robbo_11

Remember back in December these candidates wanted to be part of our 'rocket ship'... They'll look to do something. They can't put an interview out with any of the players saying they know how fans feel, will do better etc because they've shown with actions today they've not got it in them.

There will be an update within this break from matches. I'd think announcement of some of those new senior staff (Chief Strategy Officer, Marketing Officer, Head of Revenue) rather than a training ground plan/sponsor. Anything to get fans talking about something other than that disaster.

Romano, Jacobs and others are fed by clubs or agencies for a price. The natural link in this story is Bruno G, but I'm sure that Sporting Directors are speaking to players agents all the time. There are two options in play here - this is getting leaked to see if we bring an improved contract forward or there is interest from other clubs and they're using the media to flush out further interest. I think, rightly, we're a bit scarred after the Isak affair. When you take a step back the way the game is going this will become even more common place. You just have to look at social media now and you start seeing Premier League players with their own YouTube channels doing content which is monetised. I wouldn't be surprised to see a transfer announced via this method with the buying club tagged in, if it hasn't already. Personally I'd love to see these social media journalists declare payments on posts a bit like influencers do with a #ad #gifted for transparency.

With the constant speculation about player departures is this other clubs/media trying to destabilise us, clubs sensing blood with us looking likely to miss out on the UCL or are people going down the no smoke with fire route? Personally I could see Livramento and Tonali going for relatively serious money, but the Bruno G news around Man United seems a bit far fetched. I do think there is a bit of triggering related to last summer and the Isak situation as can feel myself getting frustrated with the constant news leaking with half of our first XI out the door in the eyes of the media. However even when we had UCL lined up I don't think the calibre of our targets really made a difference as you saw with the players we missed out on moving to a Big 6 side and the financial package this enabled. The reality is I couldn't see them sanctioning Tino, Thiaw, Hall, Tonali, Bruno G and Gordon leaving in the window as we need to do some work anyway with expected departures of Ramsdale, Krafth, Trippier, Schar and Willock. Whatever happens it feels like a potential sliding doors moment this summer and that 0-1 defeat against Everton whilst still securing the UCL a life time ago!

With Palace going through they will have a match against Fiorentina a few days before they play us, you would hope the additional time we have and some focus on one game a week will put us in a good position going into this one. The run in might also catch Nottm Forest and Arsenal should they progress in their competitions so we need to make the most of this.

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/alexander-isak-agent-faces-fa-investigation-into-secret-chelsea-payments-jjfwffcv9 at least they've got him in a Liverpool shirt now

You've got a mini league of fixtures for the bottom 6, starting with the one you mentioned, coming up to keep it interesting next few match weeks: West Ham v Wolves Leeds v Wolves Forest v Burnley Wolves v Tottenham

In Ross and Suds we trust... if they go down the data model (DataMB) based on this season performance and youth (u23) then you'd be looking at: Tonali - Taichi Fukui (21) from Arouca or Stije Resink (22) from Groningen. Livramento - Brooke Norton-Cuffy (22) from Genoa. Gordon - Maxence Rivera (23) from Heerenveen or Omari Hutchinson (22) from Forest.

The reality is without European football I'm expecting one of Tonali, Gordon or Livramento to go. I'd be leaning towards Tino just due to his contract situation, but with the other two we might be able to get more £ due to the length of their deals until 2029/30ish. This is all subject to the player wanting to be here which might come into question. The way Howe has operated when we've not had European football is he seems to use a peak of between 13-14 players across the season based on minutes played. Wilson is data led, or so we've been told, and this might play a part in their approach to the window. We could look to sell Osula and Willock (which I think we should), but that doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. The worry is how we reinvest that as last summer was a disaster. If you're the opposition after this season you're not giving us anything near £55m or £69m for Elanga, Wissa or Woltemade. Which therefore makes selling these players redundant unless they want to do a major rebuild and are willing to take the hit and admit they're 'failures'.

Just reading the last few comments and it is turning into who would you keep which is slim pickings. Some of the players you would most likely want to stay will be in demand and without European football I can see us having to sell at least one 'purple'. We would be moving to one game a week which might mean an uptick in performances due to preparation time, but you're setting yourself up for a good season and 'bad' season mentality. Just for the numbers, the below is our PL stats over last three seasons (10 games to go in 25/26). Tonali, Gordon and Livramento are the ones I could see bids coming in for. Willock will be sold due to contract situation. Trippier, Schar, Krafth, Ruddy and Gillespie all out of contract so you would think we clear the decks. From a fan perspective we might be heading into next season with the following players expected to be in the first XI: Hall, Botman, Thiaw and Bruno G. I just can't see that being realistic. If anything Ross Wilson is going to have his work cut out for him - we can't be slow in the summer window and he is going to have to trade. I'm sure there was talk from the ownership about targetting 8th and above so that will be an intersting dynamic to see what the window brings.

He had a mini resurgence, but ultimately not good enough. I hope we can get £15m for him this summer.

The frustration was when they're at the edge of the box and then turn back onto themselves and play it from left to right because they know they can't break into the box (aside from the Joelinton run and assist!). I think it is just some players are not technically or physically good enough to compete three times per week - this was also partly a recruitment issue.

One of those matches that has been all too familiar this season and in the opening minutes you can see we're off the boil. The mentality after scoring needs to be better with poor play gifting Everton the lead twice and in honesty the three goals they scored were simple. We struggle breaking teams down and defensively have been shot this season. The fact both goals came from distance (and deflections) was a slight positive as we seemed timid shooting earlier this year. The second goal is an absolute clanger from Pope who hasn't been good enough this season. The calls after Marseille to bring in Ramsdale would result in same dynamic as he is worse than Pope. It is clearly and area we've wanted to strengthen and failed to in the summer resulting in points dropped this season. You'd have to think with the performance today that European football is going to be beyond us this season, unless we do the unthinkable in the Champions League or FA Cup.

Ewen Jaouen (20) GK from Stade Reims has been linked with us.

They've just shown five big chances we had tonight and you've got to be doing better.

He was indicating it was his hamstring, at the least you'd think he will be missing the next two against Brentford and Spurs. Alternatively he was phoning it in with us 0-5 on aggregate and couldn't be arsed. It felt a bit like his performance against Bilbao, nothing really came off for him then his hip injury kicked in.

They're currently highlighting the massive gap between midfield and defence for us. This isn't new, but we're not addressing it through our tactics or potential signings. We need a defensive midfielder to cover this space moving forward because we're not scoring and conceding a ridiculous number of goals.

Gordon needs to be doing better with his chance, snatches at it. Willock absolutely needs to get his shot off and not try to take it around Trafford. Wissa needs to stick the ball in the next from less than 6 yards. Granted second half we forced them into errors, they probably assumed it was wrapped up, but we had enough chances to score 3 or 4 tonight and it is poor finishing.

He is woeful, I was saying a few weeks back that in 6 yard box that was his saving grace and yet he couldn't get on the end of that Elanga cross. He is actually detrimental to the way we play as in other players need to cover his pressing forcing us to break any shape we had. We've got this one from a recruitment perspective, take the hit next season and get a better number 9.

Waiting for the Pep tapping up Tonali meltdown

Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike, speaking to TNT Sports, about his partnership with Florian Wirtz: "He is a great player and it is easy for me to play with him. I like to create play and link-up, I can do everything with him as a player and I know that I can create space and he will find me, so it is just fun to play with him." On his second goal: "Shout out to the ball boy. He is the man of the match. We need this kind of actions [getting the ball back quickly], we play with the fans and we play with everybody, the ball boys included. "I want to score loads of gaols and I want to be the top scorer of the club but I just want to be involved the team I just like football, if I give an assist I don't mind. "Even though it wasn't the best opponent we have had because I would say it was a big win and easy win. But I think it is nice to give the confidence to the players." Absolute dickhead

I think that counter attack style suited Elanga, he did well and also contributed defensively. Hall was excellent and it feels like he links up with Barnes well on the left. We've got an error in us 100%

I agree. It didn't feel like a 1-4 with a few obvious errors from Thiaw and Pope. Could Thiaw have went to close Ekitike down quicker on the second, probably, but I think he would still have gotten away from him. We made unforced errors and that has cost us. We started well and for 35 minutes deserved the lead, but just couldn't sustain that level of performance.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe speaking to TNT Sports: "We are really disappointed because I thought it was a strong performance. 4-1 is really hard on us. We scored a great goal, started really strongly and we were a strong counter attack threat. It is just the manner of the goals conceded were really poor from our perspective. I would not expect us normally to concede those types of goal. "I think you've got to give Hugo Ekikike a lot of credit, especially the second goal. I thought it was an unbelievable run and finish but I don't think we cover ourselves in glory on the small details. "We switch off for a few seconds on a goal kick and you kick yourselves afterward because they are key moments in the game." On the half-time message: "The message was that we are very much in the game and to keep passing the ball. We felt like we were giving them problems. Our athleticism was really strong today. We started the second half really strongly. "There were a number of set plays throughout that we probably didn't do as well as we should have done, On another day I think that game looks very different. 4-1 looks very comfortable and I don't think it was for Liverpool."

I suppose this is relative, but I could imagine while some Brighton fans would be disappointed in the season overall from where they've been to where they are now they'd probably class that as successful. I think it was the late 90s they would have been in the Third Division and since then they gradually risen through the leagues and been an established PL side for nearly 10 years. A fan that saw them in the late 70/80s might just think that was a return to where they deserved after witnessing an almighty capitulation over 20 years. If we think of it from an NUFC perspective, generally we've always been in the top division apart from the early 80s and 90s aside from the relegations under Ashley. Since the takeover we've been on an upwards trajectory, or return to the late 90s success, but in comparison to the clubs we're looking to challenge we're way off. This is in part to the financial rules in place since the takeover, but that is what the bigger clubs want to be in place to prevent the likes of us and Villa competing.