Holmesy

Good! They’re both fucking crap!

How long will it take to coach the Bruceball out of these players? Willock has been the worst of the lot

Tony Adams’ justification for the Schar one not being a penalty is that it happens every week. Yes Tony, and it should be a penalty every week you fucking simpleton!

Fuck knows then! Have we ever had competent fullbacks on both sides since the Keegan years?

First time I’ve seen Smith Rowe live - he’s class! His movement is spot on

Fuck me, we need a new left back urgently!

Tragic!

He’s absolutely wank!

Still some of the old Joelinton in there.

This is gonna be some 15 minutes!

We look even worse defensively than we did before.

Hopefully that’s the last we see of Darlow.

Just a very impressive guy all round. His dedication, intensity, application and obsession with being the best he can be shines through. He seems like the kind of manager that will make impactful in-game changes, give inspiring team talks and have a plan A,B &C for every situation. I really fucking hope he succeeds! He’s great!

Reading between the lines, it seems to be an issue with structure. The board has given Jones assurances about his future but Howe wants his own coaching team. He also wants his old Technical Director but that probably doesn’t fit with the DOF model they’re trying to put in place. I assume we’re negotiating a compromise of some sort.

Best thing we could do is get all of our negotiations out of the way in the run up, all new signings join in the first week of January and we can use them for our January fixtures.

To be fair, Brighton played him well today. As soon as he received the ball he was closed down by multiple Brighton players and given no time to turn. He definitely hasn’t looked himself in the past couple of games, but today Brighton played him as well as any team has since he’s been here IMO

Maybe but take him off and we lose any momentum we have.

Like it or not, we always look better with Shelby in there. Who are you going to swap him for?! If Willock comes on it has to be for Almiron - he’s been anonymous all game

I cannot fathom for the life of me why this clogger is starting ahead of blatantly better players.

9.75. I think we’re doomed. There’s just too much to do. we need a result against Brighton and that isn’t going to happen.

Clark must look like Paulo Maldini in training to get picked. He’s fucking terrible

Can’t get excited about goalkeeper rumours, they’re boring!

Watching that video of Howe mic’d up, there’s a decent amount of counter attacking drills, which he could employ here to tighten up our defence, similar to what Rafa did. Plenty of numbers at the back and rapid counter attacks could be our get-out for this season. In Murphy, Almiron, Willock, ASM and Wilson we’ve definitely got the forward players to do it.

Tactically astute - yes Adaptable - yes Improves players - yes Creates teams that are better than the sum of their parts (one of the most telling attributes of a good manager) - yes Acts with dignity and diplomacy - yes Could we have appointed someone more high profile? Yes of course. But Howe is a monumental upgrade on Bruce in every capacity so we’re moving forward. I think he’ll surprise a few people

I’d rather see ASM on the flank and Fraser in the #10 role - he’s done fuck all anywhere else so might as well try him there ??‍♂️