DebuchyAndTheBeast

I was sceptical when we first signed him because of the price tag. While he hasn't exactly pulled up any trees for us, he has been a useful system player pressing relentlessly and also getting some important goals. However, he has had a mediocre season for us in the league so I find it hard to believe that he was being linked with Bayern and Barcelona and is actually getting a dream move to Barcelona. 😅 I do wish him well because he has helped us win a trophy and qualify twice for the CL.

4/10. Decent run in the League Cup and CL but atrocious form in the league. Most of our signings have been poor too so it doesn't bode well for next season.

I think Burn has looked solid with England whenever he has played and maybe with Maguire out, will be one of our aerial threats on set pieces. Hall has had a decent season but I feel he has been guilty for some of the late goals we have conceded recently. So maybe that's why Tuchel didnt pick him. Livramento's inclusion is a weird one because since his return from injury he hasn't been as explosive as he was. Palmer too is a weird one because he does have that skill to win games. Maybe the goals we conceded against Greece and Japan where he looked passive defensively may have weighed on Tuchel's mind.🤔

We are sh*te at the moment but to go down Spurs would need to win 3 out of their last 4 i.e beating 3 out of Villa, Leeds, Chelsea and Everton while we pick up less than 2 points from our last 5. The latter is possible but I don't see Spurs winning 3 out of their last 4 matches.

Yeah definitely agree. We looked much better when we transitioned from defence to attack e.g a simple ball over the top by Livramento led to the mistake by the Everton defender and the goal by Woltemade. It may sound that I am getting carried away but at times Hall/Livramento playing high up the pitch ressembled Robertson/Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool.

I'm really sad to see him leave and in that way cos he has been our best striker in quite a while. I did think that we overpaid when we bought him from Sociedad but I still thought it was a coup and that he would develop to a 20 goal PL striker. Fortunately we have Woltermade who could become a gem

I think that we've been handed some tough fixtures. Swap one of PSV/Marseille for Slavia Prague/Bodo and Bilbao for Qarabag/Pafos and I would've considered our fixtures being of a medium difficulty. Still if we play well at home, we can fancy our chances to qualify. Based on last season CL league phase, I would say 13 points will be enough to qualify for the knock out round. 🤔

Mitchell may be right that our transfer policy isn't fit for purpose if we go after this guy for 60 million. May as well play Dan Burn up front and write off this coming season

I honestly think we're just generally bad at keeping possession, full stop. I was both surprised and unsurprised when I saw the dispossession stats placing us at the top. Surprised because we're still in the hunt for a Cl place, and it’s easy to exaggerate how bad our play can seem at times. But at the same time, I'm not shocked, especially after seeing how we barely exerted any control during the second half against Forest. It makes me wonder if it’s because we’re being too direct or because the whole team is careless in possession

I'm a bit ashamed to say this but I'd take Ashworth back in a heartbeat. Everything seems to have gone to shit since he left 😅

You could have an extreme case where the linesman is biased towards a team. He could give offsides for all tight offside goals scored against them and not raise his flag for tight offside goals they score. Therefore you'll end up with one team getting all the 50/50 calls. I'm for a change in the offside rule but Wenger's idea ,while favouring the attacker, doesn't solve the current issues with offside rules. I think that there should be a new offside rule where each half of the pitch would be divided into 6-9 rectangular areas. If a defender is anywhere inside one of those areas in his own half, an opposing attacker cannot be offside as long as he is also within the same area, even if he is behind the defender. It wouldn't eliminate tight calls but it would be easier for the linesman to judge compared to the current rule and may even give instant decisions with a semi-automated system. It would also be simpler for defenders compared to Wenger's rule because they would know where to position themselves to set up an offside trap. Games would also be more open and teams which defend close to their own goal would not be able to use the offside trap. The only disadvantages I think would be that a football pitch would end up looking more like an American football pitch and there would be more work for the groundsman when painting the new lines.

It's remarkable that despite our injuries and setbacks this season, we are still competing for a European spot. What's even more remarkable is that this is our second-highest scoring season since the Premier League was founded, and with four more goals, we could equal our record. Yet, we are nowhere near the top four, which shows how competitive the league is and that conceding silly goals has been our weakness all season. I think Manchester United could draw at Palace and will lose against Arsenal. So, the game at Old Trafford against them should decide who gets sixth place.

People who want to bin VAR must have the memory of a goldfish. This one is as bad as the Watford vs Reading ghost goal

I agree that it was a foul. No reason for BDB to stick his elbow out and catch the defender. As for the disallowed Wolves goal, I don't understand what O'Neill is whining about. His player was miles offside and just in front of the keeper.

I read somewhere that it's combination of factors. Their finances being hit by Covid19, their high wage to revenue ratio and profits being mainly driven by player sales which failed to materialise in the past 2-3 seasons. While FFP is definitely a thorn in our side, I can't say that I'm sorry for teams like Everton, Forest and now Leicester who are being penalised because they haven't managed their finances properly.