Greg

There is no checking by the ref or formal appeals, the VAR checks everything and then talks to the referee.

Probably just speaking to his assistant as all 5 are mic'd up No, the referee putting his hand to his head is a signal he is speaking to the VAR. Doesn't do that when speaking to the others.

The commentator got it wrong I think, there was a tentative pen claim at the same time which I think is what the VAR checked.

Morata thinking he's playing Test cricket asking for a DRS review!

Never a penalty, it didn't impede him at all and he planted both feet into the ground after then hoyed himself to the floor.

Waterloo Square where a new bar opens in the same venue every 10 minutes after another failure.

One of the most reputable players in the game tbh but not exactly known for their exclusives etc.

What tweet? The Downie one, quoting a 'source close to Ashley' Oh, you mean the motivation for Ashley's so called statement. Ah yeah, thought you were referencing some other tweet.

What tweet?

It seems to have gone wider, just SSN reacting the quickest or they may have received it first. He's in bed with them, remember that stupid interview?

So The Guardian are claiming Staveley just turned up at that curry house unannounced knowing Ashley would be there?

It's not FM, the two didn't have to be mutually exclusive. This announcement gives me no further confidence the club will strengthen appropriately in this window.

SSN saying the deal is off "for now".

Some people never learn. Could play a wedge of Ashley's £50 notes on the wing when Murphy and Ritchie are underperforming or injured.

Without Rafa I think they would drop, the did after the 2010 relegation but our good form helped them lift up again. e.g. 36,944 first game against Reading, 38,813 against Leicester, 38,923 against QPR etc. Whether you consider that significant is a different matter. If we kept getting beat I think they would drop further below these levels.

Tackling is usually a sign of bad defending tbh. Top defenders don't need to make many tackles.

They have far more ability in their squad than we do, so it wouldn't exactly be a surprise. Crap manager or not.

Well for a start you’ve totally misunderstood what he said.

Is there any evidence that he 'likes' this style? Away from two seasons when the objective of promotion/survival was/is literally the only thing worth considering? Did his teams routinely play like this at other clubs? Just going off what I have seen with us Dave. Yes, we needed promotion at the first attemp last season, but our team/squad was so much more superior to other teams coming here,yet that’s the way we played (and we lost/drawn far too many games at home for a championship winning team. That’s why I was thinking it is his way of playing, because that’s all I have seen. It’s just what football is like now, so much more importance in not getting beat and teams set up accordingly. Other words, football is dull as f*** nowadays. You know - it really wasn’t - not all of them. And it was made ever more difficult by every single team treating it like their cup final.

35 will be enough imo and I think we’ll get enough.

Well this was our first league game since then. Presume Rafa doesn't think that set up will work at home when we won't have as many chances to counter but I agree, would have liked to see something similar. Not sure how to approach Man City but should be similar approach to Stoke (or West Ham actually) when we go to Palace. Ah f***, so it was. Games have come so thick and fast lately I got mixed up That definitely needs trying again, there was promise there. That pesky FA Cup confusing you!

Well this was our first league game since then. Presume Rafa doesn't think that set up will work at home when we won't have as many chances to counter but I agree, would have liked to see something similar. Not sure how to approach Man City but should be similar approach to Stoke (or West Ham actually) when we go to Palace.

Is the search function goosed?