et tu brute

Got to look at getting a longer suspension for that. Horrific challenge

Also weren't City the first team to withdraw from the Super League, wouldn't be surprised if it's a little payback.

After Wednesday it's obvious fans hopes have dwindled and that's including me. They had a full team out (apart from Robinson), it was at Anfield and we were missing three key players fundamental to our team and overall play. At the home game we totally controlled the first half and their two opening goals were down to mistakes by Hall, Murphy and Joelington. Liverpool are very impressive at capitalising on other teams mistakes and we need to have full concentration and be switched in throughout. We perform like we did in that opening 45 minutes then we have a half decent chance. Can we though that is the question.?

You're not kidding there, his mission after that was to piss us off no matter what and he loved every second of doing it

Gordon against City but that was a penalty not open play

What's the bald cunt done now?

See my post above

I'm going off that we have three opportunities to make this a fantastic season. If it was just one then I wouldn't be saying that. When you had been attending since 1973 and seeing us win fuck all, then all those years take their toll. Hey you don't agree that's fine, I've not got a problem with that

I had a season ticket from the opening of the east stand until the season we were relegated. I've seen it all

Nope it's the reason I jacked in eventually. I've seen worse than that under McKeag in my time. Both utter cunts also although I agree Ashley takes first place.

See my comment above, relegations happen we've seen it a few times. Never seen an opportunity like this throughout the history of the club. Each to their own though

Being in this position as failing on all three fronts, I'd still argue it would be.

This could be the best season in the history of the club or it could also end up as one of the worst seasons in the club's history if we don't win a cup and finish outside the European places. Key to this is getting Isak. Joelington and Botman on the pitch at the same time. On a knife edge and the next 6 weeks are massive.

I mentioned this also about Tonali in his thread, but he looks quicker when he's busting a gut to get into the box when we're on the attack. I remember the Leicester goal, when he covered from half way inside our half to get onto Willock's cross. Couple of other times he has done this also I'm certain. He looks likes he's walking in the Louisiana swamps when he's running towards our goal mind.

Up to that Liverpool game, I wouldn't have swapped him for any keeper he was that outstanding. His form dipped a little on his return, but imo that shoulder injury against Man U has seen him lose a lot of confidence and dare I say it hesitation. He used to catch just about everything before that injury, whereas he looks vulnerable now and more often than not prefers to punch. Maybe he needs a long stretch of games, but the position where in, we just can't take the chance, especially when you consider his distribution, which was never the best, but has went right to pot since the before mentioned Liverpool game. That is definitely confidence knowing he's under big scrutiny on that front. By the way I'm nowhere near 100% confident in Dubravka either, but he was a part of the 9 game winning run; and his distribution is far better than Pope and I believe the defence are more confident of receiving and giving the ball when Dubravka in between the posts

The cups are also a guarantee of a European place next season, obviously if we win either

I may be totally wrong as Howe is a man with a 1000 faces in press conferences, but I still got the feeling Dubravka will start Sunday. The question asked was if Pope was his number 1 and will keep his place and he skirted around the question as he cleverly does. He also mentioned that Pope looked rusty in parts on Wednesday and he's never done that when he's returned previously

Howe actually dropped Trippier after his very poor City performance, something that he wouldn't have done at one time. He also dropped Botman after a poorish game against Bournemouth. You may have your favourite players (as does every manager), but they shouldn't be selected if not in form. I will await until we have Isak, Botman and Joelington in place as they are absolutely key to the way we play. I'm confident there will be a big upturn to form, however if not, we will probably have lost out on two cups and in a precarious position for any form of European football. The first signs were there against Wolves, but since then we look more like a team in the bottom half, than a team in 6th position. A massive 4-6 weeks coming up.

We need a creative midfielder with pace I definitely agree. All depends on what we have to spend as we need a goalkeeper, right winger, striker and right sided centre half. Depends on what the club feel are the priority positions. Probably be two or three years before all positions are upgraded. Edit: Depends on how quickly we want to get to be really challenging, we await the owners regarding how we are going to increase revenue (I still maintain they are awaiting the APT ruling) and also if they decide to sell a purple to speed this up.

You're right he won't, but imo he is far more effective though when in a forward position. You mention about City and Liverpool, you're correct at their grounds, but at home we have more than taken the game to them and have been unfortunate not to beat either the last two seasons.

I think the current form is down to the fact that he is again dropping to deep to get the ball. He hasn't got the legs to sit deep and then be involved in our attacking play. Maybe it's the fact that the midfield is not getting presented with the ball enough, with most of our play (certainly recently) going down the wings. I also feel that other teams have sussed when he's sitting deep, he is the player responsible for orchestrating our play, and are now onto him straight away as soon as he gets the ball. He is then having to try and defend the ball before attempting to play the pass. This is happening constantly and most times he has the skill to do this, but he is very susceptible to having the ball taken off home, as we have seen a few times (costing goals also). I believe this is due to the lack of quality from the current central defenders to find our midfield (I covered this in the Botman thread). His best form (he looked a class above) was when he was predominantly in the number 8 position during our great run. He was dictating play, creating chances, and also getting forward to be another body in the box. IMO Howe needs to ensure he is in a more forward position, where he can have a more direct effect on our attacking play. He looks shelved of confidence currently (as do quite a few to be fair) .

Is it just me or does Tonali show greater pace when running in an attacking position, than he does when chasing in a defensive position. Just an observation, it may just be that he has more space when attacking to really flex his legs.

Need him back asap not only for his defending, but just as importantly for his passing. Currently both Burn (and this season) Schar are a massive liability with their passing. The amount of times we have giving the ball back to the opposition due to inaccurate passing has been really alarming. Burn usually attempts to give the ball to the full backs or his fellow central defender, but for some reason the last month he has had a brain freeze and thinks he's prime Beckenbauer. Both are also guilty of giving the ball back to Pope too much, which again usually results in the ball being given back to the opposition due to the obvious deficiencies of Pope's kicking. Our midfield are being starved of the ball at times or given the ball in high pressurised situations (I'm not saying that the midfielders have not been an issue either when running to find space. Botman has the ability of playing the ball through the opposition midfield and set us up in attack in a promising position (I acknowledge pre operation this wasn't always prevalent either, but it's now accepted he was playing for two months when he shouldn't have been.

I miss the little white bull, used to be class with the bloke in his butcher jacket standing on the terraces in the gallowgate (used to know his name but lost in my memory over time - Tommy is in the back of my mind)

I actually think the FA cup could be our best chance of winning something. Apart from city there is no real outstanding team left. If we play them, then we would have to change our recent league tactics and effort we showed against them and Liverpool the last couple of weeks though.I thought we were past that with the two Arsenal performances, but obviously not. Beat Brighton and I would actually be quite happy to draw them at home in the QF. We would be guaranteed I believe a in your face performance at SJP instead of the tummy tickle in our last two away games. City are going through an upheaval process so are certainly beatable as we've seen all season. Yes another team drawing them and knocking them out will be champion also. We need Joelington, Botman and Isak back (hopefully for Saturday), as I'm far from convinced we will even beat Brighton, with the team that played last night.