WilliamPS

I flip flop - Burn has had a few near misses recently, but these are often to do with Newcastle in position, he hasn’t had that many defensive lapses and the defence as a unit is working.

Bruno and ASM are always limping around - usually it’s a magic sponge job and they’re both ready to go

Tbf Lampard is just caretaker - no chance he will get it full time. The owners probably accept top 4 is gone, and Potter was not going to mastermind beating Madrid over two legs was he? So binning now and starting to plan for next season makes some sense. Lampards job is to improve the mood music, cheer everyone up, then piss off in the summer

West Ham lose at weekend and Moyes will be gone you’d think

Been pretty sloppy on the ball after the second, need a little bit of calm and concentration West Ham have some good players, but they will get frustrated if they don’t score

Knocking spurs out the CL would be v useful for longer term prospects. Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea will always have bags of cash, attract players and be competitive but spurs could struggle. Ultimately if you want Newcastle to sit in the top 6 or 4 consistently it helps if one of the others implodes a bit

I remember when Newcastle went down in 2009 there were so many chances to get out of it, if you’d looked ten games out you would have said they’ll be ok the team is better than the sides around - but the wins never came. Leicester could go down in the same way. I think Everton will be fine under Dyche. Bournemouth I expect to get to about 34 points, and anyone who is below them is down. That would mean Leicester getting either 3 wins or 2 wins and 3 draws from 9 games. They should be fine but I wouldn’t put money on it.

Really hope Forest stay up, for no good reason beyond signing 25 off players was so crazy I hope it comes off

Bringing in a load of ageing players on wild contracts always raises the quality of domestic leagues, that’s why the Chinese league is now the best in the world

Agree with the posters saying it’s fair enough - there’s no way they could treat it like a normal red card It’s true that refs allow all sorts of abuse toward them, IMO they shouldn’t allow that either! Be so easy to stamp out, announce it’s a yellow for abusing the refs or surrounding them, enforce it for a few weeks, chuck in some retrospectives yellows if refs don’t do it and it’s sorted by May

That Chelsea team looks like it should be very hard to beat but not a lot of attackers on the pitch for them

The Squad lacks depth. There are only 4 midfielders and 3 start each game - so that’s 2 short minimum There are 6 forwards/wingers but you’d expect to use 5 or 6 every match, and the depth of quality isn’t there either - another 2 players short. RB depends on Ashby, can’t expect Trippier to play both league and potentially European games. CB needs 1 more, potentially a young player - remember when Liverpool risked it and only had 3 CBS, a couple of injuries and their season imploded. GK i think depends on Dubs, if he leaves Then need another backup of sufficient quality So to get the squad up to European competition level still needs about 6, and that’s with keeping on everyone who has contributed this season. It won’t all happen this summer but it’s more than tweaks. Impossible to challenge on multiple fronts without using the full 25 man squads now - especially with the new subs rules hiking the number of players used each match

Whether going to Chelsea was a help or hindrance to potters management career pretty much nobody in his place would have turned it down; a) most managers really believe they are capable of managing a top side (remember fat Sam’s claims about this) so Potter will have had the self belief to go for it b) the guaranteed £££ would have been insane. No idea what Brighton pay but I’d guess he made more in 7 months at Chelsea, including severance, than he’d have got in 10 years at Brighton Poch or Enrique are the only two sensible off that list and you know Enrique wouldn’t last long.

What exactly is the message this would send? The management are loons? Hes got 8 goals in 25 games - 1 in 3, so is scoring in a squad that lacks goals. There are only two strikers in the squad so it’s already too short up front and a replacement would cost £30m at least (Wood cost £25m).

Potter has just made an absolute fortune, and was genuinely terrible at the job, so zero sympathy from me

Good for long term but be crazy to go for potter now, he’ll need a break post Chelsea

Nagelsmann would be another error, hope they make that none too.

What a twat ten Hag is, couldn’t resist the dig

the next four games are crucial and tricky - will be season defining WH will view Wednesday as a must win, Brentford are flying. Villa are on a good run. Spurs who knows which side turns up i think all are winnable but will take concentration and focus

First goal was a superb team goal, shows what the side is capable of

Might want to check your maths!

Agree…Isak deservedly took the starting slot, but today a nice reminder of what he brings, delighted for him

The 5-2 very unlucky with injuries going into it, purely from memory critically Speed and Robert and then a couple of others were out, and then (as now) there was a good first team but no squad. That side was another good demonstration of how squads not first elevens win titles in England

It’s a big test, a top four club at home where it isn’t a free hit and any point is a bonus, but a big opportunity. Man Utd have quality throughout and will behave like the dickheads they are. The players will need to handle that pressure. Very different from Chelsea at home where expectations were lower

As Leicester and West Ham have only had to win their next game to move about 4 places clear I guess it makes the clubs reluctant to pull the trigger - incurs a lot of cost, carries a lot of risk. West Ham probably know they are poor at appointments Think I’d prefer West Ham to go down over Everton but it’s like choosing what milkshake flavour to get - they’re all good. Quite like to see what forest do next season if they survive, if they go down they’ll just implode which is a bit predictable