Sibierski

Watched last 10 mins and I swear every pass Anderson has done is forward.

Glad I’ve watched none of this game, sounds like a usual snore fest.

There isn't anyone else, bar Watkins really. Foden was tried as false 9 other night, and that's probably a way Tuchel sees as a needs must in a game if Kane is done fitness wise.

‘Barnes has scored some outstanding goals’. At £40m, we paid peak value and not got the return we saw at Leicester as he was never going to be main man on LW. He’s a good squad player, but if we fill out a squad of them, team has an immediate ceiling.

High scoring draw, 2-2 my prediction. Which on paper seems good, in context of season so far, not good (unless we followed it up with a win at Everton).

I can see Ramsey eventually be a LW option if Barnes was sold this summer. Then a CM high value profile targeted. Can’t see us going for a big ticket LW whilst Gordon is on the books. CM is the one we have to go big for this summer coming and move Joelinton on. Ramsey the rotation option, with Miley / Bruno / Tonali / Big CM that fits the new look profile moving forward.

There’s a lot of shoehorning Wissa in. He’s playing as number 9 or bench, would need both Gordon / Barnes injured for him to play LW. It’s just a case of does Howe go 4-4-2 shape, or stick with 4-3-3 and rotate between Wissa / Wolte as strikers. Which doesn’t feel viable, as both completely different types so how are attackers suppose to hook something up game by game. Wolte for me 100% has to force Howes hand and see us go 4-4-1-1. And when one is rested, go to a 4-3-3.

Not got traction as he’s not been in any Tuchel squad. If he’s fit and has a run of games up to March, whilst playing in Europe and potentially big showings against the elite sides, the narrative will change. Would say James / Tino and Hall / O’Rielly are potentially the full backs if fit come summer. MLS lost his place as he won’t be a regular at club level and Tuchel won’t care about not picking TAA because James is the guy he has full confidence in.

If there's a circa £5m offer, he can go really, especially if we are able to bring in the young CB 6 months early in Jan.

The options really should be the below, and it open for votes changing so we can see over the next 2 months where the trend goes: What is your current stance on Howe? - Full backing - Confidence waining - Time is running out on his spell - Should be sacked Should then give a truer reflection because I’d be in confidence waining section at the moment due to his persistence with midfield three etc.

I wanted Trafford in past, but that boat has sailed for me. He could've still come here, but he chose Man City, which is fair. But doesn't mean we should then come crawling back to him for sloppy seconds. If we want to go down the young goalkeeper route still that has potential big gains (but may have to ride the short term teething), then go for Restes.

I agree he’s a good player and type we need that cycles possession, but it would indicate to me that any dreams of a move for Anderson are gone

High praise by Tuchel towards him. Think he’s one of 6 players that are first names on the team sheet for Tuchel if all available (Pickford / James / Saka / Rice / Kane the others).

We won’t be that bad, at worse it would be more like: City (h) - L Everton (a) - L Spurs (h) - W Burnley (h) - W Mackems (a) - D Chelsea (h) - D Man Utd (a) - L Burnley (a) - D So 9 points from 8, which 21 points after 19 games would be horrific. We really need it be like: City (h) - W Everton (a) - D Spurs (h) - W Burnley (h) - W Mackems (a) - W Chelsea (h) - W Man Utd (a) - D Burnley (a) - W 20 points from 24 and we’re firmly back in top 6 hunt since its wins against 4 sides above us.

Guess new villa DoF doesn't want him, so best avoid any clauses that activates spending £35m. Would expect he gets recalled back by Liverpool in Jan and he's sold elsewhere for like £25m.

Issue with this, before that we showed some promise. This season, there's been fuck all from word go (outside of the effort shown in Liverpool/Barca games at home). So it's not like he has a base this season to fall back on as an example, every game in the Prem has been a complete slog and nothing redeemable (Forest 2nd half only positive).

Think even if Isak stayed, I’m not sure we would’ve seen much from him. His groin seemed fucked last season when he was barely moving in games, and it’s continued this season. Always felt it was surgery needed, but when he was here we went with ‘rest will sort it’, and it’s not really helped and still isn’t that same approach. Liverpool need to accept he needs to get under the knife and he’s out till March.

I’m confident we won’t be in a relegation battle as Tino / Hall are massive game changers, attackers will only get better and Wissa should know where the net is even with one knee. It’s just once again our away form is poor. Last season it was against anyone in top 10, this season it’s against everyone. It’s the reluctance to move away from certain players. It’s the limitations often shown up by the flat midfield three, where it’s either amazing or overrun, rarely a middle ground. It’s parts we are routinely told Howe will learn and improve, but managers often don’t. He’s got plenty of time as he won’t be told to go during season unless we are legit in bottom 3 (then no-one can complain really), but he really does need to show progress by the season end. If we’re ending season with Elanga / Ramsey / Miley as peripheral players, Wolfe / Wissa rotated all the time in a 4-3-3, then it wouldn’t strike me as anything has changed and similar issues will be encountered next season.

Mbeumo is the key one. He was that legit winger who was putting up numbers and a player opposition feared. Soon as it was known that was never possible, we should’ve stuck with trying to get a player of same ilk / style. We need someone of that type for one of the wide areas still next summer, even if it means Barnes leaving to facilitate the squad place for it.

Joelinton crashing into the box against Bilbao is what we need, but domestically it’s been non existent this season. Do think Tonali would be superb at it if we then had Miley sitting deep.

Just get the wingers sitting more narrow to run beyond him. At the moment, they’re still getting chalk on their boots, so further away from goal. Need a CM to run beyond him more often too. It’s small tweaks that can yield big changes. We have so much pace in attack, we should be seeing the effectiveness of it with this guy dropping off and taking a CB with him. But a combination of the above, and our players executing passes dreadfully / not even doing the long pass, it’s making us and him seem cumbersome.

Of all our issues, the ball retention is one I find the hardest and that always correlates to training ground. We aren’t looking to get better at it, if anything getting worse. Having Hall back and Miley starting may change it, but so often we have seen over the years, last 10 in games our composure go and we can’t string 2 passes together; which has cost us. This season, it’s from early on our issues. Players are static, quality of passes are slow. Pressing hasn’t been bad, it’s when we get the ball it’s bad and has been all season.

Everton is a no brainer to back at that price. Evening game, their fans up for it. Gordon putting in a usual stinker for 80 mins LW against them.

Yea, bidding at £25m Then ended up paying more than double come deadline day. Club clearly had a price point, and in the end panicked and went way beyond that which will have ramifications further down the line. People were laughing at DCL and I don’t know why, when short term he was a perfectly valid option. It’s like we have a nose up attitude to those type of deals at the moment.

Not sure how that’s being calculated, but even our best seasons we’ve just about won 50% of prem games across a season. So winning 14 from next 28 is our peak which we don’t look like getting anywhere near this season Effectively be looking at 15 wins, 6 draws and 7 defeats from next 28 to get UCL (if it’s low 60s that does it).