Nine

I’m not disagreeing with anything you said, all I’m saying is I think I interpreted TCDs post differently to the way you did. It was clear that Tonali best position was 6, I actually had doubts about Bruno being played further up rather than Tonali at 6. But he’s so good he alleviates Bruno’s lack of athleticism/physicality.

I understand what you are saying that the positions/roles are not the same anymore, all I think TCD meant was that Tonali can essentially do everything Longstaff could do from RCM but from deeper on the pitch

Think what he meant was that Sandro provides everything that Longstaff does from RCM but he can do it all from #6 deeper on the field

I felt like him and Willock were even tighter tonight than Isak and Joe usually are, perhaps I’m wrong though. Looked like it was by design as the combination of the two of them in close proximity of a high turnover would have given Arsenal huge problems. Wasn’t Willocks best night, but I think he was under instruction to do most of his work off the ball.

You said it better than me

Id like to think im one of the more level headed posters on here but I love you to Rod

Good evening Rod

Sorry I don’t track and memorise every single one of your posts It’s okay to ask reasonable questions when we don’t play well, unfortunately like you say - there’s a lot of moaning cunts about

Easy to say that now though isn’t it. We legitimately looked terrible at times from August to late November/early December and were lucky to have as many points as we did on the board. A lot of us rightfully were starting to ask where we were going wrong. This is all credit to Howe, in proving himself again and again. I just hope the more emotional fans remember this time for when we hit a rough patch again.

Its the biggest part of the turnaround, but obviously there is more at play.

I can’t wait to see how we look vs low blocks with Bruno further up now, a few of these games are the type we’d drop points in before.

We were all asking questions back in October, because we were legitimately not playing well. A few of us including myself were frustrated at Howe not incorporating Tonali into the side at that point but again, he’s proven that he was right to integrate him in the way he did. He’s come into the team seamlessly and hit the ground fucking sprinting, allowing Bruno to move up is the icing on the cake. A lesson learnt again, and we will hit rough form in the future. Actively wanting him gone at any point was madness (Mourinho ), but it’s the way emotion goes for some. Probably our best run so far under him? Coming from looking poorly coached up until Tonalis inclusion it’s incredible work. Edit: also, I’m not sure I’ve ever witnessed a manager capable of maximising what he gets out of fairly limited players quite like Howe does.

Arteta must hate this guy

Other than the massive flap/one handed punch attempt from that corner maybe I think he’s a bit unsettled by their set pieces

Iceak

They have no heart man

Just like that

Can’t waste those

What actually is the West Ham way?

No Bruno for this is absolute pain, you don’t replace those attributes. I think we’ll set up quite passively as a result and the first 30 minutes or so will be a feeling out process. Kind of expecting a bit of a dead game tbh. A draw would be fine.

They won’t overpay, so outside of an opportunistic signing I doubt we do much of anything.

Potter will need time to build his side and flip a complete 180 on the Moyes/Lopetegui style. It likely won’t be a seamless transition, although a few of their players are already well matched for his system. If their fans remain patient they will have one of the best managers they could realistically attract, I think he’ll do very well there with time.

De Ligt is a shambles

It’s incredible how much Bruno F has actually carried this side for years now

I think a better, more level headed manager would come out and make the point of how well their team performed under difficult circumstances (lots of unavailable players, illness to some that did play and against high level opposition). He probably did tell them that in the dressing room, but to come out and lose control of his emotions in a post match isn’t a good look after they played well. Cracks are really showing with this guy now, not sure he has the head to compete in this league.