Abacus

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.

I doubt we'll do it anyway, so it's purely hypothetical. But I think if that happened (and the Saudis decided to dilute their own league which they're clearly trying to grow, so I'm dubious of as well), that could well fall foul of existing rules anyway. E.g. if they paid 100% of the wages, the PL could also argue that we weren't paying fair market value for that transaction, and not allow it for FFP reasons, presumably. There's possibly an argument to be made about what a fair contribution would be for a PL player. You could say that Saudi wages aren't that, because it's being spent for a specific reason - to attract players to a growing league. I.e. maybe you could make an argument that a wages contribution equivalent to what that player would earn in the PL would be fair. Well, maybe. But again, not sure it would fly even if we (and they) wanted to do that. It's all ifs and buts for now, though.

It's amusing, because we haven't even done anything wrong. It's all everyone second guessing what we might do - hopefully gives them sleepless nights making up hypotheticals. In the meantime, it's being reported that Spurs may have broken agent payment rules that were actually in place several years ago. If true, Luton got a points deduction for that at the time. Quite glad our owners seem to be canny and operating within the rules, but should do everything they can within them. Unlike the previous jokers who'd have probably forgotten to turn up and vote, citing the high cost of train fares.

I'm not even sure we'll take anyone on loan from Saudi, it would still have complications, but it's fun causing the meltdowns about it anyway.

More posts on there about it than on any other fans forum, I'd bet.

I doubt there was any way to make that work in the first place, it was a crackers rule. Anyway, time for an evil laugh. Mwhahaha!

Yeah, I was sort of thinking that when I typed it but pressed send anyway. Allowable losses surey need to be linked with a club's ability to stay afloat, so the figure will obviously differ depending on the club's circumstances / wealth of your owner. Then we come round in a circle again as to what the whole point of it is.