’ll never succeed at this level. His decision making is shocking, especially around the box.

Watching Chris Wood gives me hope that even at the age of 44, I still have a chance of playing professional football

Bielsa was given money to spend but didn’t spend it. He was his own worst enemy in that regard and it led to his sacking. Any player coming in had to spent 3-4 months getting up to Bielsa levels of fitness and learning the way they play, so Bielsa just stuck with the players he already had. They were essentially championship players, playing at a ridiculous intensity. Once teams figured out to play against Leeds they were screwed because they didn’t have the player quality for a plan B. Not that Bielsa was a plan B guy, but better players would’ve made a difference regardless.

Rafa had Almiron looking effective, Eddie has turned him into a world class performer. He’s some coach!