Elma

If I were a betting man I'd have put money on Bournemouth getting a Champions League place after witnessing them against us last month. I haven't changed my opinion since. Weve got more chance of finishing above Forest or Chelsea than them. I also don't think Villa have enough. My gut says us in 6th. Realistically we need to go at least 8-3-2 to have a chance of fifth. We'll definitely be in Europe though. Just not sure which comp.

I'm up for this game after Brighton and Bournemouth, so we'll find out whether I'm a jinx, or it's third time lucky.

That last save I celebrated like an NUFC goal. Unbelievable. I joked last night I wanted Plymouth at home in the next round. Ha ha! Well done the Pilgrims.

I'm supposed to be working. Done nowt for the last twenty mins.

Brentford is later, in April. Think he'll be involved but there might also be some horses for courses, with Miley getting some game time if we are under the cosh and need to retain possession. I was defending Willock massively last season as I thought he was integral to the fourth place finish, and I get the point he needs minutes, but I'm still thinking that yesterday was against a lower league opposition so I'm not getting too excited yet. Loved his movement for the winner though.

I love Krafth as he's so dependable. I was a right-back/right centre-half too and I really appreciate him. Should absolutely be getting a new contract (probably two years) if he wants it this summer. Will get a lot more minutes next season if we get into Europe.

That must have been Ted. He used to say that 😂 Around the edge of the box at the Gallowgate end?

They are, apart from the keeper Peacock-Farrell, who is prone to the odd blunder and not good with his feet when pressed. Mind you, we've got Pope.

Burn never gets a rest. I swear if the bomb ever drops there'll just be him and the cockroaches left.

Ah he's in there now? I was drinking with him in The Skinners arms the night before the 98 final.

I'm 50 as well and that Shrewsbury game was one of my first. Used to sit in the old wooden west stand. There was a bloke behind us called Ted who would swear constantly and when my mam (I was around 7-8 years old) told him off he'd apologise, and then just do it again thirty seconds later. He had bizarre nicknames for every player, although I only remember Waddle who he called "Slack Alice". Constant smell of cigar smoke in that stand around us (think that was Ted too) and the toilets were something else.

No problem with that either - I guess I just prefer to watch on TV these days than shell out the sort of cash that would be required to get into Wembley. Even when I get up to home games I always end up in corporate and the atmosphere isn't quite the same in there anyway.

Blocked him on Twitter years ago. On a related theme, I hadn't been on Twitter for a good year since the Musk takeover (but kept my account). Followed a link into there for an NUFC official post after the match on Weds and soon as the video clip closed it pushed me into one from Trump. Tested it with another clip and the same thing happened. Noticed today after the club's post of Eddie's comments about Birmingham, most the replies were just bot accounts regurgitating or summarising the quotes, and one even just repeated one of the few apparently genuine replies. It's horrific. Think I'll just fully delete my account on there now.

Same here. I actually live in London and used to be a regular home and away in my 20's. Haven't enjoyed my last few away games (for various reasons, including just getting older and having other things to do) so tend to make about three or four home games a year these days (not seen us win yet this year after Brighton and Bournemouth - next up there for Forest). I was at Wembley for the Mercantile Credit Classic so have seen us beat Liverpool there, was there in 98, 99, and for the semi against Chelsea (the real missed opportunity). I could afford to pay for a corporate ticket but like last time would rather watch it on TV and let those who have actually put the miles in this year be there in the ground.

Agree with that, but from a purely technical point, with us playing the Monday night before and Liverpool playing either the Tuesday or Wednesday in the Champions League, I'd much rather face a Spurs team who will have played on the Thursday night, about 40 hours before the final. The way their season is going they will probably have to go reasonably full strength in both games.

Well I hope he goes on to be a star...(little Turkish joke there). That Chronicle article constantly refers to Gençlerbirliği being a Süper Lig Team when they are currently 4th in TFF1 (second tier). They were in the first tier when they played Blackburn (I think) years ago in Europe.

I still don't understand why they don't automate the offsides. Should have done it 18 months back.

NUFC PSR derby today. Anderson v Minteh.

I'd imagine Howe would be looking to play Isak for most of the Arsenal game anyway. Would be good if Wilson could play the first hour of the Brum game, and then sub on Osula or Isak depending upon the game situation.

Etch A Sketch?

Someone I know at the club said two things in particular to me when Rafa was there: 1. He just completely immerses himself in the game 24/7 and has a contacts book second to none. 2. He's all over the detail (the small example he gave was coaching the keepers to punch and make good contact with one fist, as going for the ball with one arm gives you more reach that if you try to punch it with your hands together). That first point coupled with how (like Howe) he understands the importance of the community and gets involved at all levels, make him and Howe may favourite NUFC managers in the recent era (post-Roeder who I loved as a player and who also understood the club). Appreciate that due to Ashley there's not much competition there mind! Obviously Eddie has a great team and I wouldn't change a winning formula, but if I were a manager and Rafa was amenable to it, I'd certainly offer him a consultancy role.

70 points will absolutely get Champions League football and should be the target, whether that be top four or five. That's probably something like seven wins from eight at home, coupled with two wins and two draws away. The way we're playing, our away form may take more of the strain out of the home games. We pretty much need to maintain a 2 points/game average from here on in.

Despite Forest being three points ahead, and four ahead of Bournemouth, I'm more worried about Bournemouth than Forest. Goal difference is a huge indicator and although teams can hang on, winning games narrowly, and manage to finish in a high position (we only had a GD of +5 when we finished fifth in 2011/12), it's unusual. Villa have been a bit scrappy all season and although they have great home form (only loss is Arsenal), that's because they still have to play Liverpool, Forest, us and Chelsea there. Their GD suggests they will struggle. Of course, before the weekend Forest's GD was better than Bournemouth's and Bournemouth are scoring goals they shouldn't be at the moment (nine from just over four xG in the last two games alone). However, Bournemouth did win both comfortably and deserved to. Will be interesting to see how Forest respond to such a battering when they play Brighton at home in the early kick off on Saturday.

Definitely was yes. I was just wondering that if Guehi knew he had encroached and hadn't stuck his foot in, would they have pulled it back? I think him sticking his foot in (when he didn't need to) brought attention to the fact he'd encroached.