Lenny

Does Almiron's goal take a nick off the defender? I've only been able to look on my phone and every angle seems inconclusive.

VAR needs to take a look at that Arsenal goal, I think the pigeon was obscuring the keepers view from an offside position.

What about any associated training etc? Might be a combination of good grace and him having a few days off taking him away from preparation.

Yedlin is obviously not a player we'd touch but equally if still here, a player who you'd expect Howe to get a fair bit more from.

There will no doubt be other teams (for example West Ham) that have a run of form, and we will also likely have a spell of poorer results, so it's a little presumptuous to dismiss all teams that aren't currently within leap frogging distance of us. For West Ham in particular, they will likely have the same mindset as us; to be within touching distance come the world cup. If they've coughed and spluttered their way to the world cup but remain thereabouts, then they'll be a threat for the remainder of the season IMO.

Bernardo has deliberately left his leg out. Don't particularly think that's a pen.

Re: the DCL header; when I watched it back, I'm pretty certain that even if he directed it on target there's no route to goal because Botman had positioned his head in the way. He'd done done enough without winning the ball by cutting out the route.

Job done, no more no less. A forgettable win is a sign of being in a good place.

Oh maybe, unless it was Gray and they played the Bein coverage as pointed out above.

Have Amazon got Andy Gray on commentary for the Liverpool game!?

We deserve to be winning by virtue of the fact that we're showing significantly more intent to win the game than they are, but it's not been great. Our poorer players are proving just that; maybe it's because I've up since 5am but Longstaff and Murphy have been frustrating me more than usual. They both just aren't good enough over a sustained period of games and are detrimental to the way we want to play. Lush goal from Almiron following a decent move. In other news, I love how creative we are with our set pieces, and seeing repeated sequences of play that have been clearly worked on in training is fast becoming worthy of the "little things in life" thread.

Give it a rest FFS He frequently posts on the board regardless of whether we're playing the team he supports and it's hardly a cumbersome task to drop a message on a forum with your mobile

Wasn't Des Walker infamously shite for England, or have I just dreamt that up?!

Surely the sport hasn't ever had a bigger (high profile) fraud than Bruce? It's absolutely mind-blowing that anyone is prepared to give someone a job that pays such an extortionate amount of money, when a 5 minute Google would suggest it's an absolutely terrible idea. You literally need to do minimal research to come to the conclusion that he's not very good.

I think it's likely Joelinton will come in for Longstaff, but Murphy will retain his place.

It's a perfect bedding-in scenario for him, if the rest of the attacking players are on form; he can come in when needed and get acclimatised with minimal pressure.

His technique and general footballing ability is absolutely elite. No action is wasted with him, even if a long ball is landing on top of him under pressure, he tries to (and more often than not, does) find a team mate.

They weren't entirely unforced errors, even if they had a nightmare defensively; there's credit for us to take.

He's been pretty vital to us the last couple of games but some of his decision making just baffles me

I think he just simply doesn't believe in stamina.

Still retained the ball, mind.

Contender? Gotta be nailed on and a contender for goal of the season, surely? It was absolutely outrageous Maybe I'm over-egging it due to the sheer surprise but it was a proper worldie.

Singer going "It's me Austin" with the Italy kit reveal.

I think we've missed him, too.

I just feel like he tends to favour putting his laces through the ball instantly and on almost every occasion. I think as our standards and expectations increase and we're able to get picky about criticising the minor things, it might become a minor annoyance when our desire is to control more of the ball but for now it's nowt.