tajjuk

We'll have to see how they do against Sheff Utd but they are clearly better than most expected under Bruce. I also just can't see 3 wins a row, it's almost like crazy talk considering our start to the season but we are better away from home so there is a chance, but I'd take a draw.

You can never make assessments until everyone has played everyone, we had one of the hardest first 10-12 games out of anyone, pretty much for the rest of the season we have the easiest fixtures. We are also going in the right direction whilst other teams like Bournemouth, West Ham, and Everton are going in the wrong direction with harder fixtures. Starting to look more like a team as well and it looks like the team with a bit of confidence are buying back into the philosophy a bit more. Hopefully we can now go pick up a point against Newcastle (who are no mugs it seems under Bruce), 3 wins on the bounce seems to be asking too much. Just think as well we'd currently be 12th if we had held on at Arsenal. And we are amazingly only 6 points away from 6th FFS, if we manage to go on a run we could suddenly be looking at challenging for 7th, not relegation which is crazy to think about considering the results. Ings getting injured is a massive worry, don;t know where we'd be without him, he now has more goals than Kane and Salah this season.

Long shouldn't be anywhere near starting, I don't begrudge him being used in that sort of role, impact sub to cause problems with his running and physicality, plus by all accounts he is a well liked member of the squad and I think with morale as fragile as it is there would be nothing gained from sidelining him, but he consistently misses good chances that is the issue.

I said last year when we signed him that if he stayed fit I thought he had 12-15 league goals in him, if Klopp rates a player and wanted to keep him then he is going to be decent. The problem was the IF, and last year he didn't stay fit. This year (so far) he seems fit and is doing the business, could easily get 15 goals this year if not a few more. Nice also to see one of his goals contribute to a win and all his hard work not being let down by defensive errors.

People seem to forget the guy injured himself last week somehow in his kitchen, that is probably why he didn't start, both because he was a little injured and because he was a bit of a plonka. I reckon he might start vs Norwich and yes it should be ahead of Redmond who has gone off form a bit. Boufal and Djenepo running at people will cause problems for any defence in the league IMO, yes their end product might be wayward at times, yes they might have inconsistent periods but they are the two players that can produce something out of nothing, and if they work hard as well defensively (which they seem to) then they should be in the team. I doubt PEH will be dropped, Romeu is not the same player, and Armstrong is injured. Wouldn't be surprised to see Valery come in though, he's had a little spell out of the team probably to reflect on his performances and hopefully will now come back stronger. The centre-backs are a much of a muchness, it's pretty much Bednerak + one other, so you either let a partnership form and hope that helps, or you keep dropping them for mistakes hoping they stop making them until we get a better one in. Stephens was at fault for their goal and IIRC Vestergaard is now back fit, so that change might happen.

I think the way they play will suit us, they play out more from the back and Arsenal don't press very well so didn't put them under pressure and they will I think commit far more men forward than Watford did. Ings, Djenepo and Boufal could cause them all sorts of problems.

Could be any result, its hard to gauge teams performances vs Arsenal, though Norwich looked decent today, they pretty much scored from a deflection and their only decent chance. They also looked like conceding from pretty much every corner as well.

How were we totally over run in midfield? We had 64% possession ffs , we had nearly double their passes, way better pass success rate. Watford had little intention of playing through the middle, they sat deep and narrow, then looked to play direct into the channels for Sarr and Deulofeu. They bypassed their midfield most of the time. Will Hughes was in their midfield 3 and made 18 passes in 76 minutes ffs and Doucure made barely 25 successful passes in the whole 90 minutes. Also the team selection made sense because it was pretty much the same team that had outplayed Arsenal on their own patch, he had to make one change because Armstrong was injured and Boufal was a doubt because he injured his toe. I don't think he got it wrong at all, he had a team that played well last week and so they earned a chance to do it again, they just didn't put the same performances in, if he plays the same starting 11 against Norwich, then you can maybe question him because a few there probably do not deserve to start. This whole JWP debate is just messy, some massive over reactions, he's clearly a good player and he showed it tonight, he was far from brilliant but he worked hard, tracked back, tackled, intercepted and tried to be available for passes. He also had a game defining moment, and if Long was not dog ****e at finishing then his great cross to Ings would have helped create another goal. He also produced a great flick in the first half that almost went in as well. A few of his corners were poor, but set pieces do not come of all the time, anyone who has played football or golf or any sport where you repeat the same action, knows that even if you practice lots some hits are going to go wrong and what he tries to do with corners is whip them in with pace, curve and dip, which is a hard skill. This means it can sometimes go a bit low and doesn't clear the first man, but at the same time is very dangerous when it comes off. What pleased me today was he did the business in central midfield, he's looked under Ralph more capable of playing there than he probably has in his whole career IMO, I think previously he has struggled to play as centre mid, being a bit of an enigma player with good skills in various areas but not quite being good enough for a clear role in the team, but he has over the last 9-10 months added some more bite and physicality to his game, and a bit more nous playing in the middle.

The first half is honestly understandable, we have been completely gash at home for a while and we have been worse at breaking down teams that just defend at home for even longer, and you could see the nerves and the pressure there on the players because of that, terrible home record, pressure to win a 'winnable' game, an opposition that just wanted to sit in and defend, it was the exact opposite of last week. Watford just sat deep and lumped it into the corners, any chance they had was our own making and that was where the goal was from (though I think Stevens was unlucky with it). Then going forward it was aimless at times, we needed to be more patient, work Watford but instead often rushed the pass or lumped it into the corners as well where there was no space because they were defending deep. Second half was much better and hopefully that win will give the players confidence, its two monkeys off the back, its a home win and we held on to a lead for once. Just have to follow it up against Norwich, but they have to start better than that, honestly this team seems to be able to only play 2nd halfs, the seem to coast through 45 minutes, get a bollocking from Ralph and then show what they can do. I can't remember a good first half from us this season, aside maybe Arsenal last week. Also need Leicester and Man Utd to do their jobs tomorrow to keep Everton and Villa 2 points away. Come Wednesday we could be easily out of the relegation zone, Brighton are away at Arsenal, Everton have Leicester then Liverpool, both away and Villa have Man Utd then Chelsea, also both away. In fact Evertons next 5 is Leicester, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd And Arsenal, 3 of them away. If we are not above them by the end of the end of the December then we are down.

Probably depends on the market, whilst I doubt any PL club wouldn't know our situation, clubs, players and agents in other leagues might not, so aside from appeasing the fans (and then you are creating false expectations if you can't find the right player or agree the deal) I can't see anything positive for the club to admit or boast they are going to sign players and have money to spend in January. You could of course say nothing which probably would have been the better option.

He does make a fair point about not blabbing publicly about having funds to spend. We'll find out in January I suppose.

Do that and you'll be in the exact same situation because Bertrand will want to leave because he is not playing. Only clubs playing in like the Champions league can realistically have two quality options for each position. We can neither afford the wages or the transfers fees to buy an upgrade on Bertrand when he is probably one of our highest earners, it would just be madness, especially when other areas of the squad need far more attention. I'd rather have a stronger first 11 than a deeper squad, a back up to Bertrand is not going to keep us up, new centre-back and midfielders more likely is.

People also need to remember that if Liverpool come along and go we are going to pay you £150k a week and give you Champions league football, then its the player is going to go whatever. The same happens to Ajax, happens to even Dortmund, happens to most clubs, people talking about Leicester seems to forget they lost Kante pretty much straight away after they won the league, Mahrez only stayed so long because there were not many suitors, they also lost Maguire this summer and I am sure if the likes of Utd, City, Liverpool go for someone like Maddison he'll go as well. Our problem was not re-investing the money well, we did it a few times (with players like Tadic, Mane and VVD) but couldn't repeat the trick. None of which can be really attributed to Crocker, but if he can find more talents, bring them through better, and improve the standards of coaching/bring in better coaching staff more in line with his ideas, at all levels, then it will be a big positive. I am not sure his appointment will have much immediate effect bar maybe who comes in for the scouting role and maybe we might see some new coaches, the impact on the academy etc. will take longer to implement and even longer to show.

Still one of our best players, yes long term he needs replacing, but for this season spending money on upgrading one of your strongest positions seems wasteful and hence not a priority. We do because we need a creative playmaker in the Tadic mould, all our attacking mids currently are very samey and have a similar style, they run at people, they are not so good at through balls, clever passes etc. that unlock defences. If we want to back Ralph and his style, then that means an attacking playmaker in the style of someone like Tadic or Forsberg or David Silva etc.

Still one of our best players, yes long term he needs replacing, but for this season spending money on upgrading one of your strongest positions seems wasteful and hence not a priority. We do because we need a creative playmaker in the Tadic mould, all our attacking mids currently are very samey and have a similar style, they run at people, they are not so good at through balls, clever passes etc. that unlock defences. If we want to back Ralph and his style, then that means an attacking playmaker in the style of someone like Tadic or Forsberg or David Silva etc.

Whilst I don't think Red Bull are going to take us over, there are a lot of links between us and Red Bull, considering Ralph, Sparkes, Mitchell, Mane. -------------------------- Seems a good appointment, but we need the head scout or whatever, and more help for Ralph in fresh coaching blood, hopefully this appointment is just the start and we'll see more changes in the backroom staff, coaches, etc.

Whilst I don't think Red Bull are going to take us over, there are a lot of links between us and Red Bull, considering Ralph, Sparkes, Mitchell, Mane. -------------------------- Seems a good appointment, but we need the head scout or whatever, and more help for Ralph in fresh coaching blood, hopefully this appointment is just the start and we'll see more changes in the backroom staff, coaches, etc.

To be fair we caused problems against Liverpool at home and probably should have taken at least a point but as usual didn't take our chances, and all their fans and the media that fawns over the them claimed they had a bad day. We also did it to Spurs and Arsenal last season as well. Ralph's way of playing if all the players are on it and committed causes problems to anybody, but that is problem low confidence makes them going into their shell and if they aren't all in the system doesn't really work with half hearted pressing and some of them sitting off.

Surely 'priority' would mean as a must have upgrade for the first team, therefore left back is not really a priority as we would basically be buying a back up. Centre-back upgrade, centre-mid upgrade and attacking mid upgrade for me.

On Adams the biggest problem is the way were are creating chances, how many good through balls have you seen us create? Not many to my mind and from watching Adams at Brum a lot of his goals were from through balls, him moving off the shoulder of the defender and finishing first time across the goalkeeper the supposed 'scuffed' finishes, but we lack any sort of playmaker to do this since Tadic went. Again if we look at Ralph's team at Leipzig that did very well, both Keita and Forsberg were good technical players who could pick a pass and play people in with slide rule passes, at the moment are midfielders are not good enough at this and the wide players we have are more run at people and cut in type players than people who will play cute balls in and around the box. The closest thing to a Tadic type playmaker is probably Boufal but he doesn't get on the pitch that much and he tends to take people on more often than not. At the moment we rush the final ball and completely waste good positions for easy finishes for our attackers. We do really well to win the ball back in the opposition third, catch them in the transition and then more often than not make the wrong decision or don't pull off the easy pass. Most of our goals and chances are more coming from forcing errors in the opposition and crossing opportunities. That is why I think we need more than a centre-back to truly implement Ralph's philosophy, we need a playmaker, someone who is mobile, works hard, but who can see and pick passes through the lines to do those direct quick balls he wants that creates opportunities for our front players. If you look at his 4-2-2-2, then we are missing the centre-mid playmaker, the Keita in his Leipzig system (we have two hard working defensive DMs that are ok on the ball in Hojberg/Romeu), we lack the more measured/creative attacking mid, the Forsberg in his Leipzig system (we essentially have 3 of the quick, direct dribbling type wingers in Redmond, Boufal and Djenepo) and the mobile target man, the Poulsen in his Leipzig system (we have 3 'Werners' essentially in Ings, Adams and Long, though nowhere near as good). All of our centre backs are of course prone to errors, so an upgrade is needed there, but to match his system, we really need those 3 missing components, especially IMO the two playmakers. Not only have we fundamentally failed to replace Van Dijk, we have also failed to replace Tadic and Lemina, who would both IMO work very well in Ralph's system (bot of course for various reasons don't/didn't want to be here). So whilst I think Bowen is really good, I am not sure he quite fits what we need for what the manager wants to play.

I'd take the Red Bull branding if we were as ambitious and well run as Leipzig.

I am pretty sure Bowen's contract is up at the end of the year so the price won't be that high, he's also I think the top scoring player in the championship for 2019 and this is now the 3rd season in a row he's scored at least 12 goals. Most recently linked with Newcastle, seems to have been ignored by the big boys for some reason. We don't really need him but at the same time would be a great buy.

Yeh it's nonsense to dismiss the opponent as 'having a bad day' every time we have a decent performance, Arsenal didn't perform well because we thoroughly outplayed them, sadly they have some world class finishers that will make the most of even limited opportunities. Can't fault the team for that performance regardless of the opposition, the question is whether we can repeat it.

My thoughts exactly if Arsenal were winning we wouldn’t have got 7

Apparently at Everton he tried to sign Maguire and Robertson from Hull and Erling Haaland before he went to Salzburg, but Everton turned them down.