Erikse

There's no team in the world that loses all the high pressure games. Generally we do well in several of those. But, some can't handle it when the pressure is too high. So far, it looks like we have a ceiling when it comes to that.

I'd say in terms of nerves, the difference between a semi final and a final is massive. Where do we draw the line? Is the carabao quarter final seen as a huge game if we haven't been in the semi final for a long time? The sort of "big games" that are talked about?

From that Leicester 0-0 game. The signs were there. On that occasion it was our players who started acting up, kind of like when Schär went on that solo run. I think we just lack the mentality in the most crucial games. I don't count a Carabao semifinal as "the most" crucial. Whether that's all on the players, or if it's also on Howe, is a bit hard to tell. We have some players who never thought they would even play in these kinds of games a few years ago.

They haven't beaten us by more than 2 goals since the 21/22 season (right after the takeover), and this is by far their weakest season in many many years. If you're talking in Mike Ashley years standards, then yes, we used to get a whopping and couldn't expect much more.

Our form has taken a 180 in the league.. Losing to Fulham, and getting smahed by Bournemouth plus a not so fantastic City side.

Was bound to happen really. Him having a decent game doesn't suddenly mean that he's back to his old self. Guys 34 and a half, so can't really blame him too much either. Shouldn't be starting.

But he's not often directly costing us a game like this.

I think it will be a close game. We will have our chances, but still not convinced that we will win. Maybe a draw. They are really dangerous going forward, and Haaland seems to have picked up a little bit of form.

They can just appeal, and then we will have to wait until next season or so.

Hopefully will give him a bit of needed confidence in both his ability, and his body. He took some hits tonight, but he made it through in style.

12 minutes because they were allowed to hurt our players through the entire half. Just to give them more time to hurt our players.

I'm on a delay here. But jesus. The ref wasn't giving a free kick to Tonali at first, but then realised it was stupid as hell not to like 2 seconds later.

Refs literally letting them try to injure our players. Isn't this what red cards are for?

Tbf there were some really shocking offside decisions before VAR, and they still get it right most of the time without intervention. We have to accept that some horror calls like this will happen without VAR, like that used to happen way more often before. They just get more attention now that they have lots of replays to correct them, so our expectations are understandably much higher. I agree that the favourite six gets these decisions way more often than other teams.

Oh well. We had a good run.

You jinxed it perfectly, many thanks!

"Originally thought it was just a swelling." Heard that one before.

I wonder how this would have played out if he didn't get that injury last season. He most likely would've had a long run of starting games there, since we had a crisis in midfield during that period. Looked promising before the injury aswell.

If we sell a purple, it would probably be for twice the buying price. Most of our purples are worth significantly more than what we bought them for, so don't think it's a failure. We only talk about it in a dramatic sense because the player we're selling turned out to be a fantastic signing, which we are then letting go of (but for big money). If Isak turned out to be kinda meh, but we somehow got most our money back for him. Would it then feel like the project was failing by selling him? No? But in this case we're getting nearly £100m less for him than what we would be getting now if he was sold now.

My reaction would totally be the same. They're Juventus ffs. This is crazy. Their new Chiellini!

They don't have the balls to double down on the diving accusations, just incase it wasn't diving (even if they're 95% sure it was). Pretty sure that's why they barely ever book them.

I wonder why Juve wants him. Serie A really that much worse than PL?

I honestly think that out of the teams that has overperformed until gameweek 24, most of them keep going until the end of season. Them dropping off is more unlikely at this stage imo. It has been going for too long, their motivation and team spirit must be very high. Some people allways say "they'll drop off", but several times it gets proven wrong.

Lots of teams has overperformed for an entire season before.

I'm also saving it for an inform team further down the table. No chip used this GW here. Will probably tank a bit.