STM

2 conspiracy styled points from Eddie's presser: 1. Dubravka was "unwell", or was he annoyed that we aren't rotating keepers in Europe and there has been a fall out? 2. Given Hopes comments this week... were Eddie and the Press Officer trying to leave Hope out of the questions at the end? It looked more than deliberate and certainly more than a coincidence. Fucking hilarious if they were.

Think Hall might start in midfield vs Man City.

If only Man Utd could defend like Eddie's mags and have a keeper as good as Perp.

Man Utd collapse incoming.

Makes our draw at the San Siro look respectable, right lads?

I think this conversation highlights how fans talk in absolutes. I mean, Bruno must be a bit of a number 6, since he played there all of last season and we finished 4th. As for Tonali, I have no idea if he can be a long term number 6, I'm fairly sure he could cope with the demands reasonably well but "reasonable" isn't really good enough anymore. But this just goes to show where we are now.... just looking for that little bit more. Should we have signed a natural DM? Possibly, but what if they weren't as good on the ball as Bruno, we may have gained something in back 4 protection and lost something on the ball. We are talking about is signing a "Bruno +" and those aren't easy to find and they certainly aren't cheap. We need to be careful that when we try to fix things that we don't accidentally break something else. I agree on the whole with the premise that Bruno should be released further forward but we'd need a helluva player to fill that gap.

Getting a win here puts our season back on track. Getting a good performance to go with it, puts us in a great spot. It's easy to forget how the likes of Everton away started last season... scrappy first half, then quality came through. We need to be mindful of this and stay with the lads in the first half. One of the characteristics of the new NUFC is our fitness in the second half of games. Let's see how long Sheffield can battle for.

Pope Trippier Schar Botman Burn Bruno Longstaff Tonali Miggy Barnes Wilson

Since Villa, this is how I've seen it: City: Dogged, conceded from a great strike against the best side in the world. Liverpool: Were excellent for 45, and decent for 70. Absolute car crash in the final minutes. Brighton: Was poor performance as a direct result of our confidence being shot after Liverpool, also, Brighton are excellent. Brentford: Classic game where the oppo tried to shithouse us and we struggled to break them down. We are still regaining our confidence and again Brentford are a tough outfit. Milan: Rode our luck but defended with valor, attack still not firing. Some chemistry missing. Again, I will say, we've had one hell of a fixture list.

Also..... if anyone bar City had gone to Milan and got a point, you'd say "good point", simple as that really. There's only Real and City, who might look at that as a bad result.

Mate, don't ruin the magic.

That switch to Gordon.

Mind, it would be nice for him to have an easier game, where we are dominating the ball etc. We've had some stinkers and it's hardly ideal for someone settling. This weekend at Sheffield might be a better bet.

Puts us in a nice place mentally for Sheffield. Bring Wilson, Barnes, Miggy and Anderson back in. Not easy, but much easier than AC Milan.

Looks like he's holding back tears.

Thank you for restoring faith in humanity.

We went through two blunt spells last season, before coming back firing on all cylinders. Just takes time.

Imagine how stupid you would have to be to post this man.

I'm not sure what people are on about "good fit". He's a number 8We play with two number 8s. Its up to him if hes good enough.

Pope 9 Trippier 10 Schar 8 Botman 7 Burn 7 Longstaff 8 Bruno 7 Tonali 6 Murphy 6 Isak 5 Gordon 6 Miggy 7 Wilson 6 Anderson 7 Barnes n/a

Longstaff better.

At his very, very best today.

Was absolutely shocking in the second half. Wasn't tracking back, couldn't keep the ball, was very lazy. No excuses.

Thank fuck someone is watching the same game as me.

Man, this place is aids.