Disco Stu

Last time I brought this up we kept a clean sheet in our very next league game so I'm reviving it in the hope lightning strikes twice. Our defense has recieved so much investment but we've ended having a worse defensive start than last season. I think this teams inability to hold onto the ball is a major factor. We've resorted to bypassing the lines up to an ineffective Che Adams and we've stopped pressing the opposition allowing them to pile pressure onto an inexperienced team.

Anyone else finding Blackmore obnoxious right now?

That's tragic 😂

It's not been a good year for this club.

A beneficial experience for them I hope.

Well, if it's us or them he'd definitely choose them. We'll struggle to sign quality players from the bottom three which was why the forward position should have been priority number 1 last summer. In all likelihood though, Leeds are being played.

Agree. He's too green for an intense dogfight season in the top tier. Hate to say it but we should have signed Dragowski. I think Bazunu will come good eventually but I hope it's not too late to save our season.

We're not getting Thomas Frank guys.

There's a paywall for me.

He puts baby oil on his arms so that opponents can't pull him back so easily.

To be fair they've only had Sasa for 45 minutes and Costa for 30 minutes. I predict they'll score more goals than us this season.

What particularly frustrates me is Wolves beat us to Sasa Kalajdzic, lost him for the season due to an ACL injury, so then went out and got another striker on a free transfer. Diego Costa no less. I'm not necessarily suggesting we should have signed Costa (I'm not sure he would have had much interest anyway to be honest) but I'm just highlighting how the Wolves management/hierarchy identified just how vital a reliable goalscorer is to survival in this league. In that regard, they were proactive, we weren't.

100% yes to Benitez!

It would be quite fitting if his last game for us was a 9-0 defeat to City.

Romeu's departure is haunting us big time and Lavia's injury was almost inevitable after we lost our backup (sods law and all that). Not signing a striker and not having adequate CDM cover will be our undoing. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to me that we've solved our goalkeeping problem either.

I knew I was being too optimistic hoping for a draw 🙁 How much longer do we have to put up with this?

Nothing installs confidence like an Armstrong and Perraud double substitution 😍

Anyone here actually surprised?

Frantic in defense and slow in possession. It's gone mostly as I expected in terms of our inability to control the game. Counter-attacking is arguably the right way to go given we don't have a proper CDM to help us take control of the midfield. We need to see more from the forward players, better and quicker decision making.

This lineup feels much more positive. I think we'll struggle to control the midfield though, I'm hoping for a draw.

I can't see a win for us until we get Lavia back. If we start with Elyounoussi I predict defeat.

No chance he's going to the World Cup then. I'm trying to work out how Henderson has nipped ahead of him after he wasn't in the initial squad selection?

Southgate only has one tactic. One dimensional, slow, cautious and tepid.

Oh dear England.

Elyounoussi has played 6 games in an advanced midfield position contributing 0 goals, 0 assists and his pass completion rate is one of the worst in the squad. Mara and Edozie have both shown they have something about them but he is taking their game time and putting in poor performances. His supposed work against the ball isn't anything to rave about (certainly not enough to justify keeping him in the starting 11) and a large contributor towards why we can't keep clean sheets is because our defense has no outlet. He is the worst player in our team for giving the ball away and inviting pressure back onto our defense. If Ralph insists on a player that has extensive experience in the position, I'd prefer him to give Stuart Armstrong the opportunity who this season has had a significantly better pass completion rate, made more key passes and he's much more mobile. A midfield paring of JWP and Diallo has never worked either. His options may have been limited but Ralph could have done more to mitigate that clear weakness. It doesn't appear we can play this system without a Lavia/Romeu type player cleaning up. That has been proven consistently. We only had one new outfield player starting today. This isn't a case of a team not gelling, it was tactical ineptness and don't even get me started on the in-game management.