I agree Burn has played really well. But was at fault for one of the goals against Barca. But he’s a leader. He’s a solid CB. I look forward to seeing him and Thiaw.
Agree. When we have fit players why play others out of position. Tino at RB and Hall at LB for me all day long.
I am guilty of criticising Howe when he makes what I perceive to be mistakes. But I also give him massive credit when he gets it right. And he’s right more than wrong definately. But Thursday night we knew we would come out of the blocks early doors to unsettle Barca and get some goals to settle us. But he’s benched Murphy and Woltemade. In my head that was a mistake. Do you agree?
Can anyone really make an excuse for this sides issues from set pieces? These are your bread and butter.
I get more worried the other side will score from our free kicks and corners, that's how bad this situation is.
Has been without question, but we need to get botman up to speed because he’s a superior footballer and burn has played a lot recently. I think today we could see burn botman and Thiaw play in a back 5. It’s something Howe likes for some reason even though it hasn’t worked.
I wanted Woltemade to start too, I said that pre match. Whether it was a mistake, we'll never know. I know EH said Big Nick needs a chance to settle in and (with Wissa injured) he could be playing 7 games in 17 days. So I can understand the caution from Eddie. But do I also find it frustrating that we could have beaten Barca with a more natural striker on the pitch and Gordon at LW instead of Barnes? Yes, 100%.
Burn scored at Wembley, he's a hero, but really he's not been outstanding in general. He's certainly better at CB than left back and he's the 3rd best cb at the club, so he should get games and minutes.
On form, he's ahead of Botman. But Botman is a much better CB technically. If he gets back up to full fitness and match sharpness, then Botman should start ahead of Burn. But I think Burn has been tremendous for us and yet takes a lot of stick from some fans unduly. Tripps is over rated by the media. Hall offers way more. Thiaw looks like he could be classy. Tino is already classy.
Woltemade like Isak at times is going to spend quite a bit of time looking isolated if we stick with the same cbs. Burn is allowed to go gallivanting into areas he shouldn't from set pieces, which seldom pays off, but otherwise the back line doesn't like pushing up the pitch. They like to sit deep, burns momentum is backwards when he passes the ball. This issue means the midfield struggle to get high enough up the pitch and the fwds end up with a huge gap between them and midfield. I'm just someone who used to play at a low level and that watches football, but I know what I'm saying on this... I'm sure you all do, so why isn't it being addressed?
We have no chance today. Eddie simply can not beat Bournemouth. Ill eat my hat if we get something from this.
Given who was available and fit, no. It was an option but not a mistake. Gordon and Barnes had good chances to score and one of them, at least, should have been taken. As Gordon showed later on, he can take those chances. If you look at Barnes stats re goals and goal assists, he is capable of scoring. So starting with Gordon was a reasonable option given Wissa out injured, Big Nick not match fit and the other option was Ousala. Who is to say Big Nick would have even been in that position never mind scored. With Gordon in the middle Barnes is the obvious choice as otherwise we would be playing square pegs in round holes. For me it was another option. Not one I would have chosen. Not a mistake though as there was some sense to it.
If people are unpleasant it's unfair I need to see the team sheet Today.. If we play tripper Schar and Burn we'll get torn to shreds regardless of who plays the striker position. You cannot play 3 defenders that are so utterly devoid of pace in this game and get away with it this season. The balance of pace in this side is actually really weird... Other sides have it spread throughout the team... Everton are probably the only other side still putting themselves about like we do instead.
I can’t recall if Osula was on the bench. I personally would have started Woltemade. But Howe was maybe looking at our fixtures and thinking we can’t burn him out. I do totally understand your point though. And I wouldn’t be saying what I am if Barnes and Gordon had scored. I would likely have been saying that Howe was a genius.
