Erikse

Xhaka was an odd one. Isn't he way better than the rest of their players?

He has to start pretty much every game from now on. No reason to put him on the bench anymore with how he's playing currently. If we don't want to play Burn LB or 5 at the back, then Burn should be benched (even if it's a bit unfair).

He kind of hindered the Mackem player with that high foot, it's not like it has to kick his head for there to be something. Probably still too soft though.

Ødegaard injured for the third time this season. Knee this time.

Well.. We are in the Champions League because of their win a few months ago.

Bet the rat has been pushing for it..

Mr. 5000

Is there any world where Howe plays Hall and Trippier in a back 4 through a run of games, or is it just too risky? It would probably put a lot of defensive responsibility on either Bruno or Tonali in that case (and/or our wingers).

Their 4 best centrebacks are out, oh dear. Didn't even realise that. The rats going to have a field day, and we won't hear the end of it.

Tomorrow will be a "interesting" one. That's the type of game you expect him to do well. Would be funny if he fails again.

I'd put my money on Liverpool, they still need another winger.

If you go some pages back and forth from there, you can see that he had several absolutely great games that season, and we were talking about him deserving a callup for England even before that pass. After that pass his form was even better, with Big Joe on the left. Yet people will tell you that the only thing he did that season was that one pass..

Imo Anderson is more consistent than Joelinton. Less injury prone aswell. Unfortunately the one big injury he got was in his last season with us, which was the perfect season for him to have a breakthrough.

Yes, he only missed 5 games last season through injury. He basically just missed an entire season with reoccuring problems after being rushed back a bit, but other than that he hasn't been injured much at all. Other players has recovered really well from worse. It's not just a physical thing, but also a mental thing.

Some more.

Hopefully that also means that we are already out there collecting options for a potensial signing in january. Just for depth atleast.

Take that back now..

I think his price tag will be too much for us, but I'm not sure how many windows we need to be reminded that getting the best and hottest prospects is seriously difficult for us. It's not that easy for us to get something better than Anderson, even at that price.

Fair. Anderson got 6 assists last season (in the league). It's on par with what Bruno usually gets. Tonali and Big Joe gets less than that, so it's not that bad.

It's basically Barnes all over. Only that this time someone is at fault (DR Congo).

We do lack g/a and creativity from out midfield, and Anderson isn't the best in terms of output, but he is very much a Howe type of player in my book.

I really hope DR Congo doesn't make it through the group stages.

Would love it if they went from Ange to Dyche. "You parked the bus for 90 minutes at home against Burnley? Why is that?" Dyche: "Just who we are mate."

Until the last break in november, and then we spend the start of december getting him up to speed so that DR Congo can run him to the ground again from 18th of december..