Sufi

We weren’t good today but I think palace just simply wanted it more, very impressive display from them mostly just in their work rate. The tactical matchup didn’t help. Thought we held out pretty well considering the possession numbers up until the goal. Schar and Burn both stepped up at the same time there one of them needs to play sweeper in that situation. No clue how that wasn’t a penalty. Thought Howe should have made changes earlier in the match when the writing was on the wall that our shape was a mismatch for the opposition…instead of gambling on us to catch them on the break. Played a bit too route one for my liking, I get it though since Palace basically dared us to by leaving only 3 men back. Brave of them. That’s football. Not the end of the world or even the end of our hopes at a European place. We still play Man U in a while so no need to go all doom and gloom. Wouldn’t be too mad about conference league to develop youngsters and have less of a toll on us in the PL.

Think it was obvious within 30 mins the tactics were a bad matchup for palace today. Waited until 60th to make a change. Kudos to palace, they played with a ton of energy. Brave as well leaving only 3 men back most of the match. I think we tried too hard to go route one and there was no outlet ball when we won possession back so it was easy for palace to win it off us. Few of our players didn’t look up for it as much as they usually are. Only knock on Eddie today is seeing how overrun we were for 60 mins and only reacting to it when we were 1-0 down. I’m not a fan of first half tactical changes but if it’s that clear you have to change something.

I agree. To play devils advocate this same side just turned spurs over. I think tactically our back 5 and quick counter isn’t matching up well with palace and their counter pressing

I’ve noticed this as well. He has zero confidence to play any progressive passes. Sideways or backwards only. Even if there are clear options ahead of him

With as much possession as they have had I actually think we had two of the better chances of the half. That failed backheel from Barnes to Gordon on the overlap looked like a sure goal. The Isak chance just went a few inches too far for him to get a toe to. We are getting pressed and our wingers need to come short when we win the ball. They are immediately going for the through hall and it’s leaving us with no options as an outlet when we do get the ball back. Having just Bruno and Sean in CM means we need LWB and RWB to help in that regard as well but it’s hard for moments where we have just won posession and they are behind the ball. Simple adjustment. Gordon and Barnes come short and show for a pass to feet in those situations. Isak as well drop in to retain possession. We are in full counter mode and we don’t need to be.

I see a 3-1 victory. Barnes. Isak penalty. Anderson.

Well. We have Livramento Wilson and Hall on the bench. That’s better than our options a few weeks ago. With how our season has gone I hope it doesn’t result in an injury (knock on wood). Every time we get a player back we seem to have one go down. Every single time 😆

I like this. Back 5 again? Not sure how to read it. Could Anderson be playing the Jow/Willock position? Or LWB like last game.

Only 10 mins till the lineup is out. Curious to see if we go with 5 at the back again. Also Tino and Joe could feature. Will be interesting

15-20m maximum for Miggy Wilson and Targett combined? Hahaha come on man. Miggy himself is worth over 15m. Same with Wilson. I understand being a realist but that seems pessimistic to me. Maybe we undervalue our own players? Wilson can bag 15 goals easy for a newly promoted team. Miggy is a hard working pacey player with skill who would fit in perfectly at a counter attacking side in the bottom half of the table. Probably half of the managers in the PL would like to have players like that. We sold Chris Wood for 15m. Wilson is a capped England international who scores goals for fun (when healthy). 18 premier league goals last season. 5th in the prem right up there with Salah and co and he was sharing the job with Isak.

Completely agree with STM. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit if we spend 100m. Obviously not net spend. Maybe like 55-65m net spend. I think there likely is a minimum 40m of deadwood in this squad to get rid of. Add the ashworth money to that and why not. 2-3 players for a total of around 100m seems reasonable.

Hang on I’ve just had a look at their schedule. Winning all 6? That would be extremely unlikely haha. Villa, Spurs, West Ham(who have been dipping lately, but still a good squad). I don’t think you can consider Brighton an easy match. They always seem to show up against Chelsea. Bournemouth with the form Solanke is in. Even Forest aren’t an easy side and especially now since they are one point out of the relegation zone. We also have like 15 better goal difference. I’ve gone from not really worried about Chelsea to not at all worried. We just need to focus on beating all the bottom tier sides we have coming up.

I’m more focused on Man U than Chelsea. Even with Palmer back I don’t see them going on a run. They seem to be more motivated against top teams and never show up consistently against anyone else. They have also had an amazing bit of luck with penalties. I love Palmer don’t get me wrong but 9 goals from penalties is something. Every game they seem to get an interesting call go their way. I think we can all rely on our boy Nicolas Jackson. Also Mudryk and Sterling. All 3 have been abysmal most of the season.

re: someone to link up Bruno and Isak. I have been thinking about this all season and I think our approach may be to make Bruno that player and find someone to sit deeper. With Joe/Bruno(Tonali) it seems like we are lacking a proper defensive midfielder. I also think Bruno would be absolutely terrifying to opponents if the average position he received the ball in was 10-20 yards further forward. he usually retrieves it just outside our box and is facing our goal, then he finds a way to pull a feint or trick the player pressing him, turns and picks out a ball usually to the wing. IF he’s further forward and he does the same thing, turning his man but in a dangerous part of the pitch with 3 options ahead of him I think he would be near impossible to stop. Considering the pace of our front 3 and his dribbling/passing ability it would be a case of pick your poison for the opponents. Another thing I’ve noticed is since he’s been playing deeper he seems absolutely gassed when he does make it into the final third. He will have a spell where he is absolutely everywhere for 10 minutes and then when the ball finally finds him in the final third to pick out a killer ball or go for goal his legs are completely dead and he is out of breath. Would be nice to find a player who can do the heavy lifting in terms of breaking up play and pushing the ball forward. Not necessarily an anchor of a CDM but someone with a high work rate, good physical traits and is half decent at passing.

I’ve seen a lot of interviews with him. He loves Newcastle. His wife is comfortable here. They have a young child. They just bought a house. He’s on good wages. He has close friends at the club. Doesn’t strike me as someone to uproot all of that for 50-100k more in wages and playing in the CL when he can play in the CL here and get another wage bump when he earns it. Of all our players he’s the one I see who wants to be a legend here and nowhere else. Real Madrid are the only club in the world that could change that but I seriously doubt he is their main target. They have got Joselu as their main striker and have been playing Bellingham there. Endrick is too raw to be started there. I think they miss out on Mbappe (because PSG and the whole nation of France are basically offering him the world to stay) and go big game hunting for a striker this summer. Barcelona have no money lol. Can’t see him going to a top 4 side in the PL. City will likely get Paqueta. Arsenal just spent 100 on Rice. Liverpool isn’t getting him. I think it’s all clickbait. If a club does put up the 100m then they still have to convince him to leave a place he loves and his family love. Another point is that I could see him leaving a club like ours IF we just got lucky and finished 4th in an anomalous season as a flash in the pan performance from a club. That’s not what happened. We achieved that in season 2 of this massive project. Everyone involved with the club knows this is a long term project with backing from the richest owners in football. I’m sure Bruno recognizes that and it will entice him to stay. Winning here as apart of this project, being the foundational player in this squad would mean more than lifting 2-3 trophies a year at City. I think Enzo/Caicedo/Rice have numbed us to how much 100m is. For context those are all top 7 transfers in football history. Just a notch below Mbappe and Neymar who went around 200. Not to mention Enzo and Moises both haven’t looked the part for that price. Im not worried at all. Just hope we don’t make the same mistake with Isaks contract. No point putting a minimum fee release clause that’s basically market value for the player. A release clause for a player of this quality should be prohibitive. 200m for the privilege to negotiate with Isak and his agent. We are worrying because we have PTSD from the Ashley era. This is now a place players will leave reluctantly and with a large dose of FOMO on what’s to come next at this club.