midds

That's not a normal regular Ht warm up for ASM, he's on sooner rather than later

I'd suggest Longstaff off and ASM on, move Willock inside with Bruno and Joelinton but Burn is going need some support now he's on a yellow. Give it 10 then go for it. Wilson doesn't look anywhere near fit imo and I want to see Isak on for at least 30 mins, his quality can win it

It'll come. Frustrating atm but it'll come

Awful from Longstaff. Might work hard but there's precious little quality there especially in the box. He's on the list

Hit them hard, hit them early and let's win this cunt. Full strength team - straight for the juggler*

Would have come in at 3 cards+ for each of the 8 teams actually

This came in too btw. Got just over 9s for it

Depends which version of Maguire they're getting tbh. The Leicester version would be a solid signing but the current Man U version is a hot mess

Brilliant play from City but Chelsea have collapsed a bit here, 3 shipped in about 10 mins?

1-4 in yellows at HT Well done gents btw

Could also throw Fener vs Gala on it too?

The team Howe picked should have been more than adequate enough to avoid defeat as a minimum last night. Howe's got every right to expect some of the fringe PL players to come in and perform to a level that at least matches L1 opposition. The fact is that a few of these players were utterly dreadful and they let Howe and the club down, the selection was fine, the performance was not and I'm shifting all of the blame for last night onto the 3 or 4 who stunk Hillsborough out.

It's also very naive to think that the rest of the PL (and others) haven't spent the World Cup break doing their homework on us and come up with ways to negate us and limit what we do and how we do it. They've all had weeks to pour through hours of footage of how we set up and how we can be stopped or neutralised. To think the likes of Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs have just ignored us and put their feet up is folly. We're now a direct threat to those same clubs and you can bet your bottom dollar they've spent weeks trying to suss us out and how to stop us. The second half of the season will be far tougher and we'll need to adapt things and mix it up a bit - 2 up top, 3 at the back etc because once you're predictable you're easier to play against. We need 2 or 3 in before Jan 31st and vary it a bit. Keep cunts off balance

If I'm Eddie Howe on the bus back up the A1 then I'm not even looking at them, let alone speaking to some of them tonight. They wanted a chance, they got a chance and they completely blew it with that pigshit tonight.

Didn't deserve anything else tbh. Lots of complaints but none at SW, they deserved it. Awful performance and raises loads of questions but can't begrudge them their win

Tonight's display just reinforces the impact that (likely) European football next season will have on us next season. If you've got 38 league games plus maybe 5 or 6 domestic cup games plus maybe another 10 or 12 games in Europe then you're ABSOLUTELY going to need to dip in and out of the squad to rest and rotate players for a 9 month season. Our first XI is great but the bench is ropey and after that it's simply poor. It needs quality and quantity over the next 3 windows or we're going to struggle to make an impact on the continent and it's also going to affect the League campaign simultaneously. We need 7 or 8 out and replaced with significantly better asap. It needs to start tomorrow as tonight has been dreadful, there's players who have tried hard tonight but only proved they're simply not good enough and nor will they ever be. They need to be moved on whether they like it or not.

First half just highlights how thin on quality we are. The system is bulletproof and still functions to an extent but the drop-off in quality when 3 or 4 are missing is shocking, they can function as part of the unit in the system but it's looking clunky tonight and that's to be expected. We need to build this squad and simply move on anyone who's not going to be good enough for where we need to be and that means saying goodbye to Lewis, Murphy, Ritchie, Anderson (on loan), Wood, Fraser and Dummett as a minimum over the next 13 months.

Just starting to turn the screw now a bit, a goal soon before HT would be delicious

They'll void it or that leg of it

Won 8 of the last 11 tbf. Bench does need upgrading though obviously

Right, can we stop talking about her like this please? She deserves better. She deserves me.

I'm watching motherfucker...

Arteta made 1 sub all game. He could have moved Saka and/or Martinelli into a different position or sacrificed a defender but chose not to. If he wasn't happy about how things were going then maybe he should have improvised and switched it to create a new problem. Either way, fuck him and fuck Arsenal

Booking Almiron for standing on the line he drew on the pitch tops it for me. Like a supply teacher crumbling trying to get Konner to put his chewy in the bin

If Arteta is this emotional in January then what the fuck is he going to be like in April/May? Bloke looks like he's about to burst into tears the fragile little wanksplat