Erikse

I think average points is a better way to judge. Right now we are on course for 8th - 10th in terms of average (55 pts). However 5 out of our next 7 games looks kind of tough on paper, but that also depends on the state of Villa. Brentford away after Liverpool isn't looking like an easy one at the moment, they are scoring goals for fun.

Was consistenly top 2 in the league in chances created. I remember us even tricking opponents to think we were going through the middle, just to quickly switch over to the right, so that we could set him up with some space through a few quick moves. It's like our entire attacking setup often revolved around making sure they couldn't stop him from doing his thing, because when he could, we would have a big chance every time. The biggest problem now would probably be his pace and stamina. He used to do so much running in our setup.

Saka more points than my entire team of 7 players.

All he had done before we signed him was watching him play on television, or at the stadium, or whatever. You think managers never have second thoughts about someone they thought would fit perfectly prior to signing?

If Tonali becomes as huge for us as I think he will be, I will give creds to Howe for wanting to sign him in the first place. I don't understand how anyone can think Howe didn't want him, that scenario is just completely unrealistic due to several reason. I think Howe was running the show last summer, and also the january before when we got Gordon. We saw in the documentary how much Amanda and the others cared about his opinion on the transfers back then. The Tonali transfer is the most obvious Howe signing of them all (apart from Gordon), because he started him from day one coming from a different league, and unlike many of our other transfers he even stated that it was him who wanted him.

Lets act as if managers never ever bench someone they truly wanted to sign, as if that has never happened before and is an impossible scenario.. Cmon.

You really think the club under Amanda went on to spend £55m + high wages on someone that Howe didn't really fancy? And yet Howe went on to start him from the very beginning, something he barely ever does?

Exactly. It's not what we did to West Ham. It's basically the same as saying Palace should've beat us by 2, 3 or 4.

It's also what Palace did to us today, minus the finishing.

Yeah, fair, but look at Arne Slot for example. I had never even heard of him myself. Not sure our board has the same "creativity" or know the market well enough, though.

Do we actually know that there aren't any proper replacements out there?

We talk a lot about margins, and we were lucky to get a point today. Despite the late equalizer.

Liverpool next.. Ironically we've been better against the best sides.

Some will probably try to tell you that Tonali is playing like this because Howe had him on the bench last few games, so this somehow proves that he managed him perfectly. As if he wasn't a good player before he was benched.

His first goal for us. Happy for him!

That's what the squad of ours should be fighting for, but we're not looking like we will be atm. If the squad is equal to mid table sides, then that means we've been awful on the transfer market, so take your pick. In terms of not having players who can hurt the opponent. This team scored 85 goals last season, and Isak got 21. Not sure what's going on this season. Edit: Well, there's one. Just as I wrote this.

That's a meaningless argument. What if someone told you we would be behind Forest or Brentford, would you still bite their hand off?

We don't need to be packed with top quality to look better than a mid table side for more than a few games.

How many teams have a better squad than us? 6, maybe 7 at best.

So if we don't win, as allways it's because we played Tonali over Longstaff. Right?

We're been looking like just another Fulham for most of our games (apart from not getting smahed from time to time). In the Ashley area this season would have been acceptable so far, but our squad isn't a mid table one anymore, and we don't have Europe. No excuses for it. Hopefully second half will be way way different.

It's almost like do or die for Tonali, if it doesn't work out the doubters will be all over it, and he will probably be on the bench for the next few games at the very least.

As someone who doesn't own Pedro, I gotta say, I dodged a bullet today.

In this case I'd like to see Willock behind Isak with Joelinton to the left.