Da Herbsman

We are shit. But most of the blame lies not with Potter. We haven't signed well at all. Jorghinho is not good enough, and should have been sold after the CL RLC shouldn't be anywhere near the team. Havertz was a one trick pony when we signed him, and remains one. Aubemayang was a desperate signing by TT to try and save his job. It wasn't going to work. I can go on ... I can excuse the rubbish that we signed under Lampare, but TT had enough time to rebuild the team. Instead he left it weaker than the one he inherited. The problem now for Potter is, how do you bench the big, older players without your season unravelling? Because he needs to move on from these past their best. If he is to survive, he must take apart this team at the end of the season.

A terrible performance. Brighton looked twice as quick to every ball as our players. They might have won the game purely on their intensity alone. No idea why GP did not work this out. That said, GP has a difficult job in hand. I could count more than 2 players in that lineup that are really top quality, and this is after we've spent close to be a billion these past 5 season.

The keeper is officially the only player allowed to catch the ball with fully stretched arms. He therefore has an advantage over any other player from both teams. I cannot see how defenders are supposed to pick up aerial balls over their keeper; using what organs? There are times when a keeper must stay put having decided he could not reach the ball. But Kepa was also getting this wrong as well last night.

Shouldn't you actually read people's comments before calling them nonsense? I was talking about aerial ball, and never once mentioned the equaliser, which to my observation wasn't an aerial ball.

I have not the faintest idea which incident you are referring to and why you picked that one incident. Good on you is all I can say.

It seems clear and beyond doubt now that aerial ball is not Kepa's strength. He was all over the place in this part of his game despite an overall good performance. His timing, decision to come or not, his jumps, and the force he approached it with, was all poor. There were moments when he needed to basically ramp through to the ball. Instead he just half jumped and leaned towards it. By goalkeepers' standard he is not tall, not muscular, and not intimidating. But he is a fine keeper. He must find a way to "wing" this problem.

it's an age old debate; how much the manager decides whom we sign I'm rather old fashioned on this; the manager picks the players we buy, unless otherwise stated. I think GP is doing okay with what he inherited. Personally, none of Tuchel's signing is top choice.

If squad quality is the problem, then the manager who spent a year and a half and £250m surely has more responsibility for it than the ones who has just taken over. That we spent so much money on Fofana, who had a known injury history, overpaid for Cucu, whom GP was only happy to let go, went for Sterling, when we need midfield creativity, etc, puts a lot of the blame for a our current squad quality on Tuchel. I honestly can't think of.another PL manager who would have made such a mess of spending £250m, certainly not GP. I thought Lampard was wasteful when we paid so much for Werner, Havertz, and Ziyech. But you could excuse him for inexperience. Tuchel was just plain hopeless in that department, starting with the Lukaku signing, I'm sorry. It's too early to judge GP. Our results have improved, and the steady decline in performance has been halted at lesst. Squad quality remains an issue, seeing that we have to scrape the barrell with RLC. But to compare GP to TT so early and under these circumstances is premature.

RDM won it with a team that was literally in its last legs. PL is just a completely different competition from CL. We just don't look like a squad that has just spent a quarter of a million, imho. TT had 18 months to buy the players we need. Our midfield actually looks weaker than the one he inherited. That's inexcusable after the money we've spent

Not a good first half. But if after spending so much money we end up with RLC starting, you can't really blame Graham Potter for this.