It's not to throw the player under the bus here, he's worked really hard for the team and we'd be in a much worse position without him but I think there need to be some questions about how we came to that decision and why we went through with it.

VG made no sense to me as a striker for this team, even as a rotation, because the stylistic difference is so utterly vast, you're asking the team behind him to play a totally different way to what they're used to and how they're suited to.

I know he has 20-odd goals this season but the Havertz performance y'day was the whole reason I was always on the fence re: Gyokeres. You can talk all you want about different profiles, and being able to play different ways, but our attack has been at its best with a between the lines guy up top.

I 100% agree with this. These are June/July conversations

2 of Odegaard's injuries were freak accidents were he landed on his shoulder. Havertz went down first day of the season. You could make an argument for Saka maybe but I don't you rotate your way out of this injury situation

I disagree with that reading. We spent £300m to try to mitigate that as best as you can but those players still got injured. It's shifty luck but in the end, it's just luck. It's not really in anyone's control

You can build a big squad but you need to be able to put your best guys out. And I don't think our best guys not being able to play has much to do with the manager tbh

I think the midpoint take is more (and people will hate this) that we have been fucked by injuries again. We haven't had our key attackers for far too many games this season and that's a big reason why we aren't 5 points further clear

And Everton and Brentford, who are also very much in the European hunt. It's probably going to the final day again

today once again makes it clear. to win big trophies, you need proven winners who've done it over and over again, like harry kane.

It seems weird to me that no one wants to ask that question of them when they seem, institutionally, tk really not give much of a shit about abiding by the rules

Looking back (I know it's only a week) but they were the wrong team at the wrong time. Could have done with a Burnley or West Ham, someone who was going to come and try not to get battered. The last week has made a big difference, hopefully we can keep our guys on the pitch for these last games

They've won 2 of their last 12 (D1, L9) and it increasingly feels like the players don't want the manager there anymore. As with other games, if we can't get it over the line against them we don't deserve. But I'm confident we will

Yeah, you hate to have to consider it but we seem to be very reliant on some guys with unreliable fitness when it comes to our attack. Strikes me as a bit mid 2010s with Ramsey/Wilshere. As @tim-stillman.bsky.social has said before - sometimes, the best ability is availability

I still just don't see them as being *that* team. If they were, they would have brutalised us today, given the state we went into the game. 3 of their last 6 are against teams with a genuine shot at Europe. All our remaining games are against teams either in the relegation battle or on the beach

Also PEDs

I texted a mate to say if we'd had Timber, Havertz, Saka, Calafiori and Odegaard fit and available for 60-70% of the PL games this season, we'd have already won it.

A proper game of football, this one, berween a team that should have wrapped up the title already and another which should have been demoted to League One a long time ago.

Amazing how having Odegaard and Kai back and playing together suddenly makes our attack look miles better. I'm weirdly optimistic, if we can keep those two on the pitch between now and May 24th, I have hope of good things

I think that as economists we should be a lot more concerned that everyone feels like they've got poorer when the data show they haven't. We certainly shouldn't just be assuming that the customers are wrong, rather than that we're no longer measuring things that are most relevant to wellbeing

Physically, he's so impressive

Araujo booked for his 3,131st foul over the two legs

To lose it, he would have needed to have had it...

He's let them call the game, mind boggling the double standards

And I agree completely on Merino. I think we miss him massively, he's so versatile, can cover deeper and gives us an out if we need to go long. Some of our best football this season has come with him in the team

I think, to be honest, it was a failure of planning. We were days away from renewing Partey and got blindsided by the decision to charge him. We then had to pivot and Norgaard was the available option. We have, to some extent, got what we deserved for a morally reprehensible decision

While I agree, I don't think the two things are mutually exclusive

100% agree

I would argue the signing it makes more questionable is Norgaard. Rice and Zubi are gassed in part because the manager does not trust Norgaard in the PL at all, he has barely an hour of PL minutes. He's dead wood preventing us from properly rotating at CM. Merino injury also hasn't helped

The most important player in this squad is Mikel Merino, his versatility and contribution to our ability to regain and retain possession is majorly underrated. Without him, we are lumping the ball up the pitch to a guy who can't control it