Lush Vlad

I thought we only really played well for 15-20 mins. Could have scored 3 in that spell. Then we didn’t do much the rest of the match. Yet they’ve only had one shot and none on target. Schar, Trippier and Miggy were all great. Wilson was good when we actually got the ball to him. Anderson showed flashes when he came on, as did Willock. I’m desperate for him to get a goal, bless him. Scruffy, professional win. You love to see it.

Land Rover Defender.

Yep. What an absolute colossus. I used to get nervous when he’d come flying out of position for header or try to intercept a pass. But he seems to always get there nowadays.

I thought the same and only half celebrated, thinking they would pull it back. But that was a long way back in that passage of play, mind. Ref has let a lot of niggly, 50/50 stuff go, TBF.

Joelinton has to come off. Looks injured, keeps giving the ball away and could have had a second yellow. He has been a liability, sadly. We were crap for half an hour and they controlled us well. They went to shit after the goal and we were all over them. Shame we couldn’t get a second. But there will be more space for us this half and we should be able to create a bit more. Burn has looked a bit iffy at times. Horrible cunt that Gordon. But he is everywhere and always alert.

Fucking hell. That would have been a beauty. Class to see T-rex boy at full stretch and nowhere near it.

Longstaff always wanting an extra touch or two is really annoying.

Poor so far. Joelinton doesn’t look fit to me. Seemed off the pace on Sunday and even more so tonight.

Unchanged. Surprised by that, but I suppose Murphy came off early on Sunday and Wilson and Bruno got a bit of a rest, as well. Some attacking options on the bench, at least. Howe must see this as his strongest available team. No fucking about with rotation

Styles make fights (games), though. I thought the Man U game looked ok for us on paper with how we would play the game. It didn't quite pay off. But a decent enough performance and a point was seen as a good result by most, myself included. That's exactly what happened. Tonight, Everton are going to try and do exactly what Bournemouth did to us and to a lesser extent, what Palace did. We still look a bit toothless at times in attack, we have a couple of our more exciting attacking players missing and question marks around Wilson's ability to do 2 games in 4 days. There is also some weird rivalry between the clubs now and the whole Pickford thing. Add in the fact that anything less than 3 points would be considered a poor result by most, again, I include myself in that. I get why people are a bit worried. I'm looking forward to it with a bit of nervous excitement. Makes a change from years of it being a chore and barely even wanting to watch.

I don’t mind it. But it seems worse because the self-appointed ‘best home fans in the league’ sing a similar one about Arteta all the time. I’m guessing that’s where we heard it being sung way too often and we made our own version.

One for the football pet hate thread. It seemed to be a massively overused saying for really dominant midfielders a few seasons back, I think? Thankfully, it seemed to die right down. But now every cunt is referring to Botman as a 'Rolls Royce' and it is doing my head in. Such a shit turn of phrase for describing a footballer.

Was that the one where it was like a bang-bang play (NFL speak). Just after he had shot? Bit of a pet hate of mine, but they are never given. Even when players slide in late and absolutely wipe someone out just after the shot. Commentators often praise the defender for ‘putting them off’ or ‘he’s just done enough there’. Surely it’s a foul and a pen?!

I think this could be a bit like the Palace and Bournemouth games. We'll see plenty of the ball and create half chances. But struggle to break them down, with them sitting deep. Having Bruno in the lineup and possibly able to play a bit further forward than Sunday, would be massive. But then there must be question marks around Wilson's ability to start 2 games in 4 days and with Isak and ASM missing. I still think we look poor offensively. Stating the obvious. But an early goal with the crowd still lively and fully onside would be absolutely huge and totally ruin their gameplan. I think we'd comfortably win by 2-3 if that happened. But if it is cagey like the two games I've mentioned. Then I feel another 0-0 or 1-1 looms.

Anyone got the vid of Nunez punting it about 100 yards after the whistle went? Mad bastad. Can’t help but like him. He is so good, whilst simultaneously being shit somehow

Fucking love Eddie. Can’t quite get my head around how well drilled the team is and how everyone is contributing. Even the players who lack the required quality. They know their job, they’re fit and they work their bollocks off. What a fucking man.

He has become a bit of a twat the last season or so. But I still like Klopp and the football his teams play.

Hell of a game. Klopp has always done well against Pep, hasn’t he? Head to head, I mean.

Was he suffering with his ankle a bit from when rat boy fouled him? Seemed like he wanted to stay on and didn’t want treatment when he crashed into Schar. Then he was hobbling about and getting subbed a minute later.

Massive foul on Fabinho and was blatant in real time.

So hard to beat and our shape and defence are drilled to perfection. Weird thing to say after 4-1 and 5-1 wins before today. But I feel we still lack quality in the final third. Especially without the chaos that Maxi causes. I’d like to see us creating more chances and really opening teams up when the situation allows it. And I think we need to on a more consistent basis if we have our eyes on the top 6. Still, so far so good!

Agreed mate. My two picks and all. Botman a close up third.

Going to have a few missing because of knocks and rotation due to injury concerns, aren’t we? Will Howe start Wilson? Fraser, Targett and Willock to come into the starting XI?

I thought he was brilliant today. I often feel early on in matches. He looks as if he is going to have a tough game and seems a bit exposed defensively. But then he just adjusts, gets his positioning sorted and settles into the game and he’s fine. Bit wasteful a couple of times with his passing near the end. But he just oozes class with everything he does.

Trippier or Schar, for me.