[lex talionis]

Didn't look like it so much in first half

Right, but exhaustion tends to set in after initial exertion of effort.

 

[lex talionis]

I've seen the Mctom penalty appeal again, and it's a PEN! The officials have bottled that. Imo it was the controversial goal in the Derby that has swayed that call! Ref has made a error because it was a foul in the box , same foul he gave outside of box for palace free kick. I hope now the officials have got it out of there system and we don't get screwed like last season at Arsenal.

It's a stone wall pk without question. I had to step away for a few minutes and saw the commentary here and thought little of it, just typical homer whining. But when I got around to checking the highlights I was shocked at what an clear and obvious error had been committed and not given by VAR.

 

[always_hoping]

The odds on Palace rolling over and getting well beaten by Newcastle on Saturday?

 

[redmanx]

Jesus it’s doom and gloom in here. These matches happen, even to title challengers. We are still on the way up.

After beating City I thought 3 points against Palace would be a shoe in, but these things happen. Casemiro being suspended is a worry though and the Arsenal match couldnt come at a worse time. But we have the players and they now have the right mind set!

 

[NICanRed]

The ref and the VAR were both horrible. Definitely cost us a penalty. But the unfortunate reality is, while we could have won this game with a decent ref, and it would have mattered a lot, this was just the first sign of what's inevitable - we have too many games for the squad we got, and exhaustion is going to kill us. Very disappointing, because EtH has this team firing from all cylinders. If he were supported, we would be doing great.

The penalty appeal that was ignored and the location of the free-kick were both on the officials.
Surely the referees assistant (linesman) is supposed to be reading the location of such incidents as well as off-sides etc. As the officials are in constant communication shouldn't they bring this sort of issue to the attention of the referee and the fourth official - Oh but wait the fourth official was Stuart Atwell who has spent the last week being pilloried for gifting us a goal at the weekend. Not likely that he's going to stick his neck out to help us again!

 

[bosnian_red]

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This is essentially my summary here... Eh it happens. Winning streaks are hard to maintain, as you will eventually have a game where you clearly create the better chances and limit the opposition.. and they'll come up with a last minute screamer. It's an inevitable thing to happen at some point.

 

[croadyman]

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This is essentially my summary here... Eh it happens. Winning streaks are hard to maintain, as you will eventually have a game where you clearly create the better chances and limit the opposition.. and they'll come up with a last minute screamer. It's an inevitable thing to happen at some point.

Wouldn't be an issue if we were absolutely ruthless in away games, unfortunately we are a shadow of the team who play at Old Trafford right now and let teams off easily

 

[Tigersam]

Terrible night really. Not a great performance, 2 points dropped, Casemiro out against Arsenal.

Couldn't have gone much worse really.

If we don't win against Arsenal any talk of being in the title race is already dead in the water.

The decision to play Casemiro seemed odd to me. I think we are looking at a season similiar to Leicester in 2015-16 (I hope) where Arsenal FC win it because a) they are decent with a small squad working as a team but mainly b) all the other key competitiors are in transtition: Chelsea are in a right mess, Liverpool are exhausted, City are struggling to integrate Haaland into their system, Newcastle are also - like Arsenal - lacking squad depth and Manchester United although on the up and up, probably need a year or 2 to challenge for the PL. Spurs are just sh1t.

You were unlucky last night though as that free kick was unreal, karma perhaps as that Beruno goal on Saturday was off-side, it really was.

 

[croadyman]

The decision to play Casemiro seemed odd to me. I think we are looking at a season similiar to Leicester in 2015-16 (I hope) where Arsenal FC win it because a) they are decent with a small squad working as a team but mainly b) all the other key competitiors are in transtition: Chelsea are in a right mess, Liverpool are exhausted, City are struggling to integrate Haaland into their system, Newcastle are also - like Arsenal - lacking squad depth and Manchester United although on the up and up, probably need a year or 2 to challenge for the PL. Spurs are just sh1t.

You were unlucky last night though as that free kick was unreal, karma perhaps as that Beruno goal on Saturday was off-side, it really was.

Not unlucky we aren't vocal enough about teams stealing yards on us with free kicks and not enough players in the wall either. However the biggest issue is yet AGAIN not closing out on a game when leading whereas you put teams to the sword and that's the difference.

 

[Tigersam]

Not unlucky we aren't vocal enough about teams stealing yards on us with free kicks and not enough players in the wall either. However the biggest issue is yet AGAIN not closing out on a game when leading whereas you put teams to the sword and that's the difference.

Can I ask a question on this: what is the actual rule? I assume that when the referee sprays his shaving foam on the pitch (which I think is one of the best innovations in recent years) the wall should stand behind it, yet recently (or maybe always - its just I started to notice it recently) they stand ON the white line.

Should they be behind it, or on it? I am curious to know - yes I know it is a matter of inches, but just like that Palace equalizer showed last night, sometimes football and the results come down to inches or even fractions of inches.

 

[lex talionis]

The odds on Palace rolling over and getting well beaten by Newcastle on Saturday?

Bet everything you've got on it.

United, for a variety of reasons, are everyone else's cup final match of the season, especially at home. Newcastle...meh.

 

[croadyman]

Bet everything you've got on it.

United, for a variety of reasons, are everyone else's cup final match of the season, especially at home. Newcastle...meh.

Yeah back to default after scuppering run

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

After beating City I thought 3 points against Palace would be a shoe in, but these things happen. Casemiro being suspended is a worry though and the Arsenal match couldnt come at a worse time. But we have the players and they now have the right mind set!

Agreed and the Palace game was classic EPL mid week battle. Fun to watch for a neutral I am sure.

 

[croadyman]

Agreed and the Palace game was classic EPL mid week battle. Fun to watch for a neutral I am sure.

Would have been easier if Premier League didn't just give us ten days notice. Has cost us chance to play Martial, Sancho and Casemiro having to play within himself which backfired anyway.

 

[Hughes35]

The decision to play Casemiro seemed odd to me. I think we are looking at a season similiar to Leicester in 2015-16 (I hope) where Arsenal FC win it because a) they are decent with a small squad working as a team but mainly b) all the other key competitiors are in transtition: Chelsea are in a right mess, Liverpool are exhausted, City are struggling to integrate Haaland into their system, Newcastle are also - like Arsenal - lacking squad depth and Manchester United although on the up and up, probably need a year or 2 to challenge for the PL. Spurs are just sh1t.

You were unlucky last night though as that free kick was unreal, karma perhaps as that Beruno goal on Saturday was off-side, it really was.

Yea pretty much agree. Personally I wouldn't have played Casemiro, but I won't blame the manager too much. probably a lose-lose situation for ETH.

Still, a huge game at the weekend. Arsenal are definitely favourites but we have showed we're capable of a smash and grab or the odd very good performance. Casemiro is a huge loss though. Fred and Mctom aren't dreadful but it's still a big drop in quality and fight.

 

[Forevergiggs1]

Agreed and the Palace game was classic EPL mid week battle. Fun to watch for a neutral I am sure.

City v Spurs was fun to watch but if I was a neutral for our game I would of switched off halfway through the second half. Palace were terrible throughout and even though I enjoyed our first half display our second took the shine of it for me.

 

[Lentwood]

Simple eye test version: Watch the game with concentration, make a mental note of plus or minus every time a player does something non-routine that has an impact. If you did that yesterday, you wouldn't need to count the pluses and minuses to realise that Bruno racked up the pluses like nobody else, especially in the first half. For every overhit pass or ball loss, there's maybe 4 or 5 positive involvements - not just breakthrough passes that make it but also plenty of other things - smart runs, small creative flicks, interceptions, ball recaptures. He does good things all over the pitch, and I'm not sure you're seeing the sheer volume of those (not always of course, but most certainly yesterday). That's the main counterweight, not that he scored. This is why he consistently has had such extremely strong key offensive stats.

If on the other hand you're focused on mispasses and ball losses and get a warm jolt of recognition every time you see them, confirmation bias will run amok with your intuitive perception of his performance.

But you're helping me make my point, because all of those high-risk, high-reward traits that Bruno exhibits are great (potentially) when you have a team pinned-back and you need a goal but they're not so good when you're playing away from home in the Premier League, looking to hold on to a narrow advantage.

For me, that's where the maturity has to come into Bruno's game. It shouldn't be too much to ask of a senior professional footballer to have the experience and the nous to understand when a high-risk, high-reward play is worthwhile and when it's not...yet Bruno never, ever learns. He has one setting, and that's to constantly take risks. The stats support the argument that Bruno takes too many risks because if you look at his worst games, he's responsible for an incredibly large percentage of our ball-losses (with Rashford) and he needs to do better for me.

I am torn because like I said, I do think there is plenty of good in Bruno's game, but he HAS to adapt if we want to win trophies with him as an integral part of the team. Either that or ETH has to adapt and start removing Bruno when we get ahead in tight games, if he can't demonstrate the game-management skills required.

 

[justsomebloke]

But you're helping me make my point, because all of those high-risk, high-reward traits that Bruno exhibits are great (potentially) when you have a team pinned-back and you need a goal but they're not so good when you're playing away from home in the Premier League, looking to hold on to a narrow advantage.

For me, that's where the maturity has to come into Bruno's game. It shouldn't be too much to ask of a senior professional footballer to have the experience and the nous to understand when a high-risk, high-reward play is worthwhile and when it's not...yet Bruno never, ever learns. He has one setting, and that's to constantly take risks. The stats support the argument that Bruno takes too many risks because if you look at his worst games, he's responsible for an incredibly large percentage of our ball-losses (with Rashford) and he needs to do better for me.

I am torn because like I said, I do think there is plenty of good in Bruno's game, but he HAS to adapt if we want to win trophies with him as an integral part of the team. Either that or ETH has to adapt and start removing Bruno when we get ahead in tight games, if he can't demonstrate the game-management skills required.

I don't really agree with your description - he doesn't have one thing, and he doesn't constantly take risks. He has quite a lot of quality defensive interventions too, and overall shows pretty good judgment in that aspect of the game. He remains ambitious in offensive transitions also in such situations, but I would argue that is mostly a good thing (because when you're being pinned back is also when you get the biggest opportunities in transition), and also I doubt that's contrary to instructions. I'd rather have him than Fred or McT on the pitch if we're protecting a 1-0 lead with five minutes to go.

 

[Elcabron]

I'm disappointed that our players didn't pressure the ref or 'manage' the game more during this match firstly for the elbow which bizzarely no one seemed bothered about, secondly for the penalty and lastly for the free kick which was taken a full five yards further forward than where the foul was committed.....that was probably the most frustrating of the lot as obviously he wouldn't have scored it even if he stole the usual yard or two. Usually it's Bruno who does this but why the feck was no one doing this? It has cost us two points which is totally unacceptable.

 

[croadyman]

I'm disappointed that our players didn't pressure the ref or 'manage' the game more during this match firstly for the elbow which bizzarely no one seemed bothered about, secondly for the penalty and lastly for the free kick which was taken a full five yards further forward than where the foul was committed.....that was probably the most frustrating of the lot as obviously he wouldn't have scored it even if he stole the usual yard or two. Usually it's Bruno who does this but why the feck was no one doing this? It has cost us two points which is totally unacceptable.

Yeah we saw that same dirty trick from Villa and really thought Utd would have learnt but clearly not and drop more crucial points away

 

[Elcabron]

Yeah we saw that same dirty trick from Villa and really thought Utd would have learnt but clearly not and drop more crucial points away

I forgot about the Villa one actually. It should be an easy one to cut out. I guess it's a leadership issue.

 

[croadyman]

I forgot about the Villa one actually. It should be an easy one to cut out. I guess it's a leadership issue.

Yeah so did I until someone brought it up

 

[sunama]

The odds on Palace rolling over and getting well beaten by Newcastle on Saturday?

I'd put money on it.

 

[jackal&hyde]

I was gutted about it. Still am.

I hoped we were over the "do well for 45 and be crap the next 45" but unfortunately we are still there. Absolute fing trash the second half regardless of what xg says. This result and the Villa one made me so angry I prefer not to write much; just unforgivable.

 

[lex talionis]

I was on board with starting Casemiro, but in retrospect too much was risked for too little gained. McFred could have done enough of a job to see us through and even though Fred was in the same peril, losing Fred to Arsenal wouldn’t have been nearly the blow that losing Casemiro will be. On the other hand, you gotta love the ballsy approach taken by the manager, who has been brilliant for us.

 

[croadyman]

I was gutted about it. Still am.

I hoped we were over the "do well for 45 and be crap the next 45" but unfortunately we are still there. Absolute fing trash the second half regardless of what xg says. This result and the Villa one made me so angry I prefer not to write much; just unforgivable.

Yeah and what's the common link between them

 

[jackal&hyde]

Yeah and what's the common link between them

What is it?

 

[croadyman]

What is it?

Home team stealing yards for free kicks and leading to goals,also where is the fuss from media about that OR McTominay penalty

 

[jackal&hyde]

Home team stealing yards for free kicks and leading to goals,also where is the fuss from media about that OR McTominay penalty

Yes ok that was a pen on McTom I thought but it does in no way excuse the garbage we played in the second half. Re watch the game. There were miles between the defence and the attack, passes went to Palace players for no reason; the team was like the russian army: hopeless, chaotic and looking like amateurs.

 

[croadyman]

Yes ok that was a pen on McTom I thought but it does in no way excuse the garbage we played in the second half. Re watch the game. There were miles between the defence and the attack, passes went to Palace players for no reason; the team was like the russian army: hopeless, chaotic and looking like amateurs.

That chaos sums us up away from home most of this season. We just got away with against Southampton,Leicester & Wolves so were due to get punished sooner or later

 

[jymufc20]

The odds on Palace rolling over and getting well beaten by Newcastle on Saturday?

100% the Geordies will win by at least 3 goals.

 

[croadyman]

100% the Geordies will win by at least 3 goals.

Yeah another Spurs performance from Palace