80

I don't think they'll do it, by the way. I don't believe we'll collapse. One of the few positives today is we were still chasing balls down when 3-0 down in the 93rd minute. We never said die, we kept our discipline.

And that's why I wasn't too devastated by our own result today Objectively, Villa have to be considered in the hunt though. Yes, it implies us having a collapse but we can't say we have a divine right not to do that. 5th is unquestionably in their reach, though, so why not 4th?

I suspect he was nervous of making any mistakes today, but it meant he offered nothing. Needed to be braver with the ball, as Eddie would say. Opportunity cost is a valid shout. That question ultimately boils down to what the club thinks it's got the room to do.

Agreed about the onfield tactics. If we try hard enough to blame Howe, we can go back to the training prior to the game, and the physical and psychological preparation. But this was a global defeat today - we did very little right with the ball, everything was half a yard off or half a second late. Villa, meanwhile, had the individual qualities to make use of the tactical advantages. They were impressive. Today makes Gerrard look like an even bigger plum. We're used to being the fittest on the pitch but we weren't today.

Ah, fair enough. I agree with you in that case.

Need to watch it again but I think he was caught flat footed by Anderson passing the ball straight to Villa, in fairness. It's a pity Anderson hasn't pushed on since the Forest game.

I think we used a plan b and c today. Just weren't up to it.

I mean, we've been on a 5 match winning streak to be fair. But I am hoping this is an opportunity to re-examine the situation.

I actually associate them and new hairdos with disappointment so this was true to form

Was nice to have a footballer at left back for a bit.

How could I miss you if you never went away?

As I feared before the match, they're doing an us circa last season to us. There's a lot wrong with us here, everyone is half a step off. Murphy has shown some of his best and worst. I suspect he's got the 'best' parts out of the way though and is mainly gonna psych himself out now without changes from Howe.

As a supporter, he's been shite this half. Seems to be playing within himself, everything's in slow motion. He's not alone though.

Part of me is hoping Pedro has some sort of clause in his new contract surrounding leaving Watford should they not get promoted. On first sight, seems silly for him to have signed it otherwise. Yes, if PSG are at the stage of ousting him, it's financially interesting for sure, which we can't completely ignore if all terms are favourable.

We've been better front foot than back foot so fairly pleased about that. Slightly concerned about Murphy reverting to type and getting bullied out of the game, though. May be worth having Joelinton over on his side for a change.

*And we were left with only Chris Wood. I'm not so sure we would've rushed in for Isak if we had Wood AND Ekitike in reserve. I think, for me, a distinction between Ekitike and Gordon is all of Gordon's trouble seems to be on the pitch - technically including Brentford, too. I've heard nothing but good things about him off the pitch. With Ekitike it seems to be the opposite. Will he have a road to Damascus moment? Maybe. He probably should for his own sake. But given where we're at as a club now, I'd like to think there's a whole world of decent alternatives out there e.g. Pedro so don't see why we'd tie our flag to him alone. Not saying that you are Kaka, obviously.

Starting to approach our, on paper, best eleven. As others have said, will be interesting to see us without Longstaff.

Vomit inducing. Almost makes me want to back VAR

Got mixed views on this article on subtler ways VAR affects the game, but attaching for interest - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/apr/13/andy-robertson-player-behaviour-referees-var-major-cause

Trying to laugh off the boot Howe clipped at his right eye.

They're significantly different footballers. I would think replacing one or the other would be more of a tactical decision than a specific call over which is better than the others. Joelinton's a better disrupter and more totemic for morale, Willock's smoother in attack and I think has more goal potential in him. People would tend to think it's our attack that most needs to improve so superficially I can see why the target would be on Willock. That said, if you introduce getting a Rice into the conversation and moving Bruno forwards, that again changes things.

Yeah, they're basically us from last season. So... Let's not make the mistake everyone made with us last season.

@Skeletor

This is basically it. We're either looking at scrapping it or having much much more of it.

On one hand, I'm sympathetic to the ideas here. On the other, fuck me we're making a pig's ear out of what used to be a fun, simple game enjoyed by small children.