Checko

As punishment he's going to continually jink around them until they all slip and break their ankles.

Yeah CB as well for me - we know we need a CB long-term: we have Schar who'll turn 33 in December, Burn who's 32 next month, Lascelles who's 31 next November and out with an ACL. With Botman also out as well - unless we have a really talented youngster we need another CB I'd say and we might as well try to get a really good one now. Other positions of need: I think we need a really good technical playmaker. We need to decide what we're doing at LB. A backup striker who can stay fit? I mean we could run with Isak, Wilson and Gordon, but if Gordon has to cover Centre forward an attacking playmaker becomes more important.

Elliot Anderson? He seems a bit like a young ross barkley.

Feels like in a few months at the end of last year and over the summer he lost all the youthful petulance but kept all the determination and aggression. He seems already to be be one of the team leaders. Probably some great man management from Howe [Gordon references this in his interview with Craig Hope], a combination of having to grow up due to moving and having a kid, and his own determination and hard work to improve. He's just been brilliant this year. Brilliant on the pitch. Brilliant in attitude.

For clear and obvious error, if they can use video footage to see that the contact was outside the box rather than in, then that would seem a clear error to award the penalty to me. These very tight, last minute calls that decide the outcome of the game are exactly what VAR was brought in for. Of course a lot of football decisions also involve subjectivity, which complicated things.

I think one of the advantages of playing in one of the lesser Euro comps (other than chance to win a trophy, boost co-efficient, increasing the club's profile, giving players european football etc.) is that it'll give the backroom staff more experience dealing with the demands of Europe. It's been a big learning curve this year. With a bit more experience, a more fleshed out squad with fewer injuries, and maybe the odd cup draw that lets us play some kids we could give it a go on a couple of fronts.

I will say I don't think the first was a pen. It's a handball there if: 1. He deliberately touches the ball with his arm 2. If the ball touches his arm accidentally while his arm was making his body unnaturally bigger I don't think he was deliberately trying to play the ball with his arm. As Froggy said, there was a deflection and very little reaction times and there was an initial instinctive reaction to turn towards the ball. He doesn't really move from his spot. Looking at the replay it looks to me like he's actually then trying to move his arm away just as it's hitting. The key thing again is, was he deliberately trying to touch the ball with his arm? Not, was he deliberately trying to play the ball when it touched his arm? His arm was pretty much by his side as it hit him I don't think for me it was making his body unnaturally bigger, so for me that was no pen. Again though it's a subjective call there but I would feel very harshly done by if that was given again us though.

They're probably thinking of this bit of the laws: "If a defender starts holding an attacker outside the penalty area and continues holding inside the penalty area, the referee must award a penalty kick." For me it's correct there to award the foul from the point of contact if it's all one foul.

Pg 39

As Leffe said, sitting back and hitting on the break is the best way to play against Spurs, but thought he set everything up bang on today. Absolute masterclass.

Great result and a great, much more aggressive performance. Was looking forward to seeing a Barnes Isak Gordon front three and it looks pretty good. Thought Schar, Anderson and Krafth did very well as well, but really everyone did a good job today.

LOL, trolling them with Dummett

JUSTICE FOR THE VAN!

At the end of the day, FFP or whatever, the same underlying issue's gonna be present - teams with 500/600/700 million per year in revenue have a big advantage over teams with 150/200/250 million. As much as we'd like to profit from an infinite money cheat, the fact most premier league teams need a benevolent owner to be dropping in 400 million a year every year just for parity with the big boys is pretty mad.

Just waiting for the twitter photo of a toilet roll, tub of vaselene, latex glove and tin of dog food.

Fucking get in! No player I root for more than Big Jow.

I dunno, Billy Gilmour sounds like the kind of person I'd expect to be running a gambling racket in the 1930s. Might be best to stay clear.

My guess as well is that he thought neither Willock or Anderson were ready to play 90 minutes yet, he did seem to be rotating them, so didn't want to start both with only one CM as a sub.

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.