El Segundo

That's a shockingly piss poor header from Ollie. Straight at the keeper with all the goal to aim at.

I think we're playing ok, just lacking the final ball. Not sure what people are complaining about, but I guess it's because we are losing..

But completely wrong - he's had more than one bad day at the office, he was just as bad against Fulham for example. I do applaud his willingness to try the difficult chance creating pass, as I do with McGinn, but my brother and I call him the nearly man because his passes are usually nearly great but often just not quite, either under hit or over hit. The fact is he loses the ball far too often to be first choice in a top 8 PL team relying on a possession based approach. That's not scapegoating. it's stating verifiable facts.

Only watched the first half but from the reports and highlights it looks and sounds like we gave it a good go second half and with a bit of luck could have got a draw, like against Brentford. United are 4th for a reason, Ten Haag is tactically astute, and they have some very good players in Rashford, Casimero, Shaw, Eriksen, and yes even Ratboy. Buendia is capable of moments of brilliance but he deserves criticism, not just for this game, but for quite a few recent games. It's not scapegoating, he gives away possession far too often either by holding on to the ball too long and being bullied off it, having a poor first touch, or simply playing a bad pass. He did it to spark a United attack in the second half, then did it again as we were clearing our lines. He was just as bad against Fulham. Needs to pull his finger out or be dropped. 7th should be enough for Conference League and that might be the best competition for us at this stage of our development. Along with the League Cup it would be an opportunity to keep Archer, Ramsey junior Iroegbunam, maybe JPB, around and give them some first team minutes against some weaker opposition. If we miss out, all the more chance to focus on finishing even higher in the table.

No need to write this off yet we've had a couple of decent chances. You do feel though yet another dodgy decision will eventually kill it off for us.

Why did Emi save that it was going miles wide?

So the fact that there was minimal contact, if any at all, (and certainly not enough to block his run or make him go down) doesn't make it a clear and obvious error? What would then?

It's no wonder the crowd weren't rampant, there wasn't a great deal to get excited about, but it was an Emery kind of controlled performance. They didn't seem to want to come out an play even after we scored. We seemed to be almost in end of season mode most of the game and that was thankfully good enough given their inability to make any clear chances. Might have been a different story if Mitrovic and Willian had been available. We looked very tired the last 20 minutes, which is probably no surprise. No-one was outstanding, but Luiz, McGinn, Konsa and Mings were probably our best performers. No-one was terrible but Moreno wasn't his usual self and Buendia gave the ball away and got dispossessed it far too often. Job done but might have been an idea to try and boost our GD a bit.

I didn’t really fancy us yesterday but crikey what a performance. Clearly up for it from minute 1, and very difficult to pick an MoM but probably has to be Watkins based on 2 goals and an assist, not to mention another disallowed due marginal offside, hitting the post and forcing at least two good saves out of Pope. They couldn’t live with him, nor with Moreno who ran them ragged down the left especially the first 25 minutes ably assisted by Ramsey and Buendia. We really could and should have been 3 up by then. Can’t pick out anyone who didn’t have a very good game. Emery is the dog’s nob - you know he will give a half time team talk and tweak tactics to deal with anything they might have come up with. Clever move to put Dendoncker in for extra muscle and height in the midfield, they are a big rough team. He played very well in an understated way. Loved when he sent two players up to the half way line on Newcastle’s first corner. I think 5th is now very achievable if we can keep this kind of form up.

I've just watched MOTD and seen the Spurs Brighton game. I honestly think between the on field officials and VAR they got 5 big decisions wrong, three clear penalty claims and two disallowed goals, all in favour of Spurs. It can only be either utter incompetence, in which case the officials should be fired, or corruption in which case they should be fired and prosecuted. quite unbelievable how Spurs managed to win that game. the pen given against Newcastle was a joke as well. I do wonder why football seems to be the only sport where there is so much controversy over video assisted decisions - Rugby and cricket seem able to consistently come to decisions that most agree are correct, but not the wonderful PGMOL.

It was a bit low key and lacking in urgency today but I think what we saw is what Emery has been drumming into the players since he came - control the game, keep the ball at the back to force them out of their shape, then try to exploit the gaps created. It led to a functional, and ultimately comfortable, win with Forest rarely threatening. It wasn't the most exciting watch but tactically I found it fascinating to watch our players implementing Emery's tactics pretty effectively. It augurs well for when Emery gets more of his kind of player in. Young MOTM for me, played very well defending and attacking. Ref gave some strange decisions and perhaps should have booked Shelvey for his first foul, as failing to do so seemed to encourage a few further "robust" challenges that could have led to injuries..

I agree we've possibly had the odd bit of luck in some situations - you could call Mudryk and co. not being able to hit a cow's arse with a banjo, and the disallowed Chilwell header lucky but you could just call it us being better than them on the day and deserving what we got. You could call Dewsbury-Hall getting himself sent off, or Souttar missing a free header from 4 yards out lucky, or it was just them not being as good as us. I actually think we've also had our fair share of bad luck during this run - for example: Arsenal home - their third goal - how unlucky was that? Especially after we'd just hit the bar ourselves. West Ham away - the penalty West Ham were gifted, which was a joke. Brighton away - the foul on Luiz not given when Brighton scored Bournemouth home - blatant handball penalty not given Man CIty away - some would call the Grealish penalty decision unlucky ( I personally don't), plus Duran was unlucky not to score when hitting the bar. A few points dropped in some of those games that might not have been with a little more luck on our side, but in other games we've been able to overcome those incidents because we have a good system and are able to apply it consistently.

I will hold my hands up if I think it's a pen, like I did with the recent Grealish one, but I honestly think we've been well and truly done by the ref and VAR there. I There's no foul there at all, he clearly just chucked himself down when he felt a hand on him. The incompetent/corrupt (delete as appropriate) ref fell for it, but even more alarming is the VAR, even more incompetent/corrupt delete as appropriate) didn't overturn it. f that was a penalty then there'd be 20 in every game. I wonder if we'll get our third apology of the season from the PL for VAR errors.

Emi is not a brilliant shot stopper unless I've been watching an alternate version of him the last few years. Quite the opposite, I'd say there have been loads of "could and should have done better" goals he's conceded from shots. He's made the odd amazing save, like against Leeds this year, but his big strength is claiming crosses - one of the best I've seen at Villa for that. That's not enough to make him elite or anywhere near it, and he has other weaknesses like poor distribution. I do like him in a way even though his antics get on my wick, but he's far from irreplaceable and I wouldn't be overly bothered if he was sold as long as we got a good replacement or two.

Not sure why people are complaining at 6 minutes added time, it was going to be at least that with two lengthy delays for injuries to Saka and Cash, at least 5 substitution sets, and then Martinez dicking about again. Emery not happy with him apparently and didn't seem to like him much when at Arsenal. Wouldn't surprise me to see us cash in on his high stock in the Summer.

Last two home games has been like watching Leeds under Bielsa, some great stuff going forward but fragile as hell defending. Once again gifted the opposition at least two goals with errors, Mings header back into the box for the first was a joke, and then failure to mark at the corner for the second – a carbon copy of the Stevenage winner. Why hasn’t our set piece coach addressed that? And Konsa tried his best to gift them another one. Bailey and Duran both looked good when they came on and Bailey very unlucky with his big chance. Surprised he took off Luiz and Watkins who were both having good games. Arsenal were the better side but still very fortunate to win with two gifts and a jammy third. Thought we were worth a drw. 11 conceded in three games is a concern especially as several of them have been from our mistakes. Some mitigation that it was against the top two and a Leicester side that seem to have hit form and also put four past Spurs. But still. Ref terrible again and the linesman on the Trinity side as well.

Woeful defensive performance and very little offered up front in the first half. Kamara lost his man for the first, and Martinez has to do better with that header. He was close to it and got a good hand on it - top keepers don't let that in. Not the best from Chambers for the second but that cross should never have reached Gundogan - Young fell asleep at the back post. Ramsey was a bit naive and a bit unlucky for the penalty. Great finish from Ollie but didn't really do a lot else. I've come to the conclusion Bailey is no better than Trezeguet or El Ghazi - the occasional important goal, the occasional period of decent play but generally anonymous or ineffective. He's so weak in the challenge and always seems to stay down injured when tackled. Perhaps the PL is too physical for him. I liked Duran's directness. The subs made a big difference but I suspect City were in cruise control mode second half with half an eye on their game on Wednesday.

No worries.

Did you miss the initial post I responded to where he accused me of playing blind? Why did not want to condemn that poster for that "rudeness" ? Hypocritical much? And I'm sure they can respond for their self if they feel so moved.

Yeah whatever Mr MgGoo

I doubt many get more angry and frustrated than I do at the countless unfair decisions and blatant cheating that have gone against us over the years especially against the likes of Liverpool, Man City and Man Utd. This just wasn't such an incident, but people will see what they want to see.

Yep watched the replays, clearly catches Grealish's foot and causes him to trip. Think you must be blind or wearing claret and blue specs if you can't see it.

Yep he ultimately trips himself but only because Ramsey catches his foot and propels it into his other leg. People can try and twist it as much as they want but Ramsey caught him and that's why he went over.

It's a clear trip, not a dive. It was unintentional but still a trip and therefore a pen. Young was most at fault for the second goal, not Chambers. Didn't even look to see where Gundogan was. Terrible defending second week running. Bailey once again weak as piss in every challenge, and dire control, Watkins not involved, Kamara having his second mare in a row. Baffling that some think we have played ok. We've not got started and it could have been 5. Worst performance under Emery by a mile so far.

Watching the highlights last night I reckon the fact Emery likes the left back to push on and get forward had a hand in the second, third and fourth goals. Although Mings was partially at fault for the second goal, assuming wrongly that Iheanacho was offside, you'd normally expect the left back to be covering the back post. Digne was further forward. Third goal, when Tete is running through, Digne is way up the pitch (because we had the ball and he was expecting us to get it forward no doubt, but then Kamara lost it) and was nowhere near Tete. Fourth goal there was acres of space on our left that Moreno had to chase back to cover from an advanced position, and then made the mistake that left the striker free on goal. Maybe Rogers did his homework and targeted that flank, but we really played into their hands by giving the ball away too easily in midfield.