ThatGinolaVolley

Sometimes, a team plays so well that they make the other team _look_ rubbish. This is not one of those times. Would love Murphy to get his hatrick, then bring him off and give Osula a go.

Rubbish from Isak, zero goals so far. Reports in Italian press that Arsenal have made contact with the club over a £100m offer for Murphy.

Lol from schar, inside his own half. murph on a hatrick

Tino is so good on that left side. Can we clone him and play him both sides?

What a start, murphy!!

Managed to lose my Toontastic account details for a while, just got back in, so here is my slightly delayed reaction to the final: Fucking get in!!!! I was expecting another anti-climactic 2-0 loss with barely a moment to shout for. But not only did the team show up, not only did they compete, but they gave a complete performance. Tactics, effort, quality, bravery, big boy balls - we even scored from a corner, that never happens, what a time to pull it all together! I’ve rewatched the match back in full including all the buildup and celebration afterwards; I’ve done the same with the commentary on 5 live (incidentally they had Isaac Hayden on throughout the match, spoke really well, had great things to say about Howe); I’m still hoovering up all the analysis Youtube can throw at me, podcasts, the radio Newcastle special. Haven’t got bored of it yet 🙂 I had a much longer version of this post, but it’s all stuff that’s been said more eloquently elsewhere, so I’ve trimmed down to keep my gushing at a minimum. Right, Youtube is telling me to watch some bloke called Adam Clery talk about the match, so I’ll go do that…

Bit rusty at the start but after that a professional performance. Great to see Osula get his first goal, and one for Miley too. And plenty of first XI players got a rest. I remember us getting spanked at home by Birmingham in the cup, in (checks) 2007. Revenge for that please - but will need to play a stronger side!

Bring Gordon & Bruno back off now, wrap em in bubble wrap 🙂

There it is, nice one Osula, great strike!!!

Better from Osula, making a nuisance of himself

Gordon!!! Well done lad, good pen

Pen? Who takes it?

Better in that last 15 minutes, passed the ball around a bit quicker and a few gaps opened. Much better than trying to force it through the middle, it’s too congested there.

Cracking hit. He should teach Bruno how to hit them from there.

Miley!!!

Ffs

It’s so nice to have the option of resting a full 1st XI for a cup game against lower league opposition, and that not mean that Jamal Lewis is in the side. Would love to see Miley & Osula get a full game. Plus the PSR keeper, he suddenly becomes important if Dubravka is off.

Great defensive performance at the end. But if we play 5-5-0 from the start of the second leg I’m gonna need some strong medication to get me through it!

Switched to a back 3? Eddie doesn’t do that very often…

Seen one goal on Sky and one on ITV now. Is this game on any other channels?

Gordon!!!!

Ice man!!! I literally just turned on the tv 😂

Will be interesting to see how they manage it, unless the Saudis come to their rescue. They don’t have many players I’d be happy us spending 30+ million on.

It’s completely bonkers that in this age of PSR a club would appoint a manager who can only play one system, seemingly on the understanding that they’ll buy him a whole load of new players in the first transfer window. Maybe they’ve got loads of PSR headroom, I wouldn’t know, but still seems like a bizarre way to run a football club. Anyway, nice to be going into this one with so many players on top form. Great chance to beat these on their own patch, haven’t done it in the league for ages.

I just had to rewatch the highlights to check I hadn’t dreamt Murphy’s backheel assist for Isak’s third goal. Beautifully cheeky bit of skill. Btw if Salah had done that it would be headline news…