Checko

Fair enough, can't say I've watched them this year. Hopefully they wait till the international break to start getting their shit together.

Premier league definitely feels tougher at the top and as a newly promoted team I agree most games would be seen as tough for them. That said I'd say they've played probably 7/8 sides I'd expect to finish top half in the first 11 and most of the very best teams. Even taking that into account it's still probably not been a paticularly good start for them and I would have us as favourites still. But I think there is some reason to think things aren't quite as bad for them as they look right now. Weren't there a couple of Bournemouth fans on here? Be good to hear their thoughts.

Can't wait till Neves has his contract mutually terminated and we sign him for free!

Lost to Liverpool, Spurs, Brighton, Arsenal, Everton, Wolves, Man City Drew with: West Ham, Chelsea, Brentford Beat: Burnley Tbh looks like they've had a really tough start to the season, played a load of top teams. Losing 3-0 to Everton looks like the only really bad one [edit: few hidings to top teams so bad GD but that can happen] Seems from the one article I read about them they play quite an attacking style and can be a bit open at the back. Hope we stuff them and then they do well the rest of the season.

With the handballs, I acutally think Maguire's was a penalty, don't think the second one was but that one's even tighter. First of all the rules: With accidental handball it's only penalised if: 1. you score a goal straight off your arm [irrelevant here] 2. you score yourself immediately after it touches your arm [irrelevant here - Note you can pass to a team mate to score after it hits your arm eg. Gordon to Longstaff] 3. It hits your hand/arm while it was making your body unnaturally bigger. "A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised." Whether there was an advantage gained or distance to the ball etc. is irrelevant. Basically if your arm was up because of natural movement then fine, no foul. If it was up because you were being a dumb motherfucker then penalty. So it hits Varane's arm but that's down by his side. Definitely no penalty. Then it goes across to Maguire. Look at what he's doing. He has both arms up out in front of him because his instinct is to get his arms round the striker. He didn't need to have his arms up, it wasn't natural body movement causing that so I think that's on him IMO and a penalty is correct. Again comes down to subjectively whether you think his arm position was natural for his movement. For me I would say it wasn't. Only zombies move with both their arms reachin out in front of them naturally. You may fall the other side of that, that's fair enough, but I don't think it was a bad decision. One of those that could perhaps go either way, in which case you can't blame the ref for choosing one of those ways. The Copenhagen one is same reasons. I think this one was a bit harsher because the defender's turning and then jumping so I think it's natural for his arm to come up in that situation. Possibly given because ref thought he kept his arm up too long, though trying to replicate the movement I don't think he did I think he's counter-balancing. As usual, looks worse in slow motion. Again though, just comes down to whether subjectively you think the position of his arm was justified by the movement he was making at that point.

Perhaps he modelled his technique on Football Manager animations.

Oh yeah, forgot he'd been ill. Probably not likely to be starting then.

If Wilson's out for Bournemouth and Gordon has to go up top, wouldn't be against putting big joe on the LW and having this kid playing the Bruno role. Feel he has that technical-holding-midfielder-Pep-likes look about him. That said we've only seen snippets of him so he may be a little way off ready for that.

love those guys

I'd say Jammy L is a solid premier league defender with an excellent mentality. Can't say I could expect more from a reserve right now. And after his Brucing and benching it's good to see him back performing well again. He's about to turn 30 & I'd be happy for him to sign an extension for another year or two, but if he does leave for first team football when his contract's up it's nice he can go having shown what he's about again.

To be fair the comment was over 2 months ago, well before Tino, fullback of Newcastle, showed his quality.

Thought the ref was fine. Surprising actually as someone posted his record and the enormous number of yellows he gives. Hall's seemed a bit soft, the linesman didn't even flag. Thought Sabitzer probably should have been yellowed near half time for taking down Longstaff, but no major gripes at all. Mind you - throw in given again Willock when he clearly kept it in. FUCK YOU OFFICIALS, YOU'RE A DISGRACE. IT COST US THREE POINTS TODAY. I'M EMBARRASSED TO BE IN THIS COMPETITION.

Dortmund's protest seems about the champions league reforms: https://nein-zur-cl-reform.de/en/ [in english]

But you know Eddie himself will be thinking ... why did it go wrong? What could we have done better? That's why he's awesome.

We tend to defend with a flat row of five midfielders (when not pressing high) I think when we look vulnerable when teams get players into that pocket of space that's left between defence and midfield. Dortmund kept getting 2/3 even four players in that area and that causes chaos. It wasn't just one striker dropping deep or one AM getting up there. Think at the top level, when teams are technically excellent it's harder to stop them playing through like that. The press isn't generally as effective against really good technical teams and we just don't have the energy to do it as well with so many games and injuries. It's where a real specialist DM dropping deep may help. Or maybe a shift to a more 4231 formation at times to plug that space a bit with 2 CMs and allow us to have one midfielder a bit higher up to support the striker when we play out. Plus I do think our squad just hasn't been built up yet to include enough really top level technical players so there is that disadvantage to overcome as well. I'm sure we'll evolve and improve any way.

Have we ever won the Eddie Howe Circle Jerk Derby?

I guess the question is, were we tactically outdone, or did they ultimately just have more experience and quality on the pitch? Or a bit of both? Sometimes as well, you just don't play well. I thought there was a bit of that first game v Dortmund as well.

He does look very bloody good. The defensive side of his game is far better than I expected, seems a really good tackler. Edit: Was replying to pedro - can't see how to cut and paste a quote in

Yeah definitely been struggling. Last few games especially.

I'd feel bad giving someone a 6.3 if I felt they deserved a 6.33

Player Ratings (scale of 1 - 11): Pope: 6.34 - Probably saved the ones he should save. Let in the ones he probably shouldn't save. Trippier: 5.53 - Champions League Trips isn't as good as premier league Trips! Bit off it today. Moved to LB and couldn't cope with their winger so was moved back again. Newcastle United Fan Lewis Hall: 5.63 - Didn't think he did too much wrong, particularly considering his inexperience. Trips couldn't handle their winger either. Good to see him get a start. Lascelles: 5.84 - Did ok, lost a couple of high balls which is usually his strength. Schar: 6.25 - One lovely through ball to Joelinton. Did ok. Bruno: 6.41 - Didn't really control the game or make a key attaking contribution that I can remember but generally tidy. Longstaff: 5.23 - Sort of drifts then gets a little bit involved. Made a couple of runs off the ball, but didn't really see him do anything. Improved a lot over the last year but I'd like to see him be more assertive and demand to influence the game. Willock: 5.74 - Some promising moments but ultimately didn't really create anything. Looked gassed near the end so obviously not up to full fitness yet. Joelinton: 6.42 - Big Joe in the box man he's usually one of our better headers as well. I thought a lot of what we did well offensively tended to come through him, particularly first half. Not dominating by any means but some nice touches and on the rare occasions we did anything he was often part of it. *Tino - 7.94: Not quite as good on the wing (though did ok), but at full back thought he was excellent: made some good tackles, beautiful cross for Joelinton. Got moved to left back I thought because Trips wasn't handling their winger. He could. Man of the Match- he wins a virtual bottle of babysham. Wilson - 4.93: Feel he's having a bit of a form slump, bit like last year. Perhaps he has SAD. He's barely retained possession for 3 games now. Not helped by the fact we don't really play with anyone supporting the striker but telling he was subbed at half time. You know he'll still grab goals though so not concerned. Subs: Miggy: 6.38 - Added some energy and tempo. Got himself a couple of half chances. No really telling attacking contribution. Gordon: 5.90 Bit like Miggy but being the striker wasn't able to get quite as involved. Miley: Too late to rate. Good to see him on though. Overall: Looked a bit tired and a lacking in technical quality. Felt there was often a lack of movement in central midfield when we had the ball so no real interplay there. Maybe the lineup was a bit defensive and that filtered through to the mentality, though understandable. They only let us into the game once they'd scored. They were often getting two or three up to support the striker when they hit long balls or played through the lines. They were able to exploit that pocket between the midfield and back four a lot. When we struggle teams are doing this. We definitely need to add a couple of really top technical creative players to be consistently competing at this level, hopefully a job for the summer, but some of the young lads got a champions league blooding and hopefully that'll do them good in the long run. Two more games to go. Better luck next time.

Guys look tired. Dortmund clearly deserved to win. Just more technical quality on the ball than anything. Hopefully a good experience for some of our young players. Thought Tino impressed again & was our best players, particularly at fullback, which I think suits him better than winger.

Overall general thoughts: 1. We can't press as intensively because of injuries/schedule/top teams are better as passing through it. 2. We need more top technical skill in the midfield. Struggle to move it quickly and not enough urgency. When we can't make chances buy winning the ball high up the pitch we struggle. 3. They get more players in supporting their striker. Our striker is usually very isolated and I don't think I've seen Wilson retain posession since palace. 4. Feel like most things good have come through Joelinton 5. Generally we look short of ideas on the ball resorting to low % long straight balls forward. 6. Please buy an elite playmaker. 7. Hopefully we've been pacing ourselves a little and pick it up next half

? That's his name.

I'd have thought big Joe as main LW, though rotating with Willock like last season