QBG

Liverpool and Newcastle United are interested in Portuguese club Sporting's 28-year-old Colombia striker Luis Suarez. (Correio da Manha - in Portuguese) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cwykg07e994o

I take your point, though I think it’s a more pertinent concern with Europa. I don’t think Conference would be much of an issue. We’d be favourites to win it and would be able to rotate regularly given the level of opposition.

I understand the doom and gloom, obviously, but a couple of weeks ago, it would probably have been accepted that we needed to win at least one of the games against Chelsea and Sunderland to be in with a shot. We did that, but I'd hazard there would be much more optimism now if the results were flipped. It's not a great position by any means, and the display in the second half on Sunday was incredibly worrying, but with players coming back from injury and several of the teams above us playing each other, Europe definitely isn't out of the question.

While I agree that it shouldn't have made a difference, you could see how much we missed Tonali in the second half.

Infuriating watching him just kick it long relentlessly despite us losing possession each time. Played right into their hands time and again.

Our best player. Subbing him for Willock one of the stupidest decisions I've ever seen from Howe.

Can't really get on with the hype video posting on social media, as much as I obviously understand building it up. There's no excitement for me in terms of it being a derby, it's just a massive game with all the pressure on us. We owe them from that dismal effort in December, we have to respond to what happened in midweek, and it's a huge opportunity to gain ground and genuinely have hope of another Champions League finish. They're massively injured and it's basically a free hit for them. We just have to deliver. No excuses.

No muscle injury, according to Gazetta. https://football-italia.net/italy-newcastle-relief-tonali-injury-scare/

Demoralising to go out like that. Not really what we deserved in terms of the effort across the tie and the competition as a whole, but you can't have bad spells like we did against teams of that quality. I take the point that the competition format is a bit unsatisfying, but you could also make the point that we might not have gotten this far with the old format (albeit I understand that's all dependent on the draw). From an extremely dull financial perspective, reaching this stage is still an achievement, but it's hard not to wonder how much more favourable the draw might have been had we not blown it in Marseille or Leverkusen and finished top eight. Hopefully, the players can shake this off quickly and not let tonight's result impact the recent upturn in league performances. Win the derby and we'll be in a great spot to get back into a European competition that we'll have a much better chance of winning. A difficult night, but this can still be seen as a positive season if we finish strongly.

All-round performance might not have been that great, but the first finish in particular should be a big confidence boost for him. Hopefully he can kick on from here.

Fun day looking back at all the clips. Will never forget that day as long as I live. Had lost my job a couple of weeks prior, and the emotion of everything just poured out at full-time. Watched the trophy lift with my daughter on my shoulders. Magic.

Still think he might be better playing off the right wing, but there's a player in there.

Absolutely gutted, as we all are. Still would have been a big ask at their place even with 1-0 lead, but would have been fantastic to close that out and get the high of beating them. Howe and the team can be so proud of that performance, though. Can't really think of a player who had an off night. Obviously, Everton was a debacle and City battered us for 60 mins in the cup, but performances in general have improved of late. Regardless of what happens in the return leg, it feels like a team that is going to string a lot of good results together after the international break. Bruno and Miley will make a huge difference to that, too. Needs to get drastically better at controlling the ball, but Osula up top was the right call from Howe with Gordon ill. For all his faults, his ability to be something of a focal point and threaten with pace is giving us far more than Woltemade and Wissa. Hall was phenomenal, and the midfield three were excellent. Ramsey's development over recent weeks is a huge plus. Great to see Elanga have a largely positive outing as well. I feel for Thiaw, a clumsy challenge but a really clever bit of skill from Olmo, it happens. Thankfully, we have an extra day's rest over Chelsea and Gordon should be relatively fresh, as should the other three strikers. Nothing to fear there, and we can attack the away leg on a big pitch that should suit us. Whatever happens, they've done us proud.

Aye, Barca have said they're both facing weeks out.

Balde also limped off later on after replacing Kounde.

Aye fair point. The list of areas that clearly need addressing is pretty sobering.

This is probably fair. I agree on the stuff about how he controls his box, 100%. Maybe it doesn't change much, but I feel they need to make the change at this point. Hopefully, neither is in the squad next season.

Not so sure he is better than Ramsdale. Happy to be corrected, but I can't think of an obvious Ramsdale howler when he's played. The Romero overhead dribbling over the line is the worst moment I can think of. There's one every week with Pope. Has to be dropped.

Might have to wait on these and hope they don't all sell out immediately The jumper and track top are particularly lovely.

Aye, looks like it's starting, albeit slowly, to click for him. Agree that I think he needs a big performance at home. Would do him the world of good. Frustrating thing is that he had the chance against Villa in the opener, the first half against Barcelona when he was fantastic but we didn't score, and the red card he drew against Burnley when he was through on goal. I can't help but think he might have progressed a little quicker if one of those had gone differently.

Feel like we've played some really good stuff with the ball in the last couple of games, but a failure to take chances and failings without the ball have meant the scorelines haven't reflected that at all. Having Livramento/Miley out at the same time is a nightmare. Trippier looks finished. Glad Howe made the right call to protect Hall at half-time, but by the same token, I was disproportionately annoyed Shahar didn't get on for minutes at right-back. The Osula cameo was a complete waste. Desperately need Bruno back, but hopefully results can start to pick up again.

Yep. Massive game, arguably our biggest league game of the season so far (obviously putting aside the derby). Taking my eldest for her first game, so if we could find a way to win, that'd be mega.

I appear to be in the minority, but I really like that. We'll win the Europa/Conference League in it and it will immediately be a cult classic.