verlaine1979

Argh, back to the bad old days of JWP leaning back on every shot he takes from open play.

Get Boufal or Redmond playing more centrally.

Eh? We've created almost nothing and conceded 2 (would've been 3 but for King's big toe). What's your standard for playing badly?

VAR has been very good to us so far this season.

He's quite clearly not a full back.

It's pretty weird. Left back is generally not one of those positions where if a player is only 75% fit you still stick him on the bench in case he can make a difference late-on in the game. Nor would you generally use an unfit player to replace an injured one or to shore up the defence if you're holding a lead.

Yup, despite managing once to get his head to the ball to positive effect, he can still be rubbish in the air.

Vestergaard is rubbish in the air. He's tall, but got absolutely no leap, so even when he wins it he never generates any power.

Are you also annoyed by Shane Long's facial expressions and habit of standing with his hands on his hips bemoaning cruel fate when he loses the ball?

Andy Reid - was really annoyed when Spurs nicked him on deadline day. Thought he was going to be our new Le Tiss.

Six years of scouting, and no one thought to check if he could run faster than JWP.

The Liverpool performance has been seriously overrated on here. It was 40 minutes of huff and puff against a team waking themselves up.

Keeper was at fault for their second as well - weak kick to a Liverpool player about 35 yards out.

On the basis of performances so far, so will we.

Nice Cameos from Boufal and Djenepo aside though, I thought we were dire. RH has to address the one-pacedness of his current starting line-up, otherwise we can look forward to the same turgid stuff every week, occasionally enlivened by subs if we're still in the game late on. Trossard was the outstanding player on the pitch, and didn't really deserve to be on the losing side. Wanting players to run themselves into the ground every week is fine, but won't get you very far if their top speed is about half that of the players on the opposing side.

I've always been a fan of Boufal - I'm referring to those people who are pretending he's a different player just because he got an assist today.

Boufal looked exactly the same player he's always been. He likes to run, but the idea that he never looks for a pass at the end of it is guff.

Seems like a front three of Redmond, Boufal and Djenepo might be the way to go (if one of them can play on the right). 4-1-2-3 might work, with Romeu behind Hoj and JWP and those three ahead. Means dropping Ings and Adams, but I've not been impressed by either so far.

Thought Villa looked alright once they shook off the awe of playing Everton after ten minutes.

Waiting time for a visa interview in London is about 2-3 weeks at the moment, and there's no way to expedite it at all.

Agree with this - the midfield really struggles to contain opponents because Romeu, Hoj and JWP lack dynamism. No lack of effort, but you can see them plodding after the ball, always arriving just too late to close anyone down. Redmond and Adams aren't that quick either, so our pressing from the front is again more effort than attainment. When Djenepo came on, you could immediately see what genuinely fast reactions look like. Hopefully we can integrate him and Danso into the first XI soon, as without them we must be one of the slowest teams in the league.

Djenepo's cameo a reminder of just how leaden-footed the rest of the team are. Thought we huffed and puffed first half against a team that we're still limbering up, and were then extremely lucky to still be in it by the time we were gifted a goal. Oh, and seemingly every member of the defence made an error that either did or should have cost a goal today.

More concerning with Long is the fact that the image of him running tirelessly and always putting in 100% is also a memory of several seasons ago. He's now just as likely to be standing around with his hands on his hips lamenting as he is dashing uselessly between capable defenders. Not saying he doesn't still show up and work hard from time to time, but the idea that you can expect maximum effort from him every game is just fantasy at this point.

If he's dreadful, he's had some randomly very good games against us in the past.

Exactly. First half we edged and could've given us a good platform for the second half. But Burnley came out with far greater energy and intent (even if their game plan remained the same) and we're left talking about whether JWP should've taken a freekick or not.