Tomo

Arsenal have a poor record at The Mestalla (been knocked out of Europe there twice before) so hopefully history will repeat itself.

Injured last i heard.

To further add, based on what RLC has said about Sarri's management of him any youngster coming in the squad next season being told by him to improve this and that if they want a shot here will know he means it and is not paying them and the fans lip service (ala Jose/KDB).

Yeah Sarri is the only one who has really focused on improving RLC. Mourinho, Conte and even Roy just shoehorned him in places they believed hid his weaknesses the best. Earlier in the season Sarri was calling Ruben over in game at every opportunity to give him instructions and it looks like his persistence is starting to seriously pay off, something Loftus has mentioned himself. I think this is a perfect time to get Mount and James in the squad even if the ban gets overturned, I think we need to spend all our budget on serious quality at ST and LB and with Azpi declining and the LCM spot being open, this is the perfect chance for both.

It's quite funny that Sarri has done what everyone's wanted for months and it's being swept under carpet, possibly because only 1 of the 3 wanted trio actually performed today.

I'm certain we would do a lot better infact had we got yesterdays Barca at The Bridge last season I'm certain we would have won comfortably. Despite ultimately losing by three goals we were quite unlucky against them last year (we didn't take our chances and they were clinical when they got there's). United yesterday did literally nothing in attack, it was probably the worse Barca have played since pre Pep and the worst I've ever seen Messi yet they still coasted to victory.

We have only really so far had two players want to leave and both times they were to Madrid (a fate even United regularly suffer). All our players (and AVB/Mourinho) who went to a rival went because we deemed them dispensable, not the other way round.

I don't think from an offensive view point he played that well yesterday but was very disciplined going the other way which is probably why his game times further increased of late.

He's made many beautiful passes that the strikers didn't finish. Chances created should be a better way to judge creativity than assists, for example Jorginho created a beautiful chance for Odoi vs Brighton on Wednesday and has for Higuain a few times lately all of which squanderered whereas RLC has got 2 assists this week purely by being the last man to pass the ball to Hazard before he scored his wonder solo goals. A lot of the time assists are very flattering, chances created and key passes give a better barometer of how creative players are.

I'd go as far as saying that's his best achievement for us to date. First few months he was constantly calling Ruben back in game to give instructions and it looks like it's paying off.

Biggest plus of the season for me, he's streets ahead of the player that returned from Palace (who i gave up on truth be told).

For all the criticism Sarri gets (some of it justified) no one can argue about how much better we are in possession. We use to be vaunlrable against any form of commited pressing (even our title winning sides) but now we play our way out of trouble so effortlessly.

It's a shame Christensen's dropped as i think he's our best CB currently but beyond that good team, will be interesting to see how Higs does with these players.

I would say he looks like Lincoln Burrows from Prison break more than Sarri.

Pedro was the starter in the Conte title season for the most part.

It certainly wouldn't be a bad thing should the worst happen and we play Europa again, all going well in the three comps that would be a good 20-25 appearances guaranteed straight away before even factoring anything else in (Azpi's decline the main one).

He's a decent asset when on a run of form like he is at the moment, his problem however is he seems to have one prolonged spell a season where he goes on a destructive goal drought and his play drops to bang average levels, he cost Arsenal the title in 2016 because of that.

Given how hit and miss all our rivals are aswell as us it won't take much for all of a sudden momentum to swing in our favour. A win at West Ham followed up by a positive result at Anfield (which I think we will actually get) and all off a sudden momentum's with us and we are looking good for 4th if not 3rd.

Still don't see RLC as a starter, he's done allright tonight but is a shadow of the player he is when he comes off the bench. We do seem to be playing a lot faster more often in recent weeks which is good to see.

Anyone who feels sorry for Warnock forget it, remember what happened when we faced his QPR side? This is us settling that score.

For 18 months i agree, but the league form of the last 6 was catastrophic and a large part down to his attitude.

We could have got relegated with points lower than Derby's record total, and jt wouldn't have made Conte's sacking a mistake

There seems to be a constant change in the goalposts with Odoi. When he was not getting minutes it was "look at Foden at City", now he's getting more minutes than him it's "but it's not in the league", no doubt if he was getting the league minutes instead of Europa the narrative would be "we give him the league minutes but in the competitions we have a chance of winning Sarri doesn't trust him". Even getting an England call up on the back of his appearances here is being spun into a negative. Now don't get me wrong i question Sarri's squad management with a few players (Christensen, Ampadu, Cesc and to an extent Emerson and Giroud) however Odoi is likely to end up with around 25-30 appearances at sixth form age, all said had that been any other club the manager in question would be getting wanked off into a coma.

I wouldn't actually be against CHO and Willian starting together, they seem to have good chemistry with eachother on and off the pitch and seem to bring the best out of eachother (all be it against poor opposition dus far).

Lol, any other club gets a recently turned 18 year old in the England squad they would forever be used as an example of how we should be doing things, I can only imagine the City/Pep wankfest and club bashing on here had Foden got called up before CHO. Should he have played more? Yes, but ultimately he's made 20 ish appearances for us including a semi at Wembley and a cup final, and he's been called up on the back of it.