Shadow Puppets

Eddie said he had a tightness in his groin so didn’t want to use him unless absolutely necessary.

We, as much as anyone, should understand what a huge atmosphere / crowd backing can do to both the home team and away team. Look at how our atmosphere has affected Man City, Man Utd, Spurs etc this season, and raised us up even higher. It shouldn’t come as any surprise at all that Leeds away was far more difficult than some fans thought it would.

There are literally no easy games in the PL. Everton away wasn’t east either but we managed to overcome that early pressure. I’m surprised anyone thinks Leeds away would be easy.

After cooling down after the match, I actually feel a bit better about it. It’s all in our hands, we needed 7 points and we’ve got one of them in what was a very very tricky away game… one that had banana skin written all over it. Win 2 out of the last 3 and it’s 100% ours, and there’s still the possibility of Leicester or Villa springing a surprise. It’s crazy towards the end of the season and anything can happen. I’m weirdly feeling ok… think two massive nights at St James’ under the lights are what this team thrives in.

So many bottlers in the fan base. That performance today is EXACTLY what I expected going into a game with a team desperate for a result, in a hostile atmosphere, and with a new manager. Why do people seem to forget it isn’t always about the game we’re trying to play… so many factors go into a result and performance. Look at the positives. 1) We’re 1 point closer to where we need to be. 2) We have two home games in a row where we can confirm our destiny. 3) Liverpool have the potential to slip up twice this week, and if they do even once we can confirm it by Thursday night. Lastly, it helps absolutely no one for stupid fans (you know who you are) calling the players bottlers. They’ve got us into a position where they are two wins away from guaranteeing Champions League football. Today’s performance wasn’t the norm, it was a battling display against another team fighting for their lives. The players and manager have been phenomenal this season and stupid reactions don’t help anyone at all.

You guys are fucking hilarious. Anyone with an ounce of common sense could see that that was always going to be a horribly difficult game. Apart from an awful opening 25 mins, we were dogged, had plenty of positive play, but just couldn’t get the winner. Very unlucky with their equaliser. People seem to forget there are two teams playing… it’s not just about us… it’s also about a Leeds team absolutely fighting for their lives.

Yes he did. He trained one day, but couldn't get his boot on the following day.

Craig Hope in completely made-up shocker!

The most blatant NON penalty I’ve ever seen. How the hell do the commentators think that was a stonewaller.

No. (And I can say that from the horses mouth)

So come on then, is he injured or not?

Not exactly true. See Brentford away win > Villa away loss > Spurs home win

Would absolutely take Johnson as a third choice striker / one for the future.

4-0 ?

Happy for them. I don't think they'll make it through the playoffs but if they do they'll deserve it... they play some really nice football.

Potentially a bit of confidence for Leicester going into their game with Liverpool? (Clutching?)

If anyone hears of a ticket (or two) going for this, give me a shout ?

The key to this game is managing the atmosphere. We know what a great atmosphere can do for a team... it can raise them 10-20%. There's two ways to approach it... go all out for an early goal to kill the atmosphere dead, or weather an early 15 minute storm and then go on to play our normal game. Either way, it's not by any stretch going to be an easy game, but if we manage the atmosphere we certainly have enough to win.

I think you're shouting into a void. It's absolutely pointless getting upset or fixated on a decision that ultimately was the correct one, regardless of technicalities. It hit his leg... it's quite clear from all angles. Everyone other than Alan Shearer can see it. It's literally a waste of time fixating on it. Ironically, the players and fans anger at that decision is probably the main reason Arsenal were able to get a foothold in the game. We stopped playing our game and it became about injustice.

Longstaff isn't back. He can't even get his boot on.

If you can’t see it, I don’t know what to tell you.

You can quite clearly see, from every angle, that his shorts move as it hits his knee.

Nope. He’s going for another scan.

Longstaff is almost certainly out.

I thought we played very well in spells today, but came up against a very very good side. They took their chances, we didn’t. Hit the post twice, had a penalty ruled out, and missed two glorious other chances. Nothing about the performance was particularly worrying to me, other than Bruno’s performance… I thought he was a mile off the pace. Everything else can be largely put down to Arsenal being very very good and us not finishing our chances when we got them.