Checko

I'm going to cry so hard when they finish above us this year

You'd still want him on your team though!

David Batty was the same tbf re: not liking football, last into training, first to leave etc.

Dogs can't look up.

It does seem from the stats like they've been quite lucky this year, but Villa away is definitely a bit harder than Macclesfield at home, and in the middle of an insane month it would have been nice to have had a bit of a gimme.

Real have tonnes of expensive, talented players. They don't need fancy systems, they just need to keep things simple. Get Roy Keane in to shout 'just do your fucking job!' at them and they'll probably be fine.

If that happens then Howe out. Can't be losing to Brentford at home.

He's not been at his best the last couple of games (though not as bad as made out IMO) but apart from that he's been class for pretty much the whole time he's been here. Only worry for me is obviously the injuries, but (finger crossed) if he's over the worst of them I think he and Thiaw could become a really good pairing going forward. Plus with all our other CBs all being super old / injured / super old and injured, we could do without having to sign yet another CB.

Barnsley at home for me

Yeah, sometimes you've just got to call a spade a spade.

Honestly, if Ramsdale charges out and takes the ball as Pope would, and as Botman's expecting, everyone's probably saying what good defending it was for him to get in the way and slow Tavernier down.

I thought he played well. Actually liked him on the occasions he dropped deep when we try and play out from the back. He's good at finding little pockets of space and holding the ball under pressure and moving it on, which is what you need there.

He caught the penalty clean, just a tiny bit too high.

Went the right way for all but one I think and got close every time. Great shootout performance!

Fucking hell. Just... fucking hell.

Fairly even half but we were in control for much of it once we stoped making a few silly mistakes. Nice to see us actually control a game for a while, though we didn't create that much, we did get into a few good positions and had by far the best chance of the half, but haven't had much of a final ball otherwise. Main issue in this setup seems to be we aren't providing our CBs any passing options in the middle a lot of the time and we've lost posession forcing a risky pass a couple of times because of it. Still I've enjoyed seeing Big Nick drifting around off Wissa and think Ramsey's been good. We certainly haven't been battering them though, they've been solid and had a few moments. Feel both teams are playing a bit cautiously so will be interesting to see if it ignites second half.

Yeah he's been good. Good first touch, holds the ball well under pressure, finds litle pockets, has nice little bursts of acceleration/decceleration while maintaining control. Made an important defensive interception at the end too. We've kind of seen all those qualities before, just needs to find that extra bit of magic now.

Come on lads, for once let's actually perform in the Eddie Howe Circle Jerk Derby!

Interesting, could be Wissa LW, Barnes RW, Wolt CF, or Ramsay LW, Barnes RW, Wolt and Wissa CFs. Or Willock LW, Barnes RW etc. Lots of ways to set up throughout the game. Lots of potential for fluidity. Vs Spurs in the Carabao with Ramsay and Willock playing, in posession one of them was often going up top with Big Nick to make a box in the middle with the other CMs. Willock was also pressing very high with Wolemade. Wonder if we might see a bit of that, some actual 442 at times. After all - start with 442 - one striker drops deeper, it's now 451/433 whatever you wanna call it. Don't Arsenal even defend in a 442 shape? And their defence is stifling. Would like to see it given a chance personally, even if it doesn't click straight away.

Kaye Furo sounds like a Mortal Kombat character.

Only 'cause Ratcliffe sacks him for it tbf.

Yeah I agree it's really tight and I can't tell for sure if he does or doesn't touch it. I think he might just graze it at most. I agree with the keeper's reactions as well, he looks like someone who knows he's fucked up. Then he suddely comes to life when he realises he's got away with it. That said, Schar's trailing arm does clearly hit the keeper's hand after he has two hands on it which is what causes him to lose his grip on the ball. I'd be a bit annoyed if that was allowed to stand against us.

According to ESPN he's eligible to play against us in the Carabao Cup. Suppose at least he now can't play against us in the FA Cup.

Even watching the highlights frame by frame it's hard to tell for certain if Schar does brush the ball with his hand. I think he does (in which case handball as he scores directly after) but it's actually a very light touch. His arm does then hit the keeper's arm while he had two hands on the ball, which is what causes him to drop it. and though it's accidental the rules say "A goalkeeper cannot be challenged by an opponent when in control of the ball with their hand(s)/arm(s)." Ultimately I think it was correct to disallow it. Anyway, my big takeaway from the game is that if you want to make football more entertaining make players wear shitter studs.

Cause we always seem to fucking lose to them? Also I don't like the TV camera angle in their ground.