The Prophet

The cliff notes are that the Sela sponsorship took 165 days to be approved by the PL. The Tweet also claims, based on submissions, we may have a claim for losses as the amount that was originally put forward for the Sela sponsorship was reduced by circa £5 million per annum.

Aye, he'd come in as an option for LCM/LW/ST. If that was RCM/RW/ST then fine.

I'd love Cunha, he'd fit us like a glove, but we have much bigger needs in the squad right now.

I'm not sure about Huijsen yet. Always wary of players who look good in a specific system such as those at Brighton or Bournemouth.

That not a penalty like?

In recent seasons our competitors have been Chelsea, Man United, Spurs and Villa. You could argue the toss on first teams, but they all have deeper squads for sure. It's just a consequence of Ashley's chronic lack of investment in transfers and the academy.

If we're talking about top bracket players, for me, of the side that started on Saturday, only Tonali, Bruno and Isak fit that category. Hall and Gordon are well on their way, but still learning the game and are prone to inconsistencies. The rest are players who are of a midtable calibre who Howe has had overperforming at various points over the last few years or once brilliant players who's age are beginning to catch up with them.

It feels like you lads are all on the same page, but are arguing about semantics?

They were able to gain a numerical advantage v both full backs because they beat our lackluster press with smart, relatively direct football. I'm sure the intention wasn't to leave him hung out to dry.

Promising that they've been abject in their last two away games. Granted, we'll have to improve if we're to get three points. With Liverpool away straight after, it does feel like a big game.

You may be disappointed. Howe will (rightfully) always opt for diplomacy when asked about his players futures.

He went for the man for man press again and as Burn said post-match v Arsenal, you have to get it spot on or you're in trouble. This time we were at least a yard off, meaning when Schar was pulled into midfield, City were almost always able to create an overload out wide. Perhaps in hindsight he should have binned it off and gone for our standard midblock we pull out later in games, but our players looked so off it, who knows if it would have made a difference. That's the most bizarre thing about this season. When we're good, we look excellent, but when we're poor we look lethargic and tactically naive. It's very strange and has been quite evident since August.

It's a distinction without a difference. City isolated Trippier, but they were only able to do so because they exploited our tactic of going man for man.

Watching some extended highlights, Pep had his pants down today. He isn't the first and he won't be the last.

To be fair, City completely isolated him today.

Thankfully I missed the game, but going from the highlights it seems that we attempted the system we played in the SF second leg v Arsenal, but we were too slow in the press and City were far more direct.

City will likely finish 3rd, then in terms of 4th and 5th it's just about who can put a consistent run together between Chelsea, Forest, Bournemouth, Villa, Fulham and ourselves.

Both teams hitting a bit of a ropey patch will make it a tense affair. In terms of Champions League, it's probably must not lose for us.

Win and we're three points off third.

It often feels like some fans project their expectations when talking about Howe's future. He hasn’t had any new players for three transfer windows. Yet we're in strong contention for Europe, in a domestic cup final and in the last sixteen of another domestic cup. He's as safe as houses.

I'd say by qualifying for the Champions League and reaching two Cup finals in three years, Howe has taken us to the next level and then some. With more time and cash I see no reason why we can't take the next step. The only pressure games I can think of where we haven't turned up were both against Man United.

We need to turn this run of form around, but we're still in with more than a punchers chance.

We're three points off 4th, 3 points off 3rd if we win next week. Bit early to write off the league season.

Can't work us out this season. We swing wildly between streaks of looking like a very good football team and streaks of looking absolutely shite.

That's absolute nonsense like. We've just beat Arsenal over two games in a cup semifinal.