Lush Vlad

Decent from Garnacho that. McTominay carrying Man U this season. Off

Seriously. The cup draw this year is rigged. As we got an easy run last year.

His kicking was noticeably better than Pope’s. But that’s hardly a surprise to anyone. He did well.

Yep. Songbook still a bit repetitive and we don’t have many original chants (most clubs don’t these days). But were extremely loud from start to finish. Rightly so. If you can’t sing your heart out during a game like that. You never will.

Almost felt resigned to the fact they’re shit and seemed to be enjoying how good we were.

Give him credit, I thought he was good tonight. Didn’t go off on one of his monologues and just start slagging Man U off. When it would have been easy to do so. Thought he was pretty balanced and fair to us with his praise. I know he’s a professional and gets paid plenty for that gig. But can’t imagine what it would be like commentating on the team you support when they’re getting pumped. Never mind the club you played 400 games for. Nowhere near as biased, bitter and twisted as Don Goodman. Didn’t make me want to stab my ears with a screwdriver like Andy Hinchcliffe. So he gets a thumbs up from me.

Didn’t always come off. But his link up, little touches round the corner, pass and go and the runs he made off the ball were top quality. Won’t get all the flowers that Tino, Willock, Hall and co are getting. But he just quietly went about his business and did really well.

We don’t have much fluidity to our front three usually and don’t tend to have our wide men switch mid-game. Wouldn’t mind seeing it now and then. The attacking players seemed to have a lot of freedom tonight. A lot more interchanging going on down the left than we have seen this season. It helped that Man U were atrocious, of course.

Back to his old self. Crashing about like a wrecking ball. Heavily involved both ends of the pitch. Even got his customary needless yellow for smashing Fernandes for no reason

Just came in to post this. That run he always makes in behind is far more effective when he can actually do something with it first time on his left.

Take your pick for MOTM. Willock was our best and most effective player before he went off. Gordon was quietly effective. Big Joe somewhere back to his best. Over the 90 minutes. Tino probably the right call.

Fuck. I love this guy. Possibly my favourite player.

2 games. 2 clean sheets. All in a night’s work for the Geordie Maldini. It’s Paul Dummett’s world and we’re just living in it.

Different type of full back to Trippier. In that he will get us up the pitch with his dribbling, as opposed to with passing. That’s a game and a half now where he has been outstanding against decent opposition in difficult circumstances. Small sample size. But as important as Tripps is for everything we do. We now have genuine competition and cover for that position and something a little different. I thought his game was meant to be all about his attacking. But he looks like he loves defending nearly as much as Dummett

Been aggressive pressing Antony and also when he’s been in their half. Very good technique. Which was what I noticed the few times I saw him last season for Chelsea. Footballing cliche. But that goal will have done him the world of good and settled his nerves.

Need a third. As they will bring on the big guns and they can only get better from here. But it is safe to say it has gone better than I was expecting

I thought it was just a standard case of absence makes the heart grow fonder. But my god we have missed his legs in there. Covers so much ground and is really direct. Deceptively fucking rapid and all. He’ll tire, which is understandable. But it’s just great to see him back.

Yeah. Not sure I’d want to go back because of the view and also because my right knee is totally fucked. I don’t fancy them stairs again But it really was top class up there. Had a ST for 2 seasons in L7 and it’s the most fun I’ve had at SJP. Regularly ended up 4-5 rows away from your seat after a goal went in.

I was up in L7. What a weekend that was. Used to often get to me seat late that season. Always timed it wrong and was just a young, pisshead. So always cut it fine leaving the pub. Glad I didn’t that night Some lad had 5-0 Newcastle. Was counting his money and shouting about it to all and sundry. Think they scored in the 89th minute

Would certainly depend on the opposition. As the gap between defence and midfield was huge against Brighton. Burn didn’t want to step up and aggressively press. The same way Botman, Schar and to a lesser extent, Lascelles all do. Will need to get creative with our rotation the way it’s going with injuries. And we do have about 6-7 full backs available now I’m not sure Howe fancies him playing CB too often, mind.

Ramsdale is barely an upgrade on Pope, if at all, IMO. As an actual goalkeeper, I mean. Not the distribution, which he is clearly superior at. I think he is erratic as fuck and seems to be miles out of position on long shots and one on ones a lot of the time. Looks like he is taking an age to get set. A lot of money to pay for an auxiliary ball playing defender who doesn't even improve our ability to stop the ball going in the net. Didn't they pay £30m for him 2-3 seasons ago? They'd be wanting more than that for him now. He seems like an absolute basket case and all. But then you'd have to be mental to play in goal, I suppose

https://x.com/nufc/status/1719293887288918298?s=46 Hopes he’ll be back after the international break…. Botman and Isak missing for a good few more games yet then.

Yeah. That is fair. I’m sure they will have far more data around these things than us fans. But it still seems a bit of a risk to be relying so heavily on someone that is so susceptible. I also think Howe referenced his training regime (may have been journos) and managing his minutes and workload when we have multiple games.

This is the crux of it, for me. Wilson has been a long term crock since his Bournemouth days, possibly even before at Coventry. Isak has been injured most of this season with his knee and played through it, then his groin, now the same groin again. He missed ages last season, as well and even signed with a slight injury that hampered him for his first few games. If both consistently stayed fit then it wouldn’t be an issue. But seeing as they can’t, we quite clearly need some cover there who could provide a bit of a goal threat, or perhaps be able to play out wide, as well. Even if it was a more junior player that we would try to develop. It would still help lighten the load. Wilson isn’t getting any younger, either. So you’d imagine the club are already thinking about his successor in the not too distant future.

Looks considerably better than the lineup we'll put out, should we also make wholesale changes.