Interpolic

The sun's injured (groin)

Fucking hell, that's mental

Personally I do think the ticketing changes are the main thing at fault here but not sure how they put the genie back in the bottle with that now. EDIT - basically as Paully says above. My mate used to always get me tickets for aways, he wasn't a season ticket holder so he'd hunt through friends of friends, Facebook pages etc to get tickets for most away games (he went to a lot more than me). I used to joke that he started singing the moment he woke up on a matchday cos that's what he was like - signing on the train, in the pubs, in the stands constantly. It was all part of a boozy day out and I'm sure there are many like him who can't go now, probably replaced by older and less lively season ticket holders. There needs to be capacity for a younger and more boisterous element in the away support, not just for atmosphere but also for the future.

I was at both of these, Forest was proper fun and Spurs was amazing support like you say. Can remember us singing "Mags Go Marching In" for AGES, we were very loud all game despite the dismal showing on the pitch. Re the social media point, I keep seeing this mentioned but can't help thinking it's overstated? Sure, anyone who is doing that isn't supporting the team very well but isn't it just a handful of people out of thousands?

Ayew and Bruno G are #1 and #2 btw.

Them and Liverpool are by miles the most repulsive clubs in the league at the moment. Yet another action designed to gain them favour from officials.

It's unsurprising there's been a massive change in atmosphere like - I went to 5+ aways a season during the Ashley years and not once did I buy the ticket myself. Neither did anyone who I went with. There must have been a lot of the more vocal sections of the away support pushed out now, with no way back in.

This seriously needs to be looked at, immediately. How is it fair that Klopp is allowed an open dialogue with the 4th official all game, which he clearly uses to exert increasing pressure on him if the game isn't going his way? On what planet do they think this will not affect the behaviour of the human beings officiating the game? An influential and volatile figure essentially threatening to make their life very difficult if they don't bend to what he wants? But nah, they'll concentrate on implementing rules so Howe and Tindall can't stand in the same area or whatever. It's so pathetic, man.

It's sad to see, and I'm not sure what the answer is. I could only recommend what worked for me and that was AA, which I'm sure he's tried extensively. What I personally had in my favour that he seemingly hasn't - not being in the public eye like he is (other than the Posters In Public thread), a supportive and non-judgemental support network, a necessity for routine to keep a roof over my head. It seems as though there's been this big void in his life since football ended and he's struggled badly to fill it. Hope he can find some peace in his life because he's probably been in and out of hell mentally for decades now.

Interesting, just skimmed it but this bit I'm convinced none of the other top sides could have done much better with so few fit players.

Not sure if anyone mentioned Arshavin yet but if not, Arshavin.

How many we lost at home to the "Big Six"?

Me too. Now got 2 days of getting pissed off that nobody is benched for his points to come in

What a weird little football club.

It's not bizarre aggression - it's because I'm sick of reading this viewpoint that we shouldn't be paying him already. It's rarely reasoned as anything to do with finances, instead it's labelled as a disgrace morally and for some reason the player is compared to the man in the street. Are you another that thinks we shouldn't be paying him? So say we get the lawyers in, take the player to court for his salary. How do you see it playing out from there? In what world is the signing then going to be a success? The club are playing it the right way, which is putting it down to bad luck and getting on with it.

It hadn't occurred to me Tonali might read any of our comments, it just annoys me seeing resentment towards him building when we go through a bad run of form. It happened, it's been and gone - the club are doing all they can to try to ensure the signing is still a success and I hope he is. If he gets flak in the ground next year while finding his feet I'll be well pissed off.

Beth's a bloke, lads

As human beings, we're all the same but this is just a completely different kettle of fish and you must know that. The 2 situations bare absolutely no relation to each other.

So the principle of it makes you boil with rage? Footballers aren't supermarket workers, they're coveted assets whether you or I like it or not. We've paid £50m+ for Tonali, it's doubtful it's even legal to stop paying him depending on what is in his contract. But it doesn't seem the cleverest move to explore that, when he's probably at a very low ebb anyway because of what's happened. The best way to throw that £50m away and lose a potentially very valuable player is to cut him loose and antagonise him by not paying him. The way the club are playing it is the best way - keep him in training and support him as he settles and tries not to let the ban derail his career. The sooner we stop trying to compare top level footballers to bloody supermarket workers the better.

Why do you give a fuck, seriously? Even if you're a season ticket holder who pumps hundreds into the club shop every year, we're wayyyyy beyond that being the lion's share of the club's revenue anymore. It's not your money. If we're paying him full wage then fine, I don't give a fuck personally.

If you're not a mackem you're a fucking misery.

No need. Fuck off. We made those changes as it was necessary to win the tie. The alternative was throwing it. You're focusing on minutiae in one game where Howe got everything right. Laters.

He made 10 changes for that league cup game. In an ideal world we'd have been 4 up at half time and not needed to play any of our big hitters. But we needed to make those changes to win the game, simple as that. The changes weren't crazy either - Bruno played 45 minutes, as did Gordon. Miggy played half an hour. Schar came on in injury time so can only assume you were being disingenuous or hoping I wouldn't look it up. If you are wanting to prove a point about Howe's squad management then I think this game is about the worst one you could have picked.