Keegans Export

That's fair, two injuries in completely different positions wouldn't impact as much as two in the same position. Having said that, we can't use that as an excuse and I'm sure Howe isn't. When the lineups are announced tomorrow I bet there aren't many players in their XI we'd swap for anyone in ours, yet I don't think many on here would be surprised if we leave empty handed. The performances haven't been good enough away from home and I think it's naive to hope that a few (admittedly very good) players coming back is all we need to kick on. At least 7 or 8 of our ideal starting XI have been playing in the last few games away from home and we need them to perform better too. Do that, plus a bit more luck on the injury front, and our chances of closing that gap will increase.

I've seen a few comments along these lines ("when we have Hall, Tino and Wissa back..." etc) so I'm not calling you out specifically but; 1. When those players are back others will inevitably be missing through injury/suspension 2. How many teams can consistently put out first XIs? I haven't looked that up but I'd assume most teams miss one or two players from their main rotations each game

That's exactly what worries me about it tbf

Lots of good points in there. If it was me, I'd have something playing alongside the team being announced (the 90s basketball fan in me says Sirius but an instrumental version of Thunderstruck would obviously work), loud enough to hear but not the usual ear-splitting level, the crowd give the usual cheer after each name, don't tell me to fucking enjoy the game, cut the music and let the crowd have at it. The key thing though - LET PEOPLE KNOW THE PLAN. If we just randomly cut the music you'd probably just get a confused hum but if a clear message was put out, "we'll do our bit, but the 5min before KO is up to you" it could work. We've seen before with the Wor Flags stuff, the scarves etc that the message does get through. I much prefer an organic almost discordant racket rather than a specific routine. A wall of noise for the players rather than a choral performance.

I'd much rather have a purple away kit than a green one. I'm still convinced that wearing a primarily green kit playing on a green surface is a disadvantage even though deep down I know that makes no sense whatsoever.

Is next season's kit potentially the last one with the current crest?

True, we're not going to suddenly leap up the table in a couple of weeks but there's 28 games left. We just need to find a bit of consistency because all those teams will be taking points off each other too. If we can average 0.2ppg more than any of the teams from Liverpool downwards between now and the end of the season, we'll end up above them.

don't know anything about the source

Makes total sense and to be honest as soon as Hopkinson came in it would have sent alarm bells ringing for Silverstone. He's lead the commercial/partnership teams at both Real Madrid and Toronto, clearly there's a reason we've brought a commercial guy in at the very top.

I think he's a bit more involved that that, at least according to the Athletic. This is from the most recent Q&A where there was a question about our loan strategy;

One thing I will say - I haven't watched his post-match interview but I'm absolutely sure he won't be making excuses about how they played, or players we were missing or anything else. Whether he'll be able to do it or not we'll have to wait and see but I'm 100% sure he'll be trying to work out how to fix what has been going wrong rather than trying to deflect blame.

Clearly our away form extends beyond European fixtures, injuries etc. It's a chronic issue; We're a good side but we will never be elite unless we work out how to play & win away from home. As it stands even a slight dip in results at home and we're midtable.

This was only going one way, even before they scored. 1-0 up within 5mins and we just sit back, give the ball away, fail to track runners etc. Can only be a mentality/motivation thing.

Absolutely vital imo, especially working within PSR. Even if you can just find 3 squad players, that saves you spending £25-30m+ on the equivalent from abroad or £40m+ from the PL.

It could be the beer but I have no idea what the second half of that sentence means

Keeper?

I can't see them having any issues with PSR. They sold Jobe & Watson in June which should help with the 24/25 period and they'll obviously get a huge boost in 25/26 with the PL income.

Brendan Rodgers has walked

Hadn't conceded from a corner this season before today

After the Benfica game there seemed to be a hiccup with the music and went off for a bit while the players were going on their lap, just as a song started to spread from the corner into the Gallowgate it kicked in again at full volume 🙄

I don't know, I thought they were pretty poor. Some occasional nice patterns of play but it seemed like most of their chances came from us giving up possession too easily. They'll be alright but bereft of confidence once the second half went on.

If you like you can save us going back and forth here and admit that today was the first time in ages and your point about it being "rammed down your throat every time you watch a match" was absolute bollocks.

The whole take a knee before KO thing. I asked because you said it was "every time we watch a match" and I don't go very regularly so I don't know whether it was a one-off today or a regular thing.