Polarboy

I read a Liverpool echo thing and apparently they're both doubts but Coleman is more of a doubt than Onana on the basis of how Dyche has been talking about both recently. Given their league position I wouldn't be surprised to see both start even if they're not fully fit, although Paterson is a pretty able substitute for Coleman, so he might start on the bench. In any case it might be to our advantage if said players end up having to go off injured should they start.

Are Coleman and Onana confirmed out for the game? I thought they were just doubts.

Yeah, that's basically Lascelles' biggest strength, winning duels and heading clear high balls and crosses into the box.

Saying that they are fully capable may have been overstating it, but if you look at their fixtures they have four home games out of six, have only lost one home game all season, are unbeaten in five having won three on the trot, and their remaining fixtures in general are very decent. You could perhaps say that the Southampton and Leicester games could be tricky given they're fighting to stay up. Plus they have players like Jota and Diaz back from injury, and Klopp seems to have figured out a tactical set up to get the best out of TAA's attacking quality without being as much of a liability in defence. I say Klopp, but he appears to copying Pep's inverted full backs thing.

I'm nervous about Lascelles playing, but he might be a good match up for DCL, and as people have said he was decent against Citeh. I'm not quite in the pampers party, but we do have to be mindful that Liverpool are fully capable of winning every game until the end of the season. A win tonight and a win against Southampton and I'll be a lot more tranquil.

Who gives a flying fuck about the Bundesliga though. I doubt Germans even care about it that much anymore given it may as well be renamed the Bayern cup. You could perhaps argue we're getting to the same stage with Man City, but at least it's still somewhat competitive, and when Pep leaves there'll likely be a changing of the guard, hopefully to us.

I see Howay is famous in the blue mackems circles 😂

There was supposedly 30 odd scouts at the game watching him. Not sure I could name 30 teams with a realistic chance of paying the likely 20 + million for him, but that's what the paper said.

As much as you can tell from a youtube video he looks decent. He could do with filling out obviously but he is only 18. That's one of the risks you take with signing teenagers though, given you can't always foresee how a player will develop physically. Having said all that he seemed fairly strong in the tackle and possession regardless.

According to Nixon in the sun, Ashworth was seen scouting Adam Wharton an 18 year old who plays in midfield for Blackburn. By the description attached to him he sounds like a complete midfielder able to score, assist and tackle. Seems like there's going to be a big fight for him at the end of the season, but we shouldn't underestimate how attractive a proposition we'll be should we, as is looking likely, qualify for the Champions League. I'm actually more excited about Ashworth finding a Mitoma, Mac Allister etc for relatively little money than I am about some player for 80, 100m. Mind you given how expensive young English players are I wouldn't be surprised if Wharton's price is well above the 12m that Brighton paid for Mac Allister for example.

That was probably the best result for us. Both teams having to play extra time, and then Brighton losing a gut wrenching shoot out. That game on Wednesday against Forest away isn't looking all that easy for Brighton all of a sudden. And obviously the most likely result in the final is for Man City to spank Man U.

I still want us to win this half. I Would like it to be 7-1 at least. I wouldn't exactly say fair play to Spurs for putting up a bit of a fight, but there deserve a tiny bit of respect for at least trying compared to their first half performance.

What pleases me is that Howe will absolutely hammer Schar for that later on regardless of the scoreline. Far, far too easy a goal to concede.

Jesus, Loris is off 😂 In fairness there wasn't a lot he could have done for most of the goals. But I suppose you can't take off your entire defence and midfield.

When the fuck is this ref going to start booking these twats.

Yes, but a spirited loss against Madrid means he should be given the Chelsea job permanently, again. Or at least that's what I'm picking up from the media, who of course hold no biases.

Fat Frank is, very unselfishly, making it clear that he's only been at the club 9 days, and that losing several games on the trot isn't really his fault 😂

It also has to be said that if 'Arry Kane and co can't get up for a game against Bournemouth at home having seen us get beat, then there really is something seriously wrong. I haven't seen the match so maybe Bournemouth were just very good, but if you look at the teams on paper Spuds should be winning at home quite easily. I've just had a look at their player ratings and only Son cracked a five.

Up the Forest!!!

I haven't seen the supposedly offside Spuds goal, but regardless fuck VAR. Not even a potentially dodgy decision for Spuds again could help them this time. As I said last week Spuds were just as likely to lose today given how inconsistent they've been. If we can't give this lot a spanking next week we'll have to be having a look at ourselves.

Six minutes? Why not just give them ten or twenty.

Spuds are supposedly camped in Bournemouth's half. Hopefully Bournemouth can relieve some pressure somehow.

We played badly but a lot of that was down to how good Villa were. We can't have any complaints, Villa were all over us from start to finish. Emery took Howe to school with the way Villa nullified us in midfield. And obviously Watkins had an absolute stormer, which can also be linked to Emery's coaching given he's supposedly had Watkins change the runs he makes into the box. Spurs next week is literally the perfect game to make a response given our positions in the league and ambitions for top 4.

1-3 and a more comfortable victory than the one over Brentford. A weeks rest will do the lads a world of good, and has already been pointed out Villa are overperforming and not even generally against the better teams in the league. Emery has done well with what he has, but that Villa team needs a lot of work in the summer transfer market.