Scotty66

I'd actually be more annoyed if he had went full strength yesterday, even though we're out of the competition today. Remember how Tranmere played against us? we had no idea if Sheff Wed would be the same and injuries to anyone like Bruno, Pope, Botman, Schar, Trippier, Isak or Wilson would give us a serious possibility of completely messing up our league position and league Cup run. It was either put a weak side out in the FA cup or League cup.

Scores that header and I think we go on to win the game. Can't wait until he's up to 100% fitness and hits form. Seems to have a bit of everything, hold up play, good in the air, dribbling, touch, pace, movement.

"smashed" adjective [ after verb ] - Having 76% possession in a football match, 22 goal attempts, 17 free kicks, 11 corners and losing 1-2.

Cannot believe VAR is being used in some games and not others in the same competition. So it's just the PL teams who are at home then?

Can't even do a throw in without putting us under pressure. Won't ever make it as a reliable LB for us, need to get rid and re-strengthen.

Craig Hope on twitter

In the squad for today!

Will be a huge miss if he doesn't play today. Really wanted to see him for the full 90. If he has kicked off before this type of game then he's a bit of an idiot tbh!

Would be very very surprised if Howe falls out with players for any longer than a training session. He's just not that type of manager. Would look to sort the issue out quickly and move on.

Merson was my favourite, when Eddie got the job "I just don't think he's the right man Jeff, the fans won't be happy with this appointment and them new owners at Newcastle don't really know what they're doing. It's going to be a disaster" 12 months later "oh he's fantastic Jeff, suits the club perfectly, the owners have done a brilliant job and the fans love him" Not to mention what he said about our signings last January, slagged everyone of them off.

Zakaria seems to be the only Chelsea signing that has lived up to the hype. Class player. Can't believe the price they paid for Cucurella, hilarious.

Not sure we should risk Burn in this, the fact he can play LB and CB would be a big loss if he got injured.

Just imagine Arsenal scored last night in the 80th minute, their shithousing would be off the scale. It's been around for years, mainly just getting the ball in the opposition corner flag and holding it, winning a corner then repeat. Perfectly legitimate in order to get a result. Come the end of the season it could be the difference between a title win or European qualification considering things can come down to a single point or goal difference. It's not pretty and it's horrible when it's done against your own team but you would be naive and quite a poor manager if you didn't employ it when you need to hold on to a result. Certainly in the big games at the very least.

Eddie's extra weight is all the Premier league points he's been eating.

Yeah I've listened to that but from what I remember he didn't give to much away apart from the rugby team iirc. Edit - think he said he went to see Eddie Hearn too?

Is there anywhere that says exactly what he did after leaving Bournemouth? Obviously he went to see Simone and I think he went to visit one of the rugby teams to view their training? Would love to know what else he did in that 6 months as it had a huge influence on him.

Do you think we would have signed him if we got our main man Carlos as we went all out for him didn't we? Botman is just incredible, just a complete wall and so so composed.

My mate is a Brentford fan and apparently their chairman has made his money from some high roller/invite only betting stats site or something. They have used the model to identify players who are undervalued and perform well above their playing club/level/reputation. Think their sister club is a Danish team which is why they have a lot of Danes and have good control over that region. Quite impressive and it's how they've worked their way up through the leagues.

It is absurd. I don't think I've found a simple explanation as to why and regardless, it's obviously a massive loophole. Also can't see why a big deal isn't being made of this from the media as they are spending like absolute crazy. Imagine it was us, there would be BBC panorama investigations etc within days

2023. The year of the Howe.

Targett was an absolute wall for RW opponents last season but Burn has been very solid this season and more importantly can fill in at CB to make a 3 in the middle, something Targett just can't do. Harsh on him but considering our form, results and how we play its good to see Howe sticking with Burn consistently.

Even if everything is above board with their spending, surely this is just suicide for the future transfer windows and eventually they will need to make massive sales to be able to spend again? Seems an absolute joke though, they're hurling minimun £60/70m bids around everywhere.

Bullard

Merino under Howe would be pitch porn.

Elliot Anderson. Starts his career scoring the winner in the Carabao final, 12 years later hangs up his boots after scoring the winner in the Champions League final to make it 5th time winner with the club