Ipswich Town vs Newcastle United

[PaddockLad 17654]

1 hour ago, Dr Gloom said:

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.   

Not sure why you’ve mentioned Longstaff (3 times)  am talking about how Tonali was wandering through games like a lost sheep. That’s fuck all to do with Longstaff who I’ve never suggested was anywhere near good enough for where our owners see the club heading. Longy didn’t cost 50/60 million(?) and wasn’t a gambling addict before and after he joined the club though. Obviously Tonali couldn’t help himself , it would appear he’s an addict . He needs deserves and should get all the help he needs but now he’s receiving that help in a culture of openness it’s all on the player to perform. Thats why I was pissed off with Tonali, yes you could see he was a talent but he wasn’t doing it and after the circumstances of his suspension etc he, for me, needed to hit the ground running which he failed to do. I had him down as another in a long line of talented players who couldn’t quite get it together at SJP. And let me tell you, after 3 games v limited opponents this jury is still out on the the tally bastard 😑😆

Edited 9 hours ago by PaddockLad

[Meenzer 15719]

50 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

Not sure why you’ve mentioned Longstaff (3 times)  am talking about how Tonali was wandering through games like a lost sheep. That’s fuck all to do with Longstaff who I’ve never suggested was anywhere near good enough for where our owners see the club heading. Longy didn’t cost 50/60 million(?) and wasn’t a gambling addict before and after he joined the club though. Obviously Tonali couldn’t help himself , it would appear he’s an addict . He needs deserves and should get all the help he needs but now he’s receiving that help in a culture of openness it’s all on the player to perform. Thats why I was pissed off with Tonali, yes you could see he was a talent but he wasn’t doing it and after the circumstances of his suspension etc he, for me, needed to hit the ground running which he failed to do. I had him down as another in a long line of talented players who couldn’t quite get it together at SJP. And let me tell you, after 3 games v limited opponents this jury is still out on the the tally bastard 😑😆

 

This makes me realise how fortunate we are that Stevie isn't still around. His sympathy for Tonali's gambling addiction would have been magnified by his general appreciation for all things Apennine.  

[Monkeys Fist 43068]

13 minutes ago, Meenzer said:

This makes me realise how fortunate we are that Stevie isn't still around.

Please, can we use his proper title? 
 

[Billy Whitehurst 932]

2 hours ago, Howmanheyman said:

An excerpt from the guardian match report, "If facing the power of a nation state-funded opponent was not enough."

 

Meanwhile the BBC mustn't think the power of a nation state is all that as their match report featured how were we going to hold on to Isak?

 

Aye, some of their writers are fucking tragic. 

 

The only surprising thing was that it wasn’t written by Jonathan Liew or Barney Ronay.

[Dr Gloom 22150]

1 hour ago, PaddockLad said:

Not sure why you’ve mentioned Longstaff (3 times)  am talking about how Tonali was wandering through games like a lost sheep. That’s fuck all to do with Longstaff who I’ve never suggested was anywhere near good enough for where our owners see the club heading. Longy didn’t cost 50/60 million(?) and wasn’t a gambling addict before and after he joined the club though. Obviously Tonali couldn’t help himself , it would appear he’s an addict . He needs deserves and should get all the help he needs but now he’s receiving that help in a culture of openness it’s all on the player to perform. Thats why I was pissed off with Tonali, yes you could see he was a talent but he wasn’t doing it and after the circumstances of his suspension etc he, for me, needed to hit the ground running which he failed to do. I had him down as another in a long line of talented players who couldn’t quite get it together at SJP. And let me tell you, after 3 games v limited opponents this jury is still out on the the tally bastard 😑😆

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 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Dr Gloom

[Toonpack 9948]

47 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

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 

 

 

Based on performance at that time that was absolutely true. Tonali was gradually introduced as his fitness grew and now his performances are lightyears better than his "running about a lot" which was the story of his earlier appearances.

 

On current form our best three are Big Joe/Bruno and Tonali, that wasn't the case earlier in the season but it certainly is now.

 

They measure and monitor these fuckers to the far end of a fart, if they're not ticking all the boxes their playing time will reflect that.

 

I would suggest any changes to the team that happen are more fitness/physical and data driven than much else. To say Howe "now knows" like everyone saw something he didn't is disingenuous IMO, everyone and their uncle knows Tonali is more gifted than Longstaff but he just wasn't physically (and maybe tactically) ready.

 

And yeah an 80% Tonali may likely still be a better player than 100% Longstaff but he's also more likely to get injured playing at less than 100%, they'll have all that data too calculating probabilites etc etc.

 

[Dr Gloom 22150]

9 minutes ago, Toonpack said:

 

Based on performance at that time that was absolutely true. Tonali was gradually introduced as his fitness grew and now his performances are lightyears better than his "running about a lot" which was the story of his earlier appearances.

 

On current form our best three are Big Joe/Bruno and Tonali, that wasn't the case earlier in the season but it certainly is now.

 

They measure and monitor these fuckers to the far end of a fart, if they're not ticking all the boxes their playing time will reflect that.

 

I would suggest any changes to the team that happen are more fitness/physical and data driven than much else. To say Howe "now knows" like everyone saw something he didn't is disingenuous IMO, everyone and their uncle knows Tonali is more gifted than Longstaff but he just wasn't physically (and maybe tactically) ready.

 

And yeah an 80% Tonali may likely still be a better player than 100% Longstaff but he's also more likely to get injured playing at less than 100%, they'll have all that data too calculating probabilites etc etc.

 

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.

[Toonpack 9948]

3 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

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.
 

 

Sorry, I fundamentally disagree, I would contend he tried it as soon as Tonali was ready enough for it to work.

 

He's talked previously (last season even) about wanting to release Bruno into a more advanced role.

[Isegrim 9903]

[Dr Gloom 22150]

12 minutes ago, Toonpack said:

 

Sorry, I fundamentally disagree, I would contend he tried it as soon as Tonali was ready enough for it to work.

 

He's talked previously (last season even) about wanting to release Bruno into a more advanced role.

 
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

[Toonpack 9948]

53 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

 
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

 

Right now, absolutely 👍