PRL

Gotta be honest, can’t take much joy in that injury. Hamstring or calf tweak maybe, but if that’s the Achilles it could be worse than ACL and be a potential career changer.

Just used my £10 free bet and seems to have gone through no issue at 100s with Betway, thanks for heads up.

we were losing when he came on and winning when he came off. Isak said he made a big difference. MOTD highlighted the difference in the press when he came on. Think he had a good 45 mins, think he will learn from the petulant temper tantrum

Absolutely nuts. Scandalous.

Amazing result and great 90 mins, loads of fun, but I'd be absolutely heartbroken if I was a West Ham fan and been moved from Upton park to that. Fucking horrendous from getting off the tube to getting home. Does not feel like a football ground at all, in the ass end of nowhere, lovely half an hour of kettling on the way back and just a shit end to an amazing evening. To have to do that every game as a West Ham fan, even when doing well, would be utter shit. I blame them a little less for evacuating on 80 mins, although shitloads were still stuck in the kettle by the time we got there after applauding the team off for 10 mins post-match. Wembley is 50% bigger with worse transport links and not even as bad.

Bosh

So rules are different in FA cup to league?

I imagine there’s a risk that Moyes could be sacked, new manager comes in and plays him, signs new deal as getting first team football.

Tim Krul at Falkirk always springs to mind

I've got to disagree with the narrative that ASM gets a free pass. As is shown in this thread and others on the board, plus at the game, people are very quick to get on his back. Using the example of Longstaff only works as he's probably the one player out there who gets stick quicker than ASM, but some of that has to do with him playing like a fly half rather than a footballer with recent attempts on goal. If ASM had missed the volume of chances that Longstaff has in recent games, fans would be all over him. Not saying it's the right thing, but I'm sure it would happen.

Not realistic but still possible to dream about - Arsenal have Man City to play twice, as well as Manchester United next weekend. Lose two and draw one and they could get pulled into the group, although second fixture against City not til April. European football restarts and they have a paper thin squad without a lot of signings in January, particularly now Jesus may be out longer than expected. Man City are fully focussed on winning in Europe and feels at times like they aren't even that bothered about winning league (which seems insane) while an injury to Casemiro (much like with us and Bruno, sadly) could have something of a derailing effect. Basically, not impossible, but if you've bet your house and are able to cash out at profit, I'd probably do that.

Has Joe Willock always been announced as Joseph? Only noticed that today. Also calling Willian ‘Will I An’ was strange

Joelinton just been driven in by Bruno

We do seem to be in a habit of trying to rescue / finish off cup games with most of our better players coming on for substantial game time. Same against Palace. Personally I’d prefer we started a stronger team and made changes if/when comfortable. Having Bruno, Trippier et al coming on to supply Wood, when they could have been supplying Isak for 45 mins, is a little painful. That said, if we make it through on Tuesday then I won’t be too upset.

Think Walker and Stones were signed by Guardiola

I do feel VAR has made the refs even worse, mind. Think that pen is given today pre VAR, but they are so used to being bailed out so don’t make any decision remotely controversial. Either all VAR or no VAR for me

To be fair, I prefer our draw to both Manchesters

Interesting quote from the article on Murdyk: When suggested to Palkin that such figures mean only a handful of clubs could afford this, he replied: “It’s five or six clubs in the world. But sometimes, even some Premier League clubs can surprise you, not just the (normal) six top clubs.”

Had an absolute ball at AJ Hudsons. Thanks so much for recommendation. On plane back now, just hoping we land on time as straight up to St James’ for the Palace game.

Chicago tomorrow AM for Southampton game - anyone know a bar showing (realise it’s 8.30am)

Not sure if it's been mentioned within the thread, but having seen a few mentions of Kane and his whining, I also wanted to give a shout out to Son, who was diving, agitating and whining throughout. Reminds me of how Solskjaer behaved on the pitch. All cheeky and smiley by reputation, absolute prick every time we played them.

Most of the country are not overtly political, and it's incredibly clear from the reaction that this transcends politics. There's plenty of pros and cons to argue in relation to monarchy; politically, economically, ethically and beyond. But I think you can say fairly definitively that most people in the country do not feel negatively towards the Queen herself, that most wish to pay respect to our Head of State who spent 70 years serving the country. I don't see that as controversial at all, like I don't see any issue with the recommencing of a debate regarding monarchy commencing in the coming weeks, particularly with Charles in charge, I just don't think those on the republican side of said debate do themselves many favours using an old lady's death as a negative trigger. As mentioned above, Wor Flags are in an utter catch 22 here, but may feel on balance that more folk who donate or who make the decisions within WF would like to see a tribute than not. Unfortunately I've no idea if that's true or not, but I trust them to make the right decision, and if they put on a display I don't deem it as political (going down that rabbit hole you could argue that no display in and of itself is a political statement). I don't expect this to open floodgates to party political flag displays or religious banners, simply an acknowledgement of the longest serving public servant in the history of our nation, which won't happen again in any of our lifetimes.

People have paid and turned up to support their team and given up considerable time and money to do so. I really don't mind losing out to a fluke or a screamer but VAR has already taken away the ability to celebrate after a quick glance at the linesman, which has muted probably the most cathartic reaction I can regularly have in life. Now that we aren't only seeing bad decisions missed, but good decisions turned into bad ones as a result of VAR, I really don't know what the solution is. I agree that it's those using it rather than the tech itself and it has been fine in other tournaments and leagues, but I think I'm leaning to the view it should be scrapped as it's just too inconsistent and does not result in better decisions being made regularly. I think I'd rather go back to complaining about missed injustices and at least being able to celebrate properly again. No chance of this happening, sadly.

But Pope wasn’t there at the start of the window?

How is it weaker overall? Swapped Pope for Dubravka… seems stronger surely?