nyblue23

8 hours ago, Wiggytop said:

I was hoping the same, it will be a great revenue boost for them, there will probably be loads of juniors at the game at £5 each which I think is great. If they play like they did yesterday I will be a tougher game than were expecting, but I’d hope we’re a bit better than Bournemouth who were really poor IMO.

They just parked the bus and Bournemouth’s attack couldn’t figure it out. They won with 18% possession. I’d like to think our front line has a bit more creativity about them than Bournemouth’s.

4 hours ago, MikeO said:

Out for 3/4 weeks.

Ouch.

7 minutes ago, duncanmckenzieismagic said:

All things being Everton , I was hoping for Bournemouth !

Watching the end of that match, it looked like Bournemouth was about 20 times better - they just couldn’t finish. I’ll take the risk even though it would hurt even more.

36 minutes ago, Cornish Steve said:

At this point, it looks like it might be Boreham Wood.

Wild. 5th tier. Good story for them, but we got pretty lucky with this draw. Bournemouth had about 20 opportunities to score in the last 10 minutes and just couldn’t get it done.

I’ve been one of his bigger critics but if he can get back to playing like he did yesterday with regularity, happy to have him in the team.

54 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

 

Can't remember the last time I saw us string together that many passes, especially when most of them were forward.

29 minutes ago, StevO said:

I’ve seen so much shit defending the last fella saying you can’t do anything with these players, they are all shit, they don’t care, they have no quality. It might have been Brentford, but a team without DCL or Doucoure, had Godfrey go off injured early on, had about four days training with Frank. Suddenly these shit players can pass a ball, control a game, one touch passing, build play right across the pitch, and most importantly score four goals! 

It was never about the players' ability (excluding Rondon, Delph, and now, sadly, Coleman). It was about their attitude and their confidence. Those two things you can coach, and I am similarly excited.

One thing that has to be said is that if anyone still had doubts before today that Rafa needed to go (or that he never should have been hired) those should be long gone.

We look a lot more assured on the ball for the most part. As I mentioned before, we're not just trying to play direct balls up the field and hope for the best, but making strong runs forward. Most are petering out in the end, but at least we look a bit threatening until the final third.

The three CBs have looked about as good as I've ever seen in a back 5 for us. The fullbacks, on the other hand, look pretty awful. Myko playing safe but putting some players in some awkward positions and giving the ball a way a few times carelessly in the final third. Hope he gets some confidence because he's all we've got there now that Godfrey looks to be out for a while.

Just now, badaids said:

They seem to have a microphone right in the middle of the Bees fans.  Don't know how many are there but it sounds like 1000s.  Earlier they were singing 'This is a Library'.

2,500.

Get in Mina!

1 minute ago, Bailey said:

Just a little worried about a lack of width high up the pitch. We are completely reliant on the full backs and they are both a mixed bag.

Probably too kind to call Mykolenko a mixed bag at this point. Still not writing him off, but haven’t seen him do anything particularly well at this point and he just looks extremely nervous out there.

Holgate looks a lot better for what it’s worth.

3 minutes ago, milesey05 said:

Said Hamstring on SSN?

2 minutes ago, plaidharper said:

Looked his knee from the ESPN feed here in the USA.  Also hoping it is not too bad...

Yeah couldn’t put any weight on it walking off. Seemed more like a knee injury to me but hamstring would obviously be a bit less serious (though also not great given how long those tend to nag).

Hate to see that from Godfrey. Off injured… looks like an ACL/MCL.

Looks like he’s told players not to be afraid on he ball and to make runs forward. “Enjoy the ball.” We’re not just hoofing it forward like we were under Benitez which is encouraging.

38 minutes ago, Palfy said:

Well if we are not going to give him 3 or 4 games to settle in and the first 3 or 4 games don’t go as you believe they should have or expected, are you then calling for his head straight away. Don’t you think expecting perfection straight away is the sort of unrealistic expectation which contributes to us being one of the poorest teams in the league, let’s just give him some space before we call another manager a failure. Our first game is a cup game not a league. 

No not calling for his head and wouldn’t be calling him a failure. Won’t be his fault if he can’t get them, but we really need results right now given the rest of our schedule so just emphasizing how important these matches are. Really hoping for the new manager boost.

And yup, but our next three are all winnable league games.

1 hour ago, Palfy said:

His biggest test I feel is to get the defence working as a unit, obviously he’s brought Cole in to add his vast experience being one of the countries if not Europes best defenders, to implement a way forward in that department.

Not expecting to much straightaway giving him 3-4 games to get to know his players and what they are and aren’t capable of, then I will be for expecting to see a marked improvement in results and performances. With the new players that have come in this window he has options we just have to trust that he knows what’s needed and has what’s needed to implement it. 
Everything is gamble no matter who you buy or make the manager, but the cards have been dealt for the end of this season and we are definitely all in, let’s hope we are holding the winning team. 

God I hope it doesn't take 4 games. We need to pick up at least 5 points from the first three league games, probably more like 6-7.  Those three are against Newcastle, Leeds, and Southampton. After that, we have a 9 game stretch including matches against City, Tottenham, West Ham, Man U, Liverpool, and Chelsea.

He better go straight into our coaching staff when he’s done playing.

56 minutes ago, StevO said:

I mean because they are leaving in five months. Not the age when we bought them. 

Got it. Was thrown off by the line about this being the age group to be shopping in, but yeah. Trending downward in age definitely a good thing.

6 minutes ago, RPG said:

So, we have just bought another Ross Barkley?

Did Barkley ever score 37 goals over 3 PL seasons?

https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/news/manchester-city-tracked-everton-full-back-vitaliy-mykolenko-for-a-while-prior-to-premier-league-transfer

Is Moshiri feeding Sports Illustrated false info to make himself look better? 

48 minutes ago, Cornish Steve said:

I'd say we had an excellent window. I'm really not sure about El Ghazi, but maybe he too will be invigorated by the optimism that's suddenly flowing through the club.

I wouldn’t mind him warming the bench for the U-23s with Rondon, to be honest.

7 hours ago, StevO said:

Van de Beek is 24, Dele Alli is 25, Mykolenko is 22, Patterson is 20. 
 

This is the kind of age group to be shopping in. 
 

Gylfi is 32, Tosun is 30, Delph is 32. 
 

Progress? Hopefully. 

While your point is taken and I agree for the most part, Gylfi was 27 when we got him, Tosun was 26. Meanwhile, Barry was 32.

Most importantly, none of these guys seem like massive overspends for what we have the potential to get from them.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k477OphzLQA

While he’s definitely not the playmaking No. 10 we’ve all been hoping for since God knows when, two things get me excited about this video of his 50 PL goals:

1. He actually knows how to time and adjust his runs, something that no one else on our squad is capable of doing consistently (how many times do we see DCL whiff at balls because he was a millisecond too late?).

2. He reacts to the ball better than anyone else on our squad. I never realized how like Kane he is in that respect; so many of these goals are just him predicting exactly where the ball will ricochet and tapping it home.