Whilst I think it is unlikely we really need to approach this with some hope At the end of the day we only have to win by two goals in 90 minutes to be in it. Leverkusen are good but they are not sone kind of mystic behemoth. We have beat3n better teams than them by two clear goals We don't even nee...

mushy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2024 7:27 am A lot of the core players for the England national team seemed to go missing last night.

Bring back Eric Dierr

Didn't have his best game last night but far from the worst player. Unfortunately for him he has set such high standards for himself that he is under immense scrutiny every game. The expectations seem to be he is going to be able to be peerless every single game, despite playing more minutes than pr...

we will almost certainly need to come 7th now for European travails next season, and 6th for Europa League

got more chance of winning Europa League IMHO

Yep. Days are long gone when the 'manager' ran the show from top to bottom In a handful of cases the manager becomes so successful that they then begin to dominate I.e Pep and Klopp, but even at those clubs there are multiple senior people respomsible for various elements, including transfer activit...

This is why arguing about possession %s can be distracting. Where you have the ball and what you do with it (threatening or passive) is much more important. It's why 50%+ possession might do my head in if it was tippy tappy Potter at Brighton style. I don't have a major problem with @30% possession...

In the end, the only stats that matter are real goals for and against, wins, draws, losses, and league positions. they are the only stats that matter in regards to how we are performing vs competitors in a league system however, other stats that reflect a 'style of play' might matter to some people...

We are not out of the tie, IMHO
We don't need to win by 3 goals in 90 minutes
a two goal win in 90 mins takes it to extra time and then anything can happen, including going to penalties

on any given day, with a fair slice of luck, we can beat any team 2-0 or 3-1

Yes Brighton got smashed 4-0 at the Olympico, but the media will stroke off De Zerbi all day long for trying to play football in “the right way” whilst sucking in the modern-day entitled fan into thinking there’s only one way to play a game of football. Great game management from RDZ there. Would a...

Bubbles Fortuna wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2024 10:39 am David Sullivan.

Sullivan is largely to blame for not getting replacements (and thus leaving us short), but not for actually getting rid of Benny, Kehrer and Fornals. Moyes had no real desire to use them when they were fit and available

Scamacca didn't work out It happens He went back to Italy where clearly he is more comfortable. This situation was more about the environment, not the style of play/ manager/ coaching staff etc We probably should have been more careful when we purchased him, but every company in the world hires unsu...

assuming Bowen and Phillips are not fit, i would go with simialr formation as last night

Fab
Mav, Zouma, Oggy

Kudos RWB
Cornet LWB

Alvarez
Soucek
JWP

Ings
Antonio

Viv Stanshall wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2024 9:51 am You’re either trolling or have absolutely no idea how we’ve progressed through the European rounds in the past couple of years. Why on earth you’d expect this against the best German team this season I’ve no idea ??

i think he is being sarcastic!

i would have taken a 1-0 defeat before kick off last night that 2nd goal was a very very poor one to give away at 1-0 down, that really was the time to completely shut up shop, and i would have bought on Ogbonna for Cresswell to add additional height and leadership. when you know it is going to be f...

My biggest issue with last night was the lack of attacking intent. Yes, we were missing a few (key) players, but so do most teams and while I can accept that this may have influenced our overall approach to the game, I cannot accept what appeared to be any kind of intent to try and attack. Several ...

Last night was a night for Oggy, IMHO

“Moyesball” - Arsenal recently come away from the Etihad with a 0-0 draw having a whopping 27% possession. Teams do play like this sometimes when up against it. They did but they did offer more threat than we did last night. The shot differential was 12-6, not 32-1! Of course, ceding possession, an...

I'm not buying that we were brave and battling. We surrendered the ball, sat back and what always happens happened. Yes they are a great side, but we showed them far too much respect. I would be a lot happier if we had had a bit of a go at them, instead of relying on the odd breakaway chance. If we...

It wasn’t a sitter though. It was a decent chance. The problem was that it was the only one we created. And this is the frustrating thing for me Yes, they ar ea very good side and we defended very well, but that early incident showed they were vulnerable at the back if we committed a bit more to th...