Nine

Im not sure he will get much of a look in for as long as Southgate is manager, you don’t get the best out of Gordon while using the slow and methodical build up style of play that England favour at the moment. As much as the lad probably wants to be included and how happy we’d all be for him, it’s better for us this way for now anyway.

Longstaff will start as the 6

Fine margins in these games, Joes header goes in and it’s different. We were up against it with our current injury/suspension list and we gave it a good shot. It’s unfortunate, but this young squad will learn lessons that last a lifetime from these types of games. Proud of the side tonight.

Just better tonight, coming up against a side like these with our current limitations was always a big ask. A good effort tonight.

Staying consistently fit in the Saudi league is a bit different than doing it in our system in the PL tbf.

It would be easy to assume that the increased schedule this season would be the cause, high intensity games against elite sides in the toughest competition in the world is going to invite increased risk of injury right? But the thing that hurts is a few are just unlucky freak occurrences. Burn, Murphy and Anderson specifically. Isak and Botman are unfortunate because they are key players, but it’s to be expected that with that the system we play and a big increase in minutes with the CL games that we’d run into these muscle issues. And then there’s Tonali. It just adds more pressure onto those who are fit now too, they have to take on more minutes individually now and it increases the risk of losing more players. We need a decent run of luck until we get 2 or 3 players back fit.

I know when we go through a bad run of form or put out a bad performance he’s usually one of the players that gets the ‘needs to be upgraded’ treatment on here, but he has been the most consistent mainstay in the starting 11 since our rise from Jan 2022. An integral piece of the best defence in the league last year, and people are quick to forget that. He will be a huge miss, get well soon BDB.

The availability of Joelinton and Willock will mean this plays out alot differently from the first, if we can maintain momentum and not concede the first goal and there’s no reason we don’t come away with a result. Very difficult test though, especially when you consider how many players we have out.

Newcastle/Boro and Liverpool/Everton semis

Enjoyable night, the system is so well drilled that anyone seems to be able to step in and do well especially in a competition like this one.

Pope has been nowhere near bad enough to warrant dropping for Dubs, that’s a tad of an over reaction.. you risk destroying our best goalkeeper mentally to put in the second choice that is a level below.

He’s not an end game level keeper, but as we can’t just pick and choose which goalkeeper we want and need yet he is a good no. 1 to have. Take FFP and the market in general into account, this guy was a fucking steal.. errors included.

This whole thing will be a huge mental test for him, luckily we have a manager that we know is very well equipped to deal with the situation.

Our front 2 midfielders have to be on the high end physically, the press relies heavily on it. We can get away with a less physical more technical 6 like Bruno because of the physicality in front of him.. the current midfield functions more on the tactical integration and high physicality than good technical ability and I’m not sure that changes any time soon. Obviously the end goal is to have a front 2 of elite midfielders that can do it all, but that costs and we are some way yet from attracting the Bellinghams of the world.

I feel that he didn’t really click here mentally, wether it was an increase in pressure and playing for higher stakes than he had before or whatever. Even though his attributes were not suited to it he did function well enough in our system and played his role effectively enough, he just did not have that confidence or killer instinct in front of goal. Glad to see him seemingly more at home for them.

Honestly one of the most underrated players in the world at the moment

Keep in mind the xG will be heavily skewed by the 0-8.

Phillips is a very good fit in terms of style and ability, he played Bielsa ball effectively enough for 3 seasons to earn a move to Man City.. in terms of pressing intensity you don’t get much closer to our style than what Bielsa deployed at Leeds. Yes he is more of an out and out DM than what we have and would not offer what Bruno does going forward but he is technically very tidy, he has quick feet and shifts the ball nicely. Playing him at 6 would allow the 2 in front in a 4-3-3 midfield some more freedom. He’d also seemingly settle right in, knows the league inside out and will already know the England lads from our squad. It makes a whole lot of sense.

Agree it doesn’t suit Howes obsessive style with all the time off. Disagree that’s it’s not a top (international) job though, look at the playing talent at Englands disposal. To the right manager at the right time it would absolutely appeal as a top tier job, it’s one of if not the best international squad in the world right now.

We will, but the management will be planning 5/6/7 windows ahead. I’m just saying I wouldn’t be surprised if a player leaves for decent or big money next summer, it would open more doors for us in the mid/long term.

We are tight FFP wise already, I won’t be surprised to see us cash in on one of our more highly valued players this summer to open our options up again. As Ashworth has said we have to trade.

I feel that Howe would rather only make the changes necessary as to cause less disruption to the side, rather than moving Burn to CB and starting Targett he’d rather just start Lascelles and keep Burn at LB.

Sane is elite is his position but being on near to 300k a week puts that rumour to bed instantly, not a chance we push our wage structure as far as that anytime soon.

The one truly irreplaceable player we have at the moment, what he offers us on and off the pitch isn’t something you can just dip into the market and buy back when it goes. He’s an ultimate professional, that should bode well as far as longevity providing he/we get lucky with his fitness. The most important signing since Shearer.