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What about Le Tissier? Would be nice to have someone talking facts on the show finally.

Trouble with MOTD is that the analysis is superficial to the point of irrelevance. I'd rather see more highlights than have half the show being people talking vaguely about a game they haven't even properly watched. On the flip side you can get the OTT 442-style anaylsis 'OMG Longstaff was moving a little bit before a throw in was taken, what a genius bit of play' trying to make everything seem far deeper than it actually is. But somewhere between the two there is a sweet spot. MOTD doesn't have time for both thorough highlights and decent analysis, so might as well just spend more time on highlights IMO.

Of that list I'd pick Gabby Logan. Take aside the fact she's a toon fan, she's just generally an excellent presenter whatever sport she's covering. I like Mark chapman too, though his more informal style might be better for MOTD2

*checks calendar*

This is the same as them having £10 mllion per year less in the base sponsorship figure and the contract saying they get £10 million extra for getting champions leage, no? Suppose a team the size of Man U should be expecting Champions League so you do it that way round.

Because we couldn't pass it against them with 11. Even against a newly promoted team at home. And they could play out of a press far better than we can quite frankly. The sending off incident happened after Bruno dilly-dallied because he had no-one ahead of him to pass to (as usual) and ended up drawing a foul while passing back to the defence. This pattern of play happens, [and last year happened], over and over and over again: We can't move it forward through the middle of the pitch so we end up going back to the CBs, they pass slowly along the back line to the fullback who tries to pass it up the line to a marked retreating winger, or just whacks it long up the line and try and get in behind. This is basically our pattern of play in build-out-from-the-back-situations and it's incredibly slow and predictable and quite frankly doesn't work very well. When we have a goal kick we end up doing the above, and generally giving the ball away, or because that's not working, just cut out the middle man and boot it long every time... and give the ball away. And once we're under pressure, we then can't get control of the game because we struggle to get out of our own half. Fortunately we have some good players and we're good when we can hit teams quickly on the the counter, or once we're in the final third, but actually keeping posession and passing the ball from defence into the final third... quite frankly we're not very good. And haven't been for quite a while.

I had a look at that and they only have games vs the mackems back to 1921/22 season so miss a few off. http://www.thestatcat.co.uk/Club.aspx?ClubID=8 has us 54 wins to their 53

We have 54 wins against the mackems, you sure they're not on the list?

Wolves are near the bottom of the table and lost two of their best players over the summer. If we have serious pretentions of being a top team this year these are the types of away games we should look to be controlling. Doesn't mean we should win, there's always going to be some randomness there, but we should be trying to control games like this. I'm getting a bit tired of us always playing like the underdog because we can't pass the ball about, even against Southampton at home.

You get them in baseball - there was a 14 year contract extension a few years ago. Core baseball salaries are guaranteed as well. It's the only major US sport without a salary cap, which probably influences that as well as they won't have to be squeezing within a salary limit every year. Probably less chance of injuries compared to football and top players can usually play a lot longer as well, late 30s early 40s is pretty common. Patrick Mahomes (arguably best NFL quarterback) signed a 10 year deal a few years ago, though again, QBs tend to play for a long time. Actually, seems a few QBs have signed 10 year deals: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/patrick-mahomes-becomes-sixth-nfl-star-ever-to-get-deal-of-10-years-or-more-heres-how-the-others/ Also, in most American sports AFAIK, [assuming a player doesn't have a no trade clause] a team can trade a player to another team & the player has to go & the new team takes over the exisiting contract, they don't sign a new deal. So you don't have that issue of a player not wanting to give up their cushty long-term deal.

Fuck me, in 29 years? Even this year we deserve (generously) one point from 3 games. Surely law of averages must have given us 7 points one other year. We are going to Pardew the absolute fuck out of this season. 5th place is ours and we can play like arse doing it. See you in the Champions League bitches!

Worst window in the league? I don't really follow other clubs but Crystal Palace lost Olise, who Palace Fan said was generally seen as the best player ever to play for them. Plus a quality starting CB. We haven't lost any of our best players, our squad has continuity, which is not to be underrated, they seem a tight-knit bunch. Some of the older guys: Trips, Burn, Schar, Wilson we can probably expect to be on the gradual physical decline compared to last year. Yes we lost Anderson, our third choice LCM and probably 4th choice LW, and a talented young RW who didn't play for us last year anyway. But Dummett, Ritchie, Hendrick, Fraser are all off the books. All last year's transfers should be better this year: Hall and Tino have a year more in their development. Tonali will be more settled, and also not massively suspended. Barnes hopefully won't miss half the year with a freak injury. We actually have a 3rd striker now to spell Isak when Wilson is injured. Big Joe doesn't have a load of niggles, Pope hopefully won't dislocate his shoulder for a couple more years. Of course it's not been a good window - but it seems PSR was tight so maybe we were only prepared to risk things for a real top guy. Either way, worst thing would be to panic and buy the wrong person who we then can't shift cause they're on big wages. If we keep our powder dry for now perhaps it gives us scope to pick up a bargain in January or June, when a few other clubs are panicking about breeching PSR. Anyway, now we can focus on the season ahead. Eddie now needs to get us to be able to play posession football, cause we're never going to progress if he can't manage that regardless of signings.

Bring in DCL and get us back on top outright!

All I'm going to say is quality penalty today. Nice one!

No lie, I switched back from typing that to the programme and it was a photo of a McDonalds burger with a horrifically processed cheese slice centre screen.

When we boot it long we always lose it. When we play out from the back we struggle to get out of our own half. We have all our top passers on the field. This is not an isolated thing, there is a problem with our system in posession. We're only dangerous on the counter. We always play like an away team. Also, to be fair, they haven't really created any gilt-edge chances. Most of the time it's us being sloppy that lets them into the game, though we're really not putting any pressure on with our press. They're not even pressing hard yet we seem to struggle. Also, Tonali oozes class like any American food oozes cheese.

'Double pivot' is simply quicker to say than 'playing with two 6/8 hybrids who alternatively push forward or sit deep depending on the success of their torso deception' Honestly though, I hope we do set up like that, at least in passy passy situations. The 433/451 we set up in really doesn't work for posession football though it works well at other times of the game. No reason why both systems can't be incorporated. Just rotate the middle triangle round a bit. I mean, we went to that system against Bournemouth when willock came on and suddenly Big Joe had someone near him to pass to (Bruno) and stopped losing the ball all the time. Bruno had a lot more licence to get forward because he knew Big Joe was back and would cover. And given Bruno is our best midfield playmaker, allowing him more freedom to get forward is probably a good thing.

Positions are for all you 1960's stans, still obessed with the WM formation, wingless diamonds and outside rights. Cruyft changed all that shit in the 70s. Now you're either a baller or you ain't

Might be an idea though - he loses some loyalty bonus, we agree a contract and then that we'll pay his lost loyalty bonus on top of that. Palace save some money from loyalty bonus recoup. The extra money Palace get isn't a transfer fee so Chelsea don't get their cut. Would seem a sensible way of getting Palace a tiny bit more cash at the expense of Chelsea. Probably a pretty tiny amount relatively speaking but still... fuck you Chelsea.

Wonder if Hall's going to be used for home games and Kelly for away games. Also, I said a few days ago, but I reckon he could be a terrific inverted right wing. What do we want in that position? A left footer with great technique who can shoot and pick a pass. A good athlete who can dribble and is two-footed enough to go down the outside and who'll get stuck in on the defensive side of the game. That is basically Lewis Hall.

Tactical thoughts: We are crap at passy passy when the opposition is set up. The 433 doesn't work with it. Bruno comes deep, has no-one to pass it forward to so goes back to the CBs, they pass along the line to the fullback who passes it up to a winger who is under pressure and loses it. And repeat. This was an issue most of last year as well, so I'm not putting it down to just rustiness. We rely on turnovers in a high press or from deeper counters. Howe needs to sort the posession bit out. Looked better after the subs when we went to a 4231 with Big Joe and Bruno sitting deep & Willock further forward. A second deeper CM meant Bruno had a lot more freedom to get forward as there was cover, and the AM means Isak isn't so isolated. I'd like us to use 4231 in posession. That said it was also getting later in the game so there was more reason for them to sit back a bit with a lead. Didn't really do much high pressing, when we set up high from goalkicks they just booted it up the field and seemed to win the second balls pretty easily. Krafth, Longstaff and Murphy trying to pass the ball out down the right. Sweet Jeebus.

Anyway, my summary of the game for some reason: 1. Started well for the first, what 15 mins or so? Isak looked dangerous. Gordon pushed higher up initially with Big Joe looking to cover on the LW though Gordon wasn't really on it. We were on the front foot for the most part. 2. Once they got in to the game they were on top for probably the next 50 minutes or so. Nobody was really playing well, we kept giving the ball away. Almost everyone on the team wanted to take 3 or 4 touches. Dilly Dally quotient way too high. When the game turns against us, our inability to just pass it about easily quickly and take the sting out of games just invites pressure on ourselves. Don't think we had a shot in this time. 3. I liked Howe's subs and they gave us a lot more attacking impetus for the last 20/25. Probably a case that some of the subs should have started. Harvey Barnes did some really good stuff. Barnes Isak and Gordon score a lot of goals as a three. Might be an idea to play our best players. 4. Last 10 could have gone either way, we had a couple of chances, they had a couple. Got a bit lucky with the handball [though it was correct decision as far as I can see]. Overall it's hard to say we deserved a point from that.

I didn't see the Big Joe incident so can't comment on that. Seen a lot of people here say it should have been a red though. From what I saw of the disallowed goal he scored straight off his arm, which is handball. Doesn't seem controversial to me. It was fairly high up the arm admittedly, but from replays it looked to hit him flush on the arm badge, which is certainly low enough down to be handball IMO.

Same problem as all of last season: we cannot do any passy passy through a team. We're completely reliant on making chances from the press or hitting on the counter. A team gets on top, we can't pass out to relieve the pressure so we whack it long and lose it. If Howe fails here it's going to be this inability to get the team to just pass and move quickly from the back, but right now everyone want to take 3 or 4 touches every time they get the ball.

Wonder if the move drags on to next week whether Palace will play him in the cup on Tuesday.