Mattoon

Not a must win in the grand scheme of things however its a must win in terms of trajectory and confidence. When the tide turns for us it will turn hard and teams won't know what's hit them, it's what we do and the sooner the better ??

We definitely lost something as the second half wore on, wayward passes, simple mistakes and looked as if we were getting pinned back, we lost the intensity of the first half and let them back in. I do think we expended a lot of energy in that first half and should probably have had daylight between us and it seemed to take its toll on us in the 2nd. The subs injected some more energy back into us but I'd also say we pushed for the winner too early, Milan looked dangerous on the break from the first whistle and we gave them the room at the back to do that with great effect. Definitely didn't "bottle" it but I do think our stamina and naivety created the loss.

All you ever do is piss and moan, constantly going on about how bad Howe is and how we're going to lose to the Mackems, you bring no insight at all just a clear vendetta, it's tiresome.

Devastated after that, thought we made a decent account of ourselves and should have been home and dry in that first half. Second half I think the nerves set in and the effort we put into the first half took its toll. Subs gave us a second wind but probably naively, we pushed the envelope too early and paid the price against a team looking to counter all night. It's been a rough couple of weeks for us but we've seen this before and we've come back better. Being completely out of Europe will probably help us to get some legs back but it doesn't really soften the blow.

I'm more nervous than I was before kick off, sitting on a knife edge at the moment, really need Dortmund to put one away to ease my nerves and preferably another one for us.

A repeat of this score tonight please lads ??

Last 16 is last 16, IF we can beat Milan and IF Dortmund can stop PSG and the ref from winning then that in itself is an enormous achievement and another historic moment for Howe. Would bite your hand off for any match.

You shouldn't laugh at the guy drowning when you haven't crossed the river yourself yet. Having said that, being completely out of Europe might help them in the league.

With Tripps out he's a shoe in and just in time

Only way he gets back in the team for me is if we rest Tripps and Tino goes RB, but there's also an argument for him stepping in for Lascelles who's had a bit of a wobble recently.

Even with players coming back it's not going to be like a light switch, the players aren't going to suddenly be ungassed, I think it will take a while of rotation and good subs to get our players back up to full speed and just pray that no one else breaks down. Howe should be safe as houses, a few bad results in the light of current circumstances shouldn't do anything to the foundations he's already built and I doubt they have.

Sp why judge Howe on what he's dealing with at the moment? Ridiculous to expect him to do anything but tread water with what he's got. I don't even blame the club, we're severely shackled by FFP. Let him grow with the club and prove what he can do, judge him when he has all the tools he needs at his disposal to win something not when the players are at their lowest ebb.

Ultimately UCL this early in our journey has been a bit of a curse: raised expectations, too many games for a squad with limited quality running through it, an unforseen, unmittigatable injury list, something had to give and it has. I'm afraid to say I can't see there being much to shout about until the new year. We've got to keep taking maximum points at home for now so we have a chance at European placings when we get players back and go on a run of form. I can't point a finger of blame anywhere, it's all ifs, buts and maybes, Howe has a crap hand to play with and the players are barely running on fumes. I don't think it's fair to apportion blame under the circumstances.

It had to be that prick

Too many reactionary in here, yes our away form has been poor, yes the first half wasn't good enough but we're not all of a sudden worse than shit all over the pitch. Let's not play the blame game and understand were at where we're at because of things out of our control. I said in the Everton game we would see more games like that, we will struggle but we'll finish the season strong.

Immediately better so far

Rough first half to watch that, still think if we can get a goal there's a distinct possibility they'll crumble but I just don't know where it comes from.

Game over

Just came on to post this, cringingly hilarious, what an absolute damp squib of a man

Manager and fans pushing Liverpool for most insufferable team the past couple of seasons. You'll not hear the end of this for a month now and any social media post will be inundated by Arsenal supporters wanting blood, it's really bizarre behaviour.

Spurs are on a slump, they still insist on playing their back line half way up the pitch with the injuries they have but they must still fancy themselves at home and still have some players that can cause some serious damage. Add to that our away form and something has to give. I think we can beat them but I wouldn't be disappointed with a draw which will move us above Man Utd on our far superior GD and still just 1 point behind 5th placed Spurs.

Arsenal out in full force tonight screaming corruption and poor refereeing, much like our game, its easier to look out than in, another impotent performance in front of goal. I've seen the "incidents" and again feel like the calls were correct, can't give HB against Cash, it was by his side, wasn't making him any bigger and was 100% accidental. Also, you can't score off an accidental HB, but you can assist, so Havertz clearly committed a foul when he put it in the back of the net. The Jesus incident was just clutching at straws. The good news is, after 5 weeks of utter bitterness and fountains of tears the Gooners now have a new worst enemy to concentrate on

Everton, for me, was the toughest test on paper for the games left in 2023, I think we have a great chance at a win and would settle for a draw. As others have previously said, their style of play will suit us more, they won't sit deep and they'll try and keep a high line and play the ball across the grass. Gordon, Almiron and Isak will have space to run into. We just have to take our chances.

I think as a fan base we can be a tad emotionally reactive to poor performances, myself included in that. We'll have more games like that and we'll have lots more games like the Arsenal/Chelsea/Man Utd ones. It's not worth dwelling on, I know the team won't be, learn from it, be better next time. It'll all be forgotten when we beat Spurs anyway. Yes tiredness takes its toll mentally and physically, no that's not linear and doesn't mean this is us until we get players back, we could win all 4 this calendar year, we could lose to Luton or Forest on the back of another lacklustre display. I'll worry when we start dropping down the table, for now we're doing fine.

Not worth crying over, we've played a lot of football with the same 11 players, physically and mentally it can't be easy on them, it is problematic that our away form has been, on the whole, pretty horrendous though. Spurs away next doesn't bode well for us either. We're literally limping to January at this point, got some players coming back before then and hopefully some recruits to give our core players a breather. We've finished strong under Howe every season so I think we'll still be there or there abouts come May.