Chicken Dancer

They won't finish near the bottom half but I doubt they have anything to have Man City, Liverpool or Arsenal quaking in their boots. Probably be a shootout between Villa, them & us for the final Champions League spot. We'll know within a few weeks if they've improved or not, as they've largely been awful for 2 years whenever I've watched them, save for the odd decent performance. Every time the pressure seems to be ramping up they seem to go on a decent run. Fair play for sticking with Ten Hag too. As others have said, 2 trophies in 2 years is a very decent return. I remember there was plenty talk about Arteta getting the chop, Arsenal stuck with him and are reaping the rewards now, albeit after spending an absolute bomb & also being trophyless save for his early FA Cup win.

Eurgh. Presumably would be another winter one then? International tournaments are about beer gardens and sun. Saying that, I'll be grey by then and probably less arsed.

My mate says he is getting this issue too. What a farce!

I actually couldn't stand watching England actually wanted them to lose at times from Euro 2012-2016. Genuinely couldn't have gave a fuck. It all changed for me in World Cup 2018. No idea how or why, but my childlike love for England was back and has been the same in 20 (21), 22 & this tournament too. I remember being in Malia with the lads in 2010 and being fuming with the Lampard/Germany incident, so I think that must have been when it stooped. I've been absolutely buzzing every tournament since Southgate came in. I think it helps that you can sit with your mates in the sun and watch England so it's something to get behind really, granted not much sun this year! Totally get why people aren't arsed though, some of my mates are the same. Also, to be totally clear - I'd take Newcastle winning absolutely anything over England winning the lot. But I find this squad mostly quite likeable compared to previous squads.

Seemingly born from Ronaldo, the urge for everyone to call a player by their initial and number, ala CR7. Seem Everton on Twitter the day - 'JB32 is back in the building'. Eurgh.

Can't argue with the fact he's won 2 trophies in 2 years but I'm not sure the likes of Man City & Arsenal will be devastated with this news. If they'd not won the FA Cup he'd have probably got the chop, although there wasn't a great number of standout candidates - especially with the jobs available this summer. All of which would have been perceived more attractive, btw. Huge club so never more than 3 games away from a crisis, so I'd be shocked if he's manager come the end of the season. Hopefully he is.

Sorry?

I obviously wanted Europe from a selfish perspective in that fact that I'd be able to do another European trip next season, as well as the nights at St James' - particularly if we got to the knockouts would have been great. I can't pretend I'm absolutely devasted though as it's not like they won't be here again in the next year or two. However, I do think it massively improves our chances of getting Champions League football again sooner rather than later. The top 2 are nailed on, but the other 2 (3?) spots are anyone's game to be honest. Liverpool in transition, Chelsea are a mess, Spurs & Man United could do anything and Villa will have to cope with a testing Champions League format with the potential of knockouts in the New Year. A kind set of fixtures to start the season and I reckon we will definitely be there or thereabouts next May. I'm an eternal pessimist but I'd consider us favourites but a lot will naturally depend on what we do this summer.

Love him, want him here for a long time and think he’s actually done a decent job this season all things considered. That being said, not getting Europe was a bit of a blow and can’t see owners giving him 25/26 if we’re in the same position in 12 months time.

It’s definitely a mentality thing. Man United have been pretty shit for two seasons in probably 75% of their games - consistently getting battered for 90 minutes but able to get to 3 finals and win 2 trophies. Fair play to them. They deserved to win yesterday, but they’re still cunts.

If Coventry can come back from 3-0 down to these, Man City can if they pull their fingers out. credit to Man United though they’ve been worthy.

Surely we'd give grace to the players who are going to the Euros & Copa America? No way should we be expecting them to go. Nor should we be going too like.

Got a rotten feeling we will both lose Sunday (us & Man Utd) and them jammy bastards will do a Wigan to Man City in the final

Mind I do agree he’s not shown (yet) he can be ruthless in his team selections, tonight isn’t on him. Away form over the season has been shit so I suppose that is on him, but tonight we could/should have scored 5 or 6.

Come on man. We lost a game but that’s ridiculous. We genuinely could have scored 5 goals and that’s being kind. Utterly frustrating we’ve got nothing to show for that but sadly you’ll get games like that a couple of times a season. We played well just defended terribly. In better news, they’ll stick with Ten Hag and they’ll be gash again next year. There’ll be talk of binning him, then he’ll get a lucky result and back to square one. The Man United we grew up watching dominate are years and years away.

Whilst I do agree it’s not a good look for the league for a team to win 4 in a row, when the alternatives are Arsenal or Liverpool then there’s only one winner for me personally. In any other season I’d have liked Arsenal to have won it, but the way they went on after the game up here in November - fans, players and especially their manager - made it impossible for me tbh. Maybe if they didn’t celebrate a 0-0 at the Etihad when City were there for the taking things would have been different. Understand the sentiment of the 115 charges lingering over the league, but it wasn’t Man City’s fault Liverpool lost to Everton & Palace and Arsenal lost at home to Villa. Both teams had it in their hands at different points late in the season and ultimately fucked it.

Interesting dynamic tonight. Will be an odd atmosphere for sure. Have a feeling Spurs gonna Spurs and get a result...

Hopefully they're not as compact as they were against Arsenal. I don't think they will be. Despite how crap their performances have been, they do get results every now and then. This alongside our record at Old Trafford & our away form means I'd probably be more than happy with a point, but absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be going there trying to win. The cup final was Howe's only defeat against them as our manager, and we've kept clean sheets in all but one of the one of the league games. Play to win and we probably will.

I don’t really take your point on this to be honest. Diaby was one of the most sought after young players in Europe last season and Aston Villa managed to sign him despite only being in the Conference League. Younger players will more often than not sign for the journey rather than the destination, and you’d like to think there’ll be gentlemen’s agreements in place that if we haven’t qualified for the Champions League in 2/3 years you’re allowed to seek a transfer. I’m not saying we’d be as attractive as Villa next season, but how often is it a straight shootout between two clubs for one player? We’ve been quite clear about the type of player we will target and I don’t believe the Conference League will deter them signing at all.

Fucking hell man. Regardless of whether it was an actual blade or not, something needs to be done about the amount of youngins seemingly carrying weapons these days. I'm not sure of the answer, but it absolutely terrifies me for the future. Some of the stories you see & read now are just horrible. Hopefully nobody was hurt last night (sounds like not) but the fact some little prick thought it would be a good idea to take something like that to a football match absolutely baffles me. Soft little prick would fold like a deck of cards if someone got hold of him.

Unrelated to the topic at hand but I think it's absolutely glorious that Newcastle & Villa have upset the apple cart and broke into the Top 4 back-to-back to upset the precious Sky 6. Thankfully, it seems a lot more fans of other clubs have had their eyes open as to how the whole thing is completely and utterly anti-competitive and designed to keep the good teams good. Long may it continue. I see no reason why Newcastle & Villa can't continue to challenge the likes of Man United, Chelsea & Spurs in the short term, despite restrictions. Obviously Villa being very good makes it more difficult for us, but ultimately it makes the league a better place with Newcastle & Villa challenging at the top end. It wasn't too long ago we were both in the Championship together. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in Daniel Levy's office over the past 18 months.

To be fair that mock up isn't for me either. I'd be gutted if the Gallowgate lost the low roof. But I'd be more than happy with it if it meant an increased capacity and therefore more way for my mates to get a Season Ticket again.

I’m definitely in the camp of I’d definitely not want us to win if it helped Sunderland do something significant. It may be small time, but it’s a tiny price to pay in the grand scheme of things. Though I would also argue Arsenal’s title window will be open for a good few years yet, especially given Liverpool and probably Man City (relatively soon) will be going through transitional periods.

If anybody needs cheering up on their dinner break, I'd suggest going on RAWK. Glorious. There's even one spoilt bastard who thinks its pointless going back to Anfield this season It must be pretty crazy for those 50+ who've only seen them win 1 title in 34 years after being so successful in the 70s/80s (assuming they don't win it this year). For what it's worth, prior to their generally consistent challenges under Klopp, to me they were always a huge club that were mainly a cup team. The odd flirt for the title under Benitez & Rodgers aside, they were always floating behind Man U/Arsenal/Chelsea. I can't stand them but they've been incredibly unlucky to finish 2nd twice with 90 + points. Hilarious though. I do think they'll have a couple of 'down' years now - it seems pretty inevitable to me. I know everybody likes to gas him up but Van Dijk looks nowhere near what he was to me. Likely famous last words but I do think this season was their best/last chance for a while, but I wouldn't be shocked if they won the Champions League in the next 5 years either. I do wonder if TAA would be tempted by Real Madrid too, especially since he classes Bellingham as his best mate in football.

Merseyside reds will still win. Feel kind of dirty rooting for Everton but needs must.