Greenfly

Goodness me. So when's the DVD of our draw with West Ham last season due out?

Nah, I'm not having that. This is some weird joke. Surely even they're not mad enough to do something that tinpot are they?

A quick browse of their forum confirms this is more or less right. They also speculated that our kids might actually beat their first team, and that yesterday's performance was better than any they've managed all season against superior opponents. Can't argue with facts I suppose. They resorted to revelling in the fact that we now haven't won any silverware for 25 years, while they're still the most recent West Midlands team to win a major trophy. I have a feeling that the way things are going, this won't be true for much longer.

They were just having a laugh out there, weren't they? Yet another highly regarded member of our academy that wasn't even involved yesterday. I'm starting to wonder what would've happened if they'd all played. I'm going to say they would've won, because nobody can prove me wrong.

His excitement was visible. The grin on his face as he took the shot was proof of that. It didn't stop him doing it right, though. I can see what the hype around him is about. A bit more physical development and he'll be top class, pure and simple.

As has been said, he continued with the plan he'd already made. Our situation changes nothing, nor should it. It was never his problem. On the other hand, I agree that it undermines the mantra he's been spouting off for the last few months about needing to rest players. None of his prior actions backed up his argument, and this team selection was the final nail in the coffin. He can have no more arguments.

Very liberal use of the word "arguably" there. If have gone for "easily" or, at a push, "a million times". Barry's goal was a great moment that told me we were doing well. Going into half time at 1-1 was as good as a win given the circumstances. But Thiago coming on to change the game was the icing on the cake. One of the world's absolute best; that's what it took for Liverpool to finally break our youngsters down. I'm glad he played such a strong team. I'm especially glad he made it even stronger as the game went on. Brilliant experience for our academy. The loss clearly didn't bother them in the slightest.

There'll be a few championship/league 1 clubs clamouring for a loan deal after that performance I imagine. I still think it'd do wonders for his development, too. Also, it would mean more chances to actually see him play.

Why would he offer sympathy? He probably wants to win the cup, he has every right to go for it. It's not his fault we had a Covid outbreak.

There's a reason Barcelona really didn't want to let him leave.

I am forever grateful for NSWE.

Is it a coincidence that the entire top 10 is English?

I'm surprised nobody has voted for either Wolves or West Brom yet. Every other team on the list has a vote except them. I voted Man U because every person I knew growing up who I didn't like always turned out to be a Man U fan, without fail. The roughest, dirtiest, scummiest pub in the area I grew up in was a "Man U pub". It got to a point where I decided you can just tell a person is garbage by who they support - if they support Man U, avoid them.

To be fair, it would be sacrilege to compare Kalvin Phillips to Pirlo.

Just stumbled across this little exchange on Twitter: Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.

He is. Did Messi score on his England debut? I think not.

I may be biased, but Matty Cash is miles better in that position.

Also, "machine gun" = "weapon", which is also pretty apt.

From what I can gather, the fact that they continue to support a crap team means they aren't glory hunters. They always seem to use that as a way to prove they're better fans than us. The only reason I can think of that justifies this is that they can't argue that we're not superior in every way, so they have to convince themselves that we're all a bunch of glory hunters or something, and there's no way we could possibly actually care about the club. In a way, I take that as a compliment.

That's fair. I think it's achievable. I just don't want us all turning on Deano if it doesn't happen, which is likely.

Shame those losses weren't consecutive. That's a record Jack has that I'd like him to lose.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, especially after browsing Villa twitter. I know that place is an absolute cesspool, but there's a running theme of our fans getting spoilt by our good form this season. I'm seeing it all over; talk of some players not being good enough, despite us residing in the top six half a season after avoiding the drop by one point. People saying anything less than an EL spot this season would be a failure, considering the general consensus originally was an upper bottom half finish with no relegation concerns would be a successful season. We're in danger of becoming a spoilt fanbase, and I'm worried it's going to happen soon. Look at Wolves - they've tasted some success, now they've hit hard times there all turning in Nuno. That could easily happen to us too. I don't know where I'm going with this, but it's something that needs to be said and remembered. We're doing extremely well. This next month will be very tough, probably the toughest period of the whole season. Things might not go well, but it does not erase the good work we've already done. Let's just temper or expectations a little, ok? 10th would've been a fantastic finish at the start of the season, and that hasn't changed.

Understandable, but it's important to keep perspective here. Just being in the game against a top side like them is fantastic. We shouldn't be expecting to win those games realistically, so the fact we could, and probably should, have got something from it is encouraging. It's important as a fanbase that we don't get ahead of ourselves. We are in danger of becoming spoilt, and that can easily lead to toxicity which can ultimately undermine the team's morale. (None of this is aimed at you btw - just a general point I think needs saying.)

People are always on his back for not being perfect, which is obviously unfair in any case. If he were perfect, we'd never concede a goal ever. The thing is, defenders are probably under more scrutiny than any other player. A small mistake that would be met with eye rolls further up the pitch can have much bigger consequences of a defender does it. He is yet to make a mistake that has directly led to a goal this season, so all this stuff about him being error prone is just nonsense frankly. He's not perfect, but if you're expecting him to be then you'll always be disappointed.

He's from Dudley. Being back in the Black Country has probably brought his real accent back out.