Guys would you rather Howe sent them out all guns blazing and key players picked up injuries? It was boring because the opportunity to be boring and just get in the next round was there. Howes done exactly the right thing.
....leading them to be in the exact same position we are, ie in the next round. You do realise that 7 goals or 1 goal is exactly the same in this context, as all it achieves is a victory and progression to the next round?
I think we should be trying to lay down markers and prove a point particularly as weve been so poor except for a decent Man City performance. Took a penalty to beat Wimbledon, it’s not great.
Here's Howe's post match interview, which makes a lot more sense than your endless whining: "it is instantly forgettable from our perspective, I don’t think that will live long in the memory."But I remember the season when we got to the final, the game against Tranmere, the first game, 1-0 down, that looked a really difficult game. "We managed to scrape a victory that day, and it’s those wins that can sometimes create a cup run. "You have to battle your way through. It’s not always going to be the game that you want it to be. It’s an opportunity for us. We want to stay in the competition as long as we can. "The first one on Fabian was a clear no-penalty for me but Miggy looked like a foul in the box. "It’s job done, we’re through to the next round, that’s the most important thing always in these competitions.
BIt boring, bit drab but effective performance - Wimbledon came for the 0-0 and played well, realistically we should have been able to break them down a bit better but fair play to the Don's defended really well, got their face in the way of everything and we looked like we were in cruise control. 80% possession 4 time as many passes, 10 corners to their 1 etc etc. Would love to see the possession areas for the game if anyone has them? Into the next round is what its all about so it was a successful, if unexciting, night.
At least we might stop hearing noises from people about starting Osula... was always weird considering they've not seen him play and yet they wanted to just throw him in vs Manchester City last week. He's nowhere near ready.
I think it was a difficult game for him last night. Some of our passing was woeful and on the odd occasion he was played through the balls were either over hit or he wasn't quite quick enough reading what was going to happen initially. Same can be said for Willock on a couple of occasions. By the time he realised what was going to happen he didn't have time to react and get up to full speed before the ball would run out of play. Other thing I noticed last night was the failure on everyone to make o move in the box. Everyone just parked themselves on edge of area despite ball being played out wide regularly. There was nobody to aim for in the box as they all sat too deep.
I saw decent energy and skill from him , end product and getting into the right places was lacking. Seemed ok tbh.
I thought Osula was an odd signing at the time, and I didn't see him as a Wilson replacement, ie someone so young and who hadn't scored many against Wilson who always scores when he's fit. We had a fortune left over from the Guehi bid which could have gone on a far bigger name striker had we not already gone for Osula.
Half the squad needs replacing over the next 5 years. Replacing Wilson in terms of his ability won't be cheap. Osula isn't that.
True - even in the shorter term if you are looking at the squad then we are needing a big overhaul still - won't happen overnight but in the next 2/3 years we probably need: GK: New, Pope RB: New, Tino RCB: New, New LCB Botman, Kelly LB: New, Hall RCM: Tonali, New CM: Bruno, New LCM: Joelinton, Willock RW: New, New LW: Gordon, Barnes CF: Isak, New May even need to replace Pope in that timeframe as well...
Botman is a fair enough shout and added. Miley hopefully will reach the required level and will be a part of the squad regardless even if h's just there as a Home Grown talent but the three of them could end up being 23/24/25 in the squad places to make up the homegrown quota.
