St1pe

Maxi would have been useful today

Wilson to smash a few in today. 3-0

What a shit signing this has turned out to be by the way. Obviously not his fault but the money we spent on him and Tonali to get zero improvement this season has been massively damaging given the increase in games.

Disappointed we didn’t get at least in the Europa last night. At one nil up I thought we were gonna walk away with something. With this morale crushing last few games plus injuries our season could unravel really quickly.

I think there’s other areas of the squad that need investment more than a Pope replacement or a keeper to compete for the no1 spot. Ramsdale isn’t a massive upgrade and he’d be in a similar situation to where he’s at now. De Gea on a short term contract and save the money for a proper RW, CM or CB for me.

Probably too reactionary but if De Gea on a free is possible we need to make it happen.

Fell asleep around 8-ish last night and didn’t expect to wake up to that scoreline 😮

I fucking hate derbies

Unpopular but I really like Martial. Man U always look better when they can get him performing. Hope he’s shit tonight.

I tend not to get consumed/triggered by football stuff anymore but the Arsenal fan reaction to this has properly wound me up Revelling in a horrendous decision because they can’t accept what was very clearly a good one a couple of weeks ago. I look forward to them winning fuck all again.

Struggling how a ref can see that ball hit is chest then arm but still give a pen.

Nonsense

That’s more down to how we press rather than the individual though right? There’s always room behind the midfield if you can play through a high press.

I love him but he needs replacing in the summer.

Fuck

I wonder if it will be Joelinton left wing or Willock? Line up suggests Willock but surely it would be the opposite given how well they paired up like that last season?

“Flogging this urban myth” = having a fairly objective, reasonable opinion on a subject many other people share. We didn’t get a good fee for ASM. Regardless of opinion of him, worse players were sold for more money all summer.

I agree I don’t think we were ever interested in loaning players from the Saudi league. Phillips seems to be the most consistent name whereas the Neves rumours kicked in heavily almost the same day Tonali’s betting issue came to light - it’s an easy story to write. Given the ASM fee I don’t think pif are really looking to prioritise us over their league.

I’m actually a little embarrassed for them.

It’s likely been mentioned but Arteta once again being overly emotional will hamper them again because it clearly effected them bottling the title last season. He isn’t as clever as Mou nor is it in a cunning way, he just comes across as massive baby. I actually like him tactically as a manager. Arsenal took us a part last season away and when it clicks it’s really clever, but he’s too all over the place to be a really top manager in my opinion.

The mass hysteria about that goal since has been stupid. The contentious point was if the ball was out. It wasn’t. In real time the Joelinton and Gabriel coming together is nothing. Super slow mo it looks like it could be but you can’t start ruling goals out for that or no one would ever score from a corner for example. Wolves have had worse decisions about 3 weeks in a row with far less uproar. That Schar pen for one.

It has already been mentioned but his off the ball running has been superb lately. He’s either been getting goal contributions or his running has directly resulted in creating space for our goals.

Our back line

I’m not even sure what sort of team we’ll be able to put out. I’m guessing Hall, Livramento, maybe even Richie will all start. It’s a massive shame Anderson, Miley, Barnes are all injured because they would be guaranteed starters. Proper bare bones for us now.

What I think we lack is being able to control a game from the middle of the pitch like Dortmund and most top teams can across Europe. We’re great in transitions, organised, fast on the counter, press well but the difference between us and them on the ball is clear. We still look a bit panicked at times. Although I guess until we can upgrade the midfield closer to Bruno’s level that will happen. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us beat Dortmund in the return leg though. Schlotterbeck is as good as the hype.