Palestoon

Lets hope with someone in the team capable of actually playing a defense splitting pass that ASM will mix up his movement and make some runs instead of coming deep to get the ball to his feet all the time. they could do some serious damage on the counter if they link up well.

Haven't watched much of Everton this season but really interested to see how they operate in midfield. On paper, without decoure, they seem really lightweight. hoping Bruno and big joe and impose themsleves in the middle of the pitch

I love this man already. just listened to the media briefing, he said all the right things. he was asked why he joined now instead of the summer. His response was that the club really wanted him, and he felt that by joining this project in the early stages, that would endear him to the fans and earn him more respect. He seems to really get it. If hes as good as been touted, he has club legend potential about him.

You could maybe make a case for Watford when fully fit and available. Sarr, Joa Pedro, Denis and King is a solid group. but overall i agree, i wouldnt trade our squad for any of relegation rivals

both these teams are awful. We have no excuse after the investment in January not to stay up.

Agreed, he did well today before he went off. both our fullbacks were getting beat like a drum in the first half, Schar and Lascalles dealt with everything. Second half trippier sorted himself out, and Manquillio was excellent. Our CBs had much less to do.

agreed on the effort, he never stopped running. maybe my memory is hazy, but I remember him having this burst of pace that would leave defenders for dead in his days at bournemouth. Not sure if hes just lacking fitness, or injuries etc, but he looks so weak in everything he does.

What a fucking win! still haven't caught my breath.... Dubs - 7 - solid, good save from james in the first half. claimed everything in the box 2nd half. Trippier - 7 - much better second half defensively Lascelles - 6 - best game in a while before going out injured. always looks nervy but dealt with everything that came at him. Clark - 6 - did his job to help close up shop Schar - 9- was absolutely fantastic defensively in every aspect. MOM Dummett - 6 - struggled with raphinha in the first half. Manq - 8 - Was fantastic coming on. shut up shop down the left, got forward, and played some good composed passes forward. needs to start Shelvey - 7 - solid today Longstaff - 8 - Was involved in everything. great energy. Willock - 6 - grew into the 2nd half. some good moments late on. Fraser - 6 - seems to have lost some of that explosiveness from his early days at bournemouth, doesnt really produce much, but credit to him for running to the end. Maxi - 7 - better second half. created good chances for wood, willock and fraser. also should have had a penalty. Wood - 6 - looks not much more than lump. some poor touches and seemed to lack that sharpness in the box. worked hard and won a lot of headers though. need more from him without wilson

Found this from last year. doesn't include this season, but i doubt it changed much. OVERALL TOTALS AT NUFC WITH ASM STARTING: Played 26 Won 12 Drawn 6 Lost 8 Points 42 Goals For 34 Goals Against 31 OVERALL TOTALS AT NUFC WITHOUT ASM STARTING: Played 16 Won 1 Drawn 6 Lost 9 Points 9 Goals For 10 Goals Against 32

Until we have a team that is actually capable of creating chances through actual build up, incisive passing and good movement, discussing the merits of ASM is absolutely pointless. For anyone to think replacing him with murphy or almiron would make us more capable of scoring a goal is laughable. Take ASM out of the team, and we turn towards pinging the ball up to wood/wilson and hoping for the best. this team is not capable of anything more than that. He deserves criticism for some aspects of his game, but unless we have a miraculous next 2 weeks of the transfer window, he is far and away our best chance at staying up.

At some point our luck has to turn. We are due a result we dont deserve. Fucking Bruce used up 10 years of luck in the the span of 18 months. fat prick

agreed. his positioning and tackling are very underrated. Offensively he is who he is. I think Howe thought bringing on Almiron to support him would be enough, and Almiron fell asleep in the moment that ended up being our undoing.

there was a moment where he received the ball in our own half with our back to goal, turned his defender, burst past 2 players into the opposing half, and played fraser in on the right wing. 10 seconds later he was by our corner flag tackling one of their players. i had to rewind to make sure it was him. great engine. Shelvey should be embarrassed strolling about for 90 mins

I know he missed a couple of chances, but he was immense again. the best player for on the pitch for us bar maybe trippier week in week out. get him some help in midfield and i think we'll see another level from him.

Lascelles has to be replaced. get carlos in now. our midfield is so bad, so unatheltic. Its scary to think how much worse we would be if we hadnt discovered that our #9 last year is a solid option in midfied. Imagine playing shelvey longstaff and hendrick. beggars belief

wow. sums up how much we've neglected the position over the last 10 years

No doubt about it, we are awful in midfield and have been for years. Shelvey used to be at least good a few goals from balls over the top. Cant remember the last time we've scored from one of those. Longstaff is like a deer in the headlights, Willock looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. hendrick.... the less said the better. We literally need an upgrade in every facet. Someone to protect the back line, someone to control the tempo, and someone to carry the ball forward. Shocking state thanks to Ashley

I know he was frustrating at times, but man do i miss Tiote kicking the living shit out of everyone up and down the pitch R.I.P. big man

Dummett hold down the left with ASM advanced playing off Wood. Fraser with Trippier overlapping to provide service for Wood. think this is the best we can hope for for Saturday Dubs Trippier Lascalles Schar Dummy Shelvey Fraser Longstaff Joelinton ASM Wood

his best game for us by far. credit where its due.

I've always felt the classification of flair players as wasteful can sometimes be lazy. almost every flair player playing for a bottom half club at some point is questioned about their end product. Is it because they actually are bottom half players that lack composure and a clinical touch? im sure yes sometimes that is the case. But i cant help but wonder if sometimes its the optics of it. these bottom half flair players are relied upon to create chances for the their team, and when they dont turn the few they get into something positive, they stand out as wasteful. Compare that to our last match against liverpool. In the first 10 minutes alone, i counted Salah one on one on the wing about 6 or 7 times with a free run at our LB and he produced nothing from them. ASM on the other hand probably gets that chance to go 1 on 1 with a full back 2 times an entire game if we're lucky. the difference is, Salah continues to get those opportunities because Liverpool are capable of creating chance after chance for him at will. Eventually he scores, and there you go. end product... nobody goes back to the other boatload of situations where he produced nothing. wheras with a player like ASM, his mistakes are highlighted because they're one of the few chances our team creates all day. thats not to say ASM and Salah are players of the same level but theirs definitely something to the team set up that affects how a players contributions appear.

The turn on ASM from the supporters is crazy. Is he a perfect player? absolutely not, their are several areas of his game that can be frustrating, but he is by far and away our only attacking threat. I promise you, when opposing managers game plan for us, it is centered primarily around neutralizing him. Some people may have forgotten what this team looked like the last 2 years with him out of the side... it was absolutely shambolic. I think it was something like 1 win in 16 without him. Would i like him to track back more and make better decisions at times? of course, but to circle him as a reason for our current situation is unfair. now if we actually build a team with some actual quality in other areas of the pitch, that gives him actual options to play off of, and take some of the load and attention off his back... and hes still not contributing, fair enough. Until then, i think he deserves the benefit of the doubt

agreed, i think more importantly than us picking up points in the next 3 games, the bigger thing to watch will be the teams around us. if we can get through the next 3 set of fixtures and still be within striking distance going in to January with the optimism of fresh signings and a very reasonable set of fixtures for the next few months, we can definitely pick up points and build momentum. anything from pool, city and manu would just be a bonus.

wonder what it would take for us to land bennacer from Milan. reminds me a lot of cabaye. tenacious worker, good in tight spaces and can pick a pass. would be exaclty what need in the middle of the park.

echoing some of the other comments on here, think he would look much better in a midfield 3 in a more advanced role. If howe wants to stick with the 2 in the middle, he needs to drop him and go with hayden to provide cover for our hopeless defense. regardless, we need a new CM or 2 through the door January 1st