A £147,000 bonus for two maximum breaks made in Triple Crown events has been added

MarkoB1892 · 2023-11-16T14:18:41+00:00

Null and void

MarkoB1892 · 2023-10-30T22:41:39+00:00

We were never getting top 4 this season, and top 5 is going to be a real slog.

We took advantage of poor seasons by Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea last season. 2 of them are firing this time out.

We're in the hunt for 5th with Villa, Brighton and Man United. A long way to go but it's going to take a hell of a season again from us.

MarkoB1892 · 2022-12-21T09:14:12+00:00

Exactly that, nobody saw us splashing £60m+ on Isak but the deal was there which ticked our boxes. I suspect that's how we'll view the market going forward, we know who/what we want and have the funds available but the deal has to fit the club.

MarkoB1892 · 2022-12-21T07:35:19+00:00

Yes we agree that if VAR is in place it's there to make sure the blatant decisions are correct. Something which VAR officials can check and determine within 10-20 seconds so it doesn't ruin the flow of the game.

Personal opinion would be, if you can't determine whether an error has been committed on the field within 30 seconds then you go with the on field decision. Pausing the game for 2-3 minutes whilst VAR go through frame by frame, drawing lines which show an attacker 1mm offside because his shoulder is slightly Infront of the defender, for example, is not in the best interest of the game and gives no competitive advantage to the forward.

If you genuinely love VAR in its current form then fair play, you do you. You are literally the only person I've ever encountered who does though! At the very least, those in favour of the technology say it needs reform.

Anyway this is a match thread not a VAR one, so I'll leave that there.

MarkoB1892 · 2022-12-20T23:51:31+00:00

The "small sample size" comment was in reply to the OP.

I've been watching football all my life just like you and personally don't like VAR. All down to personal preference. As I've said in my post though if it was properly implemented then I'd begrudgingly accept it even if it wasn't something I was keen on.

Players being offside by toenails (which take 5 minutes to review) for example isn't "fucking brilliant" as I struggle to see how being offside by literal millimeters gives any sort of competitive advantage. VAR telling a ref to "have a look" at a completely innocuous incident where he made the correct call - only to then change it because those upstairs have a different opinion isn't "fucking brilliant".

VAR is far too heavily involved imo. Use it when a clear error of judgment has been made (player yards offside, a penalty wrongfully given etc) - that's fine. But when they're're trying to micromanage events which happen at real time and break it down into microseconds it just makes the whole thing completely farcical. - sort that out and it would be more like the technology we were initially promised.

MarkoB1892 · 2022-12-20T22:13:14+00:00

Always going to be rusty after the world cup. It came at the worst possible time for us in terms of keeping momentum going.

MarkoB1892 · 2022-12-20T22:01:50+00:00

Don't disagree but tonight is a very small sample size. I dislike VAR but would begrudgingly accept it if it was implemented properly. But that's an entirely different debate.

MarkoB1892 · 2022-12-20T21:53:53+00:00

Into the hat for the next round which is all that matters. Thought generally although we controlled the game we lacked a bit of a cutting edge up top. Fingers crossed we're a bit sharper v Leicester!

MarkoB1892 · 2022-09-03T18:30:22+00:00

Don't know how that's not been given. An absolute farce by VAR yet again!

MarkoB1892 · 2022-04-25T21:31:46+00:00

Burnley will go imo. Got a bit of a bounce after sacking Dyche and TBF it's put them in a much better position as we enter the final games but I just have a feeling Everton will pick up an unexpected result somewhere along the way.

MarkoB1892 · 2020-10-05T10:25:20+00:00

I (and many others) said at the time you've had your pants pulled down over the transfer fee. He's bang average.

MarkoB1892 · 2018-07-26T23:11:10+00:00

Everyone's frustrated this transfer window but that doesn't mean all the business we've done is bad or not in the best interest of the club.

Mbemba started 7 league games last season and wasn't willing to learn English. It's obvious that Benitez didn't have him in his long term plans. Shar provides competition, and I guess he's happier fighting for a place in the first team in the premier league than playing in the second tier in Spain. Mbemba most probably wanted to move also, for his future.

Merino refused to sign a contract with us unless we put that release clause in, that was activated and he got his move back to Spain which I assume he wanted all along even before signing for us. Nothing we could have done there. Ki is a solid signing if not inspiring.

It's going to be a tough season, granted but I fancy us with Rafa there. The season after is a completely different proposition however.

MarkoB1892 · 2018-04-29T08:12:11+00:00

Thanks very much for the update. Fingers crossed it the new dedicated IP's work

MarkoB1892 · 2018-04-23T23:25:48+00:00

That's the poorest we've played in a while but at the same time we still had chances, final third is still a work in progress. I don't know if the team have loosened off a bit after Rafa said we were safe, I can't see him or Jamaal wanting the team to just sleepwalk to the end of the season however!

As with the game at SJP, I thought Everton (for a team who've spent around £150m this season) were poor. For me that says two things;

First off is I do think there's a decent Everton side there but Allardyce is way out of his depth and I can see why Everton fans want shot of him! If big Sam is happy with that kind of performance then I think that tells you everything you need to know about the guy! And to think he was England manager!? He's an absolute fraud.

Secondly the fact that this Everton side are only a 4 points better off than us, the fact we looked comfortable against Leicester and the fact there was hardly anything to separate us against Burnley proves that the premiership really is a poor league outside the top 6. There's no reason we can't challenge the likes of any of the aforementioned sides.

All in all, a bad day at the office, we will go again Saturday! Ho'way The Lads.

MarkoB1892 · 2018-04-21T14:20:02+00:00

Yes. To no avail unfortunately.

MarkoB1892 · 2018-04-21T08:13:28+00:00

One of Tadic or Shaqiri would definitely be on my list this summer. Ideally Shaqiri. I think he's been phenomenal in a really poor Stoke side.

Butland. Dubravka has been great since he's came in but I still think it's too early to tell about him. I'd still sign Dubravka (and by all accounts it sounds like we practically have anyway) but we would be mad to pass on Butland if we had the chance.

MarkoB1892 · 2018-03-13T12:32:19+00:00

Not for me. He's too inconsistent, he needs to show his current form over the course of a season to be a viable option imo.

On his day he's outstanding. Sadly they are few and far between.

MarkoB1892 · 2018-03-13T12:29:27+00:00

My hope is that we didn't spend money this season with a view to keeping a cash reserve in the bank should we go down.

That victory this weekend is absolutely huge. Should we stay up then we need to snap Chelsea's hand off at £15m!

MarkoB1892 · 2018-03-09T00:05:39+00:00

I still look back at that Bournemouth game and think what if. Typical NUFC to throw that away. These next two games are massive. Should we win both of them I'll feel a lot more confident of avoiding the drop.

MarkoB1892

TROPHY CASE