Kid Icarus

For me there was very little wrong with the subs tbh. Gordon was tiring, Isak was ineffective for some reason, and both Bruno and Tonali were starting to misplace passes - so choosing Tonali as the player to come off out of those 2 is justifiable. Wilson makes sense, Barnes definitely makes sense if you're looking for someone to get in behind, and Longstaff makes sense if you want someone making the 3rd run. It's the approach to the match after the sending off that I can't get my head around really. I get that we didn't want to go hell for leather with the threat of Liverpool on the break, but we very noticably reined it in, slowed things down, and attacked more speculatively rather than with real purpose after VVD went off, which seemed counterintuitive. Obviously we had chances and I've read some people saying it was not taking those chances when they thought it was an ominous sign, which makes complete sense. For me though it was when we were just knocking it about between defence and midfield without any real purpose, the sort of thing when you're controlling the game at 3 nil, that it felt off for me. It's why I don't think there's any real use in pointing fingers at Botman, Bruno, Burn, or the subs, because the approach wasn't right and it was obvious that at some point Liverpool would create a chance or chances, no matter what, which is why we needed to kill the game rather than control it. Jota and Nunez coming on just heightened that inevitability further.

Spending half of the Harry Kane money on one player is mad enough, but one as unproven as him is genius/insanity territory

70 million for one good half season where he was a relentlessly dirty cunt who should have about 4 more reds than he got Bargain

Mad how just switching the placement makes them very distinctly Newcastle or Juventus. That would be okay. Very safe and boring but better than them fucking it up.

Very crude photopea edits on my phone

Why?

Also, this is quite good in a 'chin up' sort of way with it coming from a neutral. Basically saying that yes we got things wrong and maybe had a bit of social loafing going on, but that we played well and that the sending off forced Liverpool to play better and in the way they should have from the start. He has Botman and Schär the wrong way around, which analysts seem to love doing for some reason, but I'll let him off.

I really wish there was more football on today so I could just move on like. I'm proper moping at the moment, might make a roast just because

It's only the 3rd time the opposition has gone down to 10 men with the match balanced and any significant time left and the first time we haven't gone on to win.

Of course, that was the next logical step for that upward failure

We've lost from winning positions 4 times in the league under Howe. 3 of them were against Liverpool and of those we should have won 2. 1 was a robbery, and 1 we threw away. It's ridiculous how much they seem to buck their own form and ours to beat us. They're well overdue the sort of battering we've dished out to most other teams and it 100% should have been yesterday.

It's what makes waking up after a really satisfying win so good - that you snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and know how much you've taken from the opposition and their fans. This is the opposite of that and you have to take it on the chin. It keeps your modesty in check and makes winning a pure joy when it happens. It also hardens our team and teaches them a valuable lesson in ruthlessness and not getting complacent. ? This is what I'm trying to tell myself anyway. Can't pretend that it isn't an absolute sickener waking up remembering that we threw it away like that and that there are no do-overs. We'll just have to be a support network for each other until our next win

Horses for courses and all that, but from what I've seen of Isak and Wilson together, our best bet is with Isak behind Wilson in a 4231 or 4411.

Guardiola and Klopp lose to each other all the time and to other top managers who, crucially, manage top teams. Klopp was regularly thwarted by Felix Magath too. Until we have a team that's undoubtedly at the same level it's an incredibly weak point.

Asking for Alan Pardew's opinion on substitutions is like asking for Ed Gein's opinion on interior design.

We can do it like, we do it loads and we're decent at it, but I've never seen us do it at 1-0 against an elite team that can punish you with one good ball. It's normally at 3 or 4 nil that we start playing passy.

It was apparent from the moment we started almost aimlessly knocking it around like we were controlling the game at 1-0 that we were playing with fire imo. I've never known us to take our foot off the gas like we did today and I hope it never happens again.

You haven't really seen him at CB for us? He played there every game for 6 months and was outstanding. He fucked up, Bruno fucked up even more, but our approach to being a goal and a man up was the overriding problem. Liverpool were always going to have chances.

Our cbs often step in to intercept through balls. That's what it looked like he was about to do but it was too late. Much more Bruno's fault tbh, but I wouldn't pin it on any one player, the game management was all wrong and it was obvious in real time, not just hindsight

and the strawmanning

You stand out like a sore thumb on the odd occasions there's an opportunity to be negative. Some might say some posters only really post when that opportunity presents itself...

It was my poor niece's first match Worst match in a long while from us.

Not as baffling as the high line 5-1 loss to Spurs, but not far off. I really have no idea what we were thinking there. At 1-0 Liverpool will always get chances, to seemingly sit on that scoreline and not go for the jugular is suicide.

Robbed vs given away

I just can't get my head around what I've just watched. That wasn't Howe's Newcastle at all.