Upthemags

100%, think we need to dump some of that adidas money for someone immediate-impact Can Chiesa play on the right?

Superstar in the making - someone else said it in here but the game rly seems to slow down for him. Can't say I've ever seen composure like that in a 17 year old

I think we're agreeing here mate

I don't really understand the sensitivity to criticism - doesn't mean I don't fancy Eddie as the manager here for a long time to come Some convenient injuries left off the list though - eg, Sven blowing his knee out (sidelining him for a third of the season) in an 8-0 blowout against a relegation side, Callum and Isak missing a combined 2 months due to fatigue/fitness-related injuries, Willock rushed back and unfit and re-aggravating. Not an attack on Eddie lads, but surely we don't disagree he could've rotated at least a bit, and that that would have mitigated some of our issues

acute injuries like that can be the tail-end result of playing with fatigue - just because you didn't pull up with a hammy doesn't mean the injury has nothing to do with fitness levels

This is the key point really imo... Schär and Joelinton out now, and even with our reinforcements back, we're basically just back to square one where we were about a month and a half ago. Very foreseeable this - I hope Eddie can learn from this for the next campaign.

undroppable

I'm sure Howe can't believe his luck that his two big signings have been effectively useless to him - ~80-90 million pound languishing. Patience is a virtue though......

I think Eddie and Dan probably thought it would be unlikely that he would make an immediate impact, but that it was a harmless gamble with only upside. If he indeed made an immediate impact, we buy him in the summer for a bargain fee, worst case he sits on the bench for whatever the loan fee was.

This makes me think even Hall himself knows he's not going to be back at the club next season. Looks more and more like Hall on loan was a harmless gamble that he might blow us away as an immediate fixture in the starting XI, in which case buy him next summer. Worst case, we fronted a small loan fee for a player who wasn't ready to help right away due to his age. I really think Eddie deciding not to pick up the option says less about Hall and more about us - Eddie knows we need 26 year olds, not 18 year olds, regardless of how good those 18 year olds will likely be one day.

I don't think this lad can be dropped from the starting xi with how he's performed

Trippier was tripping over his laces in the 6 yard box last game mate. I know its easy to blame the keeper but the defense has been shocking of late, which is to be expected with how stretched we are.

I think he's just an easy target (no pun intended) seeing the results of late. Fact is Pope doesn't swing any of these recent fixtures the other way

Thought Dubravka played well - defense let him down. He was positioned well on a few of those posts from Milan

Time to climb the league table - only can focus on getting back next year now

I dont think so he just looked very leggy

No shame in this

Do people really think Dubs is at fault?

Hang.on.lads

Just to add on: It would be truly truly cruel to Sandro if after serving a 10 month ban, the FA decides to slap him with another, which in effect would end his career (2 years off from professional level football and who knows how you'd return to form). For someone battling an addiction, who we know had uncontrollable impulses to gamble, it would seem the definition of unjust not to credit time-served or something similar. I don't think the FA would do something so severe, but I wouldn't put it past them either - and I would imagine if the FA were to do something like that, we'd start to see the PIF throw caution to the wind, feeling they'd been hard done, and start loaning out/transferring Saudi stars to us for 100 pound each.

Transfer window will be a massive moment for Eddie - every belief he'll get it right

Echoing the skepticism here - much more pressing needs with our current makeup/injury list. And unless you want to dump Pope for good, it wouldn't make sense to allocate what's already a tight budget towards a new keeper. RW > Midfield > CB > GK imo

Agreed it's no cause for alarm, kind of the opposite actually - situated where with two or so appreciable moves, we can make a real push in the second half. How we logistically get that done, with the complications you point out, I don't know. But I would expect some significant action nonetheless.

FFP constraints and all, I think with our current position, and PIF's hunger to maintain our levels, we're going to end up spending the summer budget in January, however constrained that might be... I think we're in for an extremely active window

Can we really say Hall's been "given an opportunity"? Smashed an incredible volley in what was almost a debut appearance for us, held his own against the fastest winger in germany in the Champions League even with a bogus yellow card in his pocket. I just don't really buy this. Hall, at the very least, has played no worse than the rest of the squad's dreadful form at the moment, most obviously Trippier's. Even Ritchie seems to be higher up the totem pole than Hall. Fact is Eddie could've played hall on the left and slotted Tino to his natural RB, and I'm very confident we would've been more competitive yesterday. I love Eddie, but I think the trusting culture he's developed with his favorites has hurt him at times - if Burn doesn't go down, do we even see Tino start a game this season?