TheBrownBottle

Howe is a smart bloke, and I can only guess at how much the European campaign will have taught him. We weren’t embarrassed in the toughest group possible, when we’re still in the middle of a squad recycle. I doubt many of the current players will be there in two years time, which is when we’ll really be able to start kicking on to the next level I reckon - but Howe (hopefully) will.

Looks like I watched a different game Bruno has been back to his best after the new contract until the last couple of games. Thought he was hit & miss tonight, tired legs perhaps.

He’s a weird little man. If we had a billion pound squad he’d have a point.

Making a virtue of a reality has a lot to do with it, I think.

Offside anyway. But as much as I love Almiron’s energy and commitment, that fear of using his swinger is infuriating

Yes, but Milan were desperate, hence the four forwards. They’d have presented chances in the following ten minutes. Going gung-ho was stupid. Their desperation was greater than ours.

I do get it, it’s not complicated, but it’s not something which required an act of desperation at that point. It was naive. And given we have won literally nothing for six decades, I don’t think we can talk about ‘second best’. The UEFA Cup isn’t a booby prize.

Not looking to scapegoat, to me it’s an example of the naivety which has been consistent throughout the European campaign. We didn’t need to push. Milan did.

There was almost ten mins of play left. We’re in the UEFA Cup, at a minimum, at that point. If we were in Europe every year, then perhaps we can sneer at the thought of the ‘step down’ into the UEFA Cup. But we qualified for Europe once in 15 years before this season.

We weren’t close to be as dominant as PSG were. Bruno’s saved shot onto the woodwork aside, I don’t remember any other real chances. (Almiron was offside).

Because we were qualifying for the next round of European competition if he doesn’t?

Yeah, I think that’s about it

Milan aren’t a poor side, even if they don’t have a Maldini or a Van Basten

Hmm, I didn’t think Lascelles and Bruno had particularly good games tbh.

I think he is. Lad is clearly miles away from match fitness, though.

Botman is class, and his absence just makes him even better. I reckon a pacy no. 5 might be next to him next season - can’t wait

And PSG should have had about eight by that point. We can hardly say we were at their level that night. Piss poor finishing kept us in it.

Yep, extraordinary the numbers who aren’t getting that. Milan had four forwards on - they were desperate, knowing that they had to win. We needed patience, not our centre half thinking he’s Beckenbauer. These lads have done the club proud, but naivety is not a trait that the elite sides have. We’ll be there soon enough

I’ve attended hundreds of games and no longer do, and would say the same when I was there. Our European game atmospheres have been shite for pretty much every game I’ve ever seen, with a couple of exceptions. If we’re not winning, the crowd are completely flat. Barcelona and PSG are the European Cup exceptions - even the Juve win wasn’t particularly good.

Isak is not a left winger. Completely wasted out there.

The stadium design doesn’t help and never has. One for the SJP thread though.

Won one, drew two, lost three I’ve loved all of this, and those lads worked their bollocks off. But it’s hardly controversial to say that we aren’t an elite European team

Not good enough atm would be my prognosis

It’s the group I wanted. We could’ve ended up with a group of lesser lights and went out. We had the toughest group possible and weren’t embarrassed at any point.

The opposition don’t usually have four forwards on, and need to win to stay in Europe. It was amateur stuff