midds

Still trying to absorb this result and the way we started the game, we were flying from the first whistle. We clicked straight into a rhythm they couldn't cope with and we just blew them away so quickly and so easily that it's a good a start to the game as the first 25 mins of Spurs H 2 years back. Hell of a lot of focus being placed on how shit Man U were, and they 100% were, but not enough credit given to us for essentially ragdolling them about for half an hour to the extent that he had to sub one of them and change his team around before it got really out of hand. Can't remember going to a huge club/ground away from home and just dominating them like that. Humiliating stuff As soon as they did change it they looked a little better but the early goals dictated the pattern and tempo of the last hour. We had 2, didn't need any more and could sit back and allow them to come out and we could then hit them on the counter. I think it was a conscious decision and even then, we got hold of the ball with about 65 mins on the clock and kept it beautifully for basically 10 or 15 mins and that spell killed them off completely. They huffed and puffed but created barely anything of note. Teams have done that to us many times but the roles were reversed and it was fantastic to watch Spurs A next and even a point here would be canny. To get 3 from Vila and 3 from Man U in a week is a boost, another win away at Spurs would make it a perfect run but realistically we might drop a level and that would probably be expected. No reason why we can't go there and go toe to toe with them but stringing PL wins together past 4, 5, 6 off the spin is extremely tough. The fixtures get a little nicer after Spurs, we look full of confidence and we'll give anyone in the league a good game atm

Tonali needs to be in the middle though

Taking Zirkzee off within 30 minutes was like seeing a doctor making an open heart transplant in real life time. Majestic stuff

I need to sleep on it before I post in here tbh. I need to soak it up, let it simmer and settle in my mind before ejaculate my (extensive) post on here

These are fucked. Amorim send like a decent bloke tbh and a small part of me wants him to succeed. That said I think the squad he's inherited is completely unsuited to what he's trying to get them to do. He's probably a good manager, there's probably a lot of talent in the squad but the connecting simply isn't there. It'll cost a billion+ to sort it out or change the manager yet again

+0.04 on the xG. Get directly. The fuck. In

Hate playing these cunts down there, we never seem to get the rub. No reason why we can't beat them, the form both are in etc. Just can't shake this nagging feeling we're about to be stitched up, robbed or lose despite playing really well. Or maybe all of the above. Can't fault the team he's picked, just won the CM battle and that's half the battle. Come on, do these cunts please gentlemen

Sherwood virtually crying as Wolves are doing the very thing most teams do each time to kill a game off. Soft cunt "dark arts" klaxon now. "game management" from the top 6, "dark arts" from every other team. Wankers

An "economic lever" They're just fucking cheating man, amazing how some clubs 'exploit financial loopholes' or 'benefitting from intra-group transfers' or shit like that but when it's us it's cheating and financial doping etc. The double standards in play are absurd man

So, just a Lee Ryder article then?

I can understand the need to minimise waste and if there's savings that can be made then he's somewhat justified in doing it. Problem is where you look to save the money and is the negative PR it attracts worth the (relatively) small amount you save. It's like trying to lose weight by chopping your leg off

Don't understand the fact it's even seen as controversial tbh. It looked really dodgy and obvious at full speed and the slow mo makes it look even worse. He's clearly started tumbling, seen Schar fall in front of him and you can pinpoint the exact moment where he's instinctively thought 'I can do him here, I can stand/stamp/land on him here. I just need to make it look like it's an accident'. Problem being he didn't make it look like an accident. He made it look like he meant it because that's exactly what it was. Red mist, adrenaline, heat of the moment stuff but he tried to do him and rightly got the red. Not even up for debate imo. Not quite as obvious as when Shearer kicked Lennon in the face, that was far worse like, but it's in the same ballpark

Statement win that today, I know villa have slipped off recently away from home but they're still a quality team. That's as impressive a 3-0 as you'll see, the red helped obviously but we carved them open again and again. We looked sharp and switching Bruno and Tonali had benefited us going in both directions, we're creating and simultaneously look solid and we've kept teams to potshots really. Dubravka had barely had a shot to save fur hours now. I absolutely had doubts a month back but he's flipped it around, we look excellent again and he deserves the credit, can't wait for Monday night now

Must admit I agree, who gives a fuck. It's like the press are playing a game of Buckaroo and just piling on tiny, insignificant stories in the hope that one more (little thing in isolation) is the trigger that fucks the whole job completely. and I'm right here for it

Basically I'm saying the number that you put at the end of this sentence should be the size of the new ground: "If everything goes according to plan then we might need a ground big enough to hold ................" Whatever that number is, that's the new capacity imo

The way I see it we're only going to do this once so think as big a capacity as possible and build it that size. No point going 65k if it means we're still locking people out every week, we need a much money into the club as possible. If we need to grow into it then fine. If we're pulling in, say, 71k a week at first then that's fine. No point in going smaller then having to expand in 10 years time. Do it right, go big and make it superb. Please

Probably being a bit bullish here but I think we sell out 80k against virtually any opponent right now. The demand is there right now imo, people want to see this team and as we improve it'll only get a more and more desirable ticket to have. Bromley at home in the cup went to ballot. How many missed out? How many didn't apply because they knew they'd probably miss out? Confident we'd fill 80k virtually every game

Perfectly valid question tbh, if he's got that many injuries then perhaps adjusting a few things to mitigate it is probably the right thing to do. Giving his defence a bit more cover is just good management even if it takes away from the play going forward. Just saying 'we're going to be open as fuck and bomb on for 90 minutes' regardless of opposition, venue or scoreline is clearly thick as fuck. Might be entertaining for the neutral but it's not very pragmatic. You play the hand you're dealt and tweak things to give yourself the best chance of getting the best results possible with the players that are fit. He's showing himself up on and off the pitch atm

So far with Man U and Villa still to play to complete the first half of the season. Plus a SF in the League Cup. It's been inconsistent to say the least

Perfect day for him and us today. Dream start and allowed us to relax and dictate the game. We relaxed and there was no pressure to force anything as we were up immediately. We played it beautifully, scored 4, could have had even more, clean sheet away from home, no injuries (that we're aware of) and key players rested. Squad got some minutes and we should be that little bit fresher for Boxing Day. Poor opponents again but you still have to win these games and we have done. Fantastic week, couldn't have wished for better

If (big if) that's the case and it's 8.5m then I think we'll snap their arms off. Pretty sure we accepted whatever was on offer for him earlier in the year but he turned the move down. Totally his perogative to do so but he's about as fringe as you can get and has no future here imo. He's just seeing out his contract whilst his value drops and drops. I think he'll run his contract out completely and go mls a month later

They're playing for time already, trying to kill any early momentum. It's fair enough tbh, we do it plenty, but it's really obvious and it's only 5 mins in...

To have to draw parallel lines on a screen to decide which FUCKING SHOULDER was closer to the goal line in order to disallow a goal is fucking mental. If it's that close then you just go with whatever they went with on the field at the time, surely? I originally thought that VAR was there to correct howlers, clearly incorrect decisions that were obviously wrong as soon as you watched it again. Now they're going to the nearest mm with lines drawn on various slides or images based on questionable footage based on questionable stopping of the action a the ball is 'passed' and certain body parts are deemed on or offside based on pixels and then the computer takes over and turns it into a plane rather than a line and it's decided that the attacker is 2mm offside so the goal is disallowed?? Fuck clean off man, the whole thing is rank. It's gone for us at times and gone against us too, at some point they just need to say 'it's really fucking tight, let's just go with what they went with at the time'

Got it right today, also got the chance to rest a few which he correctly did, game was won after 50 mins so he pulled a few and gave valuable minutes to the squid he's going to have to use this month. Really pleased for Howe personally as we created chance after chance against a poor team that just sits in and deep. We've struggled with opponents like that recently but absolutely dominated Leicester today. They're poor admittedly but you've got to put teams like that away and we splattered them this afternoon, could have got 7 or 8 with average finishing from some. It's a shot in the arm for Howe and the squad and we can go into the next few weeks with a bit of confidence now, he can start looking up the table and ahead to reeling a few teams in and leapfrogging ourselves 6 places up the league. Did really well today and I'm delighted for him

Excellent performance tbh. Could have had even more but can't be too critical of some of the finishing given we got 4. Started well and kept the pressure on, created plenty of chances and also got the chance to give a few key men a bit of rest before the busy fixtures start. Nice confidence boost for the lads and it'll also do Howe the world of good too. Only real negative was the Joelinton yellow but there's no reason why w can't go to Ipswich win there on the back of this. A really really good day at the office imo, first game in months we've been able to relax as we were comfortable, sure they enjoyed playing with a bit of freedom and zero pressure to get a(nother) goal. Good stuff, let's hope it continues