Heron

How is the Brighton pen not also a Red...as blatant a deliberate handball as you'll ever see (or am I playing by like 1998 rules )

I think he hasn't been as good as last season to be honest and often gets no stick for his mistakes when comparing with someone like Murphy who is criticised even when he plays well. He's lacked assertion and quality in elements of his game, but on his game he's somewhat unplayable.

Aye it's a risk element we seem to accept. Either that or Gordon simply doesn't do his defensive job.

Agreed.

For their offside goal? I absolutely agree.

Tino is being relied upon to be our pace to cover the central back two and is not only central but the last man to ensure we have the best chance of catching the opposition when they break in such instances. So I'm less concerned with him being a yard behind than Schars decision to try and glance a header back to the keeper there when he isn't the last man and has no awareness of what's around him. At 3-1 it should have been firm header forward and job done.

So with the PSR glass ceiling you have the option of spending to replace these folk or bringing in youth players who cannot offer any experience or anything to those in the first 15/16. Our academy and youth set up is nowhere near of the level of many Premier League clubs that we aspire to be like or better. I can agree on Gillespie, but the others absolutely served their purpose for the overall dressing room and ethics of Eddie Howe and the club as a whole. We've been down the road of overpaid pre-madonnas before and been relegated. Thankfully Benitez (and Lascelles) made people respect the football club again, as did some of those mentioned. Keeping some of those old heads around as we transition has been imperative to ensuring the right level of respect and application is applied by those joining the club. By improving on 3 or 4 of those you potentially lose the chance to sign a Tino a Hall or at the top end someone like a Bruno or Botman.

Exactly this.

I think Forest are a very well drilled side but it's a side I wouldn't expect anything other than a draw or win against at home still.

Personally, I felt we got that game wrong entirely from a tactical and personnel perspective but moreso from midfield. I didn't think that when the game started but it was proven to be the case. Not too dissimilar to the Bournemouth game last week in some elements.

So... ...erm... The game... We won. We're mint. It should have been about 5 or 6 and we shouldn't have conceded. Need to watch the highlights back again but from their goal I initially felt that Burn shouldn't have been where he was but had to be as a result of no protection in front of Hall, Burn went out to help him out and as a result there was a gaping hole in the centre. Root cause was Gordon / Joelinton / other not providing protection to Hall. Once the ball is put in the box no one took responsibility for it or the initiative to mark. Poor communication and a poor goal to concede. Overall feel that whilst Gordon has some good stats he has blown a little hot and cold this season. Undoubtedly our most effective winger/wide forward though. Got to bag 3 points versus Fulham and get through the cup and then we're looking at very interesting times for the final third of the season.

This middle bit is all relative though too. If you cannot get better players in to replace these folk without spending money gambling on improving squad depth from the bottom end not the top then they may have seen that as risks not worth taking. Each and every one of those folk mentioned would have been model pro's and important to have around the club and at training and that's what is irreplaceable. To some degree they'd help other, better players settle in. I honestly think folk just go all in on every element of everything as soon as someone is doing good/bad and it goes from 0 to 100 in terms of opinion (not saying you here btw). Around 15 games ago folk on here and in public would have you believing Howe was a mid-table manager and had ran his course ans that none of the signings were his and all that nonsense. Honestly makes me laugh. Now Isak is comfortably better than Shearer as another example. All just a bit knee-jerk which is inevitable with such passion involved but howay

Shearer scored 51% of the time over 559 league games (18 years). That is an absolutely phenomenal record. Especially when he was only in one trophy winning side and had the injuries he had.

And yet folk in the Mitchell thread would have you think otherwise just cause we lost versus Brighton (or whoever)...

Can Barca even afford him?

Disagree. As an all round player, maybe but as a striker, no. The proof will be in the pudding if he can better Shearers record pro-rata and over a sustained period of time. Until he does that I won't believe it. Shearer had career threatening injuries and still scored 49% of the time when he returned.

Prize bell end this chap.

100% a red for me. I normally defend hard and physical tackles but this is clearly late and just above/ankle height when contact is made. Nowhere near the ball.

what?!

It's an Arteta thing. "The ball is too light." Just excuses and a desperate attempt to create a siege mentality that works with some of their fans (the online ones) and proper fans probably just look on thinking "WTF you on about mate". They need rid of Arteta if they wanna win things. He's done alreet, but he's ran his course there for me.

He seems such a moody kinda character but he's definitely got like a real leader sorta charismatic quality about him when you see how he plays and how he talks about his teammates, etc.

Well played.

Gimps

Been a real pro' for us like. Can think what you like about his ability but he's absolutely ran his fucking nuts off for us since day dot and had some absolutely outrageously good moments. Fulham (a) and PSG probably being the stand out ones.