Dr Gloom

I’m not suggesting for a moment that a bullshit artist such as me knows more than Eddie Howe btw. If he didn’t think Tonali was ready for that role at first then fair fucks. We can both now agree he is ready because he’s been one our best players in that position in our recent run

I don’t think Howe did know that his best midfield was Tonali in the six role and Bruno back in the eight, or he would have tried it sooner. I’m glad he has given it a go as it appears to the best way to get the best out of them both in his preferred 4-3-3. The other way might be to play both of them sitting in a 4-2-3-1, but we don’t have the personnel to play that way - a proper number ten, in other words, and Howe has shown no signs he wants to set up like that. One thing is clear - Tonali looks much, much more comfortable in the deeper role than as the right sided eight, where as Bruno can seemingly perform both roles brilliantly. The team, which is the most importantly thing, functions best the way Howe has it set up now.

I mentioned Longstaff because there was weird narrative pushed by some on here and elsewhere (not saying you were pushing it) that our best midfield contained Longstaff and not Tonali. It’s obvious that Howe now knows that isn’t the case. Long may the Bruno/Tonali partnership continue to flourish! Edit - it’s also not just three games against limited opposition. He was our best player in the victory against Chelsea in the cup too, completing with two midfielders signed for more then £80m, including a World Cup winner

why doubt him though? I trust our scouts based on their success rate in the market so far. He’s been faultless since playing at the base of our base of our midfield (the single pivot, if you please) with Bruno ahead of him. It’s a relief to see him finally starting to live up to his potential after the 10 month suspension tbh. Sean has lots of qualities, is a useful squad player and a great option for certain games, but an Italian international really ought to be starting ahead of him. Now he is on merit.

exactly

Central midfield? That’s where he played for Milan, though I gather they play with two in there rather than three so I think his natural game is to sit deeper like his is for us at the moment to brilliant effect. I don’t know about you but I’m delighted to see Bruno playing further forwards again like he did when he first signed for us. We finally have some creativity again in central positions for our forwards to feed off instead of Sean, love him, taking three or four touches before passing it sideways.

I would agree, Gordon looks much happier down the left. Murphy does provide balance down the right and has contributed well in this run against the lesser teams. I think the general turnaround in form is massively down to getting Tonali in the team. We’ve looked loads better with him starting in the deeper central midfield role ever since the Chelsea cup game. Teams are no longer playing through our midfield and how nice is it to have two central midfielders capable of passing the ball forwards?

all it took was putting both in their best positions instead. It’s pleasing to see we’ve finally put the argument about us only winning/looking balanced when Sean plays to bed

I don’t think we can afford proven premier league players, which is why I found the chase of Guehi very strange given the fees mooted. We have shown before when signing the likes of Bruno, Botman, Gordon - even Isak, which at £60m for a striker is decent value, that there was a value to be found betting on potential instead of the finished article, which is why I think bakayoko is more realistic than Bowen. He already has tons of caps and v impressive goal contributions data. But he hasn’t played in the PL so you get him for 30-40m less. That’s the end of the market we’re forced to operate in because of psr. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look to upgrade RW or CB. We just need to go back to boxing clever - and taking a bit of a punt in the process. That’s what Mitchell was brought in to do: sign players who can go on to perform to the level of Bowen or Guehi before someone else gets in there first.

I can’t remember a fall from grace in football quite as dramatic what’s happened to Man City. It’ll be interesting to see if they turn it around as they look a shadow of the team that won four titles in a row. No doubt they’ll have rediscovered their form by the time we play them next

He also looked level on the lane with the Villa defender but who cares? Burn saw the funny side which is easier to do when you’re four up in the 90th minute

we’ve been heavily linked with this bakayoko kid for £25m. who knows if he can adapt to the PL but the fee sounds like the sort we might be prepared to spend if we can get rid of Miggy for about £10m

Miggy and Murphy are both fine to make up the numbers but we’ve had those two competing for RW since Rafa was in charge. That needs to change. A couple of years ago I would have said keep Miggy but his time is up. Murphy hasn’t turned into a first team player overnight. We still need to urgently upgrade that position if we’re serious about competing for top 4 every year

Darren Ambrose, who was co-commentating on the stream I watched, said you wouldn’t see a better assist than that this season. Hard to disagree

I’m happy for Murphy’. He’s a good enough as a squad player, cover a few positions and is good enough to allow better players a rest against this sort of opposition, in cup games etc. We still desperately need a new RW. None of our options in that position are really good enough for where we want to be.