Checko

I didn't see the Big Joe incident so can't comment on that. Seen a lot of people here say it should have been a red though. From what I saw of the disallowed goal he scored straight off his arm, which is handball. Doesn't seem controversial to me. It was fairly high up the arm admittedly, but from replays it looked to hit him flush on the arm badge, which is certainly low enough down to be handball IMO.

Same problem as all of last season: we cannot do any passy passy through a team. We're completely reliant on making chances from the press or hitting on the counter. A team gets on top, we can't pass out to relieve the pressure so we whack it long and lose it. If Howe fails here it's going to be this inability to get the team to just pass and move quickly from the back, but right now everyone want to take 3 or 4 touches every time they get the ball.

Wonder if the move drags on to next week whether Palace will play him in the cup on Tuesday.

Personally I like Ally McCoist as comentator of colour, not because he has any particularly great tactical insight, but because he seems to actually enjoy watching football and looks to say something positive about the game. Nothing sucks the enjoyment out of a game more than having a Danny Murphy or Lee Dixon type constantly moaning about everything while you watch.

mɑːk ɡeɪ-iː

Yeah, a pacy RCB and I think our players would be pretty well suited for a 3-4-3

I always find the shitter another team is the more Pep seems to big them up.

So he's discussed it with his lawyers and they're like: Still, rather he'd go down the therapy route than the 'I'VE BEEN CANCELLED OMG' route.

It's here about 8 seconds in, and I've been saying 'Eye-zak' every since. Very confusing. Fuck the transfer market, resolving this is now the main issue of the summer as far as I'm concerned.

Fuck's sake I was going to say Armenia.

So what do we reckon, does he go apologetic and humble, or get a job on GB News?

Malta, Gibraltar, Andorra, Angola, Albania, Mackemland, Kosovo, Montenagro, Cyprus? And yes I know Angola is in southern Africa but it came into my head after Andorra and I'm sticking with it.

Not going to lie, if I was made of chocolate I think I'd have a hard time resisting.

J7 seems to be free!

Just imagine if that's the purchase that gives us the financial wiggle room to make the deal happen!

Actually book cunts for simulation? That's said we'd only have Gordon for half a season if they started doing that.

I'd say realistically we know Tino's the future and at some point he's got to be given his shot. With Trips back late due to England it's a good excuse to play the young'un. Now it's up to Tino to play well enough to keep his place. Still think Trips could be used on the RW mind. Think his passing and technique could be very useful there. If Trips does play though, whether he's captain or not he'll still be a leader. Could see that in the England games in the Summer.

I remember thinking he should be brought off for fresh legs, then he did that wonderful touch and pass to play Barnes through and I thought 'oh yeah that's why he's still on'. That said, given we were just pumping it long a big strapping guy like Osula for 20 mins might still have been the play.

He has about 100 weeks left on his contract. I vote we just offer £650,000 less every week until it's settled one way or the other.

He's a young player without much experience in his position so he's obviously still a work in progress defensively. He was very good end of last year and in preseason. Having a fullback with genuinely excellent technique can be a game changer (see: Trippier). That said, he has great technique with either foot, can pick a pass, dribble and shoot from range. The attacking side of his game is clearly the strongest part. Does anyone else wonder how dangerous he might be like cutting in from the right wing?

Agreed, here's my crack at a better one, hopefully the tune should be obvious: When the Toon wants to buy your best player say goodbye, That's Tonali! When you're so steeled to win that you can't even grin, That's Tonali! When your Italian flair's backed by beautifull hair, That's Tonali! And when you've gan doon the toon to frequent Wetherspoons, That's Tonali!

Who'da thunk that nearly 3 years after the takeover Krafthy would still be chipping in with solid contributions. He's definitely worth his squad place as emergency CB & FB

My man!

Knew he's a good athlete and comfortable on the ball but thought his 1v1 defending looked excellent. Winger kept doing step overs & feints & he wasn't fooled by any of it. Just waited it out until the winger gave up.

Few notes: Our press doesn't seem work as well against 3 at the back. In fact in general I think teams are better against a press than a couple of years ago. For the most part Soton dealt with it impressively well. A number of players don't look on it. We were poor for a lot of that. Similar issue to last year for me in that in the 433 set up when trying to build out from the back everyone's so far apart. Bruno never has anyone near him to pass to and Isak is always very isolated. Would rather switch to a 4231 in those situations. Schar is an idiot for putting his head against that guy. As negligable as the contact was, anyone thinking Gordon isn't doing the exact same think as Brereton Diaz is deluding themselves. Team was getting frustrated with not playing well before the red card. Need more composure. Burn's meant to be one of our experienced players and leaders but he's losing it more than anyone. Big Joe is a legend.