Palestoon

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

really good performance again. still feel like he lacks confidence in his decision making. I think if howe can give him the direction to be more decisive, he can take another step forward

thought he played well today, but this is probably the type of game that suits him the most. Battling in the air for 90 mins, no nonsense clearances. no high press to deal with etc.

lewis looks terrified to pick out a forward pass

Look devoid of any confidence. so shaky on the ball, no composure. Need to settle down and get the 2nd

i should clarify, relative to what we're used to

funny, when we signed him, the narrative was that he was rapid, and good overlapping but very questionable defensively. hes been the opposite. solid defensively, but pretty clueless going forward

any other day, and that is a great point and a great effort from us. Today was the one day it meant little. we had to win. going to be really difficult now...

one fucking mistake from dubravka, typically punished

fucking unforgivable

I refuse to believe Lewis can be any worse defensively than Ritchie at LB. Watched him the other night as part of the N Ireland defense that completely neutralized the Italians. Surely his recovery pace alone will help mask a lot of our deficiencies down the left flank.

Sums up his time here with us perfectly. no gameplan, throw more forwards on the pitch = more goals in his head. So thankful we never have to endure him or Bruce ever again