TRon

That's what I meant when I was talking about his footwork. It's great to watch, and really effective as well. Your average footballer can't do it.

Can't see any way out other than suicide unfortunately.

What he's done with Almiron and Willock deserves all the accolades regardless of the results. I recall Willock saying he was a brilliant manager last season, and when you look at the football he's playing now, it's all down to Howe. You couldn't design a more perfect manager.

Shame we had that patch where we were getting robbed by refs, and didn't have our shooting boots on against Bournemouth and Palace. City and Arsenal built a massive points gap during that month.

That said, if Wolves had equalised you wouldn't have been that surprised. They've had some decent chances.

Anything less than CL will feel like a failure now. That would have sounded insane at the start of the season.

Just class. Would you swap him and Botman for any other pair? No you fucking wouldn't.

His footwork was exceptional as well, barely mislaid a pass all night, and that was impressive considering he sometimes had two players biting around him. One of those games where he looked a complete midfield player.

I thought the wheels would have come off by now, but it is the second half of the season where they traditionally implode.

He'd walk into any side in the Premier.

That was CL level class football, no two ways about it. He's doing it consistently as well now. I'm not being funny, but some of the football he is playing wouldn't look out of place in a Pep Guardiola side.

Yeah, it was hard to believe this was the same Chelsea who absolutely battered us in their first game under Tuchel. They looked terrified today.

Would still like to see him on the left and the revitalised Miggy on the right at some point.

Quite funny watching the opposition doubling up on Miggy now. It doesn't work though, he's too smart, he just passes it inside them and sets someone else away.

Feels like the big teams are finally starting to dread coming to St James park again, and it feels great.

That's why it's so gratifying having an intelligent manager, he sees the stuff your average fan will miss.

It's the perfect time to play them, I reckon Potter will have them better organised when we get into the second half of the season.

For once I hope he's right. We need Wilson for this one, if he starts then it's a great chance to deal a death blow to Chelsea's CL hopes while boosting ours.

GTFI! We won on penalties yesterday, and finally we get a kind draw in this competition! Our name is on this.

Quite happy to see Lampard limp along at Everton, they are a solid enough team now, but will go absolutely nowhere under him. At best they will become a boring spoiler team.

I know what you mean. I am almost reluctant to admit it, because it feels like sacrilege, but tactically at least, he seems to be on another level, and SBR was no slouch in that area. Howe won't take you on a roller coaster like Keegan did, I think those years will be hard to top for pure emotion, but Eddie has a calculating side to him which is evident in how he answers questions so expertly. Gives his adversaries nothing, and at the same time seems to be able to get his players to run through walls for him. He'll bring silverware to Tyneside.

He's not going to Man U or anywhere else, but obviously Miggy's agent is going to use this golden run of form to try to get a better contract. At some point we'll happily give him one as well, once he's shown that the goals are here to stay.

Not really. Always felt like he should be scoring a lot more goals, but somewhere down the line he became more of a wing back than an actual forward, I think Bruce played a big part in stifling his natural instincts. Miggy's his own worst enemy at times with his work rate, but Howe has been canny enough to realise he had a lot more in his locker, and has brought back the goals radar he had at his former club.

It's so cute how there's still some clinging to the old perception that the Big Six can buy our players, when reality is probably moving in the opposite direction. Not sure if there are any Man U players I actually want though.

Maybe he actually does a good job for Brazil. International football is different from the Premier League, it's usually played at a slower pace with more emphasis on possesion and less physical tussles in the midfield. Maybe Fred is considered a bit more reliable in keeping possession than Joelinton. Joe is perfect for the Premier because physicality plays a big part.