Ashley17

I think nearly all of his good games for us have been as a left back. Other than the Man City home game, struggling to remember a time when he’s been as effective on the right.

Probably the copium talking but they had every chance of winning the Conference League. They probably won’t win the Europa but with this lot rule nothing out.

Hall hasn’t been a squad regular by any means, though that is mostly down to injuries. Tino has had more injuries but has the advantage of being part of the U21 setup last year and can comfortably play both sides which is a big deal in a tournament squad. It is odd though, Hall is easily the best actual left back in the country so to not include him is a big call.

Was just thinking this. Liverpool seem to have more ITK wannabes than most and none of them have mentioned this story.

I think I went to see Maximo Park at the arena after that 1-0 in 07. Only other thing I recall about the game other than the pen was Allardyce wearing a pink scarf and sort of mincing across the pitch at half time with the whole pub laughing at him.

Inter Miami went with an interim when Mascherano left. Reunion with Messi?

Loads of FA Cup final stuff on the tapes but look at how much of an occasion it used to be man. Also Tony Hadley singing Abide with Me is a turn up for the books

Harry Wilson on a free transfer seems canny sensible

The team Eddie picked had me worried but pretty much to a man they justified him. It reminded me a bit of the first Howe season when he took us to safety, not sure if it was intentional to go back to that sort of style but inviting them on and playing on the counter proved the correct choice. I always find when we win in this manner there’s lots of “thank goodness Brighton missed their chances” which is all well and good but doesn’t factor in Thiaw having a shot saved from 5 yards, Osula 1 on 1 (flagged offside but was on), Joelinton not just squaring it, Wissa blazing over and various other less glaring chances. Pope saved a shot in the first minute, saved an overhead kick and Minteh missed a sitter. He also blasted one off them for fun, but it was hardly a smash and grab win. Pope - This season in a nutshell for him. Some good, some bad. Needs replacing. Miley - Understatedly brilliant I thought. Minteh trying to to outrun him a few times was funny. Burn - Fine, I think we would all rather Hall but that doesn’t really take away from his performance. When we are setting up in this manner, it makes sense I suppose Thiaw - Sloppy in possession but defended well Botman - Best game for a while, I thought. Dealt with Welbeck Tonali - The usual. Does a lot of groundwork but not the best on the ball again Bruno - Grafts so hard in there for the right to play. Good ball out to Murphy Joelinton - A warrior as always, nice to see him still have some power in his running. Did a job as a sort of wide left Willock - Pace caused them issues, not much quality in the final third though Murphy - Actually an incredible cross considering he was on his arse a minute earlier. He is what he is, he will put in a couple of good balls a game and be average to poor the rest of the time. Put a cone on his head and made the chairman laugh Osula - A total handful, easily his best game for us. Wissa - at least he tried today, he’s just out of form. Ironically one of his better cameos for us Hall - good attitude when he came on, good presence of mind with a really quick throw too. Hopefully back in the side soon Barnes - enjoy that he was on and not Gordon. Took the goal well Ramsey - was also there

Craig Bellamy’s finishing was pretty average when he was with us and he definitely improved after the age of 23. Probably just one of many examples. I don’t know why but it feels like people can’t wait to write this guy off because he didn’t cost the world. He’s playing and scoring, worst case he’s increasing his value.

And play 11 instead of 12 ideally

That's right, he's back for Brighton.

It wasn't bad but our final third play is so poor. Pope - Did pretty well actually, no chance with the goal. One brain fart moment but got away with it (generally speaking). Didn't spend the match sliding about on his knees so that's a big plus from me. Miley - Solid, unspectacular. Burn - Did fine, probably about as good as you can expect playing him at left back. Botman - He's so slow, with every passing game I wonder why we've kept him on. Wouldn't be surprised if he is sold now he has a value again but I fear we've seen the best of him. Thiaw - Not bad, shouldn't have been left to try and create anything in the last 10 minutes. Tonali - Great off the ball plus couple of decent shots. No guile whatsoever. Bruno - Gives us a lot but he was probably only at about 70% today. Willock - Ran his bollocks off but not much to show for it. Ramsey - Barely in the game. Murphy - Couple of reasonable crosses but a hiding to nothing as he was aiming for one or two players against their two beasty centre backs. Osula - Ran about a lot and a couple of nice moments but performance will only be remembered for that chance in the first few minutes. Woltemade - That pass was nice. We need to find a way to play him as a 10 in these closing matches. Whether that's with three centre backs (352) or a 4231 (which will not work with Bruno in the 2) I don't know. Wissa - I mean at least he seemed arsed, hard chance to take when you don't play many minutes but should have done better obviously. Elanga - Just put it in the box for the big lads man Barnes - Another week of not knowing what Harvey Barnes does if he doesn't score. Can't wait for Welbeck to score his 300th goal against us next week, I'd be lying if I wasn't a little concerned we might be relegated still. Spurs would have to win 3 of the last 4 which, whilst unlikely, is the type of thing that happens at this time of year. We will likely be 15th next week and 16th the week after, then we play West Ham, which might be a very difficult day indeed.

5 touches, impressive.

It's all very reminiscent of us in 2009. We "only" had to beat Pompey, Boro and Fulham at home and we'd be safe, as if somehow winning three games in a month would be a piece of piss for a team that had won something like 1 in 13.

Kinsky is in goal

Tequila

Thing is they were 17th last season and likely anywhere in the bottom half this season. If he takes them to 6th-8th that’s a hell of a job he’s done. I kind of assumed Frank would do that this season but the reality is they’re just not that good.

Remember when this happened? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/20344903 I swear it's the only time I've ever seen it actually carried out, despite players dropping out of International duty being a very common occurence.

I know everything is shit but you can’t look at Spurs today or even recently and tout them to pick up points in a future game.

Knew we were in for a second half of shit when Ramsey fucked the kick off up and belted it out for a goal kick. That said Gordon had two great chances to win it and the disallowed header was a tad unfortunate. They had a proper centre forward and we didn’t.

We are going to get ran all over on the counter attack. Really need an early goal but expect Xhaka will keep the ball mercilessly

There’s a whole 10 days after that before we play again

I don't think it's rocket science. We are at our best when we press from the front and try and win the ball back high up the pitch. We're not able to press effectively when Nick plays as a forward, so we've gone back to what we know. Our best options for that are Gordon and Osula. Partly out of choice and partly out of necessity, Nick has been deployed in another role with mixed results to say the least. This whole season has been about getting by. The game plan went on strike last summer and his "replacement" got crocked badly and then has really struggled to move since he signed. I'm sure the idea was to use Woltemade in different ways and build him up to being the main man, but it became needs must. Realistically, Eddie and friends will have to decide how we're going to play next season. If it's as we are now, I don't think there's that much of a future for Woltemade here, if we're honest. Maybe there's a grand plan for a change of shape and approach, who knows. We've had no opportunity to train anything more or less since he signed, so we've reverted to default and probably looked better for it (certainly away from home, the home form remains a bit of a concern). Now his confidence is through the floor and although he's done admirably well in the midfield type role at times it feels like he is just there to plug 60 minutes. We don't seem to have found the solution to playing against low blocks, to me that's the type of game where he would be great in a 8/10 position but two of the mackems midfielders can run all day and I fear he will be left chasing shadows. This game seems similar to Everton in that respect, who have intelligent footballers in midfield and defenders who like to defend.

Our last game before a three week break. Would be nice to not be dwelling on yet another home loss for that break, let alone to this lot.