Pata

Tactical battle between Howe and De Zerbi will be really interesting. Looking at results, Brighton seems to struggle against low block (Everton, Forest, Man Utd twice) but are brilliant when there's more space to exploit. Howe has trusted our own style in pretty much every match and it will be interesting to see if he's more conservative in this one considering Brighton's style. Toning down the press and sitting lower seems to make sense but I'm not sure if Howe is too proud (not a dig at all, I'm also proud of it) to change our style against anyone at home. They also battered us at Amex and we were really lucky to walk away with a point, IIRC it was still Potter but it's still relevant.

I'm almost certain that Chelsea will sign Osimhen in the summer, perfect fit. Very likely that Kane will end up at Man Utd too.

Of course false positions exist after 36 games, Pardew's 5th place and Bruce's midtable season are perfect examples. I would say Brighton are pretty much on the same level as us for now, but that probably won't be the case in near future due to the difference in spending power.

Martinelli would have been thrown out for that in the fucking NHL playoffs but doesn't get a booking.

Risk of ASM starting, would make the Brighton game a complete write off.

You might get more penalties then.

Man Utd have fifth lowest average defensive line height, only above Wolves, Bournemouth, Everton and Nottingham. Newcastle's field tilt is 59.77%, Man Utd's 53.35%.

Hard to get penalties when you are parked outside your own box for most of the game.

It could be the case but IMO they were a different team to those big losses and that is down to Allardyce. They didn't create much either but were really solid defensively.

You can get over 2/1 on Liverpool winning their remaining games, if them dropping points isn't very likely you should make a hefty bet on it.

Midtable (~12th) on expected points but think most of that was thanks to Marsch. Allardyce is garbage but I don't think you can deny that he got a new manager bounce out of the team and fans and it wouldn't have been an easy spot to play them for anyone.

Chelsea just lost on xG against Nottingham at home. Anyone saying they'll raise their level to knock us out of top 4 is talking shite. We have three good chances to get the two wins and even win and two draws could be enough and that's still assuming Liverpool win their remaining games which still isn't that likely.

Can't remember that one.

He did more in 20 minutes than Almiron did in 70 minutes but I don't see his thread bumped with this 'not good enough' and 'sell him' shite. Some people just have this weird fixation with ASM.

Firpo tackle on Bruno was never a straight red. Got lucky on the handball but not that big of a deal IMO.

No pressure in the relegation fight last season?

We haven't over performed, 100% deserve to be in the position we are right now.

How good are Everton then? Brighton are good but so are we and we are at home.

Came on at 73 and I can't really remember him doing much wrong. That last cross was poor so I guess it's appropriate to blame him for the two lost points.

Desperately need a scapegoat.

Thought Hooper was really good, absolutely no complaints.

Decent point in the end, 4 points ahead of Liverpool with 3 games left. No excuses if we don't make it considering Man Utd being there too.

Spot on. Everyone is way too focused on the result and fail to acknowledge how big a role luck and variance has on results. Arsenal match is the perfect example, could've been 2-0 to us on another day and the narrative would flip completely. Arsenal did manage the game alright after taking the lead but it's not like we didn't have chances to make it 1-1 before their second goal that clinched it.

I honestly think it raises the profile of everyone playing in their domestic league. Alashkert appears to be 4th in their league this season and almost 20 points behind the leader, nicely named Banants.

This is a post a made a year ago in the same conversation. Conference League is class and the monetary gains are really meaningful. ~3 million euros to a random Armenian team is nuts and should hopefully really help whole country's player production in the future.