Rival watch

Spurs with a slow start.

Chelsea unbeaten.

Arsenal playing lovely football under their new manager.

BUT I look at the league table and..................

 

…….why do we keep shooting ourselves in the foot?

 

I was just thinking the same thing.
It was laid bare today just how far short Utd are from being title contenders.
It takes me back to my '80s youth when winning a cup was the height of ambition. But then it seemed exciting.
The difference is that then I hadn't experienced the highs of being serial winners.
Now it's like watching a '70s Elvis.

 

Business as usual, City win in style and Liverpool given another huge leg up from the officials.

 

When Utd scored the penalty I was hopeful of a draw but 3-1 is fairly emphatic. Who's going to stop them?

 

Win the next 3 games and we are in business, interesting times.

 

Us....if we had turned up!!!!!

 

Danger Mousse

 

Today in self-awareness news...

 

I didn't see the game and it's not completely clear from that video. However it appears that there is an attempt to get someone else sent off. This is without doubt bringing the game into disrepute and should result in retrospective punishment. But of course it won't happen because there is nobody that regularly brings the game into disrepute more regularly than the FA, when they allow this sort of thing (while even worse making comments to the contrary).

 

Funny I was thinking, Alonso ,Hazard, Morata, Kante, Rudiger, Luiz all dived and tried to get free kicks and bookings for the other side. I didn't notice Everton behaving badly, perhaps I missed it.

 

Fake news

 

What happened to your comeback?

 

It stalled.
Not being able to pass to a player in the same coloured shirt, playing with no pace or movement and generally being a level or two below the standard of the opposition didn't help.
It's disappointing because there is talent there - and many of these players have played in successful teams or have shone individually before. But collectively they are performing far below what they should be capable of.

 

I agree, you are more impressive on paper than in reality

 

Last time we played Chelsea after a break we were thrashed 3-0 and here we go again, Chelsea after a break. I feel a win will be pivotal inasmuch as if we do win better form will follow with more convincing results. Now, I don't think Kane as a lone striker is playing well enough to pierce Chelsea's defence so 2 strikers and with Son starting might win it for us.
In Messi's absence Barca won four and drew one and now he's back they lose 3-4 which proves a team doesn't need it's best player to win which is why I've suggested we drop Kane when he's playing badly and see how we do. We scored three against West Ham without him. Anyway let's hope Messi's return ensures Barca continue to lose.

 

The video doesn't do justice to just how pathetic it was. He was down for ages, rolling around and cupping his hand under his nose for blood as if he expected a wisp of Bernard's hair to have shattered his nose bone.

Then there was Morata throwing himself to the floor in the box on several occasions and appealing a disallowed goal when he was stood a meter offside for the entire play. The barefaced cheek to call Everton cheats after all that

Fairplay to the officials, Chelsea were trying to put him under pressure but they didn't buckle. Just wish we'd get a ref that does the same.

 

You'd have thought by now that footballers would have grasped just what prima donnas that they can be and would know not to either butt or simulate a butt against a fellow professional knowing that this sort of pathetic behaviour often follows. It's been going on for ages and Francis Lee was the best at it.

 

We need to play our best available players in their best positions against Chelsea in order to stand a chance. Harry is therefore a definite starter, we are sometimes over critical of Harry (myself included) but he has set ridiculously high standards over his time in the team and any slight dip is seen as a cause for concern.

Currently we are getting good results by playing well in patches - Hugo is a good example of this; moments of brilliance making saves that win us matches mixed up with moments of madness that have some of us calling for Gazza to start. So far this season only Lucas, and Sissoko have performed consistently in line with our expectations (Sissoko actually way above most of our expectations). Lamela despite a poor game at the weekend can also be excused too much criticism, but everyone else has good spells in matches and also gone missing just as often.

Hopefully all our fit players will return unscathed from this break and we will go into a crucial spell of the season with fewer injuries and get some consistency in selection and performance as we will need this for the rest of the season to secure our place in the top 4.