Annoyman

The exact polar opposite of that phenomenon was the brief, unhappy period where MON would play Carlos Cuellar at right back. Loved the guy, but I used to sit down so fast when he got the ball out wide I think I did lasting damage to my tailbone

It could happen. Last time somebody signed an unexpected new contract with us there turned out to be a release clause that let them leave at the next opportunity. Arsenal seem to be properly back and can offer Champions League. Hopefully it doesn't happen, and certainly not to Spurs: The Wilderness Years, but we'd be better able to cope with him going now than at most points recently I'd say, and if he wants the move and/or has a release clause the club is probably well on top of it and has a plan

If it was Michael Owen he'd have his wife parked at a spa and be playing golf with the lads within two hours of arrival, no question

He was really good as a stabilising influence when he came in in the later stages of games, and tbf he did much better than I expected when starting during the period Cash was injured, but idk if it was sustainable for much longer to have a situation where one injury means your only fit right back is a 38 year old. If you're swimming in cash and can afford to keep him around as utility sub and more occasional starter that's one thing, but we probably can't afford to keep that up. Brighton have some compararively big gaps in their midfield and wage bill about to appear so Milner maybe easier to accommodate

Think they'd distributed some commemorative Best Season Ever shirts to their away support a la Mellberg's last game

In the end I feel nothing. They had become wretched, almost pitiable, and this outcome was as inevitable as the coming of the dawn

They've only beaten us once, and we shithoused a lot and got away with a probable penalty decision in the last away win tbf, some antipathy understandable. Imagine how we'd feel it West Ham had Emi Martinez in goal every time they conspire to beat us. Or if the brain-dead Michael Oliver overturned VAR penalty from the Brighton game in the COVID season had also happened in every subsequent match The recent history seemed to be colouring things a bit today for Brighton's more Extremely Online contingent (the timewasting was way less egregious than at the Amex and our relative control of the second half extended well beyond that), and in terms of discipline the ref kind of lost control to nobody's overall benefit. It was a foul-heavy but not especially ill-tempered game and it seemed like the atmosphere in the stadium wasn't particularly hostile

Only one sub right? Fair play, there were some nerves at the start and Cash had a rough time, but in the last 20 he made the exact kind of calm, sensible decisions with the ball that Young would have been brought on for. I think with the dust settled, the refereeing performance and the amount of pressure we were under in the second half were both a bit overstated; they weren't really in it for the last half hour. For me if anything the ref should objectively have booked Luiz early on and was then guilty of overcompensating for several decisions after their players went nuts and pressured him (without getting a yellow for it...), but by the end it had evened out and they were committing more fouls and getting penalised for them. Brighton have been excellent and doing a double over them is very satisfying, especially seeing as we were playing far more incisive football for the goals and chances this time out compared to the grim rearguard action at the Amex. We'd probably be tempted to say we're a slightly better team than them as of right now, but you can't say they don't deserve 6th over a full season with a good manager and that style of play in place. Considering where we've been, 7th would have been a ridiculously good season for us even if Emery had come in in pre-season, to get it after being out of the relegation zone on goals scored at the end of October is unreal.

Ekoku: wasn't that close actually replay immediately shows it was very close

GOAL - Crystal Palace 1-1 Nottingham Forest Will Hughes [visibly slipping into a coma] unbelievable Jeff

Ref should've booked Luiz, they went mad complaining and he's given out two dodgy yellows to us since

You reckon de Zerbi's just told them to shithouse in every way possible as retribution for the 2-1 away

How does Ekoku not know that's off ffs

The cogs turning in Ramsey's brain there as he waits for the pass to be available, then he executes it perfectly

One thing I also like is that, in a season characterised by managers regularly losing the plot and getting themselves in trouble by saying or doing stupid things, Emery never gets sucked into beefing with rival managers or complaining about decisions or the opponent's tactics. It's always just a calm assessment of his own team's positives and negatives from a match. Klopp was out there with his usual vaguely unhinged sour grapes after the game on Saturday, and with any of the stuff Emery might have kicked off about, he was basically just saying he was proud of the performance. (I'm in the possibly small camp of thinking we haven't actually had an outrageous amount of egregiously bad decisions go against us this season, a couple of soft penalties aside, especially compared to some recent seasons so maybe that changes idk)

Think they confirmed as much on MOTD after Spurs' offensive debacle last week

Didn't Wolves get a double yellow last season for a similar thing where the second yellow was for blocking the quick free kick?

Hoping it's a knock off van dijk?

You can't have the missed pen and the goal that happened five minutes later as "should be 2-0" lads come on You can have the goal and the chance from the free kick as "should be 2-0" but I've got that down as a "could well have been 2-0" personally OK thanks

Enjoying watching the football we're playing despite the increasingly maddeningly hysterical atmosphere around the last ten minutes, Kamara looks fit and McGinn's strength and decisive distribution in the middle have been great to see

I think Mings is probably saved by the fact that Gakpo's momentum carries him into Mings' boot and Mings' ankle is kind of trapped where he can't withdraw it If I'm downing cans while Shearer or somebody on MOTD later is constantly replaying it while boohooing that Mings not getting a red cost Liverpool a Champions League place, I'll be a happy boy

Ref's lost control of it a bit. Some dodgy decisions in our favour early on but they're stacking up in favour of Liverpool now One of ours will be booked for doing something out of frustration before Fabinho is

Unless Fulham can come from behind to win, 10th is gone

BBC saying the goal was a header. Typical media trying to create the narrative that the Villa are an uncultured long ball team

Ramsey has a good instinct for being in the right place at the right time Nice to have the penalty miss be made irrelevant by scoring soon after