Shak

I'm sorry, Mila. I don't deserve you.

It was a genuine compliment. Lots of fresh young lasses out there, would be easy to cast aside a long term committment for one of them and he hasn't done so. Respect.

I mean absolutely.

Credit to Midds sticking with Liz Hurley as his ideal woman well into her 50s

When he was having that bust up with Arteta at the end, when it panned back to the game I actually stood up in the pub and shouted at the TV " don't fucking concede now!". The thought of Arsenal scoring and Arteta celebrating in his face made me fucking sick. That's. My. Fucking. Manager.

Team I expected and makes sense tbh, need to defend seamlessly as a team and not sure ASM is quite there. Time to start ASM was on Saturday IMO, hopefully if he comes off the bench today he'll hit the ground running a bit more.

They look to me like a team with a very good manager who is increasingly getting them to play more and more like he wants them to. Think Ten Haag will be a success there, seems to know what he's doing unfortunately.

Feels to me like Man United and Liverpool are the teams to beat for us? Arsenal or Man City missing out on the top four seems almost impossible. Spurs meanwhile haven't looked great at all this year and Chelsea adding all these players seems great in theory but they're still getting used to how Potter wants to play and are now going to change up the team even more and are already well off the pace. Quite possible one of them makes top four but I'd be surprised at this point. Today and tomorrow figures to be bad for us. We're at Arsenal while Man U host Bournemouth and Liverpool go to Brentford. After that, our next four fixtures are a huge chance for us to make some strides. If we're serious about finishing top four we need to take advantage of that run of fixtures. Home games with Fulham and West Ham and away to Palace and Bournemouth. At least 9 points from that needed IMO, chance there'll be a slip up but what we can't do is draw too many games. Hopefully we'll have Isak back and maybe a signing or two to give us a boost too. Meanwhile Liverpool and Man U both have four tougher fixtures coming up. Man U have trips to Arsenal and Leeds as well as Man City at Old Trafford. Liverpool have to go to Brighton and Wolves and host Chelsea and Everton. All winnable obviously but all challenging fixtures. February 18th could be spicy, Liverpool coming to St James Park. If we are ahead of them when that fixture gets here it should be an immense game.

The way Howe likes to play he'd be great in the DM spot for us IMO. As we see when Bruno plays there, the role is more about being able to be the foundation of our attacks, taking the ball from the defense and getting it forward effectively and providing an outlet when we're in attack if we need to go backwards. We don't really need a true ball winning bruiser in that spot as much of the ball winning is done through our pressing as a unit. Tielemans is pretty decent defensively, much like Bruno. On the ball he'd get plenty of chances to shoot from distance and would be able to offer something similar to the passing that Bruno does in that role.

I'd be pleased with Tielemans as he's got the ability on the ball that we desperately need from our DM. One reason I've been wary of moving Bruno is that I don't want to lose his ability on the ball in that role but Tielemans would mean that it wasn't an issue.

I just fancy us to give anyone a game these days tbh. For so long we've been a team that you could count on half a dozen times a year just not showing up for an away game and losing by two or three goals in a game we were second best from the first whistle. This year we've gone to Anfield, Old Trafford and Spurs' stadium this year and only for a last second goal at Liverpool we'd be unbeaten. Not like we've gone there and frustrated those teams with brilliant defensive performances and hit them on the counter either, all of those games we came out and pressed high and got men forward and tried to play football when we've had the ball. Fully confident we'll go there tomorrow and give a good account of ourselves. We might lose because Arsenal are also a very well organised side and have better players than us but if they want to win tomorrow they're going to have to make sure they show up ready to play because we'll take their lunch money if not.

He'd be fine as a third choice starter if one of the guys ahead of him wasn't Callum Wilson. He's going to play lots of minutes before the end of the season unless we add to the squad and he's just a massive liability, sadly.

Frustrating as fuck that. We're just not going to finish top four with the likes of Wood and Longstaff playing significant minutes for us. Absolute fucking state of the pair of them today.

You can see the need today for someone other than Bruno in midfield who can pick a pass. Hopefully won't have to wait long for Wilson and ASM in the second half, the current eleven don't look much like scoring outside of a set piece IMO.

Almiron has been really poor. Ref is a cunt, hope his home life is bad.

Feel like Maxi would be absolutely monstrous on the break against these lot.

Christ, Wood is absolute garbage with the ball at his feet. Absolutely easy goal if he has any composure there.

As dismal as Froggy's patter is, pretty clear that Ten Haag has turned Man United into a well organised side who'll be right in the running for 4th IMO. Not playing particularly fluid football yet but similar to us last season in terms of being a well organised side, but with better individual quality than we had.

You should try not to let it bother you so much IMO.

Great thing about having Bruno is we can sign either a 6 or an 8 and know Bruno will be dynamite in the other position. If we do sign a holding midfielder and push Bruno forward then for me it's imperative that the new player offers the same passing ability from deep that Bruno does. Hugely important to how we've played this year IMO.

The last thing we need is false players.

I'll be interested to see what the long term plan at LB is. Do we think Eddie will stick with this shape where we play with three at the back in possession? One huge benefit to it is that it allows Bruno a bit more freedom to get forward even in the deepest of the midfield roles. Really negates the need for a true holding midfielder.

Convinced people who want him moved just can't get their head around the idea of having a player as good as him as a holding midfielder because they see it as a position that is primarily a defensively focused. He gives us so much in that position.

I'd still take a draw, personally.