Matt1892

Minteh assist Minteh goal

Quality goal that.

Yeah, he had a pass for a long time due to how strong we were defensively but since that side of our game has gone out of the window then it’s hard to justify his position in the starting eleven.

He did everything Howe wants from a midfielder; worked hard, didn’t give the ball away, alert for turnover in possession, linked up play with the wide man, didn’t make mistakes or take any unnecessary risks. This isn’t necessarily the top priorities I would want in a midfielder but for Howe with our formation and tactics he did what was required of him to a good standard.

Time to get back to winning ways. 3-1.

I will be surprised if we get anyone in January, unless it’s a loan with obligation to buy and we won’t want Sancho under those conditions.

The issue for Isak is that he is completely isolated up top with how we set up in midfield, if he does drop deep then he isn’t playing on the shoulder which is where we try to feed him in quite a bit. We set up kind of like a teardrop shape, with Bruno at the base and then Joelinton and Tonali slightly more advanced but quite wide, then Gordon and Almiron even further forward and wider with Isak isolated all on his own up top. This leaves a huge gap in behind him that is very rarely filled by any of our players. I would look at going with a midfield of Bruno and Tonali as the double pivot and I would be interested in seeing what Barnes would be like in that role behind Isak, as the danger for the opposition would be that if they follow Isak deep he links up with Barnes for the 1-2 overlap, which is how HB gets a high number of his goals. I feel sorry for Isak, if he was in Arsenal’s team he would live up to his potential how they set up to support the striker. I’m not sure he will here apart from the odd moments of magic with how we set up currently.

Hopefully he is starting to find his form, even if it is against a poor standard of opposition.

Hopefully that is a hint at him negotiating a new contract.

Instead of highlighting a small part try reading the rest.

Then don’t read it.

Before the season I thought he should have gone out on loan due to knowing he was unlikely to get the minutes needed for him to develop properly, I didn’t consider him starting as I knew it was unlikely to happen. I don’t really rate Joelinton as a midfielder and his best position last season was wide left, so he would be the obvious one to move out.

I don’t see anyone angry, a few upset at me pointing out that Howe hasn’t brought through one decent player in his decade of management but that is it.

I would have played him instead of Joelinton.

So you haven’t seen anything to suggest that he can either. Great.

Transfermarkt says he played 395 minutes over 22 appearances which isn’t great, as over 150 of those was in the last 2 games of the season. He then was the outstanding player of ours from pre season and arguably deserved a start, yet is back on the bench with our midfield struggling. I see Anderson as a player whose career will drift away and we will be talking about how he wasn’t good enough, when I think he could be if handled better, which might have been a loan away to get some serious game time.

That he’s been in management over 10 years and I can’t think of one player that he has successfully brought through from academy to be a first team regular of any quality. What have you seen of him to suggest he can?

What was Howe like at bringing youngsters through at Bournemouth? The reason I ask is I haven’t seen anything from him here to suggest he is going to bring through any of our young players successfully, unless they are already coming in established. The handling of Anderson has been poor and I don’t expect any better for smiley’s development.

The issue with the midfield is Joelinton, who was at his best last season playing on the left of midfield and dropping in to cover Willock when he adventured forward. Talk of Tonali and Bruno not being able to work together is just lazy, Redknapp was on about it as if Longstaff was a defensive midfielder and now Bruno has to play the role now he is out. Clearly no idea what he is talking about. He should play Isak off Wilson and then Bruno and Tonali as the double pivot. 4-2-3-1.

It isn’t soundbite when PIF say they want us to be the best, they genuinely mean it and many more performances like this will see Howe as the transitional manager to give us the platform, before bringing in a proven world class manager.

What am I watching.

I don’t think Redknapp has any idea of how Longstaff plays.

I would, for Joelinton and Almiron.

That’s the issue with our midfield set up there, nobody arriving in the box to follow up attacks.

Almiron just crossed with his right foot!