Cronky

A bad mistake, but a lot of the fuss around this has been unconstructive. In rugby, the ref starts off by making his decision clear to VAR, and if that had happened it would all have been avoided. Once the process is over and play restarts, I'd agree that you can't then go back and change the decision retrospectively. We'd then get into the territory of how bad does a decision have to be before it can be re-visited in that way. That would only increase the confusion.

I didn't think Gala were all that good, and I was expecting Man U to get on top and register something like 4-0. Poor defensive organisation let them down. It's tempting to pile in on Ten Haag, but there's a whole string of good managers - esp Mourinho, Van Haal - who have come a cropper there. They have the players but they need to build a settled side. That takes a bit of time, but there's so much pressure in that job, that they end up going round in circles.

I think that’s bad manners on his part. A discourtesy towards his fellow manager. He knows how that looks and just thinks he’s above the usual conventions.

Interesting because most of our games are fairly tight. We get the edge with our fitness and preparation. But if the opposition isn’t properly prepared, like Villa and Sheffield this season, then they can get steamrollered. Our focus and organisation is relentless.

What he's showing now is an ability to go past his full back on either side.

He looked a stone overweight. Was quite a promising player once.

By the way the rules are interpreted, that's a goal. Having said that, there's still something unsatisfactory about the situation, and I wonder if it would be better if refs were allowed to use a bit of common sense, to coin the phrase. A handball may be accidental, but the player might gain a big advantage from it. I think both aspects need to be considered. In the Arsenal - Spurs pen incident, the defender didn't deliberately handle the ball, but he was rushing out to block what would have been a nailed-on certain goal. A pen felt like the right decision, because the consequences of the handball were huge and obvious, but it didn't real sit with the current focus on 'deliberate'. We may have to accept that we're never going to get complete certainty and consistency in this area.

Well I don't think that was the only reason he left. The most satisfying wins come when there's been a bit of a scrap against a good side. This was shooting fish in a barrel.

I honestly can't feel too elated about this because Sheffield were so bad. Mentally they just weren't there. I wonder whether Maddy Cusack's death and the speculation around the manager had affected their preparation. I'm not trying to be miserable here. That match was just unreal.

Even before our first goal, I was amazed at how much time and space we were getting in their half. I hadn't realised that Heckingbottom's job had been under threat, with all the Chris Wilder rumours. That sort of thing is almost bound to affect a manager's state of mind, and subsequently his team's performance. They didn't seem to play with any belief.

A strange feeling to win 8-0 without even playing that well. I was expecting Sheffield as a newly promoted side to put in a spirited performance, but they lost heart completely.

I haven't seen Sheffield United before and I wasn't expecting them to be this bad. We're getting so much space.

It looks like Eddie is expecting a bit of an onslaught in the early stages. He wants to make sure we'll stand up to the physical test.

Easy to forget that Spurs were in the top four at the time when Conte threw his tantrum and put their season on the skids. They do have some good players, and Maddison is a good buy for them. It took Arsenal a long time to recover from conceding that second goal. It was a real killer. Entertaining game, though.

For a player of his experience, he looks quite nervous. Yes I know, he's new to the team and the country etc, but he needs to relax and get stuck in more. He's admitted that he's found the transition tough, of course. He sometimes shows a heavier first touch than I would expect. Hopefully that's just nerves.

I can't see us bringing in another left back when we've invested £35m in Hall. I'm hopeful that he'll be able to take over from Burn as first choice left back at some stage this season.

I think the runners need to have the confidence to leave their more defensive positions and commit to the attack. They need the faith that we won't just lose the ball and get exposed. The hallmark of a struggling team is one where players are holding back in case the team loses possession. We haven't shown that confidence this season, but we've had a very difficult run of fixtures, and there are new players to be integrated.

I actually thought he did okay last night, in difficult circumstances. From the technical point of view, he's by far our best player, and on occasion he linked well. But the whole team struggled, particularly with fatigue in the latter stages, and there's a limit to what he can do on his own. There's a general issue with his best role. He was dropping deeper last night, and that creative, withdrawn Number 9 role suits him well, but we need the likes of Gordon, Barnes or MIggy to be running into the space that he leaves behind. I think that's what we need to work on, rather than trying to shoehorn Wilson and Isak into a 4-3-3, or leaving him on his own up top. If we were better at working the ball through the centre rather than going wide most of the time, it would make it easier for him to be a number 9, but that's a problem at the moment. Shame we weren't able to land Maddison.

I don't think our players are as good as Milan's, and Liverpool's are miles better. We've got ourselves into this position through great management and team spirit. We have to be realistic and not expect too much. We had Murphy, Longstaff, and Schar starting, with Miggy and Wilson coming on for major roles. All players who two years ago were in a side heading for relegation with 20 points.

The players looked completely knackered at the end, but we held on. I had a feeling we might just nick it, and when Longy set himself for that shot, I thought this was it. So much danger came down Burn's side. I shouldn't moan in the circumstances, but it's a weakness that opponents now target.

Murph getting his chance, eh? Could be a smart move. Put your trust in Edward.

Maybe by the time the sixth has gone in, they'll all have left.

That would bring into question a lot of free kicks which currently get given all over the pitch. I imagine it would be a nightmare for refs and VAR to judge with any consistency. I don't see a viable alternative to the current situation, whereby it's the responsibility of the defender putting in the challenge to make sure they get the ball. Like others, I'm a bit surprised at the 'controversy' over the Gordon penalty. Within the current interpretations of the law, that challenge is a foul. I would have some sympathy with Brentford over the Tottenham decision though. I think it wasn't given because the attacker was able to put in an attempt at goal, and the collision was then defined as an accidental clash after a phase of play had ended. If the attacker had tried to get round the keeper and then been clattered, it would have been a pen. All that doesn't feel right, and there needs to be some clarification by those in charge.

I've actually found this new information about the difficulties around his grasp of English, and his transition to a new club, quite encouraging. At times on the field, he has indeed looked a bit lost, and I was starting to worry. Football has its own technical language, and I can imagine that Eddie's tactical instructions can be quite subtle and complex. He likes his players to have fluid roles. Sandro seems quite a shy character, and maybe not the type to say, 'Sorry I haven't a clue what you're talking about. Can you go over it again.' I can understand that using a translator can be quite a 'distancing' issue, but it looks like this is the best way forward. I found his admission at feeling lost at first, and his appreciation of 'Mr Howe and my team-mates' quite moving. I'm full of hope now that this guy will deliver, if not now then pretty soon.

We-el, I've just checked, and he did rotate in the early rounds of the League Cup and FA Cup. He only started fielding his strongest XI when we'd got to the quarter-finals of the League Cup. The other factors in European competition are the extra travel time, the complications of foreign travel, and the quality of the opposition. That's mental rather than physical tiredness, but I think it's a factor. And there's potential intrusion into the normal time he'd like for training. Eddie mentioned that he was pleased that the travel distances weren't too far on this occasion, so it's an issue that he's very aware of. And it's not like the Europa League where you can end up in Azerbaijan. All in all though, I'm quite sure that if we weren't playing on Tuesday, there would have been a different team on Saturday.