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I don't know if anything was confirmed, but there was talk that Miggy was allowed to leave his international camp during the world cup break due to severe muscle exhaustion wasn't there? It's plausible he needs a prolonged rest to get himself back closer to where he was.

I'd say the debates moved on as he's definitely more effective overall than he was 9 months ago. Now I can tolerate him being part of the setup, and have reasonable confidence about him scoring a chance. But he's certainly limited, one-footed, and heavily reliant on drilled routines rather than natural insight. It puts a strain on the players around him, having to come up with things for him to do.

People said similar things about Bobby Robson. Getting rid of him worked brilliantly. People making supposed niceness their key criticism deserve Souness.

The laws of the game are a shit show now and I have to suspect it's intentional, as it's a brilliant cover for selective implementation of the rules. It's not as though football was dysfunctional in 1995. Changes have been largely unnecessary and dreadfully implemented.

Will even increase our tactical stability and flexibility on set pieces, with Tripper waiting on the far side to defend or re-distribute rather than sprinting back across the pitch into position.

He said what? Hard disagree with Martin about this weekend, but also disagree with the idea the fans have no impact on players, both in the short term, in a match, and in the long term, about how a player feels about their prospects if they join or stay at a club. Surprised it would be controversial actually. This would imply Sean Longstaff was unaffected by historic criticism, or that Bruno Guimaraes's reception has had no impact upon how he feels about staying to try and achieve success here rather than at A.N.other English club. It seems pretty Ashley-esque to be honest. The spectacle impacts the spectating players who impact the result, surely? Players read the room when assessing whether a club is there to win things or roll over and die, just like we do. But totally agree that getting petulant at the first time of asking, after the 18 months we've had, would be totally the wrong tone. The final was about announcing and consecrating the fact we're back.

I think Bruno specifically is special, but otherwise I agree. There are certain players that become the heartbeat of a club though.

Yes, something like being able to win it in 5-10 years. But this time she's making declaratory statements about every major competition in the game one after another

Feel like my ears are burning.

Fair play to her I don't think they've been that explicit before. Don't think I've heard someone be that explicitly demanding and visionary for the club since Keegan. Love her!

It was the manner of his departure that stuck in the craw. Don't think many would've complained if he'd gone to be number 1 at Leicester or Middlesbrough or somewhere. Instead his daft arse picked up splinters in Manchester, and in virtually the only game he played in, in which he became a walking eyeroll for his new supporters, he nearly screwed up our whole season by cup tieing himself for the one match in his life he could've made himself a legend in. So altogether it would be best he just became a vague memory.

Real quotes? Would be surprised.

Truly, I don't think we had the option on doing that for anyone we actually thought was worth the investment in January. If I'm wrong, I'd maybe take a different view on the club's actions, but I think they kept their powder dry because there was nothing really worth shooting at in the CL range.

At least 5, maybe closer to 8. If he and one or two others had buried a decent portion of the chances they've had from Trippier lately, I don't think there would be so much disquiet about his set pieces. Again, I recognise they aren't as lethal as they were, but Trippier isn't responsible for set piece coaching and heading practice so far as I know, so there's only so much blame we can attach to him.

This is the first league cup final I've paid attention to in my life and it's a weird feeling. The sense of finality and pathos is legit, and yet we need to shake out of it as there's nearly half the season to go, and it's the business end. The positioning of the FA Cup final in the calendar makes a lot more sense to me.

Typo, sorry. I really think we can put a good run together again, but some work will be required to make it happen. I don't think things are just going to click back into place as we might have hoped a few weeks ago.

Hypothetically, I think we'd be more likely to lose Botman then Bruno. I think he and his family have truly bought in and it would be a Shay Given-Mike Ashley situation for him to push to leave. I hope it doesn't happen, but I think Bruno going would be as much the club's choice as him pushing to go.

Yes, I meant it tactically, not psychologically. Guessed you took me the wrong way, no worries And yes, agree I'd like to look at something like that. Once Targett's back I'd even consider a 5-3-2/3-5-2.

In the league, we've scored three goals since Boxing Day - 7 games, 8 points out of a possible 21.

Ordinarily, I agree with you, but I also think we're at risk of dreaming our season away. Our response to setbacks literally can't keep being to do what we do even harder. Almiron can't track back more, Joelinton can't simultaneously play even more positions on the pitch, Trippier to Burn isn't going to turn into a ten goal a season combo. So we need new approaches.

Don't take it as a compliment to Wood so much as an insult to Wilson

Totally take your point, but I also remember Keegan turning Owen into a useful midfielder. I would like to think there's more benefit we could get out of Wilson than we currently are.

Not wanting to relitigate, but there's an argument to be made we'd have been better with Wood.

As I said another thread, every match from here on out should be treated as a cup final. All actions and thoughts should be based on the match we're playing, not loyalty or tactical continuity where they contraindicate the 3 points.

I think back to his performance against Aston Villa and think "where has that bloke gone?". It wasn't that long ago that he was a ball of energy.