OTF

There were two of them completely open in the middle of our box, FFS.

Bloody hell. Soft as.

The Wiss baby! What a ball by Schär and Murphy dangerous ball yields a result.

I'd heard he was working his side gig running the Elf Academy at the Metrocentre.

Do we know why Hall is not in the squad?

Sure it will take time to perfect, but it's not changing from rocket science to neurosurgery. These are top level professional athletes.

Yes but with changes in personnel changes in the system may also be required.

To the end of the season I reckon. Ramsey has has less opportunity but showed some glimpses early, but he's fifth choice* in our midfield so the opportunities will be limited. I refuse to acknowledge that he's behind Willock. I think Howe may have to look at some different formations once we have both Wissa and Woltemade available and I'm hopefully that this will give these guys an opportunity. I'd like to see a 4-4-1-1 with Ramsey in left midfield and Elanga in right midfield with Wissa at the top and Wolte behind with Bruno and Tonali CMs. This could give Elanga more space to run into than playing as a winger.

Nice 7:15AM kick off for this. Being at home will give us confidence and the chance to overwrite the memory of the weekend. Murphy to start and score.

What's wrong with Schär and Thiaw?

He was taken to hospital in an ambulance whilst the match was still on.

I agree with some of your post but this is terribly wrong. Howe really struggles to not select his strongest team, the team he selects he expects 100% commitment to victory regardless of the opposition. I don't think it was about conserving energy at all, he was trying something different away from home in an attempt to arrest poor form. The biggest reason it didn't work was Woltemade's ridiculous own goal. Other than than Ramsdale had to make one good save. Our lack of cohesion in attack was down to two key factors, the first being their intensity in closing down and their commitment to fouling to limit our ability to build momentum. They did an OK job of this, though they should have been down to 10 men when Brobby already on a yellow studded Miley. Gordon I think actually had a reasonable game at times, he made a couple of runs that could have seen him in on goal but we didn't have the vision to find him. Elanga on the other hand was the most baffling selection, Murphy I think is probably just about as fast as Elanga when on the ball and crucially works well with the rest of our team. Barnes too should feel aggrieved to have not started.

For me the tactical decision to sit back was a mistake. Elanga and Gordon may be quick but they're far from prolific and have given no indication that they can work well together. It gave them copious amounts of the ball with time on it which built their confidence. Though they did next to nothing with it it still gave them the momentum to eventually mount the slightest bit of pressure which resulted in one of the worst OGs you're likely to see. When we subsequently made some substitutions we instantly looked better and more cohesive. But the damage was done, they were in the lead, full of confidence flying high at home. It was a tall ask to overcome it. I feel like instead of playing to our strengths Howe tried to focus on their weaknesses, despite us not possessing the personnel to take advantage of them. Hindsight is always 20/20 but a player like Woltemade was almost useless for most of the game. They marshalled Tonali well and used fouls effectively to stop us getting any momentum early on. But truth is that whilst they weren't very good we were clearly worse.

Unlucky Wissa not to get onto that, that run showing something we've been missing.

If only he was subbed off a bit earlier and it was Wissa running onto Willock's through ball.

Good save Ramsdale, that was thumped.

Barnes already looking so much better than Gordon.

Burn off to hospital in an ambulance 😞

"Kev, if moral truths are constructed doesn’t that make ethics vulnerable to cultural whim?" "Only if we assume construction means arbitrariness, Nige. I see it more like language, shaped by humans, yet capable of precision, constraint and of course evolution."

FFS, they didn't look likely.

The state of these two...

Hall has been good. Bruno too.

Now I wonder whether Howe changes up our tactics for the secpnd half. He was hoping for counter attack with us sitting back, it's why we didn't press up the pitch and why we started with Elanga and Gordon. Trying to exploit their slow central defense. It could have worked, there were a couple of times where we broke after forcing turnovers, one in particular where Gordon was in acres of space but Elanga and then Wolte couldn't find him.

No excuse for the referee missing that.