Wurzel

Maybe Messi is rose tinted specs although Keegan was European Footballer of the Year twice before joining us so not far off. Current equivalents, personally I'd liken it to signing Gareth Bale whilst at his Real Madrid peak, without a single press/media/internet rumour that he even wanted to leave let alone connected to us. Sadly there's probably not a possibility of that sort of surprise ever happening again at any club.

Maybe he's got wind they are onto him and is determined to go out with a bang, trying to see how many red cards he can dish out in the time he's got left to make sure he ends up in the record books. What poor sods have got him next?

I think anyone with the bare minimum of knowledge about body language would recognise that a) that wasn't the arm movement Soucek would use to make contact with something and b) his instant facial expression and turning his head to look at Mitrovic indi cated "what was that?" . Yet multiple viewings clearly indicated the opposite to the Dean/Mason Expulsion Agency.

Petition to get him sacked started this evening. It's growing fast. 😀Sign it HERE

It still amazes me how few players ( off the top of my head can't think of any) go on to referee after their playing career ends. Ok their peak fitness may have gone by then but doubt it would be any less than most current referees of any age. Certainly plenty go on to be studio pundits, nothing stopping any ex-pro sitting on their arse in the VAR centre and making (or at least helping make) decisions from there. Players, even at lower levels, are well paid. Maybe the PFA could withhold a small percentage of earnings whilst they play which they only get repaid once they've completed a season or two officiating. Only drawback I can see is some personal vendettas and/or anti club bias may still fester in their minds so soon after playing, influencing decisions, but that seems to be the case with several of our proper "impartial" refs anyway.

Even more embarrassing overturning 2 from the same evening. Arsenal have appealed theirs too. VAR has been controversial since it was introduced but I can't ever remember quite so much outright condemnation from such a variety of sources as last night. Hopefully the PL will finally get the message that fans are turning their backs on the game as it is currently being played (fixed).

When does he retire? I'll bet he's already touting himself to be a contestant in IACGMOOH.

Like to think they would overturn it but if they do they have to do same with David Luiz. 2 in one day ? Not a chance . Best we (and Arsenal) can hope for is an apology and a "rule clarification" like for Man City's offside goal against Villa.

So two teams who had decisions go against them in their last match play each other tonight. No prizes for guessing which one will benefit from the "even thing out" process. Clue: it won't be us

I actually thought that during the Villa game. Trouble is more often than not he usually ends up going backwards 30yds from where he receives the ball, if he's playing LB we'll have to practice defending a hell of a lot of corners.

How long in metres was the longest goal ever scored was a question on Richard Osman's House of Games recently. I got it spot on. The shock of it happening against us must have stuck it away in the back of my mind. As for this latest effort, I didn't think a goal could be scored direct from a goal kick - a quick Google search proved me (not for the first time) wrong.

Wow. At last. Thanks for posting that. My daughters were two of the mascots and apart from being there not seen the teams coming out etc before.

All those saying we now need to sell Ings, Vestergard etc seem to be forgetting one important factor - until normality returns the majority of teams are going to be in similar position to us, if not worse. Who will have the money to buy them? I can see this January and the summer transfer window (whenever that happens this year) being the quietest ones ever as most clubs concentrate on simply steadying the ship.

I know a forum is about discussion and opinions, but it's not often I diagree with every single sentence in a post of that length. Echo article only stengthens my opinion club are still trying to offload one or more of the loanees completely before comitting to new contract for Bertrand

Ahem. Some of us have Fantasy League teams to deal with.

Bookies don't know what to make of us. Many of them have us the same odds to win it as to get relegated, most of them 150/1. So mid table mediocrity it is then.😥

His best since his return I'd say. Djenopo on the other hand really does look like he's blowing what should be his last chance. Off the ball he just doesn't look like he understands where he's meant to be.

Hey, it's Xmas, if we can't dream now when can we? 🤣 Not that similar. We're only 2 points behind the top team. Hull's best after 12 games was 6th, 9 points behind, Wigan admittedley managed 2nd after 12, but still 6pts behind 1st.

Not often the top two playing each other has much interest for us. So what outcome of that game would you prefer?

Who else is old enough to remember those pre-PL days when fans of every club could at least start the season dreaming that this could be their year.? It didn't always last beyond mid-October before reality set in but at least there was hope. Win tonight, and depending on other results we are anything from 4th to joint top with a third of the season gone.I'm not writing us off yet.

I have Prime, can you record from there on Virgin TiVo? Or do Amazon have the matches available to watch at any time?

I clearly wasn't paying proper attention as I didn't see the substitution made when he came on, but think you're describing the move that caught my attention. Actually rewound to check who it was. Good addition to the squad and looks like he could have a great future ahead of him, hopefully it'll be with us (although how he'll dislodge either JWP or OR on current form apart from injuries/suspension I've no idea)

True. Unless that was done with players blessing on condition they will be given the contract as soon as normality returns so as not to make it look like mclub clan't presently afford it. Although in doing so that would only alert other clubs to a potential availability that may not really exist, so a dangerous game to play.

Starting to wonder whether it's the club not the players stalling. I'd imagine both Bertrand and Ings would be our highest paid players, if not now then certainly on signing any new contracts. And can't imagine either wanting to upsticks and go elsewhere at this stage of their careers provided they get the deal they feel they are worth. And I'd imagine the club will want to keep them. ( It's a slow morning, lots of imagining going on) We are apparently £3m per month down on income (not profit) whilst playing in an empty stadium. Maybe the club are just being sensible and operating on a "wait till things are normal" basis before commiting. It might even be a case of " as things stand we can only contract to pay you x but wait till when things get back to normal and we can pay you x+y" scenario. And/or waiting to get some of our loan players off ther books completely in January. Only snag with that is if the players lose patience and start looking elsewhere.

I was not aware of the Millwall situation until reading thiss thread but when I was watching a couple of games kick off yesterday I wondered how "the knee" would be received once fans return to the ground. For myself, whilst I sympathise with the original reasoning behind it, seeing the players doing this before every game like automatons has become meaningless to the point of annoyance. Whilst I disagreed with his reasoning, I respected James McLean's refusal to wear a poppy shirt. Players are individuals and should not have opinions of any kind forced onto them. Watching the SpursArsenal game I saw a black player pass to a white player who passed to an oriental player. They all celebrated together when their team scored. That for me is a million times more effective in showing equality than an enforced gesture.