TRon

Longstaff.

Him and Bruno are trying to do too much because the rest of the team aren't able to. That's how they end up making stupid fouls chasing the game.

Wow. We win the ball and have the ball in transition and the ref stops the game to give us a free kick.

That's how I saw it as well. Obviously their quality all over the pitch is showing, but our good players don't look out of place, we just don't have enough of them. We should be level really despite their dominance of possession. Their goal was a shit one to concede as well from a defensive POV.

We weren't awful, if it was 1-1 no one could really complain. They've kept our wide players really quiet, not sure if that's on Gordon and Almiron, or because there's not much support from the full backs with Tripper staying back, and Burn not really being a full back.

Pretty much sums up this thread so far.

Lascelles has defended well enough, but no surprise he looks all at sea when he has the ball at his feet in possession.

He's a good honest pro, just lost at this level, he looks better against the likes of Southampton or Blackburn.

Longstaff had a chance there but took too long to seize it.

Pretty weak defending that.

Bruno and Joelinton look class in midfield.

Not necessarily when you have ASM on the pitch. He tries hard in his own way but not so much in a team sense.

Just emphasises how shit the rest of our 6 footers are in the air.

Started well enough tbh, competing hard like I thought we might.

Miggy running over to Rafa to shake hands in the middle of the interview

Not so bothered as some that we are starting with Almiron and Wilson, it means we have some real game changers on the bench in Maxi and Isak. Conversely, I don't think either Miggy or Wison offer as much threat coming on as subs.

Much prefer having a game to look forward to later in the evening tbh.

Or maybe the clubs weren't willing to cough up his wages and expected us to pay most of them. Maybe he refused to take a pay cut by moving elsewhere and decided he'd be better off picking up full wages here while watching Netflix.

I think that's fair enough, if other clubs think they have a valid case to bring us down, let them get on with it. At this point I am not going to give it too much thought and am happy to leave it to the legal eagles. In the meantime I will continue to enjoy the progress we are making on the pitch and the feelgood factor through the city as a whole.

This was the article posted by Disco earlier this week. Fantastic read.

You can offer him a better contract which apparently we are set to do. Someone posted an interview he done before the cup final, and he's absolutely loving it here. I think it would have to be a pretty special club for him to move if we can match the money.

These documentaries must be gold when it comes to building fan interest across the globe. I watched the Man City, Arsenal and Spurs ones, and even though I have very little interest in any of those clubs, the drama of the season as it unfolds is fantastic viewing. I saw the Mackem one as well, but that was more for comedy value. I can imagine Howe wouldn't want the intrusion of cameras though, especially as we are still in the early stages of the rebuild.

We could definitely generate a decent fee for Wilson if we could get £15m for Wood. Even a striker who is injury prone would be worth a punt from clubs at the lower end of the table, assuming he hasn't been totally ravaged by Covid long term. He's still only 31, should still have a few goals in him.

I don't really like to lose promising players from the Premier, but this needs to be nipped in the bud. He needs a punishment that would make him realise how stupid he was.