Tomo

With his track record in big games I will suddenly become a lot more confident tomorow if this is actually true.

I think all penultimate games are being put back to that midweek to allow all grounds to have atleast one game with fans. So best guess it happens on FA Cup final weekend.

They maybe tough in a plucky mid table sort of way but so will Villa/Leeds. Although that said if we both make our respective European finals this week I doubt either team will much of a shit about it.

Why are Arsenal still being spoken about like a top team? Not saying it's a guaranteed 3 points but the table doesn't lie Everton or West Ham would be a harder game. I would argue 3 of Tottenham's final 4 fixtures are harder than this Arsenal at home and even the one that isn't is a fixture they've lost the last two season's. Furthermore i still don't get why we keep banging on about easy/hard games, firstly if our top 4 chasing rivals were making the most of these games they wouldn't be our top 4 rivals they would be close to City and secondly we've had the "hardest" run in last two season's and made it on both occasions.

I usually agree that i wouldn't want us to appoint a legend as a manager mainly because they'll have too much pull with the fanbase when things go south as was proved but on this occasion i felt it was worth the shot. With the transfer ban we needed someone a little less selfish with squad building, if Frank turned out to be the next big manager in the process then amazing, if (as it turned out) he couldn't get us back to around the top himself he leaves a top squad for someone that can.

No one denies he's a great manager (well domestically atleast). That what makes the way he behaved in the second season even worse.

I know you said it in jest but average temperatures in London and Milan aren't that far apart.

It was only really the final 2 months where he became consistently great, I think Cardiff was the sliding doors moment for him. We will never know now if that was a true breakthrough or a purple patch.

If it was '"just" the fact i didn't believe he was good enough then I could have been strong armed into trying to see the positives and to open my mind a bit (like i did/am doing with Chilwell). The most off putting thing is his personality, after seeing Mount use our signings as extra motivation to earn an untouchable status do we really want a guy who believes he's entitled to the silver spoon? (both with us as a 20 year old then at United he went to train at Anderlect until he got granted his move because he was told he had to fight for his place). He's got the ego of a generational superstar without the ability level to back it up.

I really thought my days of panicking we are about to resign Lukaku were over.

The loans only well and good if he goes to an appropriate manager like Bielsa or Hassenhuttl. If the alternative is a Bruce/Dyche/Nuno managed team I'd rather he stayed here and we went down the City/Foden route.

While I don't disagree that in Werner's case he's done enough to give us hope I don't buy the narrative players can't be written off after a season. We've rightly done just that with many players and should have done so with others not naming any names Torres.

In theory maybe but Jose use to do that with Mikel and it kept backfiring.

Wouldn't actually mind him returning if he happily knows his place regarding minutes. He is a decent enough impact sub and always has that month one a season where he performs to the idea of him.

Not sure I'd want Kova thrown back in for such a game, we played a barely fit Eto'o vs Leti in 2014 and it backfired spectacularly.

Would this be the same Gallagher that didn't get an assist of any description this season until February and went over a year without scoring?

This game shows one of the reasons i didn't want Pochettino. He's NEVER reacts to in game tweaks by opposition managers.

That's the spirit!

Another example of why the term "assist" needs redefining.

He was missing chances galore under Lampard aswell, I'm not saying it's acceptable but Torres being compared favourably to anyone of our strikers is a massive trigger point for me, I'd defend even Michy against such. Werner's flicked between average and terrible most of the season but that's just it average and terrible, even that's above the anonymous shit shows we got from Torres.

If he does a Torres he wouldn't get these chances in the first place!

As fans that enjoyed Drogba we should be the last bunch that judge solely on stats.

Wins the tie breaker but technically speaking the game goes down as a draw.

Technically we don't have to win either.

How I survived this stage in the past I'll never know!