TRon

I don't rate Amorin, but clubs are looking at resale value rather than what the manager actually needs. Chelsea operate in exactly the same manner. It's one of the reasons I don't see Howe leaving here unless he becomes really disillusioned, the club have generally backed him over DOFs looking at profit margins only.

You only had to be on here a decade back to understand that. "Touch of a rapist" generally got applied to only one racial demographic, I won't go into details.

He wanted Ollie Watkins didn't he? Tbf, they'd probably be doing a bit better if they'd backed him on that.

Got to admit, any inclination I had to give him the benefit of the doubt disappeared when I saw him hiding from watching penalties. I'd have sacked him on the spot after seeing that.

All this does underline just how few top managers there are around though. Mostly the only proven ones are just getting recycled at different mega clubs, and even they have their detractors.

I'm surprised he lasted this long tbh.

You reckon? I really hope Farke is that stupid, will make our job a lot easier. I think they'll come with a spoiler attitude and try to replicate the mackem MO.

If that had went in would have done him the world of good. He needed it just to keep the trolls off his back.

I wonder what Hall would be like on direct free kicks? We don't seem to have any left footed options for when we get a set piece 20-30 yds out. We had a great position yesterday and when Murphy stepped up for one on the right, you knew his only choice was to chip it in.

I think Chelsea's spend can't be questioned, but the manager would probably like some more experience in his squad. Might be if Maresca had some to call on it could have translated to trophies.

Going off the last couple of games, the only midfield slot he could take is Sandro's. But it's not as simple as that. While his ball retention is fantastic, you have to factor in other things. Bruno gave the ball away more yesterday, but he makes more line breaking passes and attempts to hold the ball until the right pass is on, so he's always going to come under more pressure. Tonali is not at his best passing wise, but his speed in closing down and pressing the opposition is still second to none. Not an easy decision, but I would probably just rotate and rest each player to keep them fresh.

He'll be raring to go on Wednesday.

They could have scored 3 already.

Get in! Fuck you Boehly!

Not sure Howe would want him, but Ben Arfa would be tasty against the low block.

Shit, that deserved a goal from Haaland.

We might have played better, but today I always felt we were in control, even at 0-0 after an hour. Thought we closed the game out really well for a change as well.

He's a division one footballer who can hit a peachy cross.

Ironically, after he went off there were a few pearler deliveries which you felt he would have really jumped on if he was on the pitch.

Add Joelinton to that list, all three were outstanding.

Thought he got caught on the ball or missed his pass a few times, but he's trying to break the lines with killer passes rather than play safe so that should be expected. Even when he's not 100% he still makes us tick.

Things are looking up. Back to back wins, defenders coming back to fitness, and we are still in touching distance of the top 5. If we can get players like Ramsey and Elanga to pitch in over the next month it will really help us push on. Loads of games so we need to be able to rotate with confidence.

At that point I was just thinking how great it is to have a CB with a turn of pace. In the past that would have been Mateta in on goal and the clean sheet up the swanee.

Looked so much better than Murphy technique wise, just a shame he's not a right winger.

He was. Bit of a mixed bag today, some players were outstanding, while others were off key. But we did enough to merit the win and we'll get better.