Yorkie

MILEY!!!

Would be a canny plot twist if Maxi stayed injury free during the most epic injury crisis in the club's modern history.

It's just another utterly flawed directive from know-nowt governing bodies.

With the levels of injuries and the lack of quality in depth, choosing between sticking or rotating is Hobson's choice. We're not gonna chuck the likes of Ritchie, Hall, Dummett and untrusted academy players unless it's totally unavoidable. It was always going to get worse before it got better. Gordon or Miggy will be next. Or should we play Ritchie?

Inevitable.

nufc.news is very good for NUFC news.

It's a tough argument from my point of view because of what's happened, but I couldn't disagree more. The summer window was characterised entirely by opportunities taken imo. Tonali was incredibly highly rated and coveted - we sensed a deal, swooped in and made it happen. With Barnes, it's rare you get a player of that profile available from a relegated team and again we struck. Likewise Livramento. Hall seems like a punt on potential at this point. It's only because of miserable misfortune that it hasn't worked out so far.

I think we'll have a better shot at next season's Europa League (if we get there, which I really hope we do) than this season's.

Some interesting results tonight. Heck of a win for Aberdeen against Frankfurt. Pleased to see Toulouse go through having seen them best LASK in the flesh earlier this year. Massively up for an NUFC Europa campaign next year. Hopefully UEL.

Can someone remind me what 'market pool' is?

Hall's the only one that you can justifiably raise an eyebrow at imo, because the jury is out on two of the other three and Tino is objectively just a canny signing. But it's not like Hall's signing prevented a different one from happening and besides, it's only the injury crisis which has increased the levels of scrutiny on it. If he's not as good as the scouting reports suggested then fine, it's a bit of a swing and a miss; but it's plausible that he was never meant for regular first team football this season.

What do you think?

Our decision making was iffy throughout the second half really. Opens the door to the (mental) fatigue debate again because prior to this spell we never hesitated in engaging in proper nasty shithousery, let alone bog standard cynical yellows. It was probably a lack of communication; both of them probably thought the other one was gonna do it and a microsecond later, Jovic is away.

The ott hateful language is so tedious and uncalled for, like. Aye - he's not up to scratch and there's no doubting we stand a better chance with Pope between the sticks. Does everyone have to be 'pathetic' or 'absolutely shit' if they're not good enough, though? Obviously it's unrealistic to hope that the hate-filled claptrap could broadly be left in the Ashley era for those individuals that actually deserve it, but good grief it's tedious. Childish as fuck.

We go through without that ref call in Paris. Feel free to be absolutely crestfallen.

Even if he uses his right I'm not absolutely convinced it goes beyond the goal line.

One of the biggest heartbreaks of tonight is that that goal was ultimately meaningless. Incredible strike and an incredible moment.

Tell you what, we've missed Jacob Murphy in Europe, like. Willock n'all, though that goes without saying. Someone to be quick, direct, get in behind, have a dig. Arguably a bit of a turning point when Murph got whacked against Dortmund. We've gone out on incredibly fine margins. There's only Dortmund (a) where we've been comfortably beat, not that we weren't competitive till the end. Who knows what difference just having a couple more options would've made. Still, bottle job. All on Howe. Terrible game management. etc

Absolutely recoil at any suggestion of bottling it when legally we should be in the fucking hat. God knows how the specifics of tonight play out if we're not artificially denied those extra two points in Paris, but I bet you any money we see it through.

Very true this, like. We had loads of opportunities on the break when it opened up around 70 minutes but they were so slow to make a decision; let them regroup every time. Howe needs reinforcements - whether that's returning players or new signings - but I think he's shown some tactical weakness this season. We're wedded to a particular style and when that's good it's great. But all our plan Bs are generally unconvincing.

Looking on the bright side - yes I would've very happily taken Europa League football, but can't complain at the prospect of fewer fixtures in the new year. We're heading for no European football at all next season unless the squad gets a chance to breathe.

I dearly hope there's no undue slack leveled at anyone on the playing or coaching staff because although they've been naive at times, it was a brutal group and we've been competitive throughout. Not to mention we go through if it wasn't for that objectively scandalous decision in Paris.

We go through if not for that scandalous ref call in Paris. It's really galling.

Lost it trying to win it.

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