Stottie

I thought it was bad for him because it was too much responsibility and he would try too hard. Trying too hard is how the red card challenge on VVD came across. There was also the issue at the very start of the season that he was replacing Isak without us having signed anyone else. So more responsibility/pressure, especially with him not in form and coming off a difficult "second" (actually third) season where he'd not scored or assisted for a while and had been send off (prob harshly) against Brighton in the Cup. I'm sure everyone remembers that "more red cards than goals or assists in the last dozen plus games" stat. I must also admit to not being that impressed by what I saw of him playing false 9 for England U21s, even though he got player of the tournament. Big Nick looked much better at that level the next time it was held. Osula got three in that tournament too, no?

Comparison at age 21, all comps. The Ekitike goals were all in the Bundesliga after joining Frankfurt midseason. If I'm not mistaken, both players have very similar physical builds. https://fbref.com/stathead/player_comparison.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=7b355808&p1yrfrom=2025-2026&player_id2=5b92d896&p2yrfrom=2023-2024

Really growing into the role. Even before the red card, the flick for the Barnes chance was sublime and he was free in acres and should have been played in when Joelinton skied over. Very high football intelligence, and much better than the striker we tried to buy for a large fee on the other team, who did very little against 10 men. Finishing is the big weakness, but he excels at other things, including getting into shooting positions and getting shots off. Definitely worth persevering with. Potentially a new Jamie Vardy.

Fantastic backs-to-the-wall win, capped off with an absolutely sublime goal. Just what we needed with the two big games coming up. We'll be up against it even at 11v11, but both matches are at home and I hope the crowd can offer the same support they did tonight. Make some noise and get into them!

Not a bad shout. There's a player in there, the Danish U21s show it too, but most of our games are too high stakes for us to be patient with his development. For reference, Eliot Anderson only played something like 11 games' worth of minutes for us in midfield as a starter in the league. If we can improve and get Conference League for next season, a whole string of development opportunities would open up, however.

We've played well here and didn't deserve to be down to 10. Didn't deserve 8 extra minutes either.

Second free red card in a week for Man Utd.

I saw him in space at least a couple of times in the first half but he wasn't fed the ball. I don't think the others trust him, possibly with reason. Either way, it makes him a waste of a body on the field. He only had 14 touches all game. That's fine for a striker if 6 touches are in the box, but not for a midfielder.

I like him but I think that might be a death knell for his time here. There have been other mistakes, but none as glaring and deflating as this. We did try to replace him, but Trafford chose Man City, one of the lesser-talked-about woes from last summer.

We've now conceded 23 goals at home, joint third most in the league. 11 in the last four matches. We've also scored 8 in those 4 matches, third most in the league, but lost three of games due to conceding 11. We'll get nowhere shipping so many goals. Other aspects of the team aren't great either, but are secondary to us conceding so many.

5-1-2 is a great record, but they've not exactly impressed so far against their better CL opponents. Last three were all against teams who finished bottom 6. They beat us with a goal of the season contender. I would be more concerned if they'd walked both goals in.

I guess its been updated after the draw, but Opta reckons 30% chance for Arsenal win. 47% chance of reaching the final. Click on Predicted on the table to see their predictions. https://theanalyst.com/competition/uefa-champions-league/table

Great draw, difficult first tie but opens up after that. PSG, Bayern, Liverpool and City all on the other side. Only one can make the final.

He's not played much at CF, but Gordon hits 5 shots a game, Mbappe level, when he does. In both the CL and the PL. 6 shots in the first half alone at Qarabag. Ekitike was quite wasteful in the Bundesliga last year but has looked clinical in the much harder PL. Gordon's finishing may improve too. He'll score tons if it does. He gets into good positions and in PFM speak "buys many tickets for the raffle".

Dunno if true, but if it is....

I looked on Understat and it reckons Gordon has only played 340 minutes for us at striker this season in the league. In league matches, Osula too has far fewer minutes than you might imagine. He's only played 311 in one and a half seasons. Maybe the reality is that we cannot afford to give players much time and wishing we could is fanciful. It does mean however that players end up being judged on very little evidence. Stats folks have noted the huge drop in big scorelines this season, so getting on at 3-0 up is even less likely now across the league as a whole Eliot Anderson only played about 11 games' of minutes for us as a starter. Going off memory again, but Tonali was not convincing for us in his first however many (seven?) before the ban.

Just for fun, but Opta now sees us as having a 10% chance of reaching the CL final and 4.47% chance, about a 23/1 shot, of winning it. We're eighth favourites. They see us as more likely to win it than Real Madrid (!) They have Arsenal as favourites on 26%. Hit "predicted" on the table for the probabilities. We're 99.77% likely to get past Qarabag. https://theanalyst.com/competition/uefa-champions-league/table Looking at the bracket, I suppose the hope is that Liverpool, Barca, and Man City all end up on the other side of the draw. We'll get one of Arsenal and Bayern on our side for certain.

I love Wolte, I think he's great. I read that Liverpool have bulked up Wirtz since he arrived. Since Nick does not have pace he might lose, a bit more meat on him might make defenders have to pull on him harder and hold him in a more blatant way than they are currently doing. The PL can afford the biggest and fastest players as his opponents, so there is no shame in him taking a while to really shine.

I agree with his interview in that a big issue with him playing striker earlier in the season was him not finishing chances. He missed some real sitters including extreme ones where he seemed to trip over and not contact a ball crossed to him. With space in front of him or him playing off the shoulder, he's very dangerous. Jamie Vardy didn't really emerge as a finisher till he was 26/27, so there is time for Gordon to improve. He has many of Vardy's other talents.

We've run 6km more than them as a team. Even Woltemade has run more than any of their players.

4.48 xG apparently.

Unstoppable pen btw.

5. Gordon only three off Mbappe now.

Another penna!

WTF???!!! 4-0