midds

Fair play to them they looked dead and buried 10 games ago but they've kept going and sneaked in. They're 11/4 to win the play-offs now and they appear to be in pretty good form, wouldn't be the worst bet in the world tbh

This has got '2 Brighton goals in 5 mins to turn it around' written all over it

If someone had told me in August we'd be going into the last few games with a chance of 5th I'd have asked to have them certified. 5th at the start of the season was just unthinkable, to break into the top 6 and play European football next season was impossible. To jump from 19th to 11 to 5th in 18 months would have been literally unbelievable. And yet here we are. 4 games left and we're 3rd with a better GD and games in hand on those chasing us. And we've also been to a Cup Final for the first time in a generation. I get dropping out of the top 4 would take a bit of the gloss off a bit but to focus on that negative is an awful way to look at things. The big picture looks very very fucking nice whether we finish 3rd, 4th or 5th. We're gaining ground on them all

Whatever competition we end up in next season we're going to have more matches like that. Big game and a atmosphere and we need to experience it more often if we're going to get better at dealing with them. We're not always going to come out on top against these top players and teams but it's how you learn. We've got to see this as a lesson, not a loss. We lost the game but learned from what Arsenal did to squeak it. We'll get better and better and better in the next 5 or 6 years

Not going to criticise anyone for that today, thought the team was correct, tactics were spot on and but for a highly dubious pen overturned it could have been a different day. Game reminded me of the Cup final, up against a team with a strong mentality and a know how to get through tough games like today. They've fantastic in possession and they cut through our press a little too easily at times, one or 2 passes and they took out our entire front 6 and have 4 v 4 too often. They also took their chance, bit lucky with both goals I thought, good strike from Odegard but it trundled into the net. Nothing you can do about the og either, it just didn't fall for us today. We just need to use today as an extra motivation and learn from this game and how Arsenal saw it out. 4 games left and 7 points to go, still very confident we'll do it. Onwards and upward gentlemen

Can't criticise that team tbh, we've only got so much talent in the club and most of it is going to start this afternoon. We've also got options off the bench. Time to go for it and that's exactly what Howe's doing with that XI, first 20 mins will be electric

Marseille's Panasonic too imo

If we need 7 points from 15 to get it then so be it. A month ago the thought of Liverpool winning their last 9 off the bounce was highly, highly unlikely. Something they'd not been remotely close to at any point this season and if they do it, they do it. 7 points is the target, fuck Liverpool, let's just fucking do it. If they slip up once then 4 will almost certainly be enough and we're more than capable of that. We're an excellent team with fantastic players right now, we're in mint form and the injuries have cleared up loads. No reason not to be bullish about things.

Imagine how good a long-sleeved version would be...

Even better than that: Predicting the following top 4 in the correct order is 16/1 on sky: City Arsenal Man U Liverpool If we're going to drop out of the top 4 then that's the order it'll finish imo.

We're 1/16 to finish top 4 with PP. If anyone is still a little wobbly about it you can get 12/1 on City, Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool to make up the top 4 on skybet. Pile in gentlemen

Nah, they've won the Carabao Cup and are in the FA Cup final. Everything's cush

In 1974 I assume?

I'm not keen on Allardyce, think he's a bit of a prick tbh but he sounds genuinely unwell in that clip. No idea wat he thinks it's going to be like since he last managed a few years ago but if that's the bloke Leeds have pinned their hopes and dreams on then it's massively unfortunate for them. That's a bloke out of touch, a second behind mentally and lost in a new and unimaginable world of modern football management. He's nothing more than a relic. A 'this is how it used to be 20 years ago' manager. He'll fail miserably.

When different people under the same organisation consistently give decisions to the same team game after game after game then I think using the word corruption is absolutely fair game tbh. The referees and officials on and off the park seem to give Liverpool the decision a hell of a lot of the time compared to other clubs. At some point you need to draw the line and question it and I think that penalty decision tonight is about as corrupt as you get. It's every. Single. Game. It's not a one off, it's not 'it balances itself out', it's not 'win some, lose some'. They get it every single match going in their favour. We could finish 3rd and I'd still be livid they took 6 points from us. Get these 7 points and rub their fucking noses in it please

The Liverpool pen tonight is just about as corrupt as you'll see. No other team gets that decision going for them. 3 games off the spin we've seen massively contentious decisions go in the favour of them now and nothing is said or done about it, just swept under the carpet every week and they collect 3 points each time We need to get these 7 points asap as they won't drop another point as this rate. It's bent as fuck

Obligatory Tuesday Club piece on Allardyce. Still amazing and deserves another dusting down:

Loving the vitriol. Fair play

Lamps is clueless, speaks for 5 minutes and says fuck all. Compare and contrast that interview with Howe's and it's chalk and cheese. This is what happens when you take advice from fat, unfunny, horrific, obnoxious cunts like Corden

First 20 mins will be wild. Both teams will be flying out of the blocks and how it settles down after that will determine the tempo of the game. All of the pressure will be on Arsenal to win it so we don't need to go mad as the longer it goes being tight the more they need to risk to win it. Disciplined from the start and pace off the bench to hit them on the break would be my way of doing it. They've got to win, lull them in and fuck them on the counter

Frank will be delighted they won the second half. That's what he told them at HT to go out and do. Wear the shirt with a bit of pride and win that half and they did that so he'll be pleased with that. He'll probably not mention the first half where they jogged through the game and conceded 3 and looked liked children. The second half was the real quiz, that was the real quiz. Madueke has thrown a kettle over a pub, what's Odegaard ever done?

Gabriel is fucked like. No idea why he's not been subbed yet, the game's dead

Mid 90's QPR were the best team in London. Chelsea's top striker was Paul Furlong and they played in front of 2 barns a stand and a shed. Chelsea were decent in the 70s and totally irrelevant until Matthew Harding bought Bates out. They've been a machine for the last 25 years admittedly

Wonder what odds you would have been given in August if you'd said Newcastle would have been 26 points ahead of Chelsea at the start of May?