Cronky

That last 15 minutes was really horrible, but I'm breathing again.

Frustrating player. It drives me mad when he gets bundled off the ball all the time, and the likes of Chilwell run past him like he's not there. Then he scores a really class goal.

It bothers me how easily they're getting down our right, but we're getting chances. Here's hoping.

Man City are on a long term plan of killing off the opposition by their mammoth spending, and in all probability are cheating as they do it. I know there'd be an irritating fuss if Liverpool win it, but a City win is by far the worse outcome.

Clearly a wrong decision, but you could see how it happened. In real time, it didn't look offside because the attacker was moving away from the goal at the same time as the defender was moving towards it, and they crossed before he headed the ball. With the linesman unsighted by another player, the problem was compounded. Yes, it was a decision that VAR could have comfortably reversed, but if Cardiff go down, one thing I won't miss is Neil Warnock and his self-righteous rants.

Well not really, a cynical yellow would be clipping the blokes heels and tripping him I think that's what he was trying to do, but he made a hash of it. Loved the interview, by the way. It showed what makes the guy tick, and why his career has taken that curious path.

Ummm… if that's true, he's in trouble.

Agree with that like, Didn’t do a lot Mainly because of the players around him though The sad fact is that he had the talent to play in a much better side. He didn't take his opportunities.

To be honest, he looks like a key player already. He's strengthened the defence and helped to give us a proper counter-attacking game. We're not just hoofing it forward.

Together with Hayden and our back three, we now have a real beast of a defence. I've just done the math - in the last 450 minutes of Premiership football, we've conceded only three goals (against Man City, Spurs and Wolves). One goal every two and a half hours. Outside the top six, we have nothing to fear with that behind us. He's also boosted the attack with his passing. He doesn't need a steadying touch on the ball to pass accurately and that makes a big difference.

I like his work-rate and attitude, and he shows good technique, but really he's too slow to be an effective wide player at the level we're aiming for.

Yeah, that incident made me aware of something I'd not thought of before. If there's a delay of four minutes in the 89th minute of the game, you should still only add one minute to whatever stoppage time has accumulated before. I think. Great win, by the way.

I only watched the first 15 minutes of Hoffenheim, it was so dull. Joelinton seemed to be a free midfielder in a 3-4-1-2. He actually seemed to be out of position and was struggling to make an impact.

Um ... no. I'm only going by a Youtube video, but in the vast majority of the clips he was picking the ball up deep or out wide, with team mates ahead of him. He didn't look like a Rondon type at all.

He looks more like a withdrawn striker - a replacement for Ayoze, rather than Rondon. And he looks pretty decent too, so I'm prepared to buy into the dream for the time being.

Ref has to send him off then. btw wat If a player refuses to leave the pitch, then ref has right to send him off. They should have just put the numbers up on the board. Not sure how in-date this is but was posted on Reddit: https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/law_3_the_number_of_players_en_47419.pdf Slide 5: "If a player who is about to be replaced refuses to leave the field of play, play continues". Not sure the ref could do anything about this. Mental behaviour from Kepa. That surprised me, but it looks like the rules need to be changed. Refusing to be subbed should be like refusing go off when getting a red card.

Encouraging if true, but it's only February. We can't be the only club that's interested.

He's Mr Perpetual Motion. He invites comparison with the greats, so I give you Colin Bell. (Ask your Dads)

Searing pace, but I also like the way he often keeps the rhythm of an attack going by releasing the ball quickly and decisively. He's twice the player I thought he'd be.

Interesting question, because part of the fascination of football is that every player brings their own unique package, which becomes more and more apparent the more you see of them. Hansen and Stones is a good call. Andy Carroll and Duncan Ferguson, I'd say. On the opposite tack, the player who I'd say was most unique, the most difficult to compare with others, was Cruyff.

As there's no chance of a deal being done unless the club is safe from relegation, I think we can all keep calm for now.

The problem for the Premiership is that the huge amounts of money involved in either staying up or trying to reach the Champions League mean that clubs are reluctant to risk young players. The huge amounts of money involved also make it too easy to buy ready made, experienced players from abroad. On Longstaff, two or three times a game, the opposition will try to close him down and he just drifts past them with the ball into open space. That's quite a rare quality in a midfield anchorman - or at least an English one. Looking at who we've got, Dier looks like a defender who's a bit out of his comfort zone, and Henderson, good player that he is, doesn't have that particular ability.

He showed some real pace and at least tried to get stuck in. All in all, much more promising than I had feared.

Will play for England within 2 years.

His shot-stopping is his strength. He can be a bit unsure of himself with crosses unfortunately. There's no way I'd drop him though. He was criticised a bit unfairly for the goals against Man U and Spurs, because in those instances the ball dipped and bounced right in front of him, and that can be tricky. However, this one was a bit of a howler. ON - interesting photo. Most refs automatically give a foul when the keeper is challenged in the goal area. But he still should have punched and not taken any chances.