Stottie

I can't remember Leeds having much more than four serious attacks. These resulted in goal, pen, young lad having a mare slashes over, and goal. To concede so much from so little pressure was very poor.

I said that earlier in the thread. At that time, Gordon's passing completion rate was the same as a center half, i.e., short easy passes only. In Gordon's first appearance, the ball zipped of him and he hit one our passes of the season, an epic throughball to Wilson who was stopped by that great covering tackle. He looked a class above. I don't know what's happened since. I didn't see it side on, but how close was the Firpo foul to a penalty? It won't have been far away.

The problem with that theory is that Liverpool are scraping wins like the West Ham one where a clear handball was not given. Been there and done it teams might win many tight games, but they do it with superior game management, not anxious looks at the ref and some wild-eyed loon jumping around on the touchline. I am happy to constantly bring up the fact that Liverpool nearly won a quadruple last season. Courtios single handedly stopped them winning the CL. Thanks to some remarkable regression, they are not that team any more, even with 120M+ on Gakpo and Nunez.

I didn't see that coming, so I'm back down from 10 to 9.5. Eff it, I'll go down to 9 because our midfield is looking much worse and we're making defensive mistakes. We're still in a strong position, with the points and GD on the board. I reserve the right to reduce my score again, but only after more unfavourable results, not before them. With two games at SJP, the likelihood is that a homer ref will be on our side, not theirs.

Disappointing, especially because we got it to 2-1. I thought handball in the box with a striker behind you would be an automatic yellow, but the ref was a total homer. There were two Leeds fouls in the first 60 seconds, and it was clear then we were going to see more. Then he books Bruno for diving.

Ha ha. Second worst 30 mins of our season, after Liverpool home, and we emerge level. It was even an overhit throughball from Bruno, who's been very poor. CMON LADS!

Sam Allardyce will mean a lot to us fans, I personally detest him, but he will mean nothing to our players. He'll be "Sam who?" to them. For the players, I'd be more concerned about the physical aspect, if we have the legs in midfield with Longstaff unlikely and Bruno not at his best.

Fabinho clearest red card of the season. Victim even goes off injured. In total, I suspect Brighton have had it worse than us. Liverpool have been spawny, play till they score included.

I thought Arsenal's last ditch defending was top notch, Murphy's chance was deflected, the Bruno penalty shout was a block off a well-worked corner, the Willock first half chance would probably have been blocked if not sent close to the keeper as it was, and the Willock second half chance fed by Isak down the left was also blocked. The only clear chances we got were the Schar header and the Isak header, which was a delicious dink to a late-arriving runner. Wilson wasn't allowed into the game, had no efforts on goal, and only touched the ball twice in their box in 77 minutes.

Ex Mackem goalies at both ends destroying the xG model, which assumes "average striker" and "average keeper". Steele saving nothing and knocking one in himself. Pickford making some high class saves. On the Steele og, McNeil should just have smashed in himself. There's at least a yard open at the near post. It would have given him a hat trick. I didn't see the Soton game but their keeper has been turboshit all season. Navas has been fine.

Doesn't the fivethirtyeight "Power rating" or whatever their score is have some kind of lag built into it? Like the UEFA coefficient for CL? I'm not saying their equation is perfect, it won't be, but "bottling", "mentality monsters" etc. comes down to experience and that is reflected to a degree in there. Fivethirtyeight had us on a low expected points for this season based on historic performances, not on the twenty games of Top 4 form we finished last season with. If we do miss out, it'll come down to injuries like Bruno's and Longstaff's. We didn't lose to Arsenal on Sunday due to "mentality" or "bottle". We gave it a good go but weren't at full strength in the key area of the field. Arsenal too came to SJP last season as walking wounded and left empty-handed. We should resist the urge to grab the easy narrative.

Based on form, both Isak and Wilson deserved to play and it could have been a good move with a reserve CH playing and Gabriel supposedly touch and go. As it happened their CHs played well and Wilson didn't manage to bully them as he does so many others. He was great against Arsenal in the same fixture last year. Howe said he couldn't give Maxi more than 15-20, but had he come on when Almiron did at 0-1, we might have got something from the game, especially had it been Maxi for Wilson with Murphy left on.

Yeah, didn't give a good account of ourselves but also didn't get the run of the ball. Murphy hits a shot through a defender - hits the post. Odegaard does the same and its a goal. Schar has the biggest chance of the match and heads it straight at their keeper. Fine margins. They broke through our lines a few times first half, so on the whole we deserved to lose. Bruno doesn't look fit. Conversely Maxi did, to the point where I think he should have come on when Almiron did. It would have been a brave call but perhaps first change should have been Maxi for Wilson with Murphy left on. Murphy was involved both times we hit the woodwork.

Could easily be two or more, so not a bad result in the end. Started well but ceded control and allowed a number of great chances. Eddie will sort them, settle it down and then have a go with Maxi. Arsenal collapsed second half at Anfield, so this is not over.

My main fear is nervousness in the stands reaching the pitch and the players doing something stupid. That is how it felt with Bruno in the cup semi. We were two goals up with time running out in the tie, so it was completely unnecessary. I hope the lesson was learned. I am far more afraid of what we could do to ourselves than any of the teams in the remaining fixtures. If we play with our regular mindset, we'll be fine. We bounced back immediately from Villa, so the evidence says we will bounce back from any bad result and not slip into someone's death spiral fantasy.

Twelve months ago, this Liverpool outplayed Real in the CL final and missed the PL title by one point. Unthinkable watching this.

Sexy as hell from Toney.

We should try to sign him, not an RW.

Konate's third foul?

So long as its 1-0, Brentford are in this.

Gundogan missed in the end, but that was a comically shit penalty conceded by Leeds. Foden was allowed in between two of them after a clumsy poke forward and then another one came in and took him out. Rank defending.

I had a look and West Brom conceded 27 goals in his first 8 games in charge there.

Didn't know Maxi was in with a shout, but yeah, fingers crossed he'll be able to take some part. Maxi is likely our third choice at striker now, so his return may also ease concerns about no backup if Wilson and Isak play together. They're both on red hot form and have combined nicely in the short bursts we've seen of them together. Just on the "no backup issue" but I suspect Joelinton could do much more at striker now than when he was played there. He shoots with new-found confidence and has five in 16 (1450 minutes) since the World Cup.

Red card alert for Ollie Watkins and Jacob Ramsey.

Only one home defeat for us all season, and that was a really weird game. My recent reference point for Arsenal away is the Anfield game where they were gifted a two goal lead by really poor defending. However, they couldn't manage the game and were somewhat lucky to emerge with a point. They've gone on to lose leads in other games, and with it their title challenge, even before they played Man City. This suggests they have the same inner weakness we saw at SJP last season. Pep mixed it up against them with some long ball stuff up to Haaland with KDB running off, almost PFM big man little man, just with world class players. Arsenal couldn't handle either. Their forwards are great, especially out wide, so they'll get in a couple of times. Our lads in the middle will have to be on their toes. I expect us to win the midfield battle, even with Bruno on one leg. Form says it has to be Isak wide and Wilson up the middle, but I suspect we'll set up with more defensive wide players tracking back to lower the threat of Martinelli and Saka. I think we'll start with Wilson and see Isak later.