Abacus

Ted Bovis must really be regretting buying that shit show of a club right now.

Or any day

What way are you thinking of?

Agree - I'd rather UEFA was radically overhauled or replaced altogether, and not with these A22 jokers. That's probably just a pipe dream, though. But, I'd say the same about FIFA and the Premier League as well, to be honest.

Whilst I agree, for us, I suppose it's mainly to be marketed overseas for the TV money which is how it could work. But, what makes the PL and current CL work is the drama intensified by the fans actually caring and that reflecting on to pitch. Which is something the shareholding dorks never seem to understand.

I think Barnes is a bit unfair - a freak injury has stopped us seeing what he's all about. Tonali seemed a coup at the time. Then selling Wood and Shelvey was as good for us as some of the incoming players - and Tino looks a genuine star. That said, I'm not really sure if just transfers is what his role is mainly about - surely it's forward planning, infrastructure etc? Which all take a while to see the benefits from. Anyway, it's all just speculation at the moment so I'm not going to fret about it. Could well just be mischievous speculation to unsettle us, wouldn't be the first time just like re Howe recently. I suppose it comes with the territory when you start to threaten at the top.

The constant recent (necessary due to injuries) swapping around of players can't help. E.g. Wilson plays very differently to Isak, so the rest of the team needs to adapt game by game depending on who is available. Likewise Dubs plays differently to Pope, Lascelles to Schar, or Botman, Livramento to Burn, etc etc. So even a change of formation won't just be as simple as that, because even within a different formation, not everyone would be suited to it or able to perform the same way within it. Add to that they are all running on fumes or in some cases playing with knocks or unfit, with no options on the bench and this run is hardly a shock. However gutting last night's result was, we all could see this was about to be a nightmare run of December fixtures, so I'm really not sure why it's a surprise that this is how it's turned out so far. And yet in most of those games they have been pretty creditable performances anyway and barring individual errors (including from refs) should have come away with more. Fine no-one is happy with the results, but I'm not laying any of the blame on that with Howe who is trying to stitch together a Frankenstein's monster of a squad at times.

A combination of; Them losing Us winning Appointing Ian Beale as manager, and The ticket allocation Has sent the whole place absolutely wild The funny thing is, it's probably them losing that they care about the least, the daft plums.

What a fucking genius this guy is. To pick us up from the canvas after this week...we're like Rocky Eddie Howe can stay forever as far as I'm concerned.

7 points off Arsenal, and could have been 4 if it hadn't been for that damn Liverpool game. Not this season, but wouldn't be surprised if we caused a real scare next time.

Already a 19 page meltdown on their forum about it

For crying out loud another one of those freak injuries. Mel Gibson seemed to get over it pretty quickly in all the Lethal Weapon films, mind. Anyway, so disappointed for him.

If I think of players I really wouldn't sell off the top of my head, it'd be Bruno, Isak, Joelinton, Botman, Trippier (as I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up in a boot room here at some point). Gordon and Livramento coming up on the rails into that category. Plenty of others I'd be really gutted about, which is such a turnaround in how I feel about this squad from 2 years ago, but would just about take it if was to fund an upgrade.

The contingent liabilities note basically says they've accrued for it so probably moved it there from provisions at some point, but that's a nicety due to being more sure of it since 2017, so either way it's accounted for already. The only thing it does say is that they haven't accounted for anything additional re it (e.g. at a guess, if it was higher than they thought / any additional fines or penalties they weren't expecting, should there be any).

This was a known issue at the time of the takeover so will have been factored in to the deal. But for NUFC, my reading of the most recent accounts is that they had already accrued for expected liabilities due to this. I.e., unless that £6.2m figure was much more than they expected, it should have no real new effect on FFP, since they've already accounted for it.

Agreed, and while I don't pay much attention to online scuttlebutt I do think their club themselves are a bit to blame here by coming out in support of Arteta's comments. Fine if a manager loses his rag in the heat of the moment, but not too surprising if it's been said by the club as well.

Perhaps every match should have a second VAR to review the decisions of the first VAR. Only if that goes wrong should we consider introducing a third VAR.

So, if you doubt Villa will have much chance as well, is it Spurs for that 4th slot? I think it would take a hell of a turnaround for us to make top 4 given our squad right now. But Spurs seem catchable to me for one of us, you or Villa.

Villa are an interesting one - very good team and wouldn't be surprised if they finished in or near the top 4. I do think though that the pressure will be on now. Probably I expected them to finish as part of the chasing pack, like a lot of others. But now they look a genuine threat a lot more teams will be looking at them much more seriously and that's when it starts to count. Long old season and when we made it last season we became pretty relentless. Not saying they can't do that as well, but this is where the real test for them starts.

Yeah, it's probably just me then. And damn, 3-0

Are Sky doing something to the crowd noise here, as well as blurring out the red cards? Some of it sounds oddly false, like the piped in crowd noise during COVID. Might well be imagining that, though.

Emery doing good things at half time, look a different team. Now let's see what Postecoglou can, err, Postecog-do.

If only some of them bought a ticket.

This is an interesting point. I expect most left the more established / high profile leagues for the wages, rather than to genuinely grow the Saudi league. So, if they get a chance to go back, without a wage cut (however it's funded), why wouldn't they? But anyway, now I'm just speculating about stuff too and am therefore hoist by my own petard.

It's a nonsense article, deliberately taking a perfectly reasonable statement and twisting it to inflame. Coy about January plans? Who the hell isn't? But yes, he should definitely tell them all his plans just so they can stop wildly speculating about things that likely won't happen.