DO OR DIE!

Thought the whole message on the shirt thing was a bit odd. Can't fault him though.

The more I watch it the better it gets. If you see it in slow motion you can watch him just stop a bit, open his foot to deliberately take the pace off it, and then turn to watch Danilo finish as the defender slides harmlessly by. It's a glorious goal.

It's interesting reading other teams' boards today. In August they were all full of "LOL Forest are paying how much for a Wolves reserve I've never heard of?" and today they're bemoaning the fact that they could have had MGW for 25M instead of [insert name of shit player that they bought for much more this season].

I forgot to mention how I enjoyed this
twitter.com/SteveCook28/status/1655266167403978756?s=20

Watching the extended highlights:
youtu.be/j9nQsC1Mf2Q

Although their first was clearly mostly down to MGW's misplaced pass, I do feel that Felipe and Niakhate's lack of understanding made it simpler for Southampton than it could have been. They both got drawn to the ball carrier twice (Adams, then Amstrong) which just created the space for the pass. Both going to Armstrong and leaving the centre was particularly bad.

Watch MGW while they are breaking also. He gives up on chasing when it's passed to Armstrong. If he'd kept going he might have blocked the final shot from Alcarez.

While I was getting frustrated with Taiwo for his lack of support running, and marveling at the amount of power he got in that first goal, he reminded me of the young Didier Drogba. Which would be extremely nice if he developed in that direction.

Well Drogba didn’t hit his peak until he was about 28 so it’s possible. Although his touch was always sublime whilst Taiwo gawd bless his cotton socks has the first touch of a rapist. To be fair though in the last game it was better.

Chicago: Happy to oblige the fantasy

I've seen that comparison before. Much as I like Taiwo, Drogba was an absolute force of nature. I'm not sure that Taiwo is capable of imposing himself on a defence quite the way Drogba did.

I totally agree with those comments (although I hadn't heard anyone else making the comparison). When Drogba first arrived at Chelsea, I thought he was a lazy, talented bully with a shitload of power. Taiwo has less swagger and filth, and also lacks subtlety, but this was the first game I've seen even this much from him.

Having rewatched most of Monday’s game, I’m more comfortable with Navas’s performance. Still prefer Henderson but his punching was necessary and effective and he wasn’t bullied in the second half as much as it appeared from the TE. Although I do wonder whether in his prime he’d have saved the second - he almost pushed it round the post anyway.