Yorkie

Wew. Ipswich incredibly poor but we haven't half punished them. Dynamite today.

Fun vid... would've loved to see a bit of NUFC trivia mind. Which Dutch sides did we face in the 03/04 Waffa Cup, for instance.* Lol at Osula presumably being as irritating as he comes across on every bit of club media. *

My agenda comment was aimed at Butcher's ott criticism. But anyone (whoever) discounting numbers which actually happened definitely speaks to having an agenda. He was pretty transformative under Rafa, like, despite the figures. We went from relegation candidates to European form after he came in. Wary that I'm going to get accusations off happyclappery (for want of a better term) thrown at me again... for the record I'm not a massive Almiron fan - he's been a bit of a mixed bag here like you say - but I do recoil at really ott criticism of people who've played out of their skins for the club and contributed well to one of the best eras in recent memory.

Well it seemed like that's what you were saying!

Wouldn't describe Almiron as a headless chicken at all tbh. On the contrary, he's been an exemplary slave to Howe's system; in particular he was a critical cog in those immense pressing machines from 22/23 and the early part of last season. Excluding the ones that are apparently inadmissible, his numbers have typically been poor. But he's more than contributed to our success under the current manager and helped to transform Rafa's last season too. Much of the Bruce years I've mercifully blanked out, but my recollection is that he helped out in those very lean years as well (when he wasn't at RWB or wherever that brain-dead prick shoved him). I'm massively in favour of us selling him at this point because he's no longer that useful to us and we need the cash, but painting him as some waste of money based entirely on his lack of assists is incredibly disingenuous and just agenda-driven.

Proper PFM stuff this but I genuinely think we might want it more than them, and that'll increase our chances. We'll have to be at our nastiest in order to actually manifest that advantage though.

Yeah, happy with that. Obviously we're not favourites but you wouldn't bet against us given our recent record against them at SJP.

Just not Liverpool.

God he's a gobshite.

Who the fuck's that bloke in nets for ManU?

What horseshit.

Love the feeling of desperately anticipating games but dread the next bout of whiplash in the wake of another juddering defeat on the road. Hopefully given the nature of the last two games we won't have to rotate too much and we can continue the momentum.

He'd be a useful pick-up for any team like that tbf. He's an experienced grafter who wouldn't cost the earth. There's still a fair bit of talent in there too - only a year ago he was exceptional in Paris; he's not exactly on the scrapheap. We're seldom going to see it here now because he's (rightfully) going to be limited to a bit-part role from now on.

Simple as that is it; just a binary thing? No scope at all for consideration of context? Say we miss out on goal difference, is that still that? Fail, you're out? What if we again don't invest in January (be it through our own incompetence or the rules)? Is it still on him if we narrowly miss out? Howe should only go if it's absolutely clear that he's no longer suitable for the job. What that looks like isn't as black and white as being in or out of Europe.

Love the way he drilled the first one into the ground to turn the ball into a penny floater. Class tekkers. Remind you of your bae, @Theregulars?

If we're hoping then hopefully it'll be the winner of Spurs and ManU, and Arsenal beat Liverpool.

Ignore the gobshite wum. Mixed bag tonight. There was an incident where he held the ball up brilliantly, and was unlucky at the end that his movement off the shoulder didn't produce a goal. But otherwise was quiet and a bit clumsy. He's a project signing. If we could invest properly in a Wilson replacement it would be good to see him go on loan. As it is, we're gonna need him all season so he'll have plenty opportunities to refine his game.

Pity about the drop off at the end but was otherwise a brilliant night. Sandro giving both NUFC and myself a semi.

Brentford entered the room around 80 minutes.

Been an absolute treat, this.

Willy Miggy Trippy

We need some fresh legs in the context of this game, let alone resting lads.

Fuck me we've been class tonight. Bit of a slow spell after the first goal but other than that - brilliant.

Playing some amazing stuff this half.

Gorgeous shithousery from Big Joe