Nine

Was through on goal when he got fouled for the free kick at the end.

Everyone looks gassed by half time at the moment, truthfully we’ve been looking leggy for the last 3 games or so. We get these brief moments of momentum after we score when everyone’s fired up but it dies out again quickly. We are running out of steam, a thin squad combined with our style of play was always going to result in this situation at some point. Having said that, today was a big potential banana skin and a point isn’t terrible. We are probably going to need 2 wins out of the last 3 games to seal it, it’s going to go very close if Liverpool don’t slip up.

We are so leggy man, besides short bursts of motivation we’ve been tired for 3 games or so now

Cold

This feels like it could go either way still

Beauty

I’m not defending him I’m making the point that he’s done well over his career at keeping teams up, you don’t like him and don’t agree. That is also okay

Great save

Sam Allardyce is good at keeping teams up, who’s talking about Jesse Marsch? Listen I don’t like the fat cunt either, but he’s generally good at what he does.

And how many teams did he keep up? He’s no Pep, but he’s good at keeping a team up in survival mode.. not sure how anyone can argue that.

His record would suggest otherwise

Expected this to be difficult, people make Allardyce out to be shit but he always gets teams doing the basics well and has the players believing in themselves. We have also looked tired for weeks now.

I had my doubts when he was linked last summer, I wasn’t sure if he was physically gifted enough to play in our current systems midfield and his injury record concerned me. The links just arnt going away though, so there defo seems something concrete here.. if he is signed and his inclusion means he plays out wide, we change the system or he just slots right in then I’m all for it. He’s clearly rated by management and that’s good enough for me.

Wage figures are usually pretty inaccurate, they never specify if the figures are a base wage or all in. It’s just roundabout guess work.

He’d be one of my top targets this summer, I think he’s under rated as hell and a perfect addition to this side all round.

Wow

If you dont understand that the way we play and train under Howe will invite injuries to players that are prone to (especially muscle/tendon) injury then I’m not sure what to tell you. We now deploy one of the most intense, fast paced systems in club football. I also gave you cold, hard evidence that he is getting injured more frequently under this set up this season.. the % of games isn’t the the entire context here and that stat is thrown off by singular, isolated injuries of seasons past anyway. I understand if you are attached to the idea of him staying, and it’s ok to disagree on this.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/allan-saint-maximin/verletzungen/spieler/272642/plus/1 He’s missed 12 games so far this season from hamstring/muscle injuries (the hamstring being a more reoccurring theme in his career), the frequency of these injuries and his missed game time is increasing during his first full season under Howe. Is it a coincidence? Likely not. The worry is that its multiple muscle or tendon injuries back to back, unlike a maybe freak calf injury that took 11 games in 20/21.

The missing context here is how much more intensive our style has become since Howe though, you can see the trend in ASMs availability since Eddies arrival is on a downwards slide already. The way we play has a huge impact on players with susceptibility to their fitness, especially when they have a history of muscle injuries. Fair point, up until Howe he has a good record of consistent appearances. I personally don’t think this is the right place for him to be anymore though, he just isn’t suited to an intense high press and he will continue to get injured (I’d also argue that mentally I think he doesn’t quite fit either but that’s another story). With age and the accumulation of injuries it will only get worse from here, not better.

Personally, the rivalry doesn’t mean THAT much to me. I’d much rather have them around to beat twice a season and eventually see them relegated for a while again.

Would love for them to go up, European football AND them back for next season?

No thank Eddie for the ‘W’, he’s been consistently playing Bruno out of position all season after all..

Must have had those results because Bruno wasn’t there playing at 8. If only Howe could see it.

I can’t be bothered to look them up mate, but transfermarket says he missed 3 games in August with a hamstring injury. The point is, let’s not jump to conclusions that one of our key players and best performers is being played out of position after a bad game against a very good side (and is clearly carrying an injury).

The start of the season Bruno was out for a month or so