Stottie

The main argument against Phillips is how much should we be paying for a DM, when our defence is already pretty good and we struggle for goals. Phillips' ability at that role is not the question. If the kitty is easily big enough to cover the attacking upgrades we need, then yes, by all means go for him. If its either/or, then I don't think DM is our biggest problem. Unless there is some relegation clause magic involved, Phillips will cost very good overseas AM money. You could argue that a better destroyer would get us more possession and more possession would lead to more goals, but I don't think the creativity is there just yet. It will be a bridge we have to cross though. We beat all those teams on that run by them letting us counter attack them. As we get established as a top half side, the opposition will set up differently and we'll have to take the game to them.

Two cup finals between the second and third top teams, 240 minutes, with no goals. All utterly forgettable. Yesterday, Liverpool had zero shots in extra time. Heavy metal football my arse.

A bit meh. Lukaku was hopeless. Chelsea getting most joy down the Liverpool right, and need to attack it again. Liverpool looking most likely and Robertson should have won it there.

They started diving 15 minutes ago.

A difference in distribution there, but only because Dubs hits it long more than Schmeichel.

That last chance when he appeared at inside right, collected it from Murphy about 25 yards out, drove past one player and squared it to Wilson who should have scored was lush. That's what we need to do. Not give it to him forty yards from our goal with noone in front. It's Eddie's call, but if he can get him in a setup where he doesn't need to do it all on his own, I could foresee ASM being very useful. The talent is clearly there. As for ASM himself, he needs to work on his shooting, which isn't good enough.

Bruno as Xavi, Paqueta as Iniesta, and Phillips as Busquets. Elliot Anderson as Maradona.

I was just going off Transfermarkt, so yes, he may have other issues. The whole point of getting competition to Wilson is to have someone available!

I'm not such a fan of DCL but there are probably 10 in there and yes, maybe 15. It's tempting to think he has flopped this year, but his xG per 90 minutes has been 0.45, which is higher than Ivan Toney and just below Gabriel Jesus, both of whom play in better sides. Ivan Toney has only scored seven non-penalties. DCL's big injury this year was a broken toe, not a soft tissue or ligament problem likely to reoccur. If Edwards is right and the plan is DCL as potential competition for Wilson and Ekitike as a fast fecker to play wide/gamble on him being a new Thierry Henry, that sounds pretty good to me.

I doubt many teams will be rushing to take Lingard at a straight 150k a week, so ask to be kept in the loop and see how it plays out. The lack of a fee may be a big plus factor, or it may not, none of us really knows. I suspect our form with Wood up front, Fraser on one side, and Bruno on the bench was even better than West Ham's was during the Lingard purple patch, so there is also the chance that the Lingard ship has sailed. He would have been useful in January for sure, but we probably now need someone better and have more than one month to find him.

He turned into Buffon in one game, stopping a Joey Barton (?) header on the line with both hands above his head. As blatant as you could ever get, but both ref and lino missed it. In recent years, Shinji Okazaki scored a "that's his first in fifteen games" type goal against us twice. He never scores, but that Kyle Walker goal against us was like Roberto Carlos.

Considering how much some folks go on about Zola, Beardsley is definitely underrated. Another great second striker who gets fewer mentions than Zola is Teddy Sheringham. I think people forget him when thinking about great #10s because he was physically a #9 and not a tricky little fella.

I'm waiting for someone to say Thierry Henry or Luis Suarez. Andy Carroll has to be clear winner as most overrated NUFC player. That fee was about 100M in modern money.

Older Scholes as a deep lying playmaker hitting pretty passes but liable to get booked every time he tackled someone - yes. Young Scholes as an AM or box to box, hell no.

He beat Rio Ferdinand to a header in the CL final!

Yes, he did much better and they were great chances. The Wilson one was almost Cityesque interplay. The one criticism is that ASM snatched at the shot he sent over the bar after cutting inside. He had a lot to aim for and you should be working the keeper from there. Anyway, the Wood header, the Lascelles header (which was before the offside), the ASM cut inside, the Wilson one-on-one, and the Wilson airshot should add up to more than 1 xG. There is something wrong with the calculation there.

Even with Tottenham and the City game yesterday, it's still only 19 conceded in 17 games since January 1st. Fifth best in the league. 9 conceded in the other 15 games, including Chelsea away and Liverpool home (!) Given how rarely we get a two goal lead, the defence has done brilliantly to get us so many points. I would sign a CB and Targett, and look toward improving all the backups. There is so much deadwood in the squad.

He's looking increasingly like a write-off, not good enough to be kept even as third choice. He was signed under extreme circumstances, so there is no need to lament it. Blame Ashley for us going into the season with Wilson (good but injury prone under Bruce), Joelinton (a non-prolific second striker who looked lost at CF), and Gayle (so out of favour he never played). That's why we needed to hit the panic button in January.

How many of those were under Bruce? 20? Under Howe, we should have beaten Man U and came close at Chelsea away. These are only glimmers and we're still miles away, but let's count the positives. The summer transfer window should be another big step forward.

This sounds like a Chelsea away-type setup. I hope it works as well again (and we get the pen this time).

If you want a beautiful story of redemption, it would be Coutinho scoring a winner against them.To all the plastic Liverpool fans at least, he became instantly shit the second he left them, as did Raheem Sterling. My own suspicion is that if Liverpool don't stump up and pay Salah want the Football Writers Player of the Year deserves, he'll be off, and its goodbye to 90 points a season. He's still their key player. Of course, to their fans, Salah will be instantly finished the second he leaves them. The only reason they can give for not paying him is "because Liverpool" as if that's supposed to matter to Salah.

Small picture, this. Big picture, we've just been outclassed by the team in second, but that's how meh the team in third is. We nearly beat them at their place ourselves with missing midfielders, an experimental formation, and only two-three days' preparation. In the big picture, Everton are irrelevant to us.

Not a problem. Get him signed.

Ah well, not that bad. A big gulf between the sides, but we were one decent cross and header or ricochet off a point. A huge improvement over Bruceball. When the lads watch the video, I hope they focus on the tactical fouls, the playacting, and blocking of early freekicks. All of these can and should be copied.

Well played Krafth.