Yorkie

Entitled bellends.

Well if the rest was the cherry, there was the Riceing.

I can't believe anyone did tbh. People will stop eventually. Certainly a bigger and bigger proportion.

what a joke

Evans immediately made an arse of

Some absolutely glorious football from Arsenal in the build up to that Saka chance.

I'll worry about that when I'm done worrying about Darren Fletcher x6. If there's one definitive prediction we can make about our European campaign, whatever happens; it's that there'll be no "Bellamy it's in" moments, where the comms match the incident in terms of nostalgia. I almost felt for West Ham fans last season.

At risk of maddening KI, Drury for Tyler is such an upgrade.

Should be a pen imo; Wan Bissaka sticks his leg out and misses the ball. Christ knows how it's a 'clear and obvious error,' like.

Probably my biggest fear of all. When I think back to the gut-punches of losing Robson, Rafa, even Hughton... I dunno if I'm 'in' enough these days to retain the emotional connection if something ridiculously hasty happened in terms of Eddie Howe. There's too much about modern football that's hateful for me to maintain the emotional connection I felt from childhood up to mid-twenties. So if NUFC became one of those impatient entities who randomly hired and fired managers at the first sign of trouble, a la Chelsea - denying us the full ability to develop a connection to people and characters - I think my strength of feeling would start to wane. Of course if something dramatic happened this season and we found ourselves in a relegation battle, for instance, it would be difficult to argue against a change. But that's not going to happen and my fear is that we undo everything that's been fostered over the last two years with itchy trigger fingers. We don't know how our owners operate in a perceived (not actually a) 'crisis' yet, so I'm nervy as far as that is concerned. It would be disappointing but I could handle a lower top half finish as a cost for some great European nights/cup run(s), and on the proviso that we were clearly still building something sustainable and good. Fwiw that's been my prediction for this season since the start.

One of the most concerning things yesterday was the impact losing Botman had. Losing him means we have to make two changes atm, which is far from ideal, particularly with Burn rusty at CB (he's a LB now, he's been playing there constantly for ages) and Targett looking ropey in possession. If those two are going to perform like that then it's critical that we get Hall integrated as the starting LB so we don't have to reshuffle half the defence whenever Botman doesn't play.

I think it's clear that the most influential of our deficiencies against Brighton was the midfield. There was no defensive protection (the space Ferguson had for goal 2 was criminal) and there was no attacking impetus (picture the chance where Isak fired that low cross in, there was absolutely no one stealing in, again criminal). The individual performances were all below par and the chemistry is lacking too. After looking like they'd played together for years in the Villa game suddenly they look unsuited to each other. Howe has been absolutely wedded to the 4-3-3 since he arrived; we must be able to count on one hand the amount of times we've set up in an alternative formation in his whole tenure. I think it's highly unlikely at this point that he suddenly twists and reverts to a double-pivot, but I get the clamour for it after yesterday. I don't think it's impossible that one of them gets dropped though, and there's a good argument for all of them. Bruno, because his performances are on a downward trajectory; Tonali, because he hasn't found his role yet; Joelinton, because he's looked lethargic and there's an argument that he should be on the left - even at the expense of Gordon. I don't get what the intention is with Tonali at this point. Is he playing the Longstaff role from last season or is it something different? Even over this run of fixtures his contribution has changed quite a bit; from an all-action blockbuster performance all over the pitch against Villa, to a fairly limited nothingish role yesterday where he was definitively on the right, often wide. Meanwhile there's no collective effort tactically to get him on the ball where - I assume - he excels. Vs Villa: Vs Liverpool: Vs Brighton: Ultimately I think it makes sense to persist with these three because the natural talent there is so high; there just needs to be more definition in their roles and generally just a higher level of performance from them. Easier said than done obviously.

The last person I'm gonna lay into is Eddie Howe but there is definitely something wrong with the team atm and we've made a fairly dismal fist of that very challenging run of games. Glad to have a fortnight off where things can hopefully be repaired.

Yeah, really bad day. We had a difficult opening fixture list and ultimately we've failed the test. It's disappointing but it needn't be a disaster and today's was the only really bad performance. Just got to put this spell behind us and get our season going after the break.

Wouldn't be letting Isak off the hook. Painfully clear that he needs to come deep to provide an option against their press but he's nowhere to be seen half the time.

That was alarmingly shit. Leggy, no confidence, no cohesion, mistake after mistake.

Gordon 2 SOT, Almiron 2 shots, 10/1.

York rock bottom of the National League but for Southend's points deduction.

Lol pickford, 2-1

It's a big game, should be an entertaining shit-off.

So yesterday Forest signed Tavares, Dominguez, Hudson-Odoi, Vlachodimos, Sangare, Origi and Omobamidele. Sound, totally normal.

Perplexing. The orange piping immediately makes me think 1998/99 but can't find a definitive trace of it. Definitely a training top though aye. This beaut is from that season and has the same collar style: But the same website also has this training shirt from the same time, which is almost identical to that elusive one in the doc, but for a collar variation and the colouring of the piping: This was the Karelse one, worn at Southampton and Arsenal in 1999/00:

Aye. Hayden's is up in 2026.

We nearly had Benny Fozcast running out for us in the cup final last year. Slightly concerned about our approach to goalkeeper recruitment at this point. Hope there's nowt up with Popey, like.