I assume they're not going to customise the bar in our honour this time marra VS Eddie Howes constantly nackered mags at work

[Howmanheyman 43933]

38 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

 

I thought it was the type of game that would suit Elanga. I was wrong. he needs space to run into to be effective and the unwashed didn't give him any after they scored. Agree about his football IQ. He seems quite limited technically when he has to run at defender with the ball at his feet. 

 

 

 

He has fucking loads of space to run into before they scored, he's just not very good this season in this team.

[The Fish 12574]

49 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

It's starting to feel like a lot of our business over the summer might have been panic buys. Thiaw is the exception but then we'd been chasing him for a good couple of years so had done our homework there. The others though - Elanga was the first signing during a window when it felt that pressure was mounting around our inability to bring anyone in, Ramsdale wasn't the plan, Woltemade wasn't the plan, Ramsey was opportunism, Wissa maybe would have been on the radar either way. It's still obviously better to have all of them than not, but I very much doubt this team looks much at all like what Howe had specified he wanted prior to the summer window opening.

Elanga has been on our RADAR for a long time hasn't he?

 

 

[YorkshireExile 90]

Quote

Elanga has been on our RADAR for a long time hasn't he?

 

He made sense when we could assume Isak was gonna be here for a while and Murphy was shit. Then Murphy discovered how to cross and Isak threw his toys out of the pram. What we didn't then do was adjust the plan, almost certainly because we didn't have anyone at executive level thinking strategically. The damage that wanker Mitchell caused is incalculable.

[Holden McGroin 9903]

Ramsey has been our radar for ages as well. He needs a run of games before we can fully judge him though. I think Villa fans said he had one injury too many and had never rediscovered his form.

[Rayvin 8362]

I'm not saying by the way that Ramsey won't come good, or even Elanga - I'm just saying that based on how the side seems to be functioning, and the players we went for ahead of those that we ended up with in certain cases at least, I doubt this is what Howe was really after for the shape of this team coming into the season.

[The Fish 12574]

I want to be clear, I'm not saying that we had a good window, just that this wasn't a window of scrambling around for random targets in a panic. We definitely will have bought players that we hadn't planned for pursuing yet, and maybe gone for players further down the list due to Isak's departure. But Elanga, Ramsey, Woltemade, Thiaw were all long term targets. 

 

 

Ideally we would have kept Isak, and bought Ekitike, Trafford, Thiaw and maybe a couple of others. 

[Christmas Tree 6697]

Well escaped from my en-suite for a quick sarnie and haven’t had chance to read anything on here for a good while, but I feel incumbent to record my disgust in the rightful place before printing another mug.

 

What a fucking shower of shit that was from the players on the pitch and the manager. Why the fuck is he persevering with Elanga. I don’t care what some of you saw him do for Forrest, the bloke looks nothing like a premier league footballer. They’ve well and truly had our pants down.

 

Then there’s Jacob Ramsay. Another “big “ summer signing that can’t get on for Joe fucking Willock  

 

And of course Big Nick. Can’t really have a go at him as our over the top transfer price and need to play him every game, is not his fault, but I can’t ever see him as a number 9 in the prem. He doesn’t even seem capable of winning any headers in the air. 
 

The Isak saga has well and truly fucked us something rotten.

 

And Howe. Well he’s the one persevering with players like Elanga even though it’s obvious to Stevie Wonder that it’s not working. He just seems to have no answers to our woes this season and I think his overlords will not only be bewildered with the millions spent on bang average players, but also his style of football is now too often, an absolute shadow of the way we used to play. I still don’t want to see him go, but I think he needs a very good January window, followed by a good run, to keep the vultures away.

 

Overall, thoroughly pissed off with such a timid performance against a pretty poor team.

[Craig 12383]

51 minutes ago, The Fish said:

I want to be clear, I'm not saying that we had a good window, just that this wasn't a window of scrambling around for random targets in a panic. We definitely will have bought players that we hadn't planned for pursuing yet, and maybe gone for players further down the list due to Isak's departure. But Elanga, Ramsey, Woltemade, Thiaw were all long term targets. 

 

 

Ideally we would have kept Isak, and bought Ekitike, Trafford, Thiaw and maybe a couple of others. 

 

We exited the summer transfer window 'ill prepared' for an assault on 4 fronts. I don't hold any one individual solely responsible for that, but I also absolve no one of blame either. 

So many factors at play that worked against us in that regard. 

[Craig 12383]

23 minutes ago, Christmas Tree said:

He doesn’t even seem capable of winning any headers in the air. 

 

Few points on this:

1. Is this opposed to daisy-cutting headers.

2. He certainly won one within 60 seconds of the restart.

3. His goals against Wolves & Arsenal suggest otherwise.

[The Fish 12574]

10 minutes ago, Craig said:

 

We exited the summer transfer window 'ill prepared' for an assault on 4 fronts. I don't hold any one individual solely responsible for that, but I also absolve no one of blame either. 

So many factors at play that worked against us in that regard. 

 

 

Absolutely. 

 

Ashworth, Mitchell, Eales, Isak, Owners, Howe, Wissa. All interconnected, all overlapping, all messy, all avoidable. 

[Gemmill 63200]

Woltemade is class and will come good given time. He was bought after the season had started, hoyed straight in, he swam instead of sinking (thank fuck), but now he needs a rest and some patience. 

[Dr Gloom 26353]

2 hours ago, YorkshireExile said:

 

Mebbe we should just ask Isak to come back? Cheeky offer in January for around 60M? 😳

 

[Craig 12383]

There's not many of us who reflected on our approach to the summer as being anything but calamitous - though some did try to see positives in the transfer business being 'net improvements'.

 

Didn't detract from the reality that there's seldom been a less well prepared summer (the year we got rid of Robson probably eclipses it) so the outcome shouldn't really be a surprise to us. 

What it needs to do is serve as a wake up call to those running the club that it cannot happen again. There's a need for Howe to be having some difficult conversations behind closed doors, articulating he can only work with what's in front of him. 

[ewerk 39233]

3 minutes ago, Craig said:

There's a need for Howe to be having some difficult conversations behind closed doors, articulating he can only work with what's in front of him. 

 

That's giving Howe a free pass. Given the lack of DoF it's likely that Howe had complete control of transfers, he's responsible for the players signed and the fact is that as a unit they are underperforming.

[Kid Dynamite 9340]

56 minutes ago, ewerk said:

 

That's giving Howe a free pass. Given the lack of DoF it's likely that Howe had complete control of transfers, he's responsible for the players signed and the fact is that as a unit they are underperforming.

It seems like Elanga, Ramsey and Thiaw were on the wanted list. They were all linked months if not years ago.
 

Trafford was obviously our first choice GK target, but Ramsdale has been consistently linked since Howe joined as well. 
 

Wissa can't be judged yet, and Woltemade is hardly a flop. I think he's scored more goals than Sesko, Isak, Gyokeres, Cunha et al. He was also a bit of a Hail Mary given we'd been shafted by Isak and fucked off by Ekitike, Delap, Cunha, Mbuemo and Sesko, and only had days left in the transfer window. 
 

I think the point I'm trying to make is, whilst we didn't get our first choices in Ekitike, Mbuemo and Trafford, we still appear to have got players Howe was happy with and had been on his list for a while. He wasn't chucking mud at a wall and hoping it stuck. It's up to him to make it work. 

Edited Monday at 15:59 by Kid Dynamite

[Craig 12383]

1 hour ago, ewerk said:

 

That's giving Howe a free pass. Given the lack of DoF it's likely that Howe had complete control of transfers, he's responsible for the players signed and the fact is that as a unit they are underperforming.

Not giving him a free pass - he's got a level of responsibility for this as well, but if he's not articulating the fuck ups above have in no way helped the situation, he's falling short. 

He shouldn't have had to be filling in for DoF, and whilst he has responsibility for what has been signed, the fact he's had to have that is on others, not him - coaching is his area of expertise.

[Christmas Tree 6697]

1 hour ago, Craig said:

 

Few points on this:

1. Is this opposed to daisy-cutting headers.

2. He certainly won one within 60 seconds of the restart.

3. His goals against Wolves & Arsenal suggest otherwise.

Im talking about when the ball is kicked up field and his job is to get on the end of it. He virtually always loses out to the defender, which is disappointing given height.

[Christmas Tree 6697]

1 hour ago, Craig said:

 so the outcome shouldn't really be a surprise to us. 

 

Fucking cheek  

 

Wasn’t a surprise to me back in September when I said we were in for a mediocre / setback season and was rounded on by all and sundry and told I couldn’t see the evolution  

[wykikitoon 28542]

[Craig 12383]

2 minutes ago, Christmas Tree said:

Fucking cheek  

 

Wasn’t a surprise to me back in September when I said we were in for a mediocre / setback season and was rounded on by all and sundry and told I couldn’t see the evolution  

All hail CT, the 'anti-Gemmill'!

If that's your idea of victory sunshine, it's a horrendously hollow one. 

[Gemmill 63200]

Quite happy for CT to be called the anti-Gemmill. 

[Rayvin 8362]

Maybe I'm just a sucker for any sort of earnest sentiment from players, but I really do appreciate Bruno saying these things. He may not be a leader on the pitch in the same way Trippier is, but he is closer to representing the 'heart' of the club than any player I've seen play for us in quite some time.

[wykikitoon 28542]

I'll be honest. I'll be surprised if we are prepared for this transfer window too considering how we have only just got people in above Howe 

[wykikitoon 28542]

Just now, Rayvin said:

Maybe I'm just a sucker for any sort of earnest sentiment from players, but I really do appreciate Bruno saying these things. He may not be a leader on the pitch in the same way Trippier is, but he is closer to representing the 'heart' of the club than any player I've seen play for us in quite some time.

He's really stepped up this season.

 

What he struggles with in the pitch is keeping his emotions down when a cool head is needed. I didn't see anyone go up to Nick after the OG. Put their arm around him and tell him it's fine let's get on an win it 

[Craig 12383]

2 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

Quite happy for CT to be called the anti-Gemmill. 

I never doubted it for one second.