Segun Oluwaniyi

Spurs have to be sick of VAR. Apparently it can rule goals out for the slightest unintentional contact of an arm to the ball, but cannot see blatant pushes in the box.

VAR+handball and offsides rules are seriously diminishing my enjoyment of this sport. So many goals we spend 2 minutes looking at incredibly marginal slow-motion replays that barely affect the play.

If Nigeria had a half decent football association that could convince these guys to play for the national team we would have some real promise. Abraham, Ihenacho, Saka and Iwobi would be a nice young front line. Oh well ... Osimhen and Chukwueze are better than all of those except probably Saka. We don't need to beg the English boys. Iwobi is not "shit" because history says he is a good footballer, but he has been rubbish for a good while and is miscast as a wide player at this point.

Arsenal far superior, but Leicester's goal looked legitimate to me. Don't believe there was a foul.

The football has not "dropped off". They have been atrocious since early 2019 and had won 6 of their 24 previous league matches when Pochettino was sacked. They need to refresh the team.

I feel like Palace are consistently complete rubbish whenever I see them play under Hodgson, yet they are always comfortably above the relegation zone. It's an achievement, I suppose. He definitely needed the tap-in, had been awful in this match beforehand.

Two rubbish players, neither of whom pronounce their surname properly. Agreed that their recruitment has been extremely poor. Very disappointed in Lerma, thought he was a talent at Levante and flashed some talent last season, but guy has been complete rubbish recently. After five years, all of the players, with the exception of Ake, King, and possibly Brooks, will not look out of place in the Championship. A team should not have overachieve after this many seasons at the top level. New rule I would propose: if one team leads by 3 goals, two extra substitutions are allowed. Over Festive period, five subs per match as well.

One of the most distractingly rubbish sponsors I can remember on a shirt. The CL race is going to be incredibly tight if this result holds, I addition to Wolves, Man U, Leciester, and Chelsea, Spurs have a decent shot if they can win tomorrow. Hope West Ham stay up, tbh, more London teams mean a higher chance I might be able to see NUFC or a decent match in general when stopping through London for a short stay (assuming crowds return at some point).

Won't be the first to say this, but I have no idea what has happened to Bournemouth at all. The level of talent is not that much worse compared to previous seasons and Howe is a fairly good manager, but this side has nothing at all. Cannot defend, cannot pass, no idea how to attack, not even particularly physical despite having some good athletes. The team has completely collapsed. Longstaff and Saint-Maximin were wonderful in the first half. Credit to Bruce, tbh, the team has looked better since he abandoned the pale imitation of Rafa's tactics and started using his own.

Messi keeps putting in great crosses from the right, while Suarez stands still and Vidal functions as the striker. Bizarre.

Bayern always seem to sign players for relatively reasonable amounts, at least compared to the other massive, rich European clubs. The sums they pay for Bundesiga players especially, always seem lower than they should be. Davies, Sane, Coman, and Gnabry on one team is just unfair in terms of pace. He is in Naples today, the rumour seems to be Victor+Gabriel to Napoli for 100 million euros. Lille are meant to be signing some Brazilian to replace Osimhen, who will be sold for a similar amount in a year, I am sure. Not sure I agree with the transfer, the striker seems perfectly suited to England and Napoli have generally been a mess.

Puig and Semedo improve Barcelona so much just by having some pace and work rate. The team is laughably slow and unathletic.

This penalty was softer than the last one

Soft penalty (foolish defending by Felipe, anyway), and Messi scores #700 with a paneka. It is amazing that Messi is playing every second of every match with the schedule Barca have.

Shelvey.

Yeah, he should just kick it back to their goalie like everyone else, absolutely. ASM trying to do too much is the only reason we are ever remotely threatening any game, or worth watching in any capacity. He has been rubbish, tbf. Lost the ball a few times, when you would expect a player of his quality to carry the ball bit or mybe win a freekick/throw in.

Not like N-O to dislike some random inoffensive pundit in a Newcastle game I've found him annoying, tbh. He has been talking as if Newcastle are Sunderland or some hopeless lower league side. This is a Premier League side with 100 M+ yearly income, no one should "feel sorry" for them.

The only player NUFC have in something resembling an attacking position is likely the slowest player in the entire league I do not understand the plan here.

I am a big fan of Almiron and have been since first seeing him in MLS, but he is never going to be a particularly productive player in terms of goals and assists. I cannot think of a player that could manage to be at this level of the game with his general lack of technical precision or physical strength. The boy works incredibly hard, carries the ball well up the pitch, has good (not great; another aspect that holds him back) pace, and continually threatens and opens up defense with his progressive and consistent movement. The team needs to take advantage of what he does have and accept the deficiencies. In my opinion, he is a quality complementary player, but his inadequacies are accentuated in a side with a striker that is allergic to scoring goals and very little interest in attacking or controlling the play in the opponent's half.

Vardy had an injury around the middle of December and has not been very good since this.

In terms of players I haven't seen mentioned, I have always been a fan of Michail Antonio. He would be a good squad player for anyone, imo. Lerma from Bournemouth is a player I believe to have potential. Declan Rice would be inflated, but is a good player. In a general sense, most of the fullbacks and centre-forwards would be good signings. Newcastle are very weak in those positions.

I have been watching these matches without sound, and the lack of intensity in this particular match is very odd. Leicester-Watford yesterday seemed 10 times more fierce and competitive among the players, even with no supporters. This is a derby with the title on the line and it is reminiscent of a July friendly in Kuala Lumpur or some place.

Just feels like Mourinho doesn't trust his players to push on more, but I'm not sure they are good enough defensively to park the bus either. Spurs are extremely poor in the centre of defense and midfield. They were conceding all manner of cheap goals before the lockdown and generally have been a sieve all season.

That shouldn't be a red card even under the old rules, imo. Do not understand that decision.

The keeper actually fell into the side of the goal with his ball. It is incredible that the goal is not given. Is the referee required to have confirmation from the technology? Surely the ref or linesman will have noticed it. The Black Lives Matter shirts are decent gestures, I suppose, but it would be preferable if it did not replace the player's names. It greatly overestimates my ability to recongnise random Sheffield and Villa players on appearance alone.