Lush Vlad

Strand Larsen yet again. Really like him. Would love him here. Not that I think he’s necessarily available or that he would come to sit on the bench. Seems to score whenever I watch him. EDIT - just read Wolves have an obligation to buy him for 30 mil. So no chance, either way.

Not necessarily playing styles. But they kind of remind me of us under Pardew for that 5th place season. Not sure how sustainable it is longer term. But they keep racking up the points and it’s halfway through the season now. You’d think they would have started to slow down if they’d been found out.

Wolves haven’t created that much of note. But Spurs have left loads of space down their right hand side all half. Hopefully they go with a similar approach when we play them.

Poor Rob Lee. His legs would quite possibly fall off as the midfield 1

I’m glad Garth Crooks is still getting work since he stopped doing team of the week.

Proper football cliche and it is the case for almost every game. But the first goal is massive here, more so than recent weeks. We have been scoring the first goal often of late and we’ve managed to start scoring early on again. We’re a totally different team when it’s level or we’re ahead. If they get one early, it’ll settle their crowd and players down and I think they could hurt us on the break if we need to chase the game. If we get one early then I’d be confident of us going onto win by a couple.

Absolutely bonkers that he wasn’t sent off before it even got to VAR. Ref is stood right next to him. Disgraceful that VAR didn’t deem that a clear and obvious mistake. Reminded me of an incident when I was playing years ago. Against a bit of a rough team. They were dirty as fuck and had a rowdy home crowd. So the ref was scared to make decisions. A lad threw a punch at me after a bit of afters. I ducked out the way. Ref booked us both and said “if that punch would have connected. You would have been off.” Seems similar applies here. Throw deliberate elbows all you want. Only a red if it connects.

I mean. Playing the game at any level is almost irrelevant. If you’ve ever tried to avoid standing on something or someone or a pet, dog shit, anything really. Then it’s blatantly obvious that he did all he could to hit Schar. Not the other way around. But yeah. I played a bit and you know when someone goes in to do someone or not.

He was very unfortunate. He tried to miss him on 3 separate occasions by moving his legs in Schar’s direction.

Only mild criticism of the last 6-7 games or whatever it is since Liverpool (ignoring the Brentford second half). Is how we often take a long while to make subs. Then when we do, we tend to get noticeably worse. Had two games that were done and dusted at 4 nil. Plus yesterday against 10. Cup game was comfortable, too. So we may well just be cruising by that point. But it seems like we finally have a bit of depth. But regularly rely on the same 12-13 players and rotation from the off or earlier in games doesn’t seem like an option. As the drop off is a lot bigger than you’d expect. This is me looking for negatives, mind. I suppose the worry will be when we have injuries and suspensions. We are more than likely going to struggle. But that’s true for most teams up to a point.

He’s a force multiplier.

Did his finish take a slight nick on the way through? I’m sure they said so on comms and the flight of the ball does look a bit off. But I can’t see it. I’ve watched it and all the replays roughly 15 times and all

Just a stamp and then a kick/raking motion with his right. Both being unnatural and deliberate movements to hit Schar. No red.

Dubravka enables us to play further up in possession in our build up, as he is so comfortable on the ball. He adds an extra player to get round any sort of press from the opposition too. Pope means we can be more aggressive off the ball and squeeze higher up out of possession or when we’re deep in their half. As his starting position is so much further from his line and he still sweeps up well. Albeit not as well as the 4th placed season. The latter still walks straight back in when fit, for me. Both have their deficiencies. But Pope is a much better goalkeeper. Dubravka only beats him when it comes to the ball at feet. The last three games have been perfect for him. Due to us barely conceding a meaningful chance. Like a lot of our players. Pope does need upgrading in the short to medium term. But I still think RW and RCB take priority.

19 in 6

No matter how good we are or how bad they are. I’m never confident going to OT. Feels like the place is cursed for us.

And vice versa. He’s back to playing 3 positions at once. Certainly noticed him finding more space (understandable today) and offering more in an attacking sense of late.

Weirdly sounded ok on the TV. But some feeds seem to be far better than others for crowd noise.

Keep proving me wrong, Eddie. My football opinions are usually totally wide of the mark and my rare goes at football betting back that up Love being wrong here yet again.

Emery going bananas about the red and saying they’ll appeal. Might be wrong. But I don’t remember many genuine protests from their players. Duran and the rest of them all knew he was guilty. Genuinely don’t know what the fuck people are seeing. Had all the time in the world to get out the way. Thought the left was accidental at first, but that looks worse the more you see it. The right is not even up for debate IMO. Also, this whole ‘did he mean to’ (he clearly did) is kind of irrelevant, no? Plenty of studs up and stamp type tackles often don’t seem deliberate. But are still red cards. Curtis Jones last year at Spurs. Sadio Mane one year on Ederson for a high boot are examples that spring straight to mind.

Maybe we take him for granted a bit at times? My boss is a Gooner and always raves about him when he watches him. Two lads in our football Whatsapp group called him MOTM before he scored. Plenty of neutrals seem to fear him now. Such a hybrid and unique player and there is nobody really like him in the game. It can seem like he’s a bit positionless or the wrong sort of game for him. But he’s just a monster. He’s everywhere.

Are you ok David Edgar? Like seriously? Genuinely a bit worried about you and your constant negativity even when it’s not called for. Do you need a hug? Or have you been kicked in the head by a horse or something?

I actually thought some of his forward passing was a bit sloppy and potentially could have gotten us into bother at times. Sometimes loose from him. Other times players not being on the same wavelength, on their heels, getting themselves marked by spinning off too early etc. However, it has hard to complain about it too much. As it is so refreshing to see someone try forward passes into feet off their first or second touch. He was also everywhere as per usual. The balance of the midfield and the wider team in general looks so much better. All from him sitting deeper. What a player.

He really is a strange player. I thought he was dreadful for an hour. Like 4 or 5 out of 10 bad. Then gets his customary assist and looked like he’d score or assist with every attack after that

Yeah. Was saying because of the xG. They deserved it. I remember the other journos on Euro Leagues, even the PSG supporting Frenchie pulling him up on it. Closet Barca fan, Liverpool supporting bellend.