Dr Gloom

i still think we should have gone for a RW. he never looked like a £70m CD - what a fucking farce that whole saga was man. they better get their act together in january or this season could be a damp squib

i like longstaff but he isn't a technical player. tonali is an upgrade because he works hard like longstaff but he can also pass the ball forwards as well as sideways

his passing range definitely didn’t live up to the early promise when he looked like a young Michael Carrick at times

Good news: I’m not attending this match. Bad news: a senior retiree has started the thread. The result: a resounding loss, continuing the horror run. 5-2 to us. Fall five by Zola. Two wonder goals for them scored by Cisse

I just caught up with the thread and I saw things quite differently to most of you. I think we were unlucky not to escape with a point. Isak guilty of missing two big chances and also culpable for their goal, giving the ball away cheaply. I didn’t think Chelsea were significantly better than us yesterday, despite the hundreds of millions they have skunked on players. We were always in the game and created chances. We also missed Gordon’s tenacity. When Barnes isn’t scoring he can look quite pedestrian. I’m struggling to work out why Tonali gets hooked after an hour every game. But I still see an improvement in performance levels compared to the start of the season when we were playing poorly and picking up points. Just need to sort out the finishing.

groin injury, apparently

the best flair players also put in the defensive work in. Someone like Doku, for example. He’s like a hard-working ASM in that he’s unpredictable - some games his tricks and dribbles come off and some games they don’t.

yeah, I agree. And he’s clearly the past not the future but the better sides usually have that sort of player that n the bench. An unpredictable wild card type who can potentially win you a match. Eddie is a class coach but if I’m going to be critical, his in-game management is often too predictable. Like-for-like subs, the same system etc. ASM isn’t an Eddie Howe player - that’s obvious. He doesn’t work enough to start games for him. But I’d quite like a maverick option on the bench and to see Eddie roll the dice a bit more on occasion. Perhaps he would be more inclined to do so if he had a better version of maxi to call upon. Rather than the likes of Miggy and Murphy

ASM was one of the few saleable assets so it made sense to get rid at the time. Same goes for Chris Wood. However I’d take both in the squad at this stage tbh. Both players are flawed but Wood is more likely to be fit than Wilson and looks in great form and ASM is the sort option it would be good to have on the bench. Eddie sometimes struggles with a plan B and we the squad lacks an unpredictable maverick type winger.

really sorry to hear this news man . one of my oldest friends in the world has gone down the conspiracy theory/incel rabbit hole. The sad thing is he used be liberal and tolerant but I guess his life maybe didn’t turn out the way he hoped and it’s easier to blame other people. He’s an intelligent bloke too but so much of this unregulated content is very seductive. the mainstream media have a lot to answer for but the alternative is much more dangerous

made up for you mate. celebrate sticking two fingers up to the most awful disease

Meanwhile, at the telegraph

and yet you couldn’t ask Meenzer to start the Chelsea game thread quickly enough. Funny that

I’m not a massive fan of xG either but in this case it supports what I saw with my eyes. We created enough high value opportunities across both games to have won them nine times out of ten. The problem was our finishing, not the overall performances, which were better statistically than the games at the start of the season which we won. I’m less worried about how we’re approaching things than some of the bed wetters online. The main problem is Isak and Gordon are missing chances they took last season - and Jacob Murphy is seemingly our first choice RW when he really should be a squad rotation option. We’d all be asking questions if Krafth was our first choice CB. He’s a similar level to Murphy - an honest pro but you want to use him for cup games and injury crises. Murphy shouldn’t be starting this many games. That’s not on Howe

The Gloom reign began promisingly with our best performance of the season. It ended with cries of “not my king”. I understand how Charles must feel after his trip to the Australian parliament but take comfort from knowing I will always be OTF’s king. Andrew has got a free hit against Chelsea as no one expects us to get a result. Brave but it could be the dawn of a new and glorious age. Gemmill typically talks a good game but has the minerals of a Chinese mouse - he was never going to step up in our hour or need.

And yet I still seem to get to more than you, Yorkshire plastic

The results from the past two games have been disappointing but we really should have won both games. We accumulated 35 shots and xG of 4 goals ffs. Not the manager’s fault that we couldn’t finish our dinner. I blame the thread starter

It is mad. The one glaring weak spot in the squad consistently ignored because Miggy had a purple patch season a couple of years back. Two Ashley era players competing for the starting spot. Neither Gordon nor Barnes want to play there and both do their best work out on the left. Has to be addressed in the transfer window along with a replacement for sick note Wilson who Howe actually trusts to play - ie not another Osula

I’m going to the game, which probably means we lose. Sorry lads. 3-1 to us. Cisse with two wonder goals and a rare finish from Nile Ranger

I’ve got loads of sympathy for Howe. There aren’t many coaches who would have got as much out of these players. Our squad has been improved but it’s still littered with Mike Ashley era players. Mad that people on social media are calling for him to go given he hasn’t been backed in the transfer market since last summer

not really Howe’s fault he wasn’t backed in two consecutive windows. The football these past few games has been much better but we are woefully short at CF and RW. If you don’t improve the squad you go backwards. how the fuck we didn’t dispatch Everton and Brighton is beyond me as we were the better side in both games.