Some of the scenes this weekend shows once again that the undercurrent of hooliganism is rife and always has been in my experience all be it more common away from the ground in my experience but its now spiraling on to the stands which is sad to see and is very worrying - social media only highlights and glorifies such scenes and some of the scenes at brom were awful - You would think the police would of seen this coming a mile away and you cant help but feel they are fighting a losing battle in such scenarios and it will get worse before it gets better :(
Back to the football - you have to love the FA Cup - massive shout to Maidstone and my own team looked nervy as versus a plucky Newport and such games highlight the spirit of the game, I went to watch Watford v Saints with a pal and I love the extra allocation away teams get with the cup and thoroughly enjoyed the game and atmosphere
One other thing to note from this weekend was the lack of VAR across the competition made all the games miles better for me as a spectator at home and at the ground
A totally dominant first half. I hate to say it but Isak is becoming a liability with injury. We don’t have a single fit striker at the club. We’ll have to bring in someone tomorrow just to be a token striker.
Outmanoeuvred by Newcastle again. As with Chelsea, we just let them have the first half and tried to see what we could do in the second, while reacting too late to bring on Bailey and Ramsey. Never mind, lots of nice fixtures coming up.
"A man of little significance"
To be fair, I don't think many of us saw anything other than a Villa win last night, me included. But we were back to our best last night, particularly defensively and in controlling the midfield. What impressed me more than three goals away at Villa was our dominance of the ball first half, our pressing from the front and the absolute smothering of Villa. Villa are a really good team but Eddie just had their number last night. We've not been that dominant for ages. Actually it reminded me of how dominant City were against us at SJP in the League Cup this season, we just couldn't get the ball off them.
I'm just going to have to get used to this but once again the anti-Newcastle commentary was evident from the start. Within the opening 40 seconds they'd said that we've not won anything since 1955, had lost four in a row in the league, our whole season rests on the FA Cup, didn't make it out of the UCL group, looked fragile recently and had to stop making injuries an excuse. In the first 40 seconds!! This continued all the way through the game. My wife is a Sunderland supporter and even she said during the second half "wow they really hate Newcastle don't they".
I can feel my shoulders getting broader and skin getting thicker with every game.
I hoped our home form would help us get some revenge but we've tailed off over the last few matches. Emery says Bailey hadn't properly recovered from the Chelsea match last week so wasn't brought on earlier but when he did he was on fire. Moreno wasn't putting in crosses, Diaby was when he should have been shooting, we seemed a bit of a shadow of our form of only a few matches ago.
"A man of little significance"
Eddie Nkeitah will be available! but even calling him a token striker is being too nice.
Good result for Arsenal, still lacking the killer mentality, totally controlled the first half without testing their keeper, which has been our issue most of the season.
Lets hope Liverpool loose tonight, then a huge game at the weekend. With Klopp leaving Liverpool could have a final push for another PL. I can see Liverpool becoming like Man UTD after Ferguson left and slipping away over the next few years.
It’s possible but I can’t see it.
Klopps got a nice age for the squad now average is 25, so he’s leaving the next manager in a decent position.
Ferguson bowed out leaving a squad on its last legs.
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To demonstrate that I'm not paranoid about the anti-Newcastle rhetoric, BBC Football aren't even reporting our win against Villa. It's the only game from last night not to be featured.
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Brentford are ripping Spurs to bits here. They could be three up in 15 mins.
Incoming red for Romero, I just feel it.
Blatant pen ignored by ref and VAR in favour of Liverpool. Shock 🙄
Liverpool more aggressive in the tackle and winning 2nd balls. How the heck Chelsea can sign 2 enforcers for over £100m each (Fernandez/Caicedo) and yet get outfought in midfield by kids/players with a slight build.
Ref is shocking though.
Last edited by ryanb741; 31st January 2024 at 21:56.
Nunez is going to cruise past the van Persie record this season. It’s a high ceiling but there’s some wood panelling up there.
The young lad Bradley with a goal and 2 assists - looks some player.
What the heck is the ref doing? That's another blatant penalty surely?
Chelsea deserve nothing from this game but if I was Poch I'd be fuming.
Realistically unless Chelsea get another back then we need to win by 4 goals on Sunday against Liverpool. I can't see that with our finishing, would take a scrappy 1-0 and hope Liverpool drop more points elsewhere than we do whilst also hoping Man City don't turn into Man City. I'm more confident that we'll finish above Liverpool than of overhauling City, without being all that confident of either given the fact Salah has been away/injured and it's made little difference.
I’ll take anyone’s bet now that Arsenal will never win the league under Arteta.
That was the best I’ve seen Liverpool play this season. In this form they’re incredible and it’s going to take a massive effort by City to stop them winning the league this year. Their squad is ridiculously good and with the youngsters coming through Klopp’s leaving the next man a hell of an opportunity for success. I wonder whether Klopp has a chink of doubt about leaving? Could he do a Fergie and stay? From a pure football and competitive POV, it would be better if he stayed.