Interpolic

This has been pointed out to him many, many times.

Lull them into a false sense of security then bring Karius on for nobody after 30 mins, BANG extra player and goodnight Spurs

You've missed a player but otherwise this is spot-on.

We might lose here but Spurs' confidence will be brittle. They're still playing well for long spells but they're definitely not playing well over 90 minutes. If we can ride out the storm of their waves of pressure (which will happen) then we might be able to pounce on their high line and their nerves and nick a couple.

Our results and performances will be up and down while we navigate this pretty much unprecedented situation. Most fans appreciate and understand that. Tiredness is not a simple 1-10 gauge that reduces after every game. Every game is different and places different demands on the players. So no, we're not necessarily going to lose every game now because we lost last night. You're being wilfully obtuse here and as a result being unnecessarily harsh on players who have proven time and time again they will give everything for the cause. We won't be putting in performances like that when we have more players to share the workload, not that I thought the performance last night was apocalyptically bad or anything anyway. Before the Trippier mistake we were looking good for 1-3 points.

Why are you being so ridiculously over-simplistic?

I've been trying my best to warm to you recently but sticking you on ignore now. Can't read this utter bollocks from you all day again, and it will be all day across every thread. Laters.

If you'd said to me at the start of the season that we'd be playing the same 10 outfield players every 3 days in November/December, one of them being a 17 year old, with no options off the bench then I'd have thought there'd be a decent chance we'd be losing or drawing almost every game. Our season should be fucked right now but it isn't. Now isn't the time for inquests into our away form, I'd be stunned if that doesn't turn around once we have a decent pool of players to manage the schedule better. It's about sticking in and getting as many wins as we can til we're out of this insane situation.

Every game is different, innit? Tonight we were playing against a physical side that defended deep and got at us on the break. It wasn't a 3-0 game, I was fairly confident we'd get at least a point before Trippier slipped up. The Spurs game might suit us if we can soak up some pressure and expose the weaknesses of their high line. Our home record is very good and the players are clearly feeding off the fans to get them over the line in those games, so I'm not sure why that is increasingly being used as a stick to beat them with?

It's not as simple as a 5 day break should mean a good performance as opposed to a 3 day rest etc. I'm not sure why anyone would think it is. It's not as if there's ever been any question about the work rate of this group of players. They clearly look shattered. Subs and rotation are a huge part of the game these days and we have the benefit of neither. Some of those players must be wiped out. The likes of Gordon, Schar and Trippier never get a rest. The mental and physical fatigue is going to accumulate while we're in this shit position. They still manage to put in great performances like Chelsea, PSG and Man Utd but we're going to get nights like tonight while we don't have 15+ genuine first team options to choose from. It's a challenging situation that we can only manage as best we can until players are back / recruited. No use throwing toys out the pram that we're not winning every game in the meantime. Need to stick with it and realise we're amidst some freak circumstances but taking a step back we've never had it so good and the future is bright. Bit of perspective.

Jesus, it's like a sex offender's Spotify play list there pre-match.

This Everton tune is noncey AF.

Aye I did say "still", love the pettiness of remembering to do it many years later

I was pleased to see nufc.com's fixture list still has them as "mackems" even though the rest of it is quite professionally done

Howe's playing 23/24 on hard mode like.

If you and TCD talking bollocks on here is going to somehow lead to great things for Isak and NUFC then I'm reluctant to interrupt. But Isak's fitness levels were and are clearly not optimal atm so it seems a bizarre time to criticise his... fitness levels. When he's on a run of 6 or 7 games his fitness levels are fine, he's not quite Bellamy but his pressing is fine, he's not quite Drogba but his hold up play is fine. Just smacks of scrambling to find something wrong beyond a half fit player doing the best he could for us in pretty dire circumstances. And thanks for keeping my emotive language in check, you're a lifesaver. It's that kind of unnecessarily condescending stuff that gets people's back up when in conversation with you on the football forum, if you care at all

Don't see the point in criticising his performance when he was clearly dead on his feet like. Ordinarily he/we wouldn't be in that position. We expecting decent hold up play from guys who can barely walk? Pointless criticism which I doubt Howe is levelling at him.

UTM is fine, UTMG is not

It annoys me cos it's just wrong "HTL" would be fine but how this has caught on is mental.

"HWTL" still REALLY annoys me like

Call it VAR-VAR-FUME

Everything aside, I can't recall ever being prouder of a performance of ours than that last night. It had everything - guile, nous, effort, resilience. Insanely impressive in the circumstances.