Number 6

Don't think I've ever seen Atwell have a good game.

Slightly lucky to not get a second.

The balance definitely isn't right at the moment.

Based on which data? Understat has quite a few teams below us and FBref has West Ham below us. The combination of lowish quality AND low volume is a big issue for us.

Depends on the positions of those 8 shots.

Bournemouth away results so far this season: 1-1 v Forest 3-2 v Everton 0-3 v Liverpool Also lost 1-0 away at West Ham in the cup. Little lucky to not have the full set without a win given what happened at Everton, which is their only win this season (though hopefully they get another tomorrow). We've also got 48 hours rest on them.

I think it's the Everton and Walsall performances which are more concerning. Arsenal will get better results against better teams than us. Interestingly the games we have lost have been against the sides currently sitting 3rd, 5th, and 6th, so clearly decent sides in decent form. Got to put some lesser sides to the sword now though. Bournemouth haven't been great away, with that late Everton comeback masking it a bit. They're a good side but need that first win on the board and it's a decent fixture for that.

They're a good side now, really aggressive press, and will prove a big test. They play Monday night though and we're at home so really need to get at them from the off. Need that first win on the board ASAP.

Thought today was ok to be honest. Result probably better than I expected and a little unfortunate to not take a point in the end. Yes we rode our luck but most teams will be under the cosh there this season. Worried by how we continue to put in poor first halves though. Really need to be getting on the front door more and fans will demand this against Bournemouth.

I reckon the second yellow was bottled because Arsenal have pressured refs after recent red cards.

Very confusing to start Ayew at home to Everton and not away at Arsenal.

I think there does need to be better protection for clubs who develop these youngsters. We haven't seen the fee for Nyoni yet but it won't be substantial and it makes it so much harder for clubs like us to improve, especially given the caps and restrictions on spending money ourselves. Feels like the club should have some claim to future transfer fees.

I don't feel like he is on the brink of being booted yet, but really don't think he'll be given excessive time here if it doesn't pick up. Not only is the current season slightly underwhelming and he doesn't have credit in the bank, but I think we've become a more attractive prospect with the threat of the points deduction removed. We can't attract better players yet with the window closed, but we could use it to upgrade the manager.

Would like 7 ish points from that run at least really. We can discount Arsenal but the other 4 games all offer decent opportunities to pick up wins.

The only positive is that we somehow got through. Absolutely abject.

Given some of the games they've got coming up and suspecting he's not on crazy money I could see Wolves chopping O'Neill. Having said that West Ham have got much nicer games but that maybe makes the sack more likely if they don't beat Ipswich for instance. First manager who goes will probably force other's hands a little more but I don't feel like we're particularly close to any kind of movement yet.

Well my option of wait and see doesn't seem to be there. I don't think now is really any different to the international break in Oct: what will you really learn from Arsenal and Bournemouth? Sticking with the November international break as a point when we'll have enough to make a fair judgement and decision. Whether that's stick or twist depends on results.

Very minor thing happens... ...Gary Neville: "Ooooohhhh"

Surprised at some of the positive noise about Smith. It was basically chaos under him. Look at the crap he served up away at Fulham for instance. Daka on the wing too. Was a mess.

Switched to a new phone last week. Google to Google so it handled all the copying over. No issues upon entry. Just posting here in case anyone is worried about moving over to a new device.

He's a Prem player. If we go down then he will be snapped up by a Prem team. Excellent today.

Not gonna sack him anytime soon when we commit so heavily to what the manager wants in our transfer activity. Also 3 from 5 with only losing 2 isn't too shabby. Performances themselves cause a lot of concern, but I think he's around for at least another 5. The Bournemouth, Southampton, Forest run will determine the outcome.

Little too tentative and cautious again. 3 draws in 5 but we'd have been better off converting one to a win and one to a loss, feasible with a braver approach. Thought Everton were the better side and largely won the duels all over the pitch. We came back into it but it was messy and incoherent. Fortunately there are a handful of really poor teams this year again. Just got to be better than 3.

Sure. And if we stay up with shocking xG data then I won't be complaining! It has been well proven to be a good indicator of future performance though. Having said that I don't think anyone at our club looks at it. If they had they'd have seen the worrying data from 21/22 and sacked Rodgers in the summer.

There's already some worrying signs in the data which sort of back up what everyone can see. We've taken a defensive approach and this, over the 4 games so far, means we have 4 teams who have conceded more xG than us: Southampton, Ipswich, West Ham, and Everton. So probably the teams we expect to be our peers. Note that two of these teams have already played Man City though so data will be skewed with the small sample. Attacking wise it's looking pretty bleak. Only Ipswich have created less xG over their games, and they've played both Liverpool and Man City. The sacrifice isn't giving us much of a benefit defensively and is completely neutering our attacking potential. This is also ignoring game state. Fairly sure the xG we have generated has mostly been once we're a goal or two down. We've also lost on xG in each of the 4 league games. I know some don't like this data, but it's backing up all the subjective frustrations and showing some really worrying signs.