Brilliant idea of him to grab an opposition player and try to drag him off the pitch quicker. That was always going to end well wasn’t it? Self induced yellow.

I think the loan is going well but he would have got minutes

Also the one which is even harder to admit is Pépé. A frustrating player but surely a better option than vieira wide

Very concerning. Last night had been coming. We've been getting away with increasingly poor performances, especially in the second half of games, and yesterday the *%^@ really hit the fan. Last night was a flashback to some of the worst performances under Arteta.

The pitch was slippery, maybe overwatered, but some of our players couldn't trap a bag of cement.

I would expect us to beat Forest at home but I am not sure how we regain our early season spark with Chelsea on the horizon.

Obviously our rotation options are not great but I think it was Rich who pointed out that even City do not rotate as much as you would think they do.

Ødegaard seems increasingly ineffectual post 45 mins, Saliba is looking a bit leaden-footed on the turn, Martinelli looked like he'd won a fan contest to play in the game, Nketiah missed some really good chances. Everyone put in a 4 out of 10 (or less) performance.

PSV are no mugs (they have been scoring for fun) so I'd put that one down to experience.

We really should handle Zurich at home. I agree with those saying we have to keep trusting the fringe players. The only way they will improve is if they play. Nketiah gets a couple of goals and he may be a different player.

Whether we have the squad to compete on multiple fronts is another question entirely.

And very effective in the European games, if I remember correctly

Hopefully in the upcoming transfer window we use the money to get someone who can hit the ground running in the Premier League. Vieira is turning out to be a mini version of Pépé (as in ‘watch this space’) at about half the cost. He might come good but that’s not what we need right now.

The imminent World Cup break might actually help us to regroup and get going again.

Morning Zed
Bodo will also be up for it as they are now fighting Zurich for that 3rd place berth to go into the Europa Conference so PSV wont have it all their own way especially on that artificial pitch.
I know what round of fixtures i'd prefer going into the last game

Let's hope the team start hard and fast against Forest this weekend. And, get the goals early.
We cannot to afford to drop any points this weekend. Confidence will be smashed.

It can come quickly enough.

An interesting goal by Trusty this evening for Birmingham vs QPR. Another loanee who is impressing.

I think we will turn up on Sunday. He will have bollocked the players, it’s a home game, nice kick off time our fans will be bang up for it.

I do think Edu and Arteta need to rain check some of their transfer market behaviour. If Arteta doesn’t see it with any player he won’t persist and try and force the player on even if there isn’t a replacement lined up or the transfer doesn’t make sense. There seems little pragmatism about it and if there was a David Dein type at the club I do wonder if someone would pull Arteta to one side.

The one for me that scratches my head right now is letting Pépé go on loan whilst paying a chunk of his wages and not having a replacement winger. He’s far from a perfect player and his tracking back is poor etc etc but in the season before last he scored 16 goals in all competitions and provided numerous assists. Which of our players on the bench right now can do that ? I mean literally nobody. I’m not saying Pépé is a god, or even don’t sell him but letting him go without a replacement looks nuts right now to me.

I’m not slating Arteta who is a very good coach but it does seem a flaw. He just can’t abide by certain types

Hi LTG,
The big regroup will be the friendlies MA will have a few players not called up for the WC Friendlies will take place during the WC. MA wants to keep players in peak condition for the festive season.

Hi David,
Almost forgot about that artificial pitch at Bodo. PSV may have played on it anyway before. Arse still top, Just hope we knock Zurich out.

I quite fancy Leicester to take points off City today. Touch wood!

Brighton playing like they have something to prove to Potter - 2-0 up after 15 minutes, and Thiago Silva has cleared it off the line twice already.

And Spurs behind at Bournemouth

Potter has the 2nd half before the hounds are on him

Spurs may come back in win this but they are very poor again.

I found it strange when so many people thought that the next logical step when spurs were playing badly and winning was that spurs play well and win rather than spurs keep playing badly and lose

Early doors for Potter, but I'm not convinced so far. Hasn't had much time to put his stamp on the side and they have a few key injuries, but the formation looks off. Sterling as a sort of wing back is just such a bad idea - he's a player for the final third and nothing else. Isn't very good in the press, doesn't put in a shift defensively, what he does is score and assist and if you're going to play him you need to put him in a position to do that.

I'm all here for it though. A win tomorrow and we can go 10 points clear of them before the game at Stamford Bridge.

B'mouth are bending over.

Damn it Bournemouth...

Elneny back in full training. Still might be too soon to see him before the World Cup but gives him chance to be raring to go for the Xmas period.

Initial prognosis was January so he looks ahead of schedule

Ever since Joe Gomes played 1 good game this season and everyone said he should be straight in the england squad he’s been pretty awful.

Ben White continues to go about his business quite brilliantly this season

Caicedo looks like he’ll be the next big money exit from Brighton. He looks top class

Trossard is having a breakthrough season as well. Thought he was very good whenever I watched Brighton last season, quick and lively, always making something happen but the end product wasn't quite there. He's adding goals to his game at a much better rate and I can see him being successful as a squad player for a bigger team.

Liverpool beaten at home by Leeds. Wow.

Did say Liverpool were in serious trouble when all the pundits were saying they’d be fine. I even caveated nicely to account for wins like the City performance - although predicted they’d lose that.

Is he 27? Maybe slightly too late in his career for a big big move. He’s also close to guaranteed starter. I’d advise him to stay put, but I guess money will talk.

So who do you think will get sacked next. My top 3: Klopp, Rogers and Potter but in no particular order.

We've seen 2 clubs in the EPL become uber rich overnight. Chelsea and City to a lesser extent Leicester. But for the purposes of this post I'll use Chelsea and City. Eventually, both clubs won titles within the first 5 or 6 years I think and when they won it depended on where they started out. Chelsea was already a top 3-4 club with a good manager capable of winning, when they got an extremely rich owner and it took them only 2 seasons to bridge the gap.

City got bought by an Abu Dhabi based group in 2014, prior to that they were owned in part by a Thai billionaire I believe, in 2007. Took them about half a dozen seasons to win the title.

Newcastle will do so in about that time or less if I had to take a guess. This season they have only lost one game. They are tough to beat with a good manager who now has limitless money. Like other clubs who were not good before but got limitless funds, the hard part isn't paying for a great player, its convincing them to come. I wouldn't be surprised if they are top 5 this season and a top 4 fixture after that and it makes it that much harder for us, Chelsea, Tottenham and Man Utd as it adds one extra side that will be more than capable of top 4.

They will be a force.

Patrick Bamford’s attempt at a first touch was the assist for Leeds winner

And that wasn’t his worst first touch in the game.

He’s one of the worst finishers for a regular starter as a striker in the league I can remember.

Can’t see potter in danger tbh, he’s the definition of a slow build project manager. The anti-Conte if you will. Surely if he makes Europe he’ll be fine. I expect Chelsea to get stronger as the season progresses mostly because their squad is massive and they’ll out last everyone else.

Klopp I think will be fine for this season. But has got to be top 4/ title challenge next season.

Rodgers must be gone.

Hassenhutl is always precarious.

As to when City's Abou Dhabi owner Sheikh Mansour bought City from Thaksin Shinawatra, it was 2008, not 2014. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, has been chairman since 2008 at City.
It is what it is.

Tottenham stubbornly hanging on just enough for us to worry. I might have to wear a Tottenham shirt next time I go to Vegas or buy a lottery ticket after yesterdays match and a few previous ones. With Chelsea on the horizon dropped points a real possibility. I think top 4 is pretty much there, and I'm not worried about winning the title this season. I'd like us to get runner up. Its a statement making league position if we can stay there at season's end. Liverpool is the only side I would have been worried about getting there but they are having serious issues. Can't believe I'm actually not considering Liverpool as a top 4 threat but I am >>>this close<<< to doing so.

We're starting to put enough distance between us and Chelsea where we might not have to seriously consider them of catching us unless we go on a bad run and they go on a good one. If West Ham can get something out of the Man Utd game (doubt it) we can start looking at Tottenham and Newcastle as the challengers to top 4.

Liverpool are the only thing stopping City from making the EPL look like the Bundesliga.

I doubt any of those three will be gone soon. Liverpool would have to be Manchester United level bonkers to fire Klopp, and they clearly are not.

Leicester have been better recently and losing a close one to City is not a sackable offence.

Its interesting the Conte is fourth favourite to get the sack!

The American feed often has interesting tidbits I've not seen on the English feed pre or post game. The commentary and analysis is often not as polite as you will hear in the UK. Way more banter as well.

Trossard’s contract is up in 6 months. If he keeps playing like he is he’ll have his pick of the (richer) clubs and will surely go to the bigger contract

I’ve seen Chelsea fans compare Potter’s ‘rebuild’ to what Arteta has done at Arsenal - as if they need 3 years to compete.

Ignores so many factors.
1) Arsenal’s squad was in the toilet when Arteta took over
2) Chelsea just spent £225m this summer to fix things and will have far more money than Arteta ever had even though people use Arteta’s spend as a stick to beat him with
3) Arteta also had to deal with the covid effected seasons

Howe is going a fantastic job at Newcastle, and there are only really maybe 3 players that their Saudi money has bought for them. Guimaraes, Botman, Isak. None of those 3 move there without the money.
But players and prices for the likes of Pope, Wood, Burn, Targett, Willock, trippier we’re all within Newcastle’s normal reach I’d say - it was just under Ashley they didn’t invest as they could have.

The squad is still very thin on quality depth so injuries could affect them but no europe means they’re in the one game a week territory. They need to be considered a proper threat to top 4

Hi Rich,

Newcastle are the definite dark horses for a top 4 spot. A well balanced team filled with quality and energy and one that will likely only get better with some new additions.

Wish we had followed up our interest in Guimaraes

As you point out, no european football helps enormously.

I don't think many teams will go to St James's park and get a win.