Lucky

Perfectly set up for Wissa to come on later now.

Are they not even going to check that?

We’re weak as piss in midfield.

Scenes!

It’ll be Burn at LB, probably good he’s looking after Hall for the long term but the midfield doesn’t look amazing. Howe did say in the presser that Ramsey was just getting to the level he wants fitness wise so at least that’ll be interesting to judge how effective he is. Excited to see Wissa, finally at some point.

I think he might be sold in January so keeping him on ice until then? Similar to Osula..

So we have 2 goalkeepers who combined would be ideal but individually, rather less than what we need. I suppose there’s been a reason Eddie Howe has stuck with Pope for the most part. We knew about Ramsdale’s lack of concentration before he signed, now we’ve seen it. I think I can live more with Pope kicking balls to nobody more so than watch a ball rolling past in the last minute of the game.

The 11 points we’ve dropped from winning positions would have us on the same points as Arsenal. Needs to sort out that mentality quickly.

Not the worst performance of the season by a long shot, but could see Spurs made tactical changes as the game went on that nullified us for long spells and we didn’t react as well as we should have been. Maybe tiredness setting in a bit, but no getting away from the fact that both of ther goals could/should have been defended better. Ramsdale should have saved that. Can’t really put that on the manager.

Is Wharton really that good?

Hopefully we start quickly.

Definitely. Kid seems to have it all. Ben Arfa levels of excitement in this one for me. I’ve had a look on google news and I’ve seen various figures thrown about. Basically ranging between 22m (us) to €50 (Madrid linked) Maybe £50m big P’s would do it. If he tore it up here you’d be looking at Isak levels of resale value.

Kees Smit would be a very exciting signing. Doesn’t look like he’s running fast but he just glides through midfields, knows where the goal is and looks up so he’s got great awareness of where teammates are. Doesn’t seem like a lightweight either. Might sound like a very optimistic comparison but he reminds me of Zidane in the way he powers through with all the flair on show too. If we could get him for less than 60m I’d say it would be great business. All the big boys being linked with interest though. We’d need to steal a march and not fuck around with negotiations. Over to you Ross.

46 minutes 😁

In greatest of all time, SAF is still the one when it comes to the PL. he wasn’t a coach, he just knew how to extract the very best from the players and staff he had and knew exactly when to freshen things up. They were there or thereabouts every season since the early 90’s right up until when he retired. Not sure we’ll ever see that again in terms of longevity. Pep genuinely brought something new to football, or at the very least finessed the Dutch thing of “total football” - a case can be made now that it’s on the wane but I don’t think his current team man for man is the best he’s worked with. He’s still the best currently. Ultimately I think having Haaland is somewhat of a curse because he had to change things to accommodate him and lost a little something of what made them that good. Wenger also modernised the game in many ways and aside from the success I think he forced others like SAF to raise their game. To go a whole season unbeaten still to this day is remarkable. Klopp has to be part of the conversation but cannot say he’s been better than the others mentioned above.

It’s all subjective though on current form. Historically, Emery has won a lot more than Howe. Both are excellent managers though an either can get the upper hand on the other on any given day.

“Eddie is was 3 weeks 5 weeks ago” 😂

The only thing that matters is that they guarantee it.

Eddie Howe when being asked about when Botmans scan will be.

Well at least it sounds like they know how much it will cost, I found those comments quite positive actually. Sounds like they’ve made a decision too. Not worried at all about the part financing, it’s backed by PIF, they’ll be looking for a line of cheap credit.. billions are still billions even if you have 800 of them. They just won’t want to spend it directly from their own pocket in one go given that increased costs are usually likely in any project this size. Flexibility to add more in as needed is what the project needs.

The drop off between some players is perhaps not as severe as it seems at times. We seem to have found a bit of power back in the side, but that won’t last if he starts picking the same team week in week out. Midfield is crucial in that sense. On last nights evidence, Miley is an able deputy for either Bruno or Tonali. Willock looks almost fit again and Ramsey still settling in although yet to impose on a game, but again, either can step in for Big Joe. Curious to see if Miley can gel with both Bruno and Tonali in the side. That may be our strongest midfield now?

U ok hun?

Already commented on this. City was a free hit essentially, it was the away form that the issue has been. I didn’t go overboard whatsoever after Marseille midweek, like plenty of others did. Am more than happy to be wrong in terms of predicting results when we play like that. Still only our first away win and it’s basically December so let’s see if it can become consistent now. We’ve somehow found energy in our play though. EH trusting the larger squad will be key to this. Be nearly tempted to rest Bruno against Spurs if it means we can keep that energy going.

If Pope’s distribution was better I could easily forgive the very rare brain fart he has in his locker. But it’s clear what having a keeper who can retain possession through distribution adds to the mix. Eddie doesn’t just drop players though, it’s usually either an injury or suspension when someone else will step up and then he’ll deal with it then. He’s seen fist hand now what Ramsdale can do so I’d be very surprised if Pope just walks back into the team when he’s available.

Gave praise in the match thread. He got the team selection spot on tonight. We were far more direct and the passing was much improved aside from that 20 min spell. Much better than even the City game.