Tsunami

Think I’d start with Gordon on the right and switch perhaps for 10/ 20 mins during the match to mix it up. I’d worry moving Barnes to the right will take away his goal threat whereas Gordon isn’t the goal taker Barnes is and would still be able to produce chances from the right. Gordon doesn’t score that goal against Wolves, Barnes might well have put the ball inside the post when Gordon hit the post (obvs assuming he could have made that chance).

RIP Steve Hardwick.

City are too established for anything meaningful to happen to them. They have too many fans around the world and too many top players. The PL will not damage the brand. I can see an outcome where they get a fine, points deduction and put on the naughty step with the real losers being us as some new rules will be introduced that affect us more than any other club.

He deserves to keep his place for now but Willock is a perfect 60-65 minute sub for him. Once he's suspended (which won’t be long) he might struggle to get back in. Willock, Bruno and Tonali has real potential, Bruno’s lack of pace should be less concerning, the need for Big Jo to act as an enforcer then hopefully becomes less of a requirement. One thing for sure is that Longstaff, Bruno and Big Jo as a 3 isn’t the way forward.

How was that handball?

When Villa won the title he had a worldie of a season. RIP.

I think Eddie got his selection just about right today. Think Tonali starts against Fulham, Barnes could be back on the bench as that Robinson is a big danger in forward positions. I’d love to see Willock, Bruno, Tonali but can understand Big J starting ahead of Willock. Hall or Kelly? Unsure. Tino or Tripps, difficult. I’d maybe go Tripps but Tino needs a run of games and be shown Eddie has full faith in him following his England call up. We’re not clicking just yet, Eddie has to sort the midfield out.

Dear me, you’re either a goal scorer or you’re not. Class.

Picked Murphy for his defensive play, Barnes will come on as will Tonali; you’d expect.

Had a goal disallowed for offside.

That finish was top drawer. You either have it or you don’t, he’s a natural finisher.

His kicking is what it is. I think he’ll be disappointed with the goal, it was a comfortable save and a poor parry.

Clearly had Haaland first goal scorer.

Thought ref got it right.

2 for me as well. We knew well before the end of the season where we needed strengthening. We also knew who we needed to let go. Tosin going Chelsea was clearly a blow but you have to question the contingency planning. We ended up letting 2 players go that we would have preferred to keep, gaining a complete dud of a keeper in the process. We should have walked away from Guehi 3 weeks ago. The PSR shambles smacks of incompetence; it hardly crept up on us. I’m pleased we didn’t cave in on Guehi and it’ll be a pain when he goes to Lpool next season for 35/40M. Hopefully we’ve learnt some lessons and avoided setting ourselves up for PSR issue next year.

Losing Staveley and Mehdrad is a big blow, no two ways about it. Eales has to step up now. We’ve got a tidy starting 11, this is a big season. We have to qualify for Europe or next summer could get a bit messy.

January window is the new pre season window.

There’ll be a 10M last day tax on whatever the price was last week.

Glad we’ve not ended up paying way over the odds for Guehi. We can’t set any kind of precedent that we’ll roll over. Keeping our powder dry will help with PSR down the line. I’d still like to see a couple of out goings but hey ho.

Just me who thinks that every long throw Moreno did was a foul throw?

We’ve missed him since he went off.

Chelsea getting a “proper” CF isn’t good news. Who gets to take penalties should be fun.

There’s a good chance that Palace are trying to get replacements in & are themselves getting quoted inflated prices, as a direct result of the how they’ve played us.

RIP.

Pretty sure Dermott Gallagher said on ref watch that it was like was the ball over the line. If the circumference is included it’s handball and the laws of physics suggest the ball would have compressed sufficiently for it to have hit the arm. Gallagher then says he’d have allowed the goal, wtf? Also seen stay with the on-field decision. The ref is completely unsighted and VAR is there to make a factual decision.