OTF

Pics or gtfo

I'm enjoying reading everyone's expert opinions on this with the scarcity of facts out there. At the moment I think I'm Camp Craig. Eddie will deal with it internally and won't engage in over the top posturing.

That smile.

Whilst he did certainly lack that understanding to begin with I read that he did eventually get the hang of this football lark.* * - Cross checking this it's definitely the moment he fucked off from our club.

No, just no.

Meltoon FFS

Wout one football.

"We'll have Southampton, second leg at St James" "St James' you mean"

Well fucking done Southampton!

73% possession and they currently have 0 shots on target. #PlayedlikeGrealish

Good thing we strategically exited the FA Cup early doors 😉

Here's hoping Man City play a weakened team, which granted will still be full of stars, but they do have the Manchester derby at old trafford on Saturday...

I'm no mathematician but that would make you at least 18 months old (give or take the amount of time it takes for a person to develop long term memory).

With the hint of a tear in his eye he hopped into his Jaguar XJ8, 3.2, the sports version with the AJ-V8 all alloy engine, the kind of engine you dreamed of. The fluted leather seats, contrast colour keyed fascia and walnut veneer gave a warm embrace each time he entered. It was a car befitting the man.

I know there's normally a domino effect in transfers particularly in January, but I hope we're at least a little more advanced than that Craig Hope tweet infers. There's a long second half of the season coming if we don't at least freshen things up a little.

And then everyone simultaneously stood up and broke into applause at the great sacrifice he had made for the betterment of the club at his own expense, and the direction for the future that he would never rightfully receive the credit he deserved for.

It's also much easier for one or two reserve players to look decent (and be decent) if they're amongst our cohesive first team. Especially when Bruno is playing and at his influential best.

He even sounds like him

And finally, not to rain on our parade, but we're always a few injuries away from being more than happy with a top eight finish. We plainly don't have the quality in depth that any of the other sides competing for the top four positions have, made patently obvious against Wednesday.

It won't be easy, sure, but Man City are rightfully favourites to win in every domestic game they play. When you play Arsenal the result doesn't really matter, we're graciously conceding 1 and 2, you can sort it out between yourselves. That said there's a long way to go and recent Arsenal are specialists for bottling it, so I'll have to revisit these comments when we're 3/4 of the way into the season.

It's that slightly poisoned chalice of Champions League qualification versus Europa and Conference League. All may increase the appeal to players to some degree but only one gives you any noteable financial ability to put that appeal to work. Winning the Europa only nets around 8-9M Euro, runner up about half that. Just making the group stage of champions league will net you a minimum of double the winner of the Europa. Then each win adds approx 3M Euro (1M for a draw). If we make the Europa or Conference it's hard to see a scenario where that doesn't have a negative impact on our league campaign. If we make the champions league it will too, but we'll at least be able to bring in some quality players with the guaranteed prize money and exposure.

The rope a dope tactic. Isak looked pretty sharp for a player who has been out for so long, perhaps that was comparatively to our cloggers who he was playing alongside. I did really think it odd that Eddie started him, but he could have had two goals in the half on another night, so I think that's what Howe was going for - some early goals.

Krafth surprisingly did step up markedly befoew his injury. If he comes back at the same level from his injury he's a great utility defensive substitute option, never a first choice though. Shelvey was looking similar until his injury, then worked hard to come back ahead of schedule only pickup another injury. On ability and recent attitude it's fine to keep him around for the time being as a bench option and cup player. Lascelles doesn't work in our new system, from a playing perspective we have to get rid of him or else he's essentially just a novelty mascot as captain. Seems happy enough to br a bit part player so no huge rush if he's contributing to our harmonious squad. Longstaff I have mixed thoughts about, but essentially he has the right attitude. He doesn't seem like he's going to be top quality but if can improve his vision whilst on the ball who knows. Keep him. Anderson it's too early to say, but he hasn't impressed of late. Howe is keen on giving him a chance so he must do alright in training. No risk in hanging on a bit longer.