Ashley17

If Wilson and Trippier are carrying knocks I have no problem with either going for some warm weather rest. Trippier is in desperate need of a rest and a proper break will do him good. Wilson played 90 minutes 3 times in a week and his legs nearly fell off, it will do him no harm.

I think Botman will start. If they've rehabbed him and they're happy with him he is just as likely to go down injured again in this game as any other. Obviously if they think he will be healthier still in 4 more days then play him at Luton, but he's either fit or he isn't.

Thank you. When his tweet said “and how he is viewed internally” I was hoping for some insight into why he isn’t playing but 3000 words of nothing it is

Anybody a subscriber to the Athletic able to share the gist of the Hall article from Waugh today?

Even just skimming that, it goes from bricking the buses to "police are in cahoots with the Saudis" which is some incredible mental gymnastics.

Such an incredible result given our circumstances. Pretty much everyone played an 8 or above for us, I don't even think Chelsea were that bad. They managed to play through our press more than most but they've got so very little in the final third it rarely came to much. They've also got no heart/bottle/other PFM terms because as soon as the chips were down they were pathetic. We came out for the second half and made a mistake straight away, Lascelles got booked and James made a mess of the free kick and the ground was quite edgy. A few minutes later Sterling went down in the box and pretended to be injured, obviously he was back up when they got the ball back but it brought the fans back into it and from there they wilted. Sterling's booking, for example, was such a ridiculous lack of discipline it was like he was trying to get booked. Obviously James got sent off but there was a bit in the first half where he had a free kick to take and after trying to ref the game, decided to boot the ball straight to Gordon who was about 9 yards away from him in an attempt to get him booked. Absolutely pathetic, I think this was when Tindall was calling him a daft cunt or whatever. I've never liked Chelsea and I feel my dislike grows every year, like last year when they turned up looking for a fight and we ended up lining up to try and chin Havertz. They've had a series of very talented but massively dislikeable players over the years - Hazard, Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Ashley Cole, Havertz and now Sterling, there's probably others too but it feels sweet to batter them like this. I know there aren't many clubs that like us but their fans seem utterly oblivious to the fact that what we are doing to them now, they did to us 20 years ago. Ideally, they will suffer multiple relegations at some point too.

Dubravka Livramento Targett Dummett Krafth Longstaff Bruno Hall Willock Gordon Joelinton

Miley’s got glandular fever, not sure when he will be back

They are League 2. Only about 15 places between the two clubs. Gateshead play a really attractive style of football, they’ve been so impressive this season.

Source was an FPL guy on Twitter, who to my knowledge is usually right. Seems to be very wrong today and now Estupinan is going to replace Botman for me, so a real treat

FPL Twitter seemed so certain. Who knows?

Starting

Wilson, Botman and Burn are all back in

Other than a dodgy 10/15 minute spell in the first half I don't think they put us under much pressure. They're an awkward opponent, a load of big lads and some speed merchants. They press well and are quite adept and penning an opponent in, it's hard to play out against and if you go long you'll probably get swallowed up by any of the three bash brothers playing centre half. Thought the ref was pathetic, I've never rated Pawson and was amazed he actually awarded us two penalties. The disallowed goal was ridiculous, but he gives fouls for just about any contact anywhere else on the field so maybe not that surprising. Thought Bruno was the best he'd been in a while, the back four were near faultless and Gordon is very effective now he's up to speed. Barnes will be like this in 6 months, although I thought he grew into the game and got better as it went on. Still, not at our fluent best but unless teams really come out to play against us we probably won't ever be at our most fluid. The squad feels a bit samey without ASM as a wildcard, nothing against our other options but they don't feel like game changers off the bench. For all Burn's height was useful today and he didn't do a lot wrong, I really hope we see Hall in home games where the opposition are going to sit everyone behind the ball.

I mean the headline is that but the article also says he might stay until the 2026 World Cup. International break column inches to fill!

They are a big side, if Botman is fit I’ve no doubt it’ll be Burn at LB. Pretty sure Longstaff will play too, especially with most of the other midfielders going away. I think Wilson will start as we start to rotate the squad for two games a week

We kept snatching at opportunities today or just making poor decisions in the final third. Wilson had a daft one and Longstaff tried to score with a Cruyff flick ffs. Very good tactically from Liverpool second half unfortunately, they played us better with 10 than they did with 11.

I didn’t mean it as a dig at either player but if we were in City’s position we would have better players available than quite a few of our first team squad. The fact we didn’t even get a shot off in that situation was very disappointing

Whilst I agree with what you are saying, anybody who plays City has to do a lot of chasing but also have to be clinical when the opportunities arise. Our opportunity came when we managed to press Rodri into a mistake but Wilson couldn’t make the most of what should have been a one on one for Almiron. Better players would help with that aspect.

Pep said some stuff about where he would play Foden this season as the assumption was he would replace Mahrez on the right. Basically said that wasn’t the intention, if he plays him in the role he had last night he will have an incredible season

Can you explain the Liverpool one please? Not being an arse, I am genuinely interested

They can only spread the deal for FFP over 5 years regardless of contract length

I think it's a rule, it's the same for Match of the Day they're allowed to show a maximum number of minutes per game. Seem to remember it coming to light when Man Utd beat Arsenal 8-3 and they had like 9 minutes to play with or something.

So disappointed with how bad he was, in pretty much every sense. Considering Liverpool wanted him before us as well, should have been a dead cert but he was actually worse than Dummett. Obviously he got Bruced along the way so hopefully he can put all of that behind him and rebuild his career.