Checko

Yeah, didn't the Man City fan on here say Rodri was crap the first year and now he's top class.

As much as I detest Mike Ashley, if roles were reversed and he was still in charge and signing exclusivity agreements to stop competitors selling the kit cheaper, everyone would be up in arms about him ripping off supporters by forcing them to pay higher prices.

I'm going with Schar pulling a hamstring in the 32nd minute, but it doesn't matter as he can't run fast enough for it to have an effect anyway.

Yeah, technology's designed to make things easier but it can go two ways.

I've certainly heard that Bundesliga sides are interested in making a summer move for Tottenham's 22-year-old Republic of Ireland forward Troy Parrott, who has been on loan with Dutch side Excelsior this season.

Amazing. I'd be really disappointed if I went to hear him sing and he was any better than that.

His defending's always been solid and he's ok on the ball for a CB. Plus he's very tall. Basically he's a perfectly good CB with a great attitude who doesn't tend to do dumb shit. I don't think he has the agility or acceleration to cope with quick premier league wingers so at FB he has to either give them a massive cushion and let them do what they want or get rinsed, and his on the ball play is substandard for a premier league fullback. But, you know, he is 6' 7" and 32 in a month. Hopefully he just carries on being very tall and good at CB.

Yeah absolutely, such a shame he got injured when he did as he could have got a proper good run of games this year. He's still pretty inexperienced at this level though so I reckon could improve rapidly even over the next couple of months.

His mentality is great. Always wants the ball, looking to make things happen. He's someone who wants to be substituted on to take part in a penalty shootout. You need people like that in the team. The main criticism I'd have so far is he seems to want to take (for me) too many touches a lot of the time, always wants to dribble that extra 5/10 yards before making the pass. Hopefully he can speed up his play a little when required 'cause he has some good stuff in his game. That backheel pass to Barnes was absolute quality.

It's still the ref's decision I believe. The problem I think is that refs only get told to look at the monitor if VAR have deemed it to be a clear and obvious error/serious missed incident. So the fact that refs are being asked to look means that it's already been placed in their mind that the booth has analysed from many angles and thinks they need to overturn the decision. Difficult for them to actually then go against it. It would be interesting to hear them have discussions with the fourth official like you hear in Rugby where it seems to work well and the ref won't always go with the video official.

Bloody hell. First 25 minutes or so was an absolute full-on coeliac shitshow. It was worse than Bruno's kneeslide. Looked like Howe adjusted a bit - Murphy started playing as more of a second full back to counter the 2v1s on the left and it was a bit more even the end of the first half though we were still making a lot of sloppy errors. Better second half. I like the look of a Barnes Isak Gordon front three. Overall got away with it a bit today, though I don't remember them having too many clear cut chances. Points on the board with so many out is a good day. Did anyone else start hearing O Fortuna playing when Dummett was being readied?

We really need a couple of players who move the ball quickly. Everybody in midfield wants to take 3 or four touches everytime. No-one's moving to make themselves available. We're very ponderous on the ball.

This is an absolute shitshow defensively, matched only by the absolute shitshow on the ball.

Pope Trippier Lascelles Botman Targett Miley Tonali Big Jo Miggy Tino Wilson Pretty solid line-up. Wish some of them were fit.

Would rather play Isak in the middle behind the striker than shove him out wide. He likes to drift around and has an eye for a pass so I could see him doing well there. On the other hand a top class No 10 to play behind Isak would probably be my first choice.

Disappointing, should have won that. Second half we were quite poor though. They pushed higher up and as usual we struggled to get out a lot against a press, though we made some chances on the counter. Always felt like one of the old Ashley guard was going to gift them a soft goal though. Thought Burn was was solid at CB, no-one else really stood out apart from Isak. Barnes did some nice bits first half. Bruno a bit quiet for the most part. Longstaff was poor again unfortunately. Guy needs a break from the first team. Anderson lively but still takes too many touches all the time. Too many dilly dalliers in the team at times and not enough quicky quicky passy passy. Particularly under pressure. Thought Newcastle United Fan Lewis Hall did pretty well though. Which was nice. Hope he's starting a lot more. That very static back four with bruno deep and the other 2 CMs standing miles in front and wide from him way of playing out needs to be changed. Bruno never has anyone near him to link with.

First one I think was a pen. Soucek makes contract and doesn't even complain. Second one is no way in hell a penalty. 'Oh but he kicked Gordon'. Doesn't matter. Football's not a no contact game. For it to be a foul you'd have to say that Phillips was being careless, reckless or using excessive force. "Careless is when a player shows a lack of attention or consideration when making a challenge or acts without precaution. No disciplinary sanction is needed" [not worth bothering with the other two] No way would I say Phillips is being careless. He's just kicking the ball. Like footballers do. Because they're playing football. Gordon jumps in front of him from his blind side as he's kicking and just blocks him. If anything Gordon's fouled him by impeding him with contact. Seriously, you can't just block someone from kicking the ball and expect to get a free kick.

Also, I googled Cuthbert Ottaway because, well he's called Cuthbert Ottaway, and he was born in Kent [Dover], not East Sussex. Egregious.

Kieran Tierney's been shafted there

Is it just me who doesn't care about the Enagland badge thing? Just like I don't care we have black and green stripes on our second team kit badge. Or black and yellow stripes on our third team kit badge?

What a fucking season.

Would love it if at some point this year we could do something about that vast, cavernous expanse in front of our back line. With 4 CBs playing maybe now's the time to stick Schar in DM!

Plus the little git's always smiling as well. It's like he's revelling in his one-footedness and how much it annoys people.

Looking back at the .com transfer history, fuck me but we brought in some dross under Robson as well. It was nearly two years before we bought anyone good Bolded are what I'd say were good signings, Bolded and a star very good to great signings. Obviously a bit distant now and you'll have different memories, but: Kevin Gallacher Helder Gavilan Bassedas Cordone Cort - Maybe would have been better if not for injuries O Bernard [Free] Lua Lua Acuna Wayne Quinn Andrew O'Brien - Don't remember being especially good, but could be said to be value at £2million and 100plus appearences Bellamy* Robert* Distin [1 year loan] - Wish we'd made this permanent Jenas Viana - Shame this one Bramble Woodgate* - Darren Ambrose Bowyer [free] Milner* N'Zogbia* Kluivert Butt Carr Obviously Milner didn't do quite as much for us but he was still a great buy. A few other passable signings, but the Bellamy/Robert window aside, we weren't exactly killing it in the market.

Yay, we won at football!