ponsaelius

Pretty much a perfect night apart from Schar getting the yellow

My dodgy box conked out at half time, feels like a blessing.

If we don't win this I'm never forgiving that Tonali miss

Other than the midfield lacking physicality am I the only one who still thinks Man Utd's team is decent on paper?

I've got a horrible feeling. Just hate playing this lot, even when they're terrible, and can never see us getting anything.

I'm getting motion sickness just watching that

If clubs are putting any kind of decent money on the table for pre-takeover players we have to start snapping hands off when it happens. And I say that with a heavy heart for somebody like Longstaff who in another world I'd happily have around as 5th/6th choice midfielder because in modern football it's genuinely nice to have local lads in and amongst the team to retain a sense of identity. However PSR means there is almost no sense in that type of squad building anymore. You have to cash in on players at the right time.

One of those where it would it be criminal for either to come away with the three points at the end.

What a dreadful game this has been. Exactly what you'd expect from two bland southern clubs with squads of regens signed entirely by spreadsheet and coached by weirdos. Bring back Bolton and Blackburn.

Would be an interesting move.

He doesn't really look raw at all given his age. Indeed he looks very assured. Osula on the other hand is 3 years older but actually does look like a raw youth player.

Ange has got to go soon surely? His way of playing is just completely unsustainable.

It was the same when he came in last season TBF. There's no doubt he's better with the ball at his feet than Pope, and it does help our possession game. It's just once he starts facing shots regularly that any benefit from that is completely wiped out.

Not uncommon for local games to be 11am on Boxing day. Most of the Northern League is.

I reckon 90%+ of all Central to Manors (and reverse) are done for that exact purpose.

Yeah I just bit the bullet because it wasn't murderously bad. If it had been £100+ I'd have bought a single to Manors to get through barriers and hid in the bogs for the Peterborough leg at least

If barriers hadn't been down I'd not have realised. Only when I couldn't get through I realised. If I'd got very lucky they may have let me off, but also could have been a fine and even more expensive ticket.

It would be absolutely sensational if we were able to get him gone in January. Don't think we're getting any new signings unless players leave.

I'm heading down to Cambridge this morning as doing a day there and night over beforehand. Got to the station to realise I'd bought my ticket for Saturday by mistake. £50 walk on ticket. A good start to the weekend, hopefully things improve.

Murphy putting his buzzer as 'Just Put It In The Net Man'

Plymouth FA Cup replay? Was just discussing that game yesterday funnily enough, think it was lowest home attendance I can ever remember us having in a competitive game.

I still think his performance has to be severely caveated by the fact Leicester are very poor. If there was ever a game you wanted to be the deepest midfielder and look good then that was it. However - it's a positive sign that we seem to have finally decided to try him as a #6. Tbh this has been the thing that's puzzled me ever since his debut in pre-season at Rangers when he lined up at RCM with Longstaff in DM. Especially since we've also talked for ages about trying to 'release' Bruno further forward.

For what it's worth irrespective of my comments quoted above I'm also not convinced a different manager would necessarily be demonstrably better with this squad as it is. I think if we do make a change it has to be made with a very clear vision about how we plan to navigate PSR/squad building, rather than because we want to just roll the dice on some other bloke in the hope it improves. I'm strongly of the opinion that there's lots of good coaches out there, but they're only as good as the structure they're in and how that is aligned. I think whoever replaces Howe will have equally as many foibles as he does merits - even if they're slightly different than Eddie's.

Did you watch Kelly against West Ham?

Milan did their very best in the second half to completely kill the game. It was very effective, although helped by the referee, and I was concerned they might nick one themselves. Atalanta keep finding a way to win though, their mentality is totally different since the Europa win. While they don't have the attacking talent of the side of a few years ago, this team seems their best ever squad from back to front. Weirdly I'd worry they end up being too good for their own good - and ultimately get stretched by going far across three competitions.