Kid Icarus

B for me

Joelinton's the first of the very clearly B-/C+ category that a lot of players will fill.

Would guess it's the same now but I know for certain that when Staveley and Ghodoussi were here, they gave a ticket to one of the fanzine members who had missed out on the last final because they "wanted them all there"

Hall was easily our best player and one of the best players overall despite having the hardest job on the pitch.

Once an easy B hinting towards an A, currently a C and in terms of planning I'd say is a D.

That's one way to put it. That form in 21/22 had us 4th in the form league, and this season we're only 3 points behind where we were at this stage in 22/23 when we were 4th and finished 4th. If you think we should be doing better than the position we're in because of the extra signings we made in the meantime and because Howe set a rod for his own back that's obviously each person's opinion. I just think it's completely daft.

4th best team in the league since he arrived with the 7th highest paid squad and half the squad still from when we were relegation candidates.

I think it's relevant because there were opportunities to have shots and have shots on target that weren't taken. If we'd been dominated it wouldn't be as relevant as it is here.

If Wilson had scored or got it on target, the other opportunities we had on the ball and did nothing with would still be bizarre.

That chance was half an hour in. We had plenty of the ball after that like, it's not one or the other.

Allison didn't make any save. Not one. I'd understand more if they dominated possession - something I expected - but we had plenty of the ball and opportunities to break. Aside from the two Wilson horror-finishes, one being offside, we played at a noticeably slow pace and didn't even attempt any shots from outside the area. It was a strange performance.

Couldn't care less about the scoreline, it's the sense of complete resignation in our play that bothers me. We didn't have a shot on target despite having plenty of the ball, kept letting them get back into their shape for some reason, and our style and intent didn't change from nil nil to 1 nil to 2 nil. Didn't even think Liverpool were good, they went just as much through the motions of winning as we did losing. It's been a long time since the league's had such ordinary winners. Lewis Hall was the only player that really showed his quality and he had 10x a harder job than anyone else. Everyone else was a good few notches below their ability. Pope: 5 Livramento: 6 Schär: 6 Burn: 6 Hall: 8.5 Bruno: 5.5 Tonali: 6 Willock: 5 Murphy: 5 Wilson: 4 Gordon: 5

We're going through the motions of losing here, really don't like this at all.

You could see that coming from space.

The difference in how they counter and we do is night and day. It's like we deliberately let them get back in position so often.

Same old story and the most annoying thing, as has been many times in the past, they're really not that good.

Wish someone would spark out Jota, horrible little cunt.

Knew he'd score

Of course

Dunno what it is about this match even compared to others we have a poor record in, but I never even want to watch this one.

There's a gap between being B and C that I think a fair few upcoming players will fill, for Botman though I think he's an easy B.

Honestly I think players of his profile don't exist in the C category anymore. Comfortably mid-table teams don't really do the over 30 ex-elite level player anymore unless they need a quick fix and/or they're still very good consistently. He's a D here and probably elsewhere too and I don't think that's a bad thing.

He's a D right now, but basically an E within the next year or so, so from the club's perspective I'd treat him as an E and keep a lookout for a replacement sooner rather than later.

Brighton 2 v 1 Bournemouth Palace 2 v 1 Villa Wolves 2 v 1 Fulham Chelsea 3 v 0 Southampton Brentford 2 v 1 Everton Man United 2 v 0 Ipswich Forest 1 v 1 Arsenal Spurs 2 v 1 Man City Liverpool 3 v 1 Newcastle West Ham 3 v 0 Leicester

I can't imagine what they must be going through