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We didn't bottle it, those fucking Mancs just always seem to get the rub of the green. They played worse than us but had luck on their side. I just hope we are not the ones who miss out on european football but if we are and that causes some players to want to go elsewhere, so be it - we will use that money to reinvest. We will be at the top one day - I have no doubt about that. It's just a matter of time.

Up there with Barnes against Liverpool for me, rent free for the next 9 months in my head.

Howe won't be under pressure this summer, we'll finish in acceptable position considering the mitigating factors at play. He'll definitely be expected to improve on that next season though, particularly if we're not in Europe. I have every faith we will.

There was an interview with him on talksport where he sounded pretty comprehensive in saying LB was now his position even though he’s played in midfield. Also said there’s plenty to work on but sounded generally upbeat and confident in how he came across.

Miggy sliding in for Gordon's ball across goal for me, but with hindsight it's dawned on me just how many chances we should have buried.

I think we might get hung up on the "used to get played in CM" stuff. Ultimately at some point you need to concentrate on one position and own it. I can absolutely see him slotting into that midfield role later in his career though, he needs more experience on the pitch though. Midfield is a different animal.

Despite our away form it's not inconceivable that we go to Brentford and win. They've been ropey this season and we have won games on the road. It's a really big game, like. Whether you've taken an interest in the Conference League or not, there's no meaningful argument to suggest it would be better to be out of it than in it. Even if you think we'd benefit from the free midweeks, it would be more beneficial to actually become further accustomed to that practice; meanwhile Villa have proven that it needn't be overly burdensome.

The suggestion is he was fit enough to play but had a bust up with Howe. It’s only on twitter but in fairness the ones who are saying it are usually bang on with team news.

He’s actually a perfect wing back rather than a traditional left back.

What’s wrong with saying 11 defeats in 18 is a poor return? It’s a fact - got nothing to do with us finishing 4th - in those 11 defeats, which matches can we say we were unlucky not to get anything? And yet at home we look a totally different team - EH has had the same tools home and away or is it just away from home where we suffer more with injuries?

If there's one thing I know for certain, it's that we are not controlling any games with Longstaff playing the way he has been in midfield. Especially when we also have had to use the inexperienced Anderson/Miley in there so much too. Apparently this is surprising to some people though. And they think some revolutionary tactic should sort it out. The truth is though, most other managers would most likely have us looking far worse than we have with these options.

Talking about defending - my gripe with him is he’s not a defender but a midfielder that was moved to left back. He looks so much better going forward yet so much this season we’ve played longstaff week in week out whilst hall is sat on the bench. Surely he could have been given a chance.

Would be really interested to see how that looked. Did he find he couldn't do the drills? Was he not fit enough? Did he not look interested or concentrate enough?

Because there will be games scheduled on the 27th and 28th, no doubt. The 29th is a Thursday.

It sounds quite a Gordon-esque arc. I’m hoping Hall, Tino, Barnes and Sandro all have an uninterrupted pre-season with Eddie and get into the structure, fitness and pace he demands.

Think I’ve given up on this now after last night. Can only see another poor away performance at the weekend. Our only hope is Brighton do something but I wouldn’t put it past that jammy as fuck Man Utd team to get a point and finish above us yet again. It might be good for us to focus on the league next season but we need to establish ourselves as a regular team in Europe from now on. This is the last season where it’s acceptable to not qualify for anything if it ends up that way.

Hard to control games with no consistency and a third string back five

Somebody posted yesterday evening how we don’t seem to control games any more and to me it feels like we have moved from a team that could score and hold on to a 1-0 comfortably to getting pulled in to games of end to end football on a constant basis. We have suffered badly with injuries but it is our away form that has hurt us and will continue to hurt us unless we can dictate the play and tempo better.

See you soon king

Europa League gone now - no way Chelsea aren’t getting at least a point at home to Bournemouth

He's past his use by date for us, i think if we can get any sort of fee for him we can move him on.

Again, he’s admitted himself in an interview he wasn’t training well enough/struggling in training.

I mentioned earlier that we get affected in the big moments at OT regardless of the quality of the 2 sets of players. I was fully expecting Isak to turn back inside, Amrabat was fully committed to Isak shooting. Isak doesn’t shoot if that’d been Amrabat playing for say Forest at The City Ground. It has to stop; I’m even more annoyed at losing this morning.

At one point last night it felt like Bruno and Hall were the only ones on the same wavelength footballing wise. For a 19 year old he doesn't look like he knows how to give the ball away, or at least he's heading in the direction which suggests he's going to be that "press proof" type. His passing, shooting, crossing technique is outstanding. He's nowhere near polished defensively, positionally etc but I'm already at the stage where I can take that.. to an extent, because of what his all around game gives to the rest of the team... and of course he can improve on the job. I hope Howe and his team do everything on their power to convince Hall of the sacrifices he needs to make, that's my only worry. He seems quite a relaxed character, who perhaps doesn't like the hard side of training. Not a critique, just different. If he can go into this summer with the same attitude Gordon had last season, he could be in the England team by next season.

Our midfield is also a core part of the problem and with Tonali, Willock and Big Joe fit we would have so much more energy and drive in the group. The three lads we are left with look exhausted (longstaff always does) and at the moment they are neither supporting defence or attack