Matt1892

The performance wasn’t anything like the Spurs game last season, where we let them have a high level of possession but it was mainly passing it around without being a threat. Today we were up against it for large parts, where we rode our luck and relied on their poor finishing for us to remain in the game. The way we played today was no different from the other games this season, we seem to have lost all ability in retaining possession and the press has gone out of the window. We can’t rely on poor finishing from the opposition forever.

I don’t think being under that much pressure that you have to park the bus was a tactic that we went in to the game with, it is the default position for a club that is being outplayed and under a massive amount of pressure. I genuinely do not know what our tactics are when we have the ball, which is a difficult watch compared to how we played 18 months ago. I say that as I am presuming our tactics isn’t to give up possession as soon as we gain it to invite wave after wave of attack. I have tried to find the FourFourTwo video where it went through our tactics and why we were so good, but that type of football has gone out of the window completely.

Liverpool are just so good on the counter.

We look like Man Utd under Ten Hag, where they dig out points from games they were outplayed in and don’t appear to be playing with any tactics. 7 out of a possible 9 and the next round of the cup is an excellent tally for this point in the season, you get the feeling we will be on the end of a pasting if we don’t sort out our tactics soon.

Good luck to him if true.

Desperate behaviour that.

Longstaff or Tonali to start?

Forest Green just beat Sutton United away in the late kick off. They sit in 5th 3 points behind Gateshead but they have played 5 of their first 6 games away from home.

Embarrassing is a good word for it, from the scramble with PSR which seen us sell Minteh and Anderson and hawk Gordon around, to the attempts to sign Elanga on the last day of the window, it shows poor planning on our behalf and makes us look amateurish. We have come across undignified in our dealings. The whole PSR and it has to be the perfect player as we can’t afford to get it wrong thing is nonsense, every club in the league has to abide by PSR yet I have never known a club that fearful of getting a signing wrong that they are paralysed in the market. We have kept Isak, Bruno and Gordon, but we were open to Gordon moving and I don’t doubt if we received a suitable offer for any of them then they would have been sold. We have signed Hall because there was an obligation to sign him as part of the loan, I don’t think the club would have signed him permanently for the money paid if there was any way of getting out of that, we talk about not being able to make a mistake in the transfer window but have been forced to sign a defender that cannot defend. I understand wanting players that are Premier League ready but we are boxing ourselves in in terms of price and options when we insist on predominantly doing business here, the narrow group of options has really came back to bite us. If we lose against Spurs then I can see the crown turning and causing a snowball effect that is going to be difficult to stop, so hopefully we can pick up the win to stop this before it starts. While some fans don’t like the theory, I don’t see a working relationship between Howe and Mitchell working long term and I think one of them will be gone this time next season, possibly Howe who I think will either take the England job or be sacked if we don’t qualify for europe, which has been made more difficult now. It is easy to say to fans that there is no point in moaning about it as we can’t change it but every defeat or poor performance this window will be pointed to as being responsible. Difficult times ahead.

Neto gone to Arsenal from Bournemouth.

Elanga is a decent player to be fair with a high ceiling if he can sort out his decision making.

This makes us look more shambolic than going with the line that none of our targets were available.

Like a new signing!

Slams shut tonight

£70 million would make Guehi the 6th most expensive defender in world football, at that price you only have a limited number of clubs that could afford him, let alone pay more for him in the future.

Bournemouth have a net spend of €247 million over the last 3 summers to be fair to them, so I wouldn’t say they lacked ambition. Quite the opposite, I have no idea how they keep spending what they do.

Still an outside chance that Guehi arrives today but it does seem the strategies of Howe and Mitchell are not really compatible going forward. That doesn’t mean they dislike each other or there are arguments behind the scenes, more that we will get to the point where one of them moves on in the near future.

The last day of the transfer window before it slams shut tonight!

It looks like a bit of a shambles from the outside.

I am not so confident of my 3 signings by the window closing now, maybe 2 signings at this stage.

If we don’t sign anyone then it is worth a bet on him being the next England manager.

The article also says that Howe sees the right wing as a priority position, which is quite bizarre, considering the amount of goals we scored last season.

This is not helpful.

Palace signed Chadi Riad from Barcelona for £14 million so presume he replaces the other. I know he went off injured the other day but it isn’t supposed to be serious.