Checko

Now do Lloyd Kelly

Basically, Matt Targett then

Short term as this is, it feels like the only appropriate gif.

Must be a bit sucky for him right now. Since Howe came in he's basically been (deservedly) picked every game he's been fit for nearly 4 years and now he's suddenly lost his place through no fault of his own. I mean that's football and that's why you want competition, but still, must be a bit sucky.

Genuinely shocked he wasn't at West Brom. EDIT: sounds like he was, graph was earlier

Damn right, should be correctly reported as a jizzplosion.

Agree, thunderbastard undersells them.

Even Steve Coogan doesn't have that kind of timing.

Also I think Miley's long-term position might be more of a 6, tempo midfielder.

Yeah I'd be interested in this, based on someone on here pointing out Sandro given the licence to crash the box and link with Big Nick could be orgasmic and @Curva Sud Milano saying how he prefers Tonali as an 8 overall (and Curva spotted he should swap roles with Bruno a year before Howe did so I'm basically willing to go with anything he says).

Yeah, until Elanga develops into the hyperMurphy he's destined to become, Jacob needs to start the big games.

A ballsmansnip. No one wants to face them.

I'm not conviced he's not a natural goalscorer yet tbh. For example there was a move where Murphy shot just wide of the left post, I think Big Nick played it to him, he was certainly involved in the build up, but after he played the ball out he sprinted and got in the perfect CF position in the middle of the goal to pick up a rebound. Or there was the one chance he got which was deflected behind. From the replay it looked like it was a great shot before the deflection. Keeper might have got it but still a clean strike in the corner. Definitely agree about the speed of thought. He's up there with Sandro with that.

I think of him (in baseballish terms) as a 'closer'. You could call him supersub or whatever, but from 60th/70th minute onwards, when the game's in the balance, players start getting tired, bringing on a fresh Barnes with his pace, movement, directness and finishing is lethal. Feel like that gets the best out of him, and though I'm sure he'd love to be starting, a fresh Harvey Barnes at the business end of games is Love how for his first he didn't sprint straight away, he jogged for a bit and then when the defender left him he suddenly turned on the jets!

Fuck me... options off the bench.

Feel like Murph, Bruno and Pope are all jokers. Trips, Lascelles and Burn much more serious. Just hope the right ones organise the christmas party.

I'm not convinced the per 90 stats on that site are working properly tbh eg. gives same number of assists and expected assists for him per 90 even though the figures are different and neither quite adds up. so I won't use them - all comps he got 10 assists in 23/24 and 6 last year (from 8.4 and 5 expected assists), his 2 full seasons with us. Doesn't sound much but not too dissimilar to other top wingers expected assists- For example: Eze 5.2, 6.2 expected assists last 2 full years Martinelli 6.9, 7 Gakpo 5.7, 5.8 Mbeumo - 4.6, 8.3 Bowen - 6.4, 6.8 Obviously there's differences in teams and roles and minutes played and xA only measures a specific thing so it's only a rough comparison. He's certainly not a creative powerhouse, but it's not something I'm too worried about given his other qualities. With the way big Nick plays I think his pace and off the ball running could become very important. Really I think what he needs is to be able to play and combo with a not-way-out-of-form Big Joe at LCM and a not-Dan Burn at LB.

We only really do super hard press in certain situations high up the pitch tbh. We spend a lot of time sitting back in a solid block when we haven't got the ball.

His goals vs xG stats all comps since joining us according to fbref: 22-23 - 1 goal from 1.7 xG 23-24 - 12 goals from 10.8 xG (11npG from 10 non-pelanty xG) 24-5 - 9 goals from 8 xG (7npG from 6.5 non-pelanty xG) 25-6 - 3 goals from 3.4 xG (1 from 1.8 NpxG) TLDR: 20 non-pelanty goals from 20 non-pelanty xG. His shooting is fine. Not amazing but perfectly fine. https://fbref.com/en/players/2bd83368/all_comps/Anthony-Gordon-Stats---All-Competitions

Someone's got to cover for Burn's lack of pace!

Let Eddie coach the team, let's just hire Jose to do interviews and press conferences.

Walking up to the gods of fate and teabagging them right in the eye.

Tonali basically never gets injured. He'll be fine.

The same kind of heinous monster who thinks a rhetorical question doesn't need a question mark. This country's going to the dogs.

Oh dear, poor Liverpool.