Lush Vlad

Played well tonight. Taylor got past him a fair few times. But I think that is more down to being quite isolated in this formation. Much prefer Yedlin. But he has been crap of late and Manquillo has come in and played well. Even if Burnley were utter shite.

The creep that looks like he’s from some sort of mackem mad hatter tea party is more worrying. Look at the absolute state of him

He's such a fantastic midfielder. I'm with you 100% on this. The panel after the game heaping praise on Herrera too saying how good he is and how important he is to the team. Baffling people don't think he's good. Quality footballer. Always thought he was a decent enough player? Never really standing out or being flash, or looking particularly great under some questionable managers. I always thought people didn’t like him because he’s a whiny little shithouse rat? The same as Alli? Not because they’re bad players.

Yeah, I mean OGS deserves a lot of praise. But I feel like it’s a bit overboard, at times. Player for player, Man U have the second best squad in the league and probably the most attacking talent. The fact Mourinho decided to play with 3 holding mids and do his best to get sacked for a few months. Has meant any compotent manager was going to come in and seem like a big upgrade. That said, they do look pretty well drilled and it’s not just about their attacking play. They look really balanced now. Surely he’ll get the job?

The Championship is worse than I remember. Colback looks like a serviceable player

Aye. They both look quality and compliment each other well. Atsu flatters to deceive and always fades out of the game in the second half. He should be back on the bench and I think he will make way for Almiron.

Yep.

Bullpen.

5. Goes to a 2 if we get 4-6 points the next two games. It’s a strange one to judge. As I think we’re playing fairly well a lot of the time. Yet we have thrown away points late on against Wolves twice and Spurs last week. The team is pretty poor going forward. So we’re forever playing on the counter and don’t seem like scoring more than the odd goal from a half chance here and there. Which isn’t going to suit in the ‘winnable’ games that are coming up. We already huffed and puffed against some crap teams, doing exactly this. All that said, I’m quietly confident. We have looked solid for a while, players returning to fitness, the emergence of Longstaff, Almiron and most inportantly. The fact Rafa’s teams usually finish strongly. I do think we’ll be ok. But we have to beat two teams that are down there with us, before I get too comfy.

Cheers Bimpy and Quakes. Sums it up, sort of Always thought keepers get away with coffin tackles and flying about like loons. But if you so much as look at one when a cross comes in. Then it’s a foul. Always seemed odd, to me.

Is that actually a law, though? Like depending what box you’re in and who’s going for the ball, has some sort of bearing? That sounds ridiculous. But happy to be corrected if that is the case.

Because we only have about £2-£3m to spend on full backs so we end up with players like Yedlin and Manquillo

I don’t think it’s a foul. The still image makes it look like one. Slow mo and real time, I don’t think it is at all. Boly gets there first and doesn’t pin or push him. His hands come down a bit on his shoulders at the last second. Never a foul if it is an attacker vs defender. Is there different laws when it is a keeper? I mean, it does seem like it’s non-contact when it comes to challenging a keeper. But I’m not having that as a foul.

I’m usually a fan of his and try to defend him. But he seems to be getting worse and his limitations are magnified in this formation. Perhaps he’s feeling the pressure, the same as Dubravka? I dunno. But he’s been the weak link for a while, unfortunately.

Agree with this. He looked assured bar the odd time he came for it and then backtracked. Handling was really good. Then that in the 95th minute.

Allardyce saying "you win when you listen to me and clip it into channels (hoof it long)." Sums the cunt up.

PVA comes across as an absolute helmet there. Also, yet more info on Allardyce and his anti-football.

Everton away on his debut and those two games mentioned always stand out in my mind.

Prowjekt feyar, marra.

TCD is right. It goes under his hands and then under/through him. As he’s not behind it. It’s poor whatever way you want to dress it up. People are being kind on him as he has been so good and he is so likeable. If that was Darlow or Elliot chucking that in. Then people would rightly be calling it a howler. He fucked up. We lost. He’s still class. We move on.

I think he’s probably been our best and most consistent player since signing. But I don’t think he was unlucky. Any keeper at this level should be saving that and it’s an absolute howler. It may have dipped and been struck well. But it is straight at him. The odd fuck up has creeped in the last few months, but I still think he’s superb overall. Ultimately he’s cost us a point. But seems harsh to put the loss on him, though. Spurs missed some right sitters.

Holy Catfish. What has just happened. Might need to get back on the booze.

Good mate of mine who lives down my way (Newmarket-Cambridge area) is chucking his. They have 4 tickets in their family, all with over 100 loyalty points and I think they've been going best part of 20-25 years. I think his old man is going to keep 2, but even he has lost interest and barely goes. So I wonder if he'll follow suit. I used to have an ST for a couple of seasons and travel up for a large number of games, plus a fair few aways. Binned it when they split the singing section up. But I still used to go to at least 4-5 home games plus a similar number away. I've not been to a home game this season and I don't really plan to. My life and weekends used to revolve around the club. Now it's almost like an inconvenience. Absolute disgrace what the club has become.

No. Just read Ikon’s post. Or figure it out for yourself. Like actually watch how poor most of the players are and how wr have to set up cautiously/negatively most weeks. Just to try and mask the Grand Canyon sized deficiencies in our squad. Not really a conducive environment for attacking players to shine and improve.

Crumpy right on brand, again. One of a few of our many crap players, who haven’t really improved and are still crap. Rafa out.