TheEntertainer

Yeah 100% agree, I think his value is probably at a significant low currently as he's had a so/so season, but he still looks to have a load of upside, I'm very confident it will work out for him. Was just a thought exercise.

In fact if we sold Woltemade in the Summer which has been bandied about (I don't think we should), I think around £45-50M is exactly what we'd get for him.

I think Nick's worth £46M that's actually not a huge fee in modern football, I think the problem is we actually paid £69M for him and he's definitely not looked worth that. Wissa on the other hand definitely doesn't look worth £37M.

This is a wild take, he looks lazy because he jogs about the pitch all game, I'm hoping it's because he's been injured and isn't fully fit, but he has looked slow and disinterested so I understand why people would think he was lazy. I do think reading anything into a warmup is also a bit bonkers mind. Need to be really careful about not falling into the trap of not being able to criticise anyone for anything because they are a minority. I honestly thought we'd got past this.

Woltemade isn't technically gifted? I'm all for the criticism about him being too slow and weak for the prem and the way we play and not really having a role in our team, but to claim he's not technically gifted is just wrong. His entire game is nice touches, quick feet, flicks and cute passes. Sure he's not Zidane, but he's definitely a technician.

Absolutely the right mentality though, I loved it.

Yeah looked like his head went down towards the end after he'd made a few mistakes

Mentality of a champion this lad, when pretty much everyone else lost focus and got super complacent he still kept doing things right, trying hard and not losing focus. Always knew he had a good mentality but given what happened around him last night he was exceptional. Most impressed I've been by him given the circumstances.

He was very poor last night so I understand some of the frustration there, but I think prior to that he's looked pretty good in the last couple of games playing in midfield, as I said in the Osula thread I'm not sure you can take much from last night as it was such a non-event of a game and no-one was really playing to their potential (other than big Joe who is a hero)

Could I? I've never seen any available away tickets for people without points.

Yeah I've looked into it because I'd like to get to the odd away game, I love a sing and the atmosphere always looks great but it's literally impossible if you don't already have points to even start to accrue points as far as I can tell? I'm sure this has been discussed before and it's right that not just any Tom, Dick or Harry can go to the away games but it's a properly locked down system which is impossible to even try and enter even if you have been going to loads of home games for years.

Like I say I didn't go much during the Ashley era, I did to start with, but when it became clear he was just running the club to make personal profit I didn't want to invest in that so stopped going more or less all together so yeah, I wasn't in the ground for a lot of those. I still stand by it was a crap game even if theoretical worse games exist which I just haven't been to (which is probable given our varying sample sizes).

Yeah I must have been really lucky, that's the worst atmosphere and some of the worst football I've seen outside of friendlies. To be fair I've seen significantly more wins than losses so maybe I have been lucky.

He dived right? And then Tonali told him he'd dived, he said something back and it escalated.

I think some of it's where you sit in the stadium, I obviously picked poorly today and your point about the win being great and a fantastic thing to experience was why I was expecting a bit more from today both on the pitch and especially from the fans. These nights don't come around very often, it baffles me that people would go to them, not sing, talk about work and then leave 10 mins before the end.

He got bullied by their crap Colombian CB who looked the worst player on the pitch last week which is a worry. Agree tonight was poor for him, not really a night to take a lot from I don't think though given how the game was played.

I guess I'm naive then, I don't want to be too negative because like I say job done and I'm happy we're through but it was much worse than I expected, I was hoping for a bit of effort and to get the crowd going a bit and maybe for a bit of a sing as well. Whole thing was my first bad St James' experience and I've seen us get beat there as well as win so it's not been all roses previously, but I've never gone home wishing I'd just stayed home before. You could literally hear the players talking to each other on the pitch, with 50,000 fans there! Maybe other people expected that but I certainly didn't.

Were the there tonight? The atmosphere was exactly like the Sela cup games I've been to the last couple of years but less kids. I've probably not been to as many games as some people, I didn't go much at all during the Ashley era and I was a student till 2004 so couldn't really afford it unless my dad took me when I was younger than that. I've probably been to maybe 40 total over the years? I've never seen an atmosphere like that outside of friendlies. Like I say, I understand why it was bad it but it wasn't fun to be at.

I thought he ran about a bit more tonight, not to much effect like but at least he looked like he was trying a bit. He looks like he's running funny when he tries to get up to speed though, I'm worried the injury has done something permanent.

That was without a doubt the worst game of football I have ever been to, they were trash and as soon as we went 2-0 up we got super complacent (understandably) and started playing as badly as they were, cue 80 minutes of both teams repeatedly giving the ball to each other and us rolling it around at the back. All understandable but I'm very dissapointed to have spent £70 on that. Stadium was like a funeral home as well, I've never been able to hear the players clearly on the pitch before. I was middle of the East stand and had people around me talking about other games, how the seasons gone and how work was going and holidays and stuff. Definitely should have stayed home! Glad we're through but crikey that was a poor experience!

Some poor decisions from the ref at the end there when they were clearly diving every time Joe went near them, I guess he should be more careful but there was obviously no foul with the benefit of the tv replay. We looked much worse after we made the changes, Murphy didn't look quick enough to cause a problem and Osula did nothing. I guess people need a rest though. Really good performance though, can't complain about a 2-1 defeat at the Etihad where the crowd are baying for the fulltime whistle to blow to save them.

Vini is a twat which I think is the point he was trying to make, terrible reading of the room though, you clearly can't justify what's happened because he's a twat. Mourinho always somehow makes it about himself though

I'd really rather we didn't sell as I rate him, but 95M would obviously be great business. No chance Liverpool just give us good money for him up front though and don't muck us around again though, they have form.

100% where I am, season was in danger of petering out and I was getting frustrated (without wanting him out before I get lynched), looks like he's turning it round though which is the absolute best case scenario (although it's only been 2 games so lets not go mad the other way either now).

Did not see that coming, genuinely buzzing, especially after getting so fired up by the terrible decisions.