ohmelads

Hard to give a shit about the cup when the club and manager don't. The fact Rondon hasn't played a minute speaks volumes about where our priorities lie. We're basically trying to keep our heads above water now until a buyer comes in, but it's obvious Ashley doesn't want to sell. Unless an Arab comes in with a sack of oil money and buys him out, the only way I see him going is if we sink so low that it's not financially viable for him to stay. Until either of those things happens, cups are a waste of time. It's no wonder the FA and Premier League don't like us because we don't try in their cups or their league. We're clinging on for the TV payday. Big attendances aside, we're basically stinking up their brand.

I'd rather we just field an entire team of reserves in these games. It's obvious we don't have the squad to do anything in the cups, and never will under Ashley. These squad players might be needed in the coming weeks and I see no point risking them in the replay. We don't have enough players for the Premier League as it is.

If you’re in the middle of the pitch and release the ball to an offside player while someone comes in and clatters you with a late tackle its still a foul Aye on seeing it again you're right. Foul comes in almost instantaneously.

I'm not a ref but the foul on Mata is after he's played the ball and his teammate is offside so surely play has stopped and it's a free kick to Reading? Can still card him for the foul but to give a pen retrospectively after Man Utd have been (correctly) ruled offside seems strange.

Frustrating but a decent point away to a decent team.

100%. They've spent the money now they can have it. wtf are you on about, both were penalties You're allowed to make contact. A pen is a foul in the box, same as anywhere else on the pitch. If they're pens then let's give about 8 every game.

100%. They've spent the money now they can have it. It's looking that way. 3 dodgy pens in 2 games.

If that's a pen then we should be seeing a lot more pens across the board.

Salah at it again.

That's a dive.

I thought VAR might make the game fairer and that surely they couldn't just disregard the 'clear and obvious error' concept. But if the World Cup final was anything to go by, it'll just be another corrupt tool to manipulate games as you see fit if the little side is going against the script. I think the game is becoming increasingly corrupt and this only hands more power to influence results. In theory it should be good news but it ruined the world cup final.

It'll eventually blow up in his face and he'll cut his losses. Who knows how far we have to fall before that happens, or what kind of vulture will take over in that scenario. I reckon 2 or 3 seasons in the Championship ought to do it. I think people are clinging onto the hope that if the club can scrape survival year on year, a huge bid will twist his arm to sell. For the price he wants, it's unlikely, because he knows he's rinsing the club. The relegation and failed promotion bid looks the most likely scenario. I honestly feel conflicted because finishing 17th only benefits one person.

The attendance should be 0 for the rest of the season and finish on 2pts. Ashley has never gave a fuck so why should anyone else. And it should stay like that until we fall low enough for him to fuck off Only that or a silly offer from some oil billionaire will get rid of him. It's about the only crumb of comfort we can take from these results, because a disaster is by far the most likely way the club can start again post-Ashley.

Don't think we'll have an easier chance for 3 points. Brighton have defended crosses well but any half-decent play has opened them up and we look hopeless to take advantage. They've offered nothing in return but a deflected corner and have taken 3 points. If we're going down, I'd rather we go down early than a usual last-week battle. That way there will be no reason not to go after Ashley.

I've loved watching a lot of footballers over the years, but Ronaldo is always my one true love. His time at PSV, Barca and Inter (before it all went wrong) stands next to any footballer, ever. (I say that having started watching football when Maradona was a fat man waddling in a WC qualifier ) Messi has done it for longer, and I have some completely irrational disregard for Cristiano Ronaldo's achievements. I can't explain it. But the rest can go whistle after those three (again - since the nineties) I used to be firmly in the Messi camp, but I've swung completely the opposite way to CRonaldo in the past few years. To do what he does, at his age, in his position is unmatched. His CL goals record is absolutely insane. How he dragged Portugal to success in the Euros, he's pretty much carried his nation on his back whereas Messi always seems to cut a frustrated figure and can't seem to replicate what he does for Barca on the international stage. Certainly in purely measurable terms, on paper he's going to go down alongside Pele with the crazy goals per game. And, he's done it at 2 of the biggest clubs in the world. I loved the anecdote, can't recall from which Man Utd player, that he would stay late from training sessions and practice step-overs for an hour with heavy sandbags on each of his feet so he could do them much faster in a game. To do that, at 18 or 19 years old in a foreign country with the rest of the senior squad, people like Roy Keane, ripping the absolute piss out of him - absurd dedication today, let alone 15 years ago. It'll be interesting to see how he adopts to the rigidity of Juve over time as he's never had to play in a team like that before. Don't get me wrong, Messi is arguably the most gifted player of all time, but CRonaldo, like the best players in the world before him, seems to be easily adapting his game to his age and still doing the business year in, year out. Oh and to compare Shearer and Ronaldo is laughable. Shearer would be lucky to be in my top 10 of all time, let alone first (/tinhat). Wouldn't say he dragged Portugal to success. He basically missed the final. Came off after 25 mins, and they were better after he went off. They scraped through game after game that tournament. That Ronaldo narrative in British press came after he shined against Wales. Not saying he isn't a great player, but his record doesn't need embellishing.

That's the biggest thing it takes away from the game, unfortunately. With regards to teams having X amount of appeals, could this not be abused to give a team a breather when they're on the ropes? Say we're winning 1-0 and the opposition are all over us in the dying minutes but we have two appeals left. Could we not just appeal any two decisions to force a stoppage and allow us to regroup? It seems open to abuse.

I don't think it's a grand conspiracy. It's just self-preservation from referees. If you get it wrong and unfairly screw over a Newcastle or a Southampton or a Crystal Palace, no one cares when the manager goes mental about it. It's never gonna be the top story. But get it wrong against Man Utd or Liverpool and it's headline news, the spotlight is on you. If in doubt, they'll always err on the side of caution when giving reds or pens against the biggest teams. Other sides don't get that benefit of the doubt. That red card stat the Chronicle mentioned is insane: we haven't had a red against us in the PL for 5 years now? Had 17 reds against us in that time. I'm sure we're not the only ones.

And the players never miss a tackle, never misplace a pass, never fail to make a save, fans never see it incorrectly... Great comparison. That’s part of football. Happens every game. Refereeing decisions like that have no part. They have a part. Atleast in the world we live and have lived so far. If you want every decision to be 100% correct the whole game of football will be something completely different. The referee’s job isn’t to have a bearing on the outcome of a match. It’s to call what happens between the two teams. You can have all the misplaced passes, poor shots, bad quality football you like, the referee had a fairly simple call there to give a penalty. Yes and he made a mistake, that happens and has always happened. If you want to take human error out of it completely then you need VAR. I'm not sure what your point is. I was answering to Stifler who said VAR wont change anything and referees make mistakes just because they are horribly trained or something. VAR won't take human error out of it, as we saw with the world cup and particularly the final. It's just another human ref making decisions but with a video. It might reduce the error frequency though and catch a few of the most shocking decisions.

Busy but ineffective as would’ve been predicted. Workrate put others to shame though. Yeah that's a fair analysis. Hopefully just rusty. I fear another Joselu situation where he has no outstanding attribute but at least he has a turn of pace and is a willing runner.

Bit surprised at how suddenly gutted people are. We never try in the cups under Ashley, and successive managers know they don't have the squad to give it a go. We're always on the cusp of relegation or promotion. A couple of key injuries would relegate us.

Only one team looked interested. Rafa's a pragmatist and while I'm sure he wanted a first win of the season, he knows we don't have the squad to fight on two or three fronts. Kenedy though was another level. Couldn't even go through the motions. Considering Rafa's history with players like Mbemba and Mitrovic, I wouldn't be surprised to see him dropped from the squad.

Yedlin's average but class in comparison to Manquillo. Teams will target him.

Little bit more than what? Sounds like he'd had a few.

Who says he’s doing this? The club allegedly owe him 140+ million, all we know (allegedly) is what’s disclosed in the end of year accounts, we have no idea what happens in real time between NUFC and Mash holdings. He could quite easily be withdrawing club funds as he needs them, everyone but Justin Barnes, Keith Bishop and Lee Charnley of course are left scratching their heads. Both the club and his holding company are privately owned so it’s not held to the same scrutiny as a PLC. He can take money out in dividends if the club is making a profit. He has never done this. He can repay his loan but from my understanding he hasn't done this either. I hate Ashley as much as the next man but all this bullshit about people saying he is pulling money out of the club is utter bollocks. He might not be pulling it out, but fuck knows where it's going, because there's no way it's been spent on the squad. Presumably it's just disappearing.

Suspect it's just negotiation tactics. They know we need the cash (well we wouldn't, but with Ashley pocketing club money then we do), and they know he fits their system.