Stottie

Dive for a freekick that we don't defend. Ferk.

Realistically 15 or so to go and this could go either way. That's our masterplan, not theirs.

YESSSSSSS

Nice stat.I think they'll beat us, possibly with a penno off a dive or other refereeing gift like a soft red.

Big Al aside, it's a bit depressing to see how few league goals our top scorers have achieved in the Prem era. A dozen a season, Glenn Murray level, for two seasons and you're top 15. Three seasons and you're top 8. https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/goals?se=-1&cl=23

With Rafa here, I suppose the lazy comparison would be with Dirk Kuyt, the archetypal "defend from the front" striker. Only fifteen years after we scouted him.

Now up to joint sixth in the goals against column. Above Arsenal and Man U. One goal behind Wolves who are fifth.

I didn't realise either. fwiw, I reckon we'd get something with Lejeune, Schar and Almiron, but I don't know with their replacements. Less pace and playmaking from the back makes it much easier for them. As a background, I am a believer in the fixture list being much more important than is claimed. For us, no wins until November would have seen off a less established manager than Rafa, simply due to hard fixtures. Had Brighton had the same fixtures, Hughton probably would have gone.

I disagree. He's a classic second striker, a role pretty popular in a lot fo Europe's top teams today, Spurs for instance play with one, sometimes Dele Alli. He would offer them more in that role than Alli does - not saying Spurs will come in for him like, but I think he could hold his place down in teams far bigger than us. Dunno why Spurs did not persist with Alli in that role. He seems to play much deeper as a midfielder now. Maybe its to push Eriksson forward, I don't watch them enough to know in detail. Alli was sensational a couple of seasons ago, now he looks more like a midfielder bruiser who gets the odd header. Very few teams play with a deep lying playmaker like Shelvey, so much of Perez's time in the team in that formation, i.e., chasing and trying to hold it up, will be of little reference to other teams when judging him. That's not something they'll make him do. Since that's a good chunk of his time here, it's easy for us to form an overly negative opinion of him. As we've seen since Almiron arrived, with options around him and less pressure on him alone to make things happen, he's a different player. I don't have access to the stat, but a lot of his goals must have been winners. No-one playing for us gets to score meaningless goals, the fourth in a four nil etc.

Whoops. Anything can happen in the playoffs. They're not a place you want to be.

Ramage must have come close to a 1/10 too. More recently, Joselu vs. Stoke where he missed three? sitters?

The Boumsong sending off against Liverpool that also gifted them a pen after a wild airshot cannot have been worthy of more than 1/10.

You didn't need to be Nostradamus to see this one coming.

Great block by him. It must be hard for him playing there but puts in a shift. I still expect him to sound like some other radgie Scotsman though, David Speedie etc. for older readers. Gets me every time.

5:30 KO? For that round trip? Late night for me too.

Job done. Well done lads. A bit nervy with all the possession and momentum they had second half, but their chances, all three, fell to Yoshida, who's not very good. We came just as close with the Ki and Hayden shots from distance, before Ayoze put it to bed. Double figures for Ayoze, who's now our top scorer. Well in, son. Hope Schar and Almiron aren't too bad. They've both played a big part in our renaissance this season.

Looks like we're going to avoid the shameful act of allowing a meaningful goal by Danny Ings or Shane Long. This gives me great personal satisfaction. I'm watching with a Japanese commentary so they are freaking out at all these chances for Yoshida. When Almiron went down, they were giving it Muto? Muto! Muto?

The boy's from Tenerife, but he ain't on the beach! Well in son. Chuffed for you.

Pace vs. Manquillo, only one winner there.

Looks like handball to me. What an incredible game and good luck to Spurs going forward. The PFMs will probably give it the "Pep effed up again" narrative, but with margins like that, you can't say very much.

I'm another who didn't realize it was a Friday. I've seen the first half and we played well. Them not attacking our left side at all was a bit of a mystery. Most of their play is just meaningless buzzing about midfield in front of our back three. Aside from West Ham, who did us good twice, and Brighton, who we've only played once, we've got something from every team up to seventh. 20 points from our last 12 games now, fifth best in the league and more than Tottenham and Chelsea.

I hope City win. I lived in Manchester for a bit and used to go to Maine Road. That aside, Liverpool have too many celebrity fans and ex-players as pundits. Blatant dives from Salah do not help either. If it were City vs. Tottenham, I'd want Tottenham to win, because like Leicester, they are closer to a normal club and therefore can be cheered on as an underdog. Like Man U, Liverpool are a glamour club in the most glamorous league and a decent chunk of their spending power is not linked to anything they have achieved on a football pitch in the past twenty years or current matchgoing fanbase. Man U would outspend other teams even before Ferguson and buy the best players, Bryan Robson, Paul Ince etc. even when they were finishing ninth and tenth. It mightn't be oil money, but Liverpool and Man U still operate with a big advantage, on top of the advantage every EPL club now has versus clubs in other European leagues. If City could draw one and still win on GD, I'd fancy them, but the gap is two points and that tips it into Liverpool's favour.

There were two incidents, one probably too close to the shot for handball, but the second one he 50p-heed heads it onto his own hand. That's self-inflicted and I think that has to be a penalty.

Weren't three of the shots tricklers from outside the box by Ki? They're never going to go in. Better finishing and we'd have taken a lead that would have changed their approach and possibly opened them up for more, but we weren't good enough to make it happen. This week stands as a reminder of where we are. We can be completely, 100% completely, shut down by a genuinely good side like Arsenal, and can do so-so well against lower half clubs but still not have the talent to put games away. If you are emotionally invested in the team, there is some entertainment in there somewhere, but the feeling has to be that the people who have walked away from it all are the clever ones.

A disappointing result that reflects the meh level of the team. We are too dependent on too few things that can go right. It's a given that our midfield will not step up and score, for example. You'd have to be mad to expect that to happen. The penalty was all too predictable. I predicted it myself at half time. It happened because Yedlin is error prone and hasn't been replaced due to the shoestring approach of the club. His attacking play in the first half had been good, so it was a shame for him. He's just not a very good defender. I hope Lejeune is an inflammation and not another tear. It was him that missed our best chance, but that was more a reflection on what the others managed to create. This game was there to be won and the distance we came up short leaves a bad taste.