Elma

I generally don't stress on transfers now, whether that's missing out on players or worrying about how new signings will settle. Eddie seems to find the right characters blended with the right skillset. Our scouting team have done a great job since the takeover in supporting this too. It seems like, unlike with many other managers around, provided the new player is within a certain technical window Eddie can coach them the rest of the way into our system. This takes a lot of the jeopardy out of new signings, and the support structures the club have put in place help players settle really well. My only gripe/missed opportunity is the sale of Elliot Anderson, and that was simply bad PSR management and wouldn't have happened without PSR. I also still have a slight concern around Paul Mitchell and how he fits into the Howe/scouting team dynamic, and that won't disappear until we're through our first window where we actually bring players in who positively contribute to the squad, and I can see that the dynamic hasn't significantly changed (i.e. Mitchell is adding to the team rather than disrupting it). With the above in mind, if we do eventually go for Quansah (at the right price) I've no doubt he'll do very well here.

I maintain Eddie would have kept us up without investment, but it would have been tight.

Might be asking some as we've not been as solid at home this season, but win five of the six home games and win at Leicester and we're there. For what it's worth I don't think we will win five but I think we'll pick up more than three points in the road. Forest look good to me and you can never bet against Man City, but Chelsea have a tough run and aren't in form. Villa too are distracted and a bit up and down. It might be sides like Brighton, Bournemouth or Fulham we have to shake off to get fifth.

He wasn't great, but I remember one decent performance in a 0-0 draw when he thumped one off the post. I've definitely seen worse players in black and white.

I had the Subbuteo League Cup when I was a kid. Could have just stuck some ribbons on that. The problem is, it's apparently quite rare now and sells for north of £100.

Absolutely loved him. He replied to one of my tweets a few years back and I was made up. 😂 Cracking player.

Karetsas looks a prospect.

I mean I loved all three at the time, but going from watching McCreery, O'Brien and Brock in the late 80's, to a midfield of two current Brazilian internationals and an Italian international is some shift up. Only took 37 years.

Yeah, I did the same. Bit of a soft pen for Scotland but glad they scored it after the Greek fans were trying to shine a laser in his face to put him off. That should get reported to UEFA.

Starts against Germany tonight. Will be watching that instead of Greece v Scotland.

Would be a risk due to the ACL (unlike Tino who had actually played a few comeback games), but Fatawu at Leicester has potential having just turned 21. To be honest though I've only been looking at his forward contribution and not sure whether he'd fit our profile for a new RW.

That last paragraph man… 😂 "Unfortunately for the River Plate fan, the trouble he has taken may have all been in vain because - according to some reports - the video has since been disabled by YouTube for copyright infringement."

True - if possible that made the cup win even sweeter, as we owed them more than one.

Not trying to be wise after the event, but I said in a WhatsApp group chat at the beginning of the week that we should play the game like Bournemouth played us at St James', beating the press by going long over the top into the channels. I was gutted that day but was really impressed by Bournemouth, and I think maybe Eddie learned something from that defeat.

Also how important Schär was on the run. Pen against Wimbledon, goal against Brentford, created Gordon's goal against Arsenal. Impressive that we finished 13-3 in goals across the competition (9-2 against the top four) with two of those conceded being late consolations.

If I recall correctly Carr broke his arm.

Same, albeit I'm six years younger. First game in 81. Dad has dementia and was watching at home with my (middle) brother - I'm the youngest. My dad was fifteen when we won the cup in 55 and this was his last chance to actually understand what's going on and appreciate we've won something. My older brother is your age, played for NUFC reserves and youths in the 80s, and was in tears in a pub in New York when the final whistle went. It just means so much to everyone.

The idea was correct, he just got brushed off it way too easily. Willock (and Tonali) did that much better towards the end.

At least that way we could easily add 5,000 capacity year on year by barely lifting a finger.

Indeed…que sera sera.

Would be surprised if Forest blow it from here, and provided we get in I'd love to see them there too. Chelsea's form isn't great, they have a tough run in, and they've still to come to us. That's who we need to be aiming to be finish above (and stay above of Brighton, Bournemouth and Villa).

Fair play to Sela and the Reubens for that. Excellent.

Our game against Brighton was in the cup. There's only one Conference League place isn't there, so in the scenario you put together Villa would miss out?

Obviously got to go for the win, but with a nicer run of fixtures after this, I'd probably not be too disappointed with a draw provided we play well and don't pick up any injuries/suspensions.

On the plus side we've won the game of the three we really had to (just), and recent results have generally gone our way, so we're only two points outside of the Champions League places with a nicer (on paper) run of games ahead.