Palestoon

The same way selling Anderson for 30 million and buying the Greek keeper for 20 mil helped us avoid PSR trouble.

I rate Ramsey very highly, but I'd only consider a deal like this if we do to Villa what Forest did to us when we were desperate. We buy Ramsey from them for a cut price and they buy Barnes at an inflated fee that bolsters our PSR situation for what we all know is a situation where we need to overhaul large parts of the squad to get our average age down.

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.

Think moving him to CDM and pushing bruno further forward may be the turning point of the season. Gives us an extra layer of defensive solidarity and adds creativity to our attack. Get Botman back healthy and add a RW upgrade in January... Could still be a great season

Was a breath of fresh air to see CM track back, recover, and break up a counter. Tonali did it on several occasions. He has to stay in the team moving forward. Get Bruno more involved further up the pitch

We have no identity. Howes first season we were defensively resolute and grinding out results. Next season when we finished 4th we were pressing monsters. Since then we've lost our way. Last season you can excuse because of the injuries/schedule. This season we look to have lost that intensity. It seems to be for multiple reasons. To avoid an injury crisis like last season. To protect our defensive line that got torched last season too often. and finally because teams have figured out that if they sit back, play long balls over the top, they nullify our press, and force us to have to build attacks from the back which we can't do consistently. Our team is built to score off quick press, quick transitions and counters. Teams have caught on and are forcing us to break them down... which we aren't built to do. What are the ways to break teams down who sit back? Crafty #10 to play in tight spaces? No. flat midfield means no one behind Isak with ability to unlock a block. Tricky wingers who can create space one on one? No. Gordon/Barnes/Joelinton are players who need space to get the best out of them. None are good enough dribblers to win one on one consistently on the wing. Whip balls into the box to create chaos? No. Isak is not strong enough in the air to trouble most premier league CBs consistently. Thus you're left with the current state of our attack. Eddie needs to try something different tactically. I fear it's going to be difficult to change as a team drastically without new signings.

Easily worst half in Howe's entire tenure

The most Frustrating/worrisome part of it is that, most of the complaints about how we set up in here have been the same (Isak isolated, flat midfield with no DM, CB playing LB etc) for the last 2 seasons. The difference being atleast you could understand why those choices were being made. We wanted to be an aggressive and high pressing team. You may not have liked some of those tactical choices, but you understood what we were trying to do, and could accept why some sacrifices were made in certain areas. This season, I don't know what we're trying to do. We don't seem to have an identity or a plan. This formation no longer seems to suit what we're trying to do anymore

He scored 3 in 2 during the last international break for Sweden. We simply don't play to his strengths. He needs players closer to him. Either a 10 to interchange with and slip him in when he makes off the shoulder runs, or a strong CF to win knockdowns for him and create space. We were supposed to build the team around him, but he looks like the odd man out in our current set up

Sanchos been class

Don't get me wrong, he's quality and more than fine leading the line. Just feels like sometimes he's feeding off scraps in our current set up. A player of his technical ability should be touching the ball much more per game. Even playing someone off him would help his game go to another level. I think the real issue is he seems isolated for large parts in this 4-3-3. Hopefully with Tonali, and eventually a classy right sided player in the team, we'll see the team able to get him on the ball more consistently. Regardless I'm not complaining if his output is similar to last seasons regardless of the style haha