Chez

This is a huge problem. Ings papered over the cracks with his ludicrously high goals to shots ratio. We haven't created a huge amount of chances for a few years, but if you have a striker that scores out of nothing or takes that one chance, you can play pretty poorly and get away with it. Adams and Armstrong aren't clinical enough. I thought Armstrong did well when he came on, adding real impetus into our attacks, but when that one great chance came his way, he fluffed it. Adams worked hard as always, but again, when that chance came, he didn't score.

never understand why people care so much about who is captain in football. They do the coin toss, they lift the trophy. That's about it. Make KWP, Adams, BK or Carleta-Car skipper and what changes? Fuck all.

We really miss Ings winning those near post headers from corners. He scored a few goals getting in front of opponents and turning JWPs corners into something good. You don't have to big, but your movement and desire has to be there. Agree with you about the midfield. Weak as piss.

Could not agree more.

what a great chance for Armstrong. Fluffed it.

Maybe could come out and punch the cross. The header is about five yards from the goal line. Need to see it again a few times. No chance with the second.

Great strike. If that was McCarthy in goal, "beaten at the near post again" would be posted on here. Adams perhaps should have scored before hand.

Bazunu should come and claim that IMO.

nothing glaringly bad, but nothing overly great either. If you judge the half based on this being his full debut and him being very young, then he's done OK, but he hasn't improved us immediately.

Bazanu...got away with that drop. Very poor.

Everton are running the game. We are shite. I guess the only good thing is we have won games when we have had limited possession.

Gray waltzes past BK. We got away with that one.

Seems to have picked the team most on here wanted. looks a busy kind of player, but he's small and I wonder if he really is quick. Hope he has a stormer today though. Left back hasn't been a strength.

no idea. Pope looks terrible with the ball.

are you saying that Sterling is better than Ely? If so, yes.

best England player by miles in the previous game.

Hope he kicks on from here, because overall he has been pretty frustrating during the previous three years. He's still young though, so maybe this is his time to blossom. The one thing he does have is the ability to beat a man. We need to see him do that week in week out, not once every three months. We are always desperate for players that can dribble, create something from nothing and be a genuine threat to opponents. He needs to be one of those guys.

I assume it was a free transfer? I wonder if we had to pay him a lump sum to make it financially worthwhile for him - assuming Besiktas don't/can't pay what we have been doing.

they are absolutely flying at the moment. They took us apart at the end of last season too, so are going to be very confident. They seem to score goals both from slow and fast build ups. This feels like a very tough encounter to me. We'll really need to get our tactics right.

very average. Well done.

McCant was too shit to be described as average.

He plays on the wing. Over the last 30 years, pretty much every winger, barring Giggs and one or two others, starts well, but can't then continue to beat the fullback time after time, loses a bit of confidence and is sold. Redmond's lack of outstanding pace always hamstrung him. He knew he couldn't race past a player even if he had gained half a yard, so more often than not he turned back to ensure he retained possession. This prevented us making cutting attacks, which frustrated fans, but ensured we kept the ball, which managers appreciated. I liked him more than many (I hated how people jumped on his back based on their preconceived ideas, even when he didn't deserve it in that specific game), but even I had to admit he was poor at times. When fans started to let him know, any last remnants of confidence disappeared. He did well to come back from that, although his relationship with fans seemed tarnished afterwards. When on song he could skip past a sucker with ease. He didn't however score nearly enough goals his good approach play created space for. I recommended him on the annual HCDAJFU thread about ten years ago. Probably not my best suggestion. I wish him well in Turkey.

It never has before. Like you say, not sure the third midfielder can be Aribo. Lets get AMN in there with Diallo and JWP. Brentford stuffed us at the end of last season and are on fire. Lets try and get hold of that midfield area. Treat them with the respect they deserve.

I was really impressed by Edozie. He did fall over his own feet to ruin one attack, but every other time he made something happen. There was a great nutmeg in there and real intent to go past the defender. He looked better than his youtube Prem 2 highlights. I got some Phil Foden vibes, but he looks to dribble past people more. Not sure there is a shot like Foden has at the end of these dribbles, but looks exciting. Very confident young man straight from the off. I was worried he might not be ready to step up. He is.

if he had stood still it would jave hit him and gone in. What did you think of the keeping for their goal? What do you think of Bazunu so far?