Nine

Lucky

Defence unchanged and Isak getting a start is what I hoped to see, a win today would be huge for my sanity when reading this forum.

I know he’s looked burnt out lately but the way he worded his post was poor that’s all

40m down the tube because he’s been left out for a fitness issue? Have you seen our bench? He’d be on it or starting if fit.

Wow some of our fans are so entitled already, this guys been part of the defence that has got us to where we are this season. I’ve no emotional attachment to Burn but to word it like he’s solely dragging the team down is sad.

If they were shit I’m not sure there’s a word that would describe our performance that night

He’s clearly happy here and will continue to be if we can deliver his CL ambition and even silverware. Even so, if a club like Real come knocking with a serious bid then it’s pretty clear what the outcome will be.. not to say that will happen but it’s potentially the reality at some point. The faster we grow as a club the more likely he stays long term.

That team fielded by a ‘premier league club’ in 2021, you’d think that image would remind some of the more impatient ‘spend more’ fans of the stage we are at right now.

To be fair there is no way a player would get games under a coach like Ten Hag if they actively hid from the ball, just not happening.

Wouldn’t be against a Gordon start here if he’s ready

Do you have access to Howes bank statements? Like that decision was solely down to him.

Not worried, if we lose or draw next week the same people will rush to this forum to tell everyone how we should have spunked an extra 100m to go for a CL spot.

Agree entirely, other than a few looking a bit burnt out there’s no issue with the system (we knew that was coming anyway with our lack of depth) and our schedule really slows down now until post international break which should alleviate the fitness issues a bit. Look at Howes quote from the other day about Isak not quite being there in training, whatever that means is why Wilson is being started. Seems odd to us but the reason must be justifiable as Howe more than us will see what’s going on with Wilson. Beyond that maybe he has faith in Wilson finding the net soon? The player must be low on confidence and perhaps Howe feels that dropping him now just isn’t the answer.

Read between the lines of Howes recent quote about Isak and you can see that he feels he’s not quite there in terms of starting. We can’t watch training so we arnt aware of what the issues are, and team selection is not always made on who is ‘better’ in each position anyway. Its fine to criticise the manager, ignore people who cry and get all emotional because you dare to question the man. But if you take a second to look at the situation it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t fancy Isak over Wilson for a reason atm, and you don’t think he sees Wilson isn’t right?

Yes it does, I’m not saying the reason our form has dipped post WC is the opposition alone. I’m saying the recency bias swings to a negative reaction because we’ve just lost 3 very tough games in a row.. before those 3 games it was just a ‘blip’ and now to some it’s become a Howe issue because he’s choosing the wrong team.

The context of the run of games we’ve just had is missing from a lot of posts, Liverpool/Man United Cup Final/Man City away? The next 3/4 games are the key to seeing how things will pan out this season.

I love his output, energy wise he is just built for this system. I remember during his insane run of goals saying something like ‘if he can keep up even half of this goal/assist form we won’t need to replace him’, so yeah long term he probably isn’t the answer as our starting RW. Being so one footed makes him predictable, teams adjusted to it a while ago.. we also arnt seeing that Bruno ball over the top for him to run onto anymore. He’s so useful but will always have limitations in and around the box, he’s a confidence player but even confidence wont allow him the use of his right foot.

European places are still the realistic goal, same as it was back in November/December.

And it begins.

Hope the report of it not being like all or nothing is true, as much as I enjoyed the mackems going down the toilet over 2 seasons I wouldn’t fancy one on us regardless of how successful a season we had. If it’s focusing on the owners side of things I’m all for it, I wonder if the idea for an all or nothing was floated to Howe and he said no.. doesn’t strike me as the type of manager to be on board with that.

Don’t worry, I won’t get all emotional and accuse you of not trusting Howe because you’d like to see something different Personally I just feel it’s not the time to change our back 5 under the circumstances, but after the international break things could change depending on how the next 3 games go.

Some of our players do look to be suffering from burn out yes, but I can’t see Targett starting until after the next international break now our schedule will slow down to a standard 1 game a week until April. We know Howe will show loyalty to a starting 11 who are 5th in the league, he’s been starting a out of form and recently back from injury/sickness Wilson over Isak.. I dont see it being any different in the short term for Burn/Targett. The argument for Targett adding something else in the final third will not be the priority when our defence has been performing as well as it has, you don’t risk the foundations of what has got you to a European spot and a cup final to start a player who hasn’t started all season on the balance of maybe adding a bit more going forward.

Some of our attacking phases of play have become predictable and while the stats suggest that we are nearly as effective as pre WC on chances made you can see during games that teams have adapted to our deal with the Trippier/Miggy link especially, goals will still come from that side but just at a slower rate than before. I doubt we adjust our attacking approach that much as our xG is still good, but a more direct approach in certain games (even with Bruno in the team) might be an idea now we have a player like Gordon available. People saying make changes to the defence and swap players out (Targett for Burn??) are just blurting out their frustrations imo, this squad just lost a cup final.. the best way to restore confidence to our back 5 is obviously to take starting places away from the players that got us there With that being said I’d expect some rotation to our forwards, I think Gordon will get starts the deeper we get into the season as will Isak.

Yeah let’s just rip up the defence that got us 4th, into a cup final and has the lowest conceded goals in the league this season That’ll show the players. Fuck me