Duncan Wraight

Anyone got footage of Joelinton allegedly booting off at Gordon at full-time?

Hall, then Joelinton, then Ramsey

Barnes was typical Barnes - canny shite for most of the game, but scored an important goal. Not worthy of MOTM for me

Think I'd actually do it the other way round - start with Murph and at 60ish bring Elanga on to scare them

Murphy is a panicker when we're under pressure, and if we bring Elanga on late his pace might make them think twice about pushing too high

it definitely helps that he's called Lewis, and that he's a bit short and stocky, and has sticky out ears, and is white

because if he was called Luiz Halilo, and he looked a bit more exotic, he'd be worth £250m and he'd already be playing for Madrid

a bit like I scored Thiaw lower for the penalty, I couldn't score Gordon higher because he did a few nice flicks and a few nice runs etc. but a) he was only on 30mins and b) he didn't actually achieve anything. like Elanga, couldn't convert

explained Sandro in another msg, passing was horrendous

😂

think we'll get a few years of both :)

personally I just see it as

- does the manager make subs to shore up the defence or control the midfield
- do the players try to waste time where possible

it's not some black magic that some managers have and others don't

unfortunately it's not his first though. there have been 5 ? this season leading directly to goals

he's still young though as CBs go, so I think they'll lessen over time

my favourite attribute of his is when he comes forward to attack the ball, and often he can take a player on too and relieve a lot of pressure on our defence

my least favourite is the little brainfarts which lead directly to goals 😭

yes I agree defensively he was really important for us

but I just couldn't give him higher than a 6 because his passing was soooo wayward

if we watched every pass he made in this match on a video, I reckon we'd see at LEAST 50% of all of his passes longer than ~3 yards missing their target

7 I think probably? perhaps even an 8 if we'd kept a clean sheet because he'd been pretty good under pressure a few times

but undoing all of that hard work by sticking your foot out in the box in the 94th min is a hangable offence for a centre back

I'm not sure what else we could do really in terms of "game management"

it was just naivety from Thiaw to stick his leg out when Olmo went running into 4 players looking for a pen

hope nobody is suggesting Howe should've done something differently there

all Olmo wanted there was the penalty too. was a block of like 4? of our players, and he ran headfirst into them

wasn't trying to skin them. just going straight for the pen

... and we gifted it to him

agreed, really good

was still him that stuck his leg out though *shrug*

it was nowhere near the ball. and it's all Olmo was looking for

really, really naive

Probably final thought for tonight but I think what we missed against City was Ramsey

We had absolutely no control in the midfield without him. He doesn't play in the same way as Bruno but he's still very good at keeping the ball, and today he progressed it really well with some incisive passes

No, I don't think so. He was fine for the rest of the game, sure. But centre back is a position, like GK, where making mistakes leading to goals is literally the first and foremost criteria for their ratings

Gordon was PERFECT for that high line. And even at Camp Nou I think we can abuse that if he's fit

Will Bruno be back by then? No? Maybe Miley?

Obviously a gutter finish but otherwise I thought we were genuinely excellent right up to the final ball/decision

Ramsdale 6

Hall 10
Burn 7
Thiaw 5
Trippier 7 / Tino 7

Ramsey 8
Sandro 6
Joelinton 9

Barnes 6
Osula 6 / Gordon 7
Elanga 7 / Murphy 8

Ramsdale saves this np

Took one for the team there Willock, right choice

To be fair he's been canny fucking wank tonight 😂 But he never gives up, ALWAYS makes the striker-like runs

Fucking legend

WHAT A FUCKING CROSS THAT WAS OH MY BASTARD GOD

1000000000%

I honestly haven't got words for Lewis Hall

He is an absolute fucking joy to watch. He constantly amazes me with his ball control and dribbling, and his ability to read the game

He's fucking 7 years old or some shit man. MENTAL

Joelinton has been absolutely fucking class again btw

Proper full on beast mode

GREAT run from Osula and GREAT pass from Hall, just couldn't get the first touch he needed

Oooof again man that's at least 6 I've seen where he's missed his target by a significant margin

Has put a couple of decent crosses in, and he's really aggressively trying to drive the ball forward which I love. Couple of shots too - neither brilliant, but on target

Not the best. Need to see something converted. But decent