Teale's 'tache

I'm not going to go as far as 'must win', Burnley are certainly no mugs, but we need something from this game. What I really want is a full 90 minute performance, not one good half, one bad, no 15-20 minute lapse that costs us. I feel if we can just maintain the level we've got to in most games for the full 90 minutes we'd of picked up plenty more points. I'm not sure I'd make too many changes, Targett for Taylor possibly, Hourihane I'd like on the pitch but it doesn't have to be from the start. Grealish and McGinn both run themselves in to the ground the first hour or so every game, and bringing him on for one of them with 20-30 minutes to go if we need a goal seems like enough time for him to make an impact. Psychologically if we take the lead in this game we really need to hold on to it, if we don't I feel like it may begin to have a negative effect going forward.

Fully agree with this, it's a nightmare draw for them at the worst possible time. They really don't have the squad to handle all of the games they have incoming and surely can't just chuck out a team of nobody's to play against one of their local rivals, especially in what looks like becoming a potentially winnable competition, their poor start means they can't afford to rest players in the league, and I don't think they can rest players in Europe after waiting so long for it, losing their first game of the group stage hasn't helped them any either. Nuno's got some tough decisions heading his way by the looks...

I understand the frustration and the disappointment but there's a long way to go yet. It was always going to be a difficult start to the season because of all the new additions. There's cause for concern sure, we need to manage games better, try to control games more, we need to be more ruthless, we need to have a bit more belief, and in truth we could do with a bit more help from the officials, seems weird to say that after they have sent off opposing players in the last two games but both refs then gave us nothing for the remainders of those games, maybe trying to even it up, then factoring in the non Billing red card, the non Lansbury goal and the none penalty in this game, we've been on the end of some real shockers so far and it would be nice if they evened up sooner than later. I get the criticism of Smith but I don't think it's that straight forward, I think the players have a case to answer as well, they have to take responsibility for some situations, and make the correct decision more often, both individually and as a team. The subs bench isn't full of world beaters, making a sub is not guaranteed to impact the game in a positive way, I saw a stat during the West Ham game that we were joint top in terms of goals from subs over the past year, so Smith isn't a complete mug. He has made mistakes, and that is to be expected, he's new to this league too, how he reacts to those mistakes is going to be very important. We've been competitive in every game, a bit of luck, or a decision here or there, and we could be in an entirely different position. We aren't terrible, but we aren't particularly good at the moment either. We're inconsistent, making errors, and disjointed, and it's going to be this way until we start putting together 90 minute performances, it's all fits and starts at the moment. Isn't that exactly what you'd expect from a team with so many new players and light on Premier League experience? It's going to be a right scrap for us, for likely most of the season. I have faith they will come good, but there are going to be more bumps in the road. My main concern at the moment is fitness, we seem way behind on fitness, compared to pretty much every team we've faced. It gets to an hour gone in a game and we don't seem to have enough left in the tank to have an impact on the game. I'd love to see some stats on this, are we running too hard the first hour? Do we cover more ground than other teams? Is the system asking too much of some players in this League? We're 6 games in now, you'd of thought even if we weren't 100% at the start of the season we should be by now, do we do enough fitness work between games? Worrying...

Well, it was a bit... meh. I don't think either team played particularly well, we gave the ball away far too often, and in promising positions. However, at least when we gave the ball away it wasn't in dangerous areas which we have be prone to do. This disrupted our rhythm a lot, and resulted in a disjointed game with neither team really have sustained spells of pressure. We did create the better chances and at least managed to work their keeper multiple times, West Ham for all of the good attacking players we said they had before the game were poor going forward, just as culpable as us of making the wrong decision in the final third. The one thing they did do well (in the second half mainly) was to get the ball back to front quickly through our midfield, which I'm sure is something Smith and Terry will be looking at in the coming days, it was too easy to get the ball to their front three without having to play a long ball. On the plus side we looked solid at the back, the work rate from everyone was very very good, people have mentioned Guilbert gifting away possession and then busting a gut to get back and retrieve it, but he wasn't the only one, I saw El Ghazi, Grealish, Nakamba, and McGinn all do the same thing over similar/shorter distances. So as frustrating as it was that we were so poor on the ball, at least the players seemed to acknowledge their errors and try to atone for them. We'll need that kind of effort and ownership of responsibility for the rest of the season. We need to be much better on the ball though and I'm sure they all know that, we are still bedding players in to our system and it really shows at times. It's not only on the ball though, one of the reasons we lost possession so much was that the movement around the ball wasn't there, wasn't good enough or wasn't quick enough. We need to sharpen up, it will come, we just need to be patient. I think it's disappointing because if we'd of played well we'd probably of won the game, it was there to be won, but I don't buy in to all the doom and gloom. Yes, we need to improve going forward, but we created more and were more threatening than a much vaunted West Ham attack so it's not like we were completely toothless, star man on WhoScored? Fabianski. Our second highest rating on WhoScored? Grealish. I'm not saying we were great, but we weren't as poor as maybe it appeared. We have the potential to be much much better, and it will come with time, we've so many new players that need to get up to speed with the system, and they are doing it in one of the most difficult leagues in the world, we'd all like more points and maybe we even deserved a couple more, but I for one expected us to struggle a bit for maybe the first quarter/third of the season, what is important at this stage is that we continue to pick up points while we get all of these new players up to speed.

The Hammers look good going forward, we'll do well to contain that attack, though they are a little weaker than us at the back I feel. Whichever way you slice it we'll need a good performance to get anything from this game, and a full 90 minute performance would be nice. There's been too many 20 minute spells where we've lost concentration and made mistakes which have cost us, we have to eradicate those spells as soon as we can. I think this could be a high scoring draw, so pile in on 0-0!

Is it just me or is there a bit of a media silence on the Grealish incident? I know it got heavy focus on MOTD and some other TV shows, but online, the usual places I go to like The Guardian, Football 365, BBC Sport have no real mention of it at all, other than a side note at the end of a match report. In the Guardians 'Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action' our matches talking point is some meeting Hodgson had with the board after the game?! Is that really the biggest talking point? Sure there wasn't something else that happened that might generate discussion? If the incident happened in a game involving the top 6 teams we'd be hearing/reading about it for weeks, especially because of the international break, but such a controversial decision which is raging along on Twitter with every man and his dog having a say is supposedly not news worthy? ... just seems odd.

Match fixing has occurred in pretty much every other major league in the footballing world, with the amount of money in the Premier League I think it would be just as naive to assume it doesn't happen here. Why wouldn't it? I'm really not one for conspiracy's, but we've dealt with incompetent referees in the championship, this doesn't feel the same... and I can't quite put my finger on why. Just an open question to everyone, what would have to happen during a game before you'd believe a match was being fixed?

Haven't taken them yet, a little too young at the moment, one is 4 the other 6 months.

I wouldn't mind the swearing so much if it was necessary, but I can't put the podcast on with the kids around because of it, it's not used to emphasise any point so it just comes across as crass. I've not listened to the Gather 'Round the Lamp yet but will check it out!

I just can't seem to get on with the MOMS podcast, it just seems like a bunch of old chaps cussing for no reason, complaining about anything new or different, and making terrible Dad jokes. It's a shame because when they eventually get over themselves and concentrate on the actual football there can be some interesting opinion and insight, there's just so little of it. I enjoy the Villa View, there's a real enthusiasm with them instead of the cynicism of MOMS, and although they cover some other things and often stray from the football they always come back to it. It seems like a bunch of mates doing something for the love of it and that's way more appealing to me.

Palace's record is much better away from home where they can sit in and hit on the counter, so we should really set up fairly deep and let them have the ball for the most part, and then hit them on the counter when an opportunity arises, like much of the Everton game to be fair. I'd think it would be the same side that started against Everton, unless Smith wants to do something specific to stop Zaha. Not expecting radical changes. It would be very nice to get another 3 points on the board before the international break, but away points are tough to come by in this league, so I'd certainly settle for a point.

We switched to a back 4 almost straight after the World Cup, but have on occasion reverted to a back 3 in-game, away against Spain being a prime example. England are short of left footed center halves which has made Mings very much worth looking at for Southgate. It's also the reason Coady at Wolves has yet to get a call up, he plays in the middle of 3 center halves and has never played in a two at any level, so as long as England persist with a back four or until Wolves switch the way they play, he's unlikely to get the call. I'm hoping Mings get some game time, more likely against Kosovo than Bulgaria I'd of thought, but even if he doesn't, it's an incredible achievement just to get the call up. What a guy!

I don't really see how not playing all of your first team players is 'disrespecting' the cup, we have a squad for a reason and it would be unwise not to manage that squad when needed. We'll play a team we think is good enough to win the game, the only way you disrespect the cup is if you don't want to win the game, and put out a team to lose. Yes, we used to play 3 games a week in the championship, but a lot of those players aren't at the club anymore, Premier League games are much more physically demanding and take longer to recover from, and mistakes due to fatigue are more ruthlessly punished. I don't think the whole team will be changed, and I think we'll keep a strong bench as a back up, but key players might be rested or restricted to half a game. I see no reason why Steer wouldn't start, goalkeepers are pretty interchangeable and if anything he knows the team better than Heaton does so that's an easy change, he'll be our cup keeper like most teams have nowadays. Mings should be rested after his injury and I'd expect Hause to come in for him. Wouldn't be too surprised if Grealish and McGinn start on the bench and come on if required. I'd imagine Targett and Marvelous would be pretty disappointed if they didn't see any game time tonight. Konsa might consider himself a little unlucky if he doesn't get minutes too, it's a headache for Smith but one I'm sure he's glad to have! There's a balance to be found in these kind of line ups, will be interesting to see the team he picks.

I agree, I think it will be the same team. I'd expect us to try and keep it very tight the first 10-20 minutes after the slow start against Bournemouth and El Ghazi is more useful than Jota in those circumstances He's better at working back and defending his full back, and also his height is useful both defensively and going forward. I wouldn't be surprised if Jota comes on at some point though, depending on how the game is going. I think if we had some better options in his position El Ghazi would probably be out, I just don't see us moving our team around too much to enforce that change, certainly not moving our best player and captain out wide where he'll have less influence and have to work back half of the time. All that said, if El Ghazi doesn't perform tonight it is going to give Smith a headache going forward. Everton are a good team, but I've a feeling we might get a point out of this, I'm going for 1-1.

I haven't seen any of the shirts in person myself, but I'm not impressed overall. There's nothing linking the three kits together, the colour choices seem like a quick nod to nostalgia rather than a modern reboots of classics. I really don't like the colours used for the W88 logo on the first and 3rd strip, the colours on a whole seem a bit off. The designs are just... uninspiring. When you factor in all the other issues with sizes, shoulders, badges and it just seems a mess, not great when you are using the word 'iconic' in your marketing... The away is the best of a bad bunch I feel, although the home kit is growing on me. I don't think I'll be buying any of them, might dip in for one of the less circumspect training tops.

Does it include overseas sales? Don't underestimate the Trezeguet effect over in Egypt, I would image he's sold a whole lot of shirts over there...

You absolutely cannot give anyone in this league a 2 goal start, we can pick apart the rest of the performance as much as we like but if we continue to make those kinds of mistakes we are going to lose a lot more than we win. You cannot plan for your most experienced player to make a mistake like that in the first minute of a game, and I don't care if you get a shout or not, you do not step over the ball in your own third of the field, these are basic errors that have cost us, unforced errors. The real shame is we utterly outplayed them for the rest of the game and there should be plenty to be excited about. In both games, it's been 20 minute spells that have cost us, we've actually been good enough to win games, but we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot, full concentration for the full 90 minutes or you get punished, that's the biggest lesson we have to learn in this league. I think it will come, but the quicker the better. It's difficult when we are blooding the new players, I understand that, but time is not on our side, we have a horrible run at the end of November/beginning of December and we need to pick up as many points as we can before that comes along. I'm still pretty confident we've got enough to do well, and I like a lot of what I have seen, we have been a little unlucky too, but we have no points. Somebody said it earlier, but the sooner we get some points on the board the better.

This is exactly how I see it, Hourihane has done a cracking job for us at DM out of necessity, it's not his preferred position, now we have 2 new DM's I expect him to be used further forward, once they have settled. I trust Smith to know when that will be.

I know many are saying they'd bring in Targett for the Bournemouth games and I can see exactly why, he brings a lot more going forward and we should be attacking Bournemouth at home. However, Bournemouth's main threat will be the counter attack and Fraser down the right hand side the most dangerous, so I can see an argument where Taylor may keep his place in mind of that threat, he's far less likely to get caught up field. Will be interesting to see which way Dean Smith goes, he doesn't often err on the side of caution.

Reading the last few pages, it's very interesting how differently people see his game. I don't think we can read too much from the Spurs game, not only was it a baptism of fire for him, but I also feel he was given a pretty specific role to try and hold up the ball and not to drop too deep. The results were mixed, in the first half he seemed to hit the deck too easily and get distracted by the decisions or lack there of going in his favour, he also started to drop deeper and deeper as the half wore on, at one point he seemed to be no more than 10 yards from his own box. Then I don't know if somebody had a word or he figured it out himself, but he got his head back in the game and seemed to contest more and hold his position more. This continued second half, again with mixed results, but the intent was at least consistent. His main issue in that game was that he had little to no support, we couldn't get bodies close enough to him, and he was contesting every ball with 2-3 pretty big Spurs defenders, so nothing was in his favour. I'd expect against Bournemouth things will be stacked a little more his way and so we'll see a truer reflection of his abilities and also we'll hopefully see how Dean Smith intends to use him in our attacking system. From what I've read and seen in pre-season he does like to drop deep and get involved in the play, and this is likely why his goal scoring record isn't as impressive as some, he doesn't set up camp in the danger area, but it gives the center halves marking him a decision to make and will help to create space for others. Look at the McGinn goal, although a long ball from Mings, the defender decides to follow Wesley and stays too tight getting caught under the ball, McGinn making great use of the space created behind him. This is a definite ploy, but one we couldn't use often enough at Spurs because we couldn't get runners close enough to him. I believe when he was at Brugge they played two up front, so our system with him being the focal point is pretty alien to him, factor in the pace of the Premier League, being in a new country etc. and it's easy to see why he struggled against Spurs, hopefully we can get more bodies in and around him against Bournemouth and see what he can do!

The Maher guy was just quoting from a press conference, now also being reported on the official site... https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2019/08/15/the-presser-bournemouth So, yeah

Most of the time but not always, occasionally a team will allow you to speak to the player while the fee is still being haggled over, just to speed up the process as much as anything. It would be incredibly odd if we sold him now though, considering how few options we have up front.

Ever heard of a piggy back...