Palestoon

Never a penalty

We really saw 2 sides of the coin yesterday. Villa gave us a taste of our own medicine, but also showed us the recipe/what we're lacking to deal with it, that they have. Best way generally to beat an effective press (unless your peak City) is to simply bypass it. Villa have 3 players in their front 6 who are excellent with their backs to goal (Rogers, McGinn and Watkins) But rather than lump balls over the top for Burn to mop up all day, they played direct passes across the ground. Forced our unathletic back line to chase them around, and then held up the ball, and waited for the runners to come in. It worked all day. This is what teams like Bournemouth fulham and Brighton have done to us. It's why getting some mobile CBs is critical if we want to play this high pressing man to man style. We have no recovery pace in the defense. As soon as a ball goes forward and it sticks, it feels like all our defenders are struggling to get goal side. And on the flip side, I think it exposed what our problems are offensively when teams press us high. They basically surround our midfielders and dare us to play directly into the attackers. Our front line is amazing on the front foot, but back to goal is a major issue. Isak struggles to hold up the ball against strong CBs, and Gordon and Murphy are not technical enough to receive the ball under pressure and turn it into a positive situation. Hope it's something we look into addressing in the summer. We need to add another dimension to our attack

Football week from hell

Dorgu was awful

Agreed. Think it's universally panned and laughed at because it looks so desperate. But tactically, when chasing a goal against a team that is sitting so deep, bringing on one of your strongest players in the air to win knockdowns and cause chaos is a good move when the opposition are cedeing territory and basically allowing you to play balls into the box at will. Maguire actually had 2 great chances to equalize

If Tottenham or Manu win Europa, do they take the 5th spot, or would it be 6 english teams in the CL?

Can't even be upset with him. This is who he is now at 34. Howe needs to take the blame. It's one thing to have him in the side for his tactical awareness in a back 5 defending a 2 goal lead against a static Arsenal attack. But to play him in a 4 against this City side with the pace they have in attack was suicidal.

If we're offered anywhere in between 15-20 mil and we turn it down I'd be really disappointed. Kelly is our 3rd choice LCB, Hall has cemented the LB spot, Target is back. With our current situation, we have to take advantage of this pure profit opportunity

Unfortunately Bournemouth are a team set up to take advantage of all of the chinks in our armor. Our front 3 are really sloppy playing with their back to goal. Murphy and Gordon struggle technically, and Isak isn't physical enough to hold up. We're at our best when are forwards running towards goal. Also funny that Bournemouth having no recognized striker was probably a negative for us. I think Burn/Bowman/Schar probably prefer a traditional center forward that they can battle than someone like kluivert who's just roaming around finding space pulling them out of their comfort zone. Oh well, I'm sure Howe will have them motivated and ready for next week

If we really turned down 8-10 mil as reported in the summer....

Wouldn't read too much into it, this is exactly how Howe addressed players leaving before Mitchell ever arrived. Think it's more for squad harmony. That the manager appreciates every player and isn't trying to shift them behind their backs. It's just good man management. Even if behind closed doors I'm sure he's aware of what's happening and why and has input.

I think he starts Tuesday if he hasn't had any setbacks today. You'd have to assume if Howe was planning to start him only one of the two games (spurs, arsenal) surely he would have saved Botmans size and strength for set piece FC and played Kelly today. Guess we have to wait and see. Regardless great to see him back in the side

Would bet this is just some shit stirring from the Italian media. They're probably looking at his/our situation from the outside (lengthy ban, in and out of team, poor start to the season, we'll documented PSR issues) and looking to rock the boat and see if they can bring him back to Italy on a big discount

I think regardless of whether anyone thinks Howe is the man or not long term, he will probably finish out the season. Barring any suprise sales, we won't do anything major in January. Howe will either sink or swim, and a decision will be made at the end of the season. With the the option to bring in a new man, sell some of our purples and start over.

The obvious advantage of him playing higher up is the creativity he adds to our attack. But I think having him be one of the "trigger" men on the press was very effective today. He's not the most athletic, but his reading of the game and timing was critical to us winning the ball back on several occasions. Interested to see if that's another plus of him playing higher up, or if he just happened to be up against one of the only few CMs in the league as immobile as him. Regardless I think having the game in front of him and using his IQ to know when to charge and cut off angles will be a better use of his abilities off the ball. Rather than trying to chase counter attacks as the last man in midfield.