Minhosa

Thanks for the pointer, I was about to enter the Tonali thread for a little pick me up and then stumbled upon 'Apology-Gate'. Any chance we can send N-O's normal 'Strong views on Fucking everything' crowd and professional opinion-isters over there and lock off all of them in for a fortnight? Might make the place bearable.

Was talking to some Leeds fans over the weekend about that exact point. Both of them were adamant he could be 'Howed' very quickly and become an asset in no time.

Fuck me. Is this going to be the filler between now and the PL coming back? Fucking international breaks have a lot to answer for.

Yep - miserable old cunt alert - I fucking hate this stuff. Literally got zero interest in any of them or any of the shite they do for money.

Ornstein (who's A+ Tier for reliability and particularly close to Arsenal) reckons he's not heard that NUFC are pursuing ESR but wouldn't be surprised if we, and others, admire him.

Another 3 people to add to the PSG lurgy crew. Felt like covid, have tested a few times, but must just be a cold. Worth it.

No chance Ange takes him back. Would have to be after he's gone imho.

Had a head full of hair until he looked at the website on his first morning...

Honestly think there must've been hundreds unsold/unused today.

Aye - tonnes around us all game.

Thanks @SteV - this was the case. 2hours 20 mins on hold to be told that it must've been a 'system error'. Cheers.

Bought the CL Ticket packages for our seats, it looks like the payments have been taken but I've had email stating that one of the payments has failed and, if I don't sort it out online or call them by 5pm tomorrow, the ticket will be released for general sale and not available for the subsequent games. Tried online. All looks fine. No option to reserve the seat nor check out and pay for it. So trying to speak to the box office. Been on hold 96 mins so far. This is so shit man. They've got to do better. This Silverstone guy might be enjoying the Adidas deal plaudits but I hope he's being made well aware of how shite the customer experience is these days.

4 x empty seats behind me again for the Liverpool match.

Yep - you wouldn't want to have to rely on him playing every week, that's for sure but for a Chelsea/Villa/Us then you wouldn't anyway I guess.

Oh yeah - no arguments there. He's quality.

Yep - I'm sure this is something they'll look at tbh. As an aside, Tonali looked fine to the untrained eye, in terms of stamina/fitness. It looked quite pre-planned to me which makes it that bit worse .

was just writing about Burn at the same time. Agreed. I thought Trippier was brilliant in every sense right up to his booking tbh and, even then, he wasn't bad I just think he lost the option to be as aggressive at a time they were coming back into the game. He could've really done with the option of a cynical foul a few times towards the last quarter of the game and just had to be more that little bit more restrained. My only complaint about him was that I wished he'd taken the free kick after the red card. Looked perfectly placed for him.

Sunday did highlight Burn's limitations in an attacking sense yet again - particularly first half when, due to Salah killing the passing channel, he couldn't get quick passes down the line off, he was essentially forced to turn the ball over back across the back line which completely killed any attacking momentum. Him driving at them, and running the risk of getting robbed off Salah clearly couldn't happen as he'd never have the recovery pace. I guess this is where Hall would give us a healthy option and it's something I hope Howe tries soon.

I think he is but it might be about game time for him (or lack of....). I 'm pretty sure Villa bid £25m for him last summer which was flat rejected but given they're not getting a transfer fee for Tierney this summer maybe they've got to sell an asset for FFP purposes having spent so much on Rice, Havertz, Timber etc. He's a player I really like btw - ESR. If it's in the region of £20m-£30m, he's good value when you consider some of the fees this summer.

Yep - there was one particular pass towards the end of the first half from Schar to Gordon which was a long range diagonal ping that was a thing of beauty but he didn't really have the option on that often due to TAA pushing up and narrowing the space and Salah dropping a bit deeper. Either way, such a positive that Gordon literally killed TAA every chance he got. Just a shame we didn't manage to get him 1 on 1 more often.

Haven't read through the thread having taken me this long to reconsider the game after feeling sick at the way it ended. It's a game I'll never rewatch. However, a few observations that have probably been made elsewhere but; 1) Why the fuck did the 4th official literally stand right next to the Liverpool technical area all bastard game like him and Klopp were a double act? If that big teethed cunt is ranting and raving (which he was. All game) why would you make it easy for him? Surely you'd move about and generally try to avoid the prick rather than enable him? 2) I don't know how easy this would've been to spot on the TV but, at the game in the first half, Salah was covering the space (out of possession) right in front of where I sit. He was fucking superb when we had the ball. It's not something I've ever noticed before BUT if you wonder why we didn't constantly get Gordon on the ball and one on one with TAA then look at what Salah was doing whenever Burn had possession. He killed that passing channel brilliantly. I've never taken any notice of the defensive elements of his game but he was fucking superb in that first half at protecting TAA. 3) Trippier was fucking superb up to his booking. After that, I felt he needed a booking available to him as they piled pressure on down our left hand side during the last 15 mins. He could've done with the option of a cynical foul. A couple of times you could see the cogs turning whereas, without the booking, he'd have made the challenge and run the risk of the card. I'd have brought Livramento on second half of the second half just to have that option. No reflection of KT's performance more the fact that Jota was causing us issues down that side. 4) It's some small solace to me that Howe will be hurting like fuck this week. Too many previous managers would've shrugged this game/result off as 'one of those things' but Howe will be devastated. Thankfully he's got tonnes of credit in the bank because the game management second half defied all logic to me. One thing that may be worth looking at is whether Longstaff is a player you bring off the bench or just either start or drop. It's such a hard position to come into and pick the pace of the game up and he looked miles off it on Sunday for me. 5) Easy to say but it's a game of such fine margins. That Allison save, the Miggy post shot, the Barnes crossing opportunity etc and we are home and hosed and everyone is delighted with 6 points from a very tough 9. To not take a point out of that is gutting but, get Brighton out of the way, then hopefully we can put a run together and get going. Overall, still lots of positives (Tonali, Gordon, Botman etc) and I'm still fully in the headspace of 'trust the process' so don't see any need to panic. Keep the faith.

Brighton is my guess.

Limped off after an earlyish substitution I believe. Looked uncomfortable at the end when the final whistle went as he left the bench.

Saudi bound?

He shares the seats with his staff at work as a bit of an incentive thing - doesn't want the hassle of the online stuff and wants to give them to whomever he likes without worrying about being watched by the club.