TRon

Not sure how dragging these cases through the courts at massive expense is in anyone's interests, least of all the PL's. I can understand the cartel are trying to protect their interests, but it looks like a losing battle to me, and I doubt the govt is about to step in when there is so much outside capital at stake.

According to the write up in the Times the acoustics are great so should generate a great atmosphere. I think their fans will be happy once they get used to the idea of being out of Goodison.

Not sure they'll win any play offs like. They try to play passing football so fair play to them, but that tends to go to shit in a KO competition when you're team is inexperienced and you struggle to score goals.

This is how I see it. CL football, plus use some wiggle room in the sponsorship rules to give him a contract on a par with what he can get anywhere else, and he will be happy to stay. As long as the club shows it is ready to mix it with the big boys then there's no better place to be than here.

If the top 4 is Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea (which looks debatable) who would finish 5th and 6th?

I watched the game back, I don't agree that there was a lack of effort from the first minute.We were actually competing fairly well for the first 10 mins or so and closing them down. That first goal really seemed to knock us for a loop, not surprising considering how bad it was from so many different angles. After that the pressing became half hearted and it seemed to me the players lost confidence in what they were supposed to be doing. It's not the first time it's happened either, we quite often end up conceding in a similar manner with everyone caught out of position and getting a drubbing. We play a high risk style, and when it works it's great. When it doesn't we can look very amateurish. I agree that Man City didn't just transform back into world beaters. I think our tactics played into their hands. Whether that was because they were the wrong tactics or just poor execution is the question.

While I'm sure that's true, if our success is reliant on a former striker playing in midfield, then we are not as good as we thought.

This is what the PL - and by extension, the cartel - were banking on. Majority rule forever. Problem is that doesn't stand up in court under scrutiny. If every parent sent a petition to a school that they all wanted their kids to be spanked by the teachers with no legal repercussions, if just one parent recanted and took it to court, those rules would be thrown out even if the school made them part of their policy.

CL football and a big spend on upgrading the squad is what will keep our best players here. I think another season of treading water and we'll start seeing some itchy feet.

Fucking hell, what a miss.

Honestly felt like a CL was ours for the taking before the Bournemouth defeat. Never really thought Forest's form would hold up, and I hadn't even considered Bournemouth a threat before they dismantled us with a team struggling with injuries. We are still in there thanks to that incredible run of wins, so at least we know we are capable of putting them together.

Weird one this, can't work out which team I want to lose more. Thought about their owners and that swung it towards Man U, but then I remembered Spurs owner is Levy.

They've got a couple of very dangerous players in MGW and Elanga. Wood is scoring a lot of goals this season, but if the CBs don't take their eye off the ball, he's easy enough to snuff out of a game. He's just a target man at the end of the day. We know where the danger is coming from, we should be able to impose our game and watch for the sucker punch accordingly.

Midweek games are just a handy excuse for when you are going through a bad spell of form. Get sick of hearing how a free week will give us plenty of time to prepare and rest up, and then we inevitably turn in a half-hearted performance and get turned over by a team that''s played three days earlier.

Like I said yesterday, I watched the game again on the Sky extended highlights, and Willock was doing his job up until they scored. After that the whole team fell apart and we lost our shape. Miley brought some good composure to the game, but it was already lost by then, and the game had slowed down anyway. Not really sure how much you can judge off that second half. The other thing to consider is that Willock has played down the left side previously, and he's more of a natural replacement for Joelinton. If Miley comes in, he's either playing centrally or down the right, so that means shuffling the whole team around to accomodate him. Tonali ended up on the right yesterday, I'm not sure that's what I want to see in future games.

Agree. You just have to look at the goals conceded, we played right into your hands. There might be an argument that it was the players executing the plan badly, but that first goal...fuck me. How do you end up with two slowcoach centre backs on the halfway line where just a simple punt takes them out of the game? It looked to me like we planned for Haaland, but had no idea what Marmoush was going to bring to the table.

Was probably the worst defender on the pitch today. Awful.

Looked like Tonali shifted out to the left and Miley went to the right to accomodate him so not sure the balance will be right over a longer period. Felt a bit sorry for Willock, the midfield was quite solid until the first goal, then everything fell apart. He was doing his job up to then, even if he wasn't pulling up any trees.

Dubravka was in no mans land as well. None of the defenders came out of that well.

Sometimes it really is as simple as that. There's been a lot of criticism of the midfield, but we were set up quite well until they scored. For some reason both our centre backs were on the halfway line with no recovery pace, and a simple long ball left Trippier isolated against a younger, faster striker in acres of space. That goal was tragic, and we never recovered.

I'm no less or more worried than I was before today. I've never seen us play well in a cup final, and that goes back to the League Cup final against Man City. I was a kid then and not sure if they would rank as really top class opposition, but every final we've played seems to be against really top tier teams. To win against Liverpool, we'll have to make sure we turn up for once at Wembley, and actually play. That would make a change in itself.

They are doing it with a smaller squad and with plenty of injuries to contend with as well.

Their strengths and weaknesses are pretty much an open book, we need a repeat performance of the one we put in down there. We neutered them very effectively on the day.

But if you've got ageing players who lack pace, you then have to make sure you don't leave too much empty space where they will get exposed.

They've been hamstrung by the conditions they agreed to with the PL when the takeover was allowed. We'll only know the real extent of their ambition if they are given an avenue where they can flex their muscle. The APT rules being ruled illegal might be that avenue.