Toon1984

😆

He’s invisible in this game. Ah, now I see him - being subbed.

I had a few fleeting doubts about Eddie a couple of seasons ago. He soon shut me up and, since then, I’ve seen him do the same to lots of people. I learnt my lesson - he’s a brilliant manager and person and I think he is adored (remember the banner on the trophy parade) but might bring out less emotion than KK because he never played for us.

Elanga needs to come on off the bench for now.

My take: it’s highly possible he’s already played the best football of his career. A different set of team mates, with a club that will have less team unity than NUFC, different system, much more quality competition for the shirt, less ‘adoring’ fan base and the massive one: no Eddie Howe.

Bruno starting (one of only 3 players starting the last game and this one)

Don’t laugh but I was pleased to see he’s stopped dyeing his hair. Could be a sign he’s trying to buckle down more and take his football more seriously.

Not much longer, for sure. Cue mysterious, niggly thigh injury picked up while losing to Kosovo.

Aye, fans to blame. His path forward was simple. Sign a new contract including a release clause and enjoy one more season playing with your team mates and coaching team (who made you what you are) in the Champions League as an undisputed starter. Leave with the blessing of NUFC.

I’d be very surprised if Eddie was involved in deciding if he should be hired or not (since when does a manager of any organisation decide who his boss will be?). More likely Eddie was brought in to explain his philosophy for the folk responsible for hiring him to get his thoughts on Eddie.

It’ll be great for them if the new owners keep a low profile and just bank roll the team………….just like the Glazers did.

Bit tough blaming Sels for Bruno’s goal, like. If you want to be picky you could say he was too far off his line but remember that Burn and then Bruno were advancing fast towards the box. Sels got nowhere near it - great strike for me.

I think, as well as VAR, the rules of the game need looking at. When you have subjective decision making, you have inconsistency and so let’s help the officials by reducing subjective decisions to the minimum through rule changes e.g. pulling a shirt in box is a penalty. Full stop. Handling the ball in the box is a penalty. Full stop (even if it’s blasted from one meter away or it hits the supporting arm). Unfair sometimes? Yes but consistent and the same rule for everyone with no doubt. I would also bring in the rule that the VAR officials have 15 seconds (or similar) to flag up anything. If it can’t be done so fast then it wasn’t a ‘clear and obvious’ mistake by the on field official, and so the latter’s decision should stand. As for offside, any wrong decision should be relayed to the on field refs watch (like ‘did it cross the line for a goal’). With chips in the players’ boots and ball and a suitable rule change, the idiots upstairs would only need to decide if a player interfered with the GK, again they’d have 15 seconds to declare. With a 15 second rule, the on field ref’s visits to the tv would result in many more cases of him sticking with his original decision and that’s fine.

He was unlucky not to score more - a sharp chance when hit the bar and the CB blocked his other shot almost on the line. So you can add fox in the box to his repertoire as well.

One thing today - our subs improved the team performance, something that’s happened all too infrequently this season. I thought Murphy and Barnes (especially) did well.

Not good then cos Williams was on a yellow for most of the game.

Is this a new Bruno? Much less involved in the game but very decisive (and a goal to boot).

According to my match commentary ‘pundit’ Isak gets much more involved than Woltemade and Woltemade just waits at the front for the ball to arrive at him.

We’ve been slightly better than them so far - big improvement needed, second half.

I love a good knee jerk reaction.

So do I and I don’t think Wolves will be relegated.

Absolutely nailed on there was going to be a last minute goal. I just didn’t know who for. Luck evening itself out for the bin dippers.

You can almost feel the lawyers’ breath on his neck.

So’s Rashford …and McTominay…and Garnacho.

The really tough question is whether we want them to win on Saturday or not?