I hadn’t read before that they’d cocked up other parts of the draw as well, total mess. I would have preferred Salzburg but Inter should still be more than beatable given the current state of Italian football.

Good job for Leeds last night City don’t have a striker 🤔

Sad to see Aguero having to retire the way he has – what a player 👏

The lack of depth in the Leeds squad was exposed last night.
Right about Sergio, sometimes the body just gives up. Kinda gave glimpse of Gert Muller.

Respect where it’s due. An absolute legend bowed out today. One of the true greats

I drew this up for my best mate Mikey’s dad. Mikey died of cancer when we were 27 after being a season ticket holder at Maine Road from being a kid, having just watched repeated relegations and utter dross on the pitch and endured years of relentless piss-taking from me. He never got to see him play or enjoy the glory years.

His sister even made me transcribe every word of the Martin Tyler commentary of THAT goal onto the final print. Mikey would have been laughing his tits off

Balotelli….

City still alive here…

Aguerooooo…

I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again. So watch it, drink it in..

Surely one of the most iconic moments the Premier League has ever delivered

Vamos

Oh… and I still blame Joey ****ing Barton! 😂

Oh… and I still blame Joey ****ing Barton!

To be fair, that could be a reply to hearing statements about a multitude of shithousery.

That goal from Ageuro to win the league was amazing, it is a fantastic moment of history (even though some teams fans accuse us of having none) I was so down thinking we hadn’t been able to clear the last hurdle, then elation.

I felt a bit sorry for leeds last night, a clearly weakened team facing city just showing incredible movement, it looked like we had an extra 10 players on the pitch at times in the first half the way everyone was swarming around creating options.

Yep, bad night at the office for us but when 3 of your 4 cb’s, your best striker, best player and only decent dm, back up rb and record signing striker are all out it’s never going to be pretty.

Add to that our lb has been sub optimal, rb (playing cb) just back after injury and was poor before, Tyler Roberts is a starter, Jack Harrison is in woeful form, Dallas is struggling after personal tragedy, Klich has been terrible for 18 months and we are relying on a Forshaw who has been injured for 2 years, it could be a long season.

Why is it that the players who get injured are the ones you can least do without?

Real shame about Aguero, a superb player.

Bielsa is suffering the second season woes, as teams know his tactics and are adjusting, and their tactics against the big teams are ineffective, it’ll be a tough year for them, especially if Newcastle strengthens significantly

Couldn’t believe that it was the same Leeds team who had taken Chelsea to extra time only 3 days before. Having said that City were unbelievable especially with De Bruyne back and Grealish seeming to find his form since his transfer. We also had limited experience on the bench with the exception of Klich who has been off form for some time.

It’s going to be a long season for us unless we can get our first team players back from injury asap, and also get a 2 or 3 reinforcements in during the January transfer window.

Anyway it wouldn’t be Leeds if everything went smoothly!

#MOT #ALAW

Weird atmosphere in the Emirates tonight, I heard the crowd.

The weirdest thing for me is that Arsenal are in the top 4 now, and don’t really have a recognised in-form striker, Aubameyang is in bad form and now sulking about it, and Lacazette hasn’t been in any form for about 2 years, but he does try.

It’s weird as they have a bit of a suspect defence, midfield and attack, but have clawed their way back up the table, imagine if they had a solid midfielder and a reliable striker, they could actually do something this season, maybe add an actual captain and they’d be well on their way!

It’s weird as they have a bit of a suspect defence, midfield and attack

Welcome to every team below the obvious top three.

I can’t believe Arsenal are where they are when they’re so obviously awful
At playing it out from the back, yet they insist on doing it and with a club captain who would clearly rather be anywhere else

The weirdest thing for me is that Arsenal are in the top 4 now

Look at the gulf in goal difference from the top 3 to the rest.

Agent Rafa strikes again

Up the reds! 😂

Yep, top bus parking that!

a bit of a suspect defence

Strange but I read that as Suspect Device

Great night for Liverpool that, cheers Rafa.

“Ignore those who pretend to know. Ignore lies and misinformation. Listen to people who know best. If you do that, you end up wanting the vaccine and the booster.”

Klopp on vaccines. Lad.

One of the best tunes ever recorded. Hats off for shoe-horning that one in 😂

Never saw them live. Did have tickets one night (ironically in Liverpool) but managed to highside my GPZ on the way there and ended up in hospital instead

Terrible refereeing for the second goal. No way that play should have continued. 2 players down in the area clutching their heads and you let play continue? Really?

2 players down in the area clutching their heads and you let play continue?

And we all know footballers would never feign a head injury in order to try and gain an advantage.

You reckon both of them were feigning that, do you?

Well the usual rules apply. If two of your defenders were on the floor in the box having clashed heads and the opposition, instead of putting the ball out, as they should have done, took advantage and scored, what would your opinion be then?

I’m sure you’d be fine with that, yes?

Rafa came up trumps for you again tonight. Great signing, that 😂

I wouldn’t be especially happy but I wouldn’t see it as any kind of travesty either. Turns out he was fine didn’t it? And there was no foul involved.

I have a question for you: would he have stayed down clutching his head if Newcastle had got possession of the ball and were steaming down the pitch on the counter attack? And would Newcastle fans and ABLs still think the ball should have been put out?

Anyway never mind all that what about TAA’s goal. I reckon that falls under the classification of a thunderbastard. Lovely.

To be fair, that was an absolute screamer

Obramovich’s firing gland must be getting twitchy now, even the recent chelsea wins haven’t been convincing.

and WTF is going on with the teams and covid, I have to be vaccinated or tested to attend work, why can’t the PL implement such a simple rule.

I did think Chelsea would drop off over City and Liverpool a bit, but didn’t expect it to be last night. They seem solid, but they don’t seem to have quite the killer instinct of the other 2.

I think it’s well established the vaccination take up is low among premier league players – age and intelligence probably a factor. Klopp seemed pretty confident the other week his squad were vaccinated, of course you can still test positive after being vaccinated, and have mild symptoms.

I think we need to see a bit more playing on when players are “injured”, it’s pretty easy to tell when a player is actually injured and requiring medical treatment. Turns out the ref was correct to play on as Hayden finished the game, the ref is in charge so wait for a whistle.

I think we need to see a bit more playing on when players are “injured”, it’s pretty easy to tell when a player is actually injured and requiring medical treatment. Turns out the ref was correct to play on as Hayden finished the game, the ref is in charge so wait for a whistle.

Dunno about that, i thought it was harsh on Newcastle. I still think Liverpool would have won, but not convinced that was right.

I think the vaccination rate in the PL is getting better but still not great. Much worse in the lower leagues apparently.

I’d not be happy sharing a changing room with an unvaxxed player. And again if they are unvaxxed is fairly likely they are also less responsible about wearing masks, social distancing, bothering with hand sanitizer, not going to parties/crowded events, etc etc.

Yes it’s their choice but it’s also a choice with consequences. When it comes to contract renewals or picking the team in less trying times I think the players who won’t do the right thing will find out some more about that.

Obramovich’s Firing Gland

(Disturbing) band name right there. ^^^

The postponements are ruining my FPL team/season! Only 5 games this weekend now

Went to Anfield last night. A decent game and it’s pleasing to see Newcastle have a go at least. Mike Reilly (Wirral) really is odius though. The best chant was ‘Mike Reilly, its all about you’ coupled with the traditional reference to onanism.

You’re setting a very dangerous precedent if you play on when a player is down clutching his head. Hayden was visibility shaken for 5 minutes but I think they did the concussion protocol apparently. It felt very different from the De Gea ‘injury’ and lazarus like recovery. I think it was Hayden who actually played Jota onside in the end as he was laid on the ground. That can’t be right.

Liverpool would still probably have won but that incedent and a decent penalty shout when TTA might have fouled Fraser could have made it interesting.

@slowpuncheur – how did you feel being at the match given the present covid situation? I was meant to be going to Old Trafford on Saturday. Its academic now as its off anyway, but I have to say I wasn’t feeling great about being packed in with 70 odd thousand people, even if it is (sort of) outdoors

It felt very different from the De Gea ‘injury’ and lazarus like recovery.

That was very different. De Gea was on the deck due to the standard comedy routine involving Fred raking his studs down his own goalkeepers ankle, so the play should have continued and despite the goal being very bizarre there was no legit reason for it not to stand. I personally think the play should have stopped last night given that it was a clash of heads, and it seems particularly bonkers that a player down injured is playing somebody on

@binners. Not great re Covid. Filled in an online declaration on the day which required a ticket reference BUT absolutely no checks on the gate of the Proof of Vaccination App. I was in the Dalglish Stand rather than the away end so there was certainly less chance of people near me disbursing particles as it was like a library compared to the away end:) Mask wearing on the concourse was probably around 60/70%.

South American countries to join the cup of nations, that’s a bold power move by eufa having all the nations that would be expected to be at the pointy end a world cup in a biannual competition. I think this is going to get messy.

Hayden was visibility shaken for 5 minutes but I think they did the concussion protocol apparently.

Eddie Howe was complaining saying Hayden was still getting headaches after the game. Why the F did he play out the rest of the game then?

VARs being shown up again today, how Kane’s foul wasn’t even referred by VAR, but Robertson’s was is a bit of a head scratcher.

I thought Jota should have won a penalty too, heavy and clumsy challenge in the box where he got none of the ball when Jota was about to shoot. But VAR is still better than last season so I shouldn’t complain too much.

I didn’t think the Jota one was a penalty, no where near enough contact. The Kane tackle though…..

I think the coms between var and ref should be available to the broadcasters so the decisions can be understood, just keeping it all undercover does feel like they are brushing mistakes under the carpet.

It’s meant to assist referees, not cover things up, it could have been used a few times today but wasn’t, both penalty appeals, red card appeals and other bits, honestly it’s not as if VAR is overturning it, it’s there to let the referee see something they may have missed, last year VAR was seen as overruling the referee, now they’re just not raising it if it almost looks right to them, instead of actually doing the job it’s there for.

It’s still subjective though, apart from offsides – you’ve still got a bloke judging whether the on field ref should have a look. I think they’re wary of stopping the game too much but penalty decisions and bad tackles should be looked at for sure. Agree with MSP – hearing the rationale may help.

now they’re just not raising it if it almost looks right to them,

The intention was always that they would review everything but only intervene if, in their opinion, there was a clear and obvious error. Seems like the threshold for clear and obvious is much, much higher this year. Which is fine for the most part. It has been inconsistent though. Relatively less contact has resulted in pens this year than today’s.
What was going on yesterday with it, I’m not sure. I swear the VAR had drawn the line level with the defenders hand on Arsenals goal yesterday. I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.

And that’s the issue, the ref has left the pitch today and is the talking point, he’s taking the flak for his decisions, where VAR was brought in to eliminate this and allow the referee a chance to review, if the reasons he gave to Klopp and the panel are true, i.e. that it wasn’t a penalty as Jota had ‘stopped’ to get the contact that’s laughable, same with Kane’s reasoning about speed/velocity/etc, about 5 folk in the studio haven’t heard of that one, and a few thousand at home!