Paullow

It's literally every single pass from Trippier today, straight to a Wolves player. Like at least 7 times already. I'd be tempted to take him off at half time.

Trippier has been really poor this far.

It's weird, this time 7 days ago we had just beaten Palace 4-0 and were flying, but it does feel a lot has changed since then. Losing to Dortmund, losing Isak, confirmation of Tonali ban, Murphy, even Anderson being out for a significant amount of time, seemingly out of nowhere. Lascelles has done reasonably well, but he's not really a player you want to rely on for a lengthy period, and I thought Botman may have been back by now from what Howe was saying in Palace press conference, but probably still a few weeks out.

It is so tight in that league. Coventry do have a positive GD and just 5 points off the playoffs, so back to back wins and they could quickly be back in contention.

Just looking at Germans most successful clubs by trophies and Schalke are 3rd after the obvious 2, Hamburg are 5th and Nuremberg 6th, and those 3 are all in the second tier. Crazy seeing regular crowds of over 60,000 for a club currently in the relegation zone of the 2nd tier. Schalke just gone 2-1 up.

Huddersfield struggling. Lost 0-4 at home to Cardiff earlier in the week. Probably just about fair enough getting rid of Warnock if their new owners were wanting to look longer term and an inspired appointment, but not so much if you're just getting Darren Moore in. Doesn't even have the name value as a slight sense of justification.

I've gone for Southampton. It helps if the team you want to win ate expected to. Might switch over to Chelsea if Saints go 3 up. I was actually wanting to watch a bit of Schalke vs Hannover, 2 big city teams thst should probably be in the top half of the top flight, certainly Schalke, yet it's a 2nd tier clash, and Schalke are currently 3rd bottom. Its on Sky's YouTube channel and LivefootballonTV said 11am, so was going to watchmost of it, but it's actually 12pm and clashes a lot with the other 2 matches. 2-0 Saints.

Would it have to be Dunston and not the likes of Ashington, Hebburn, Consett, even Newton Ayclffe?

I guess they could have done what they usually do and had a Championship match on Friday night, Palace vs Spurs in the 5.30pm slot today and MNF instead of Coventry vs West Brom and the that would have given them a few more options, but both Liverpool and Brighton are at home on Sunday, so Wolves vs Newcastle is still probably the best pick in terms of both views and competitiveness.

Eventful few mins in Marseille. AEK thought they had a penalty, but was awarded just outside, and in a position very hard to score, and Marseille have just scored, but looked a foul on the defender. Controversial.

I know it's a cup, and a place in the QF on offer, but I'd personally sack it off as much as we can, and if we do somehow win, great, but if not, more important tests around the corner. Any keeper - was quite surprised Pope played last time, so could play here if needed Liv Dummett Lascelles Burn/Targett (whoever doesn't start vs Wolves Ritchie Bruno (maybe he'll pick up a 5th yellow on Sat to rule him out of Arse) Willock It gets really tough after that because there's barely any cover with Anderson, Barnes, Murphy, Isak etc. out, so possibly the usual 3. We really are stretched and could do without a match every 3 or 4 days. Edit - referenced Hall in my first post, and completely forgot about him in this one, but aye, he could come in for Ritchie, and Matt could maybe play further forward and save one of Gordon, Alrmiron, Wilson etc.

Hopefully a big effort here and then the likes of Dummett, Livramento, Hall, Targett (if not vs Wolves) maybe Ritchie etc. against Man Utd in the week. Man, there's not too many fringe players these days because those who might be considered that are generally covering the injuries and suspensions

What Europa / Conference league match is anyone watching? Think I'm going for Marseille vs AEK, probably watch Brighton later and I've watched a fair bit of this group thus far, as the game week matches seem to follow on from each other, and it's well poised.

It will be tough, and they have taken points off some very good teams this year as already mentioned, plus our injuries, but they are still a clear bottom half team. Away matches against any of the obvious fellow better 9 will be harder on paper, so while it wouldn't be the end of the world, I wouldn't 'take a point' if hypothetically offered. Hopefully we can pull off a narrow win here.

Weird connection there, but still unlucky.

Someone mentioned a few days ago about potentially being similar to PSV all those years ago. Beat Barca, draw D Kyiv, looking in a strong position heading into the double header, and the complex of the group changed quickly. Shit. That would have been massive!

They certainly don't look like a near 5/1 team. I was half tempted to stick a tenner on them earlier as an insurance bet, but they are down to 11/4 in play.

Feels like we're missing something / someone. Definitely second best so far.

Was literally just about to say that I was surprised that we haven't, or randoms pretending to be. A few Paris fans signed up, and obviously we had Milanista, can't remember if any other Milan fans signed up, but definitely thought there would be a few from Dortmund.

6 defeats in 13 for them now, and as mentioned the other day, 3 of their 6 wins have come against the bottom 3 who only have 14 points between them from 36 games, and are losing to the vast majority. It's obviously very tight from 3rd right the way down to 16th, just 6 points separating those positions, but they could be down to 11th tomorrow if results go a certain way, although saying that, I think I'd prefer Ipswich to beat Bristol City to put further distance between the top 2 and Sunderland, and then leave the likes of Leeds, Boro, Southampton, maybe WBA to fill the playoff spots.

QPR beat Wigan to go top of the table after 16 games on 22nd Oct 2022, one year later their league record since then is P43 W6 D10 L27 PTS 28.

Goals are starting to fly in now after a slow first half in the CL.

Feel sorry for Union Berlin. Two last minute goals to deny them points in their first two group matches, and have just scored a great goal vs Napoli, but ruled out for offside.

It is a bit surreal. I am fully expecting a win tomorrow. I'm looking at oddschecker and the shortest odds for Dortmund is 4/1, some places a bit higher (9/2 at SkyBet), and they are drifting all the time. Most neutrals would expect Newcastle to win. On paper, it is by far the easiest match of the 6, and if you were looking to win at least one match in the group stage then this would clearly be it, and the PSG win only naturally enhances expectation. It would be a bit disappointing not to win, but that said, they are in the CL every year, have a lot more experience, used to big nights and atmospheres, still one of the biggest sounding names in European football, only lost the title to Bayern on the final day, doing well in the league this year, and all it takes is a mistake by Pope, Lascelles etc. or an early red card due to someone being caught up by the occasion / atmosphere, like a Bruno, and the whole complex of the match, and group, could change quickly. I do need to change the mindset that we should be on 7 points in 30 or so hours, because it is still Dortmund, we're still Pot 4, and would still need to be very much on our game and play well to get the win. Incredibly exciting though.

It would look really rosy, but it could sharp change, especially with 2 tough away fixtures to come, where we may do well to take only a point. If Milan and PSG were to exchange wins, and Milan beat Dortmund at home on GW 5 then it could be PSG 9, Milan 8, and Newcastle 8 heading into that final Milan fixture. If we do win tomorrow then we'll almost certainly at least have it in our own hands going into that final Milan match, but a lot can change, especially when any away point in the group will be hard to come by.