alexf

said he was back in training this week but something like "still a long way off" or something along those lines.

Said this before and will say it again...why would Saudi clubs need to bid above valuation for a player? Paying the players more in wages I understand but there's no reason £50m players suddenly jump to £100m unless it's a dodgy transaction.

Wait...didn't they pay £115m or whatever to sign him in the first place?

Could go either way with Liverpool, they have tightened up and look like they have been playing with abit of pressure since we beat them maybe just trying to get over the line and perhaps they relax and playwith freedom again once confirmed as champs. Or all the senior players put their flip flops on and they lose all their remaining games after that.

Controversially I've not been that impressed by Villa. Considering the squad they have I feel they play very defensively in the big games I've watched to their own detriment. Yes they might have got beaten heavily if they had gone more attacking, but against Bayern Munich, the 1st leg and most of the 2nd against PSG, last night against City. Plenty of times you can see them with like a back 6 with 4 Infront of that trying to be difficult to breakdown. But it looked like City were there for the taking for most of that game. Could argue they might have beaten PSG if they had been abit more adventurous and put them on the back foot more. Emery is a good coach and they have a strong squad on paper. Just think they have been a tad too negative in the big games if I was a fan and I think they could have achieved even more. Our loss to them for me was more about how poor we were on the day rather than anything special they did. Might sound bitter but I think if we had been at our best that day I think we would have beaten them.

Never seen anything in that guy. I know he got an England cap once but he seems like such a nothing player, especially whenever we have played them.

Rashford and Asensio definitely not. But could argue same for us really. If we don't finish top 5 we might not have the funds to add what we need and/or keep hold of Isak, Tonali etc if the real elite clubs came calling.

Do have an irrational dislike for Villa, not cus we lost at the weekend, been like it for years now. Is annoying that they do have really good depth. Pretty much 2 similar quality players for every position, sometimes 3. But yeah did have bad vibes about this game, city are ripe for picking if Villa play it right annoyingly.

7th it is then

I think some are hoping abit much for a Forest "pressure"collapse. Yes they had a couple of wobbly results but it would take a full blown collapse to lose some of their remaining fixtures. Even tonight, yes it's away to Spurs but in the context of this season it's a team that's been in the top 3 most of the season Vs a team 14th-17th, who play really open and struggle to score goals. Forest are solid at the back generally and absolutely rapid and clinical on the counter. Every single one of their games is very winnable against mostly teams with nothing to play for (Palace, Leicester, West Ham) except Chelsea at the end of the season but they might already be secured by then so might not even do us a favour by beating them. Same for Villa, beat Man City and unless they struggled with balancing the fa cup semi and the league, decent fixtures against teams that again have started to look like they have run out of gas for the season, Fulham & Bournemouth. They will beat Man U and Spurs at a canter. Chelsea are the only ones I was confident will miss out, but they went and won unexpectedly yesterday. They will beat Liverpool, they will already be champions and will be on the beach. Again Man U guaranteed 3 points and then only games I see them losing now could be against us and Forest. So yeah it's going down to that last game against Everton and always was as it's too tight not to. For me we have to win all the home games and get something away in one of the other 2.

I'm hoping our boys have abit of fire in the belly themselves for getting dumped out the cup by then. Particularly Gordon. Let's hope he channels it into a performance.

Targeted that left channel and got in behind Trippier time and time again, in fact didn't all 4 goals come from that side initially? The most frustrating thing is we didn't look to fix the problem in-game and the inevitable happened 2nd half.

Brighton away is the one I'm most nervous about. I think we will hopefully have too much for Ipswich. Also believe we'll turn up for the Chelsea game fingers crossed I think we lose away to arsenal and beat Everton final day. So I think we have to get maximum points away to Brighton. Everyone else's fixtures look far kinder than ours.

Yeah it's all irrelevant if we snap back out of it and do the business in the next games. It's not the defeat that's annoying as we allowed ourselves a cushion in case we did. It's just such a hard watch when every player is clearly miles off it physically today. We didn't stand a chance really if Villa turned up in any capacity.

Worst performance of the season this. Absolutely miles off every position on the pitch. Couldn't even do the basics well today. Just always worse when it's against these scumbags.