Danny Higginbotham seemed very well informed actually…
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Since VVD was injured we’ve scored 4 and conceded 14 at home in all comps. Puel feels the heat at home and VVD is as much a skipper as a terrific CB, which i think we miss.
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Oh great good to know
I saw positives.
Foster claimed a corner outside of his 6 yard box
Stephens looked calm and composed coming forward, making a couple of great runs forward and distributing the ball well (I hope he doesn’t get told off for this)
As mentioned above, JWP starting to look great.
My biggest gripe is strikers who don’t take penalties. So I was glad to see Gabby stand up to take it. I was confident, but he clearly wasn’t. You all know, that 6 - 8 weeks ago that pen was in the back of the net.
All the outfield players (subs included) looked like they wanted to be on the ball. I think they know the heat is on, and to me they want to play for the manager.
My last point is that when I am older and greyer, Claude (and hopefully some others in the future) got me to Wembley. Poch didn’t when he had a really good chance to, and Ronnie didn’t. The league form is not great, and it is a step backward but real entertainment creates memories. And the best one for me in recent years came on that day. He deserves to stay.
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Sometimes I wonder if you’ve watched the same game as me NYS.
* The first half was pretty dull but we played well in the second with plenty of passion and penetration albeit against a pretty unmotivated United.
* Targett didn’t look off the pace to me
*The crowd weren’t booing Boufal, they were booing JWP coming off
* … I don’t really understand the Eddie Howe bit 
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I missed most of the first half through falling asleep and watched the second half whilst I should have been sleeping.
I will now be grumpy all day because I am now tired and pissed off about the lack of emphasis the club puts on training our superstars on how to put the ball in the back of the old fucking onion bag.
Yep, agree with that Cherts. It’s been a while coming but now we’re starting to see why the club’s always had so much faith in him.
I was pleasently surprised to see how sharp and match ready Targett looked, after all this time out.
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Seems like we did watch different games. It was a great chance to beat Utd. We missed a penaly and they hit the post. On the upside their goalie was MOM and you could say we were a bit unlucky at times but i believe you make your own luck. Hope you are right about Boufal because what I saw was turgid.
I feel for Puel. Three missed pens on the trot. Two of them go in and we have two wins extra and another 4 points. Perhaps we should play all our games away?
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Mourinho’s Man Utd is worse than Van Gaal’s - and possibly David Moyes’.
And a Europa Cup win will only paper over the cracks.
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It’s payback for the one’s we got away with from the two Harrys (Kane, Artur), when we had the slippery penalty spot
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My last game in Block 12. 0-0 with Man Utd.
We’ve come a long way since struggling against Colchester, Bristol Rovers and Swindon.
Upwards and onwards.
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Jack Stephens was superb last night, he’s going to be class.
Anyone who uses last night to have a pop at Claude is clueless. We played well, particularly second half. Some of our interplay between the back 4 & the midfield was excellent, certainly better than the “lump it to Pelle” stuff we saw at times last season. Clearly we need a goalscorer ( and I’m not convinced it’s Gabbi). Put Mane in that side & we’d be flying imo . As dire as they were Jose is a winner, they don’t lose many games, so more than happy with a point
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Hmm what a shame nobody on here ever mentioned that Styephens will eventually become an England player and that he has class.
Puel obviously has to go as he has taught our players how to not take penalties.
Puel must stay as he obviously told Gabbi to miss it so that “Big Clubs” will ignore him in the summer and he will stay.
So long Ryan and thanks for keeping quiet unlike others.
Enjoy playing for Reading or Uddersfelt Matty.
And so nice to know that re-incarnation exists and that Sideways Jim has returned to the team wearing the #8 shirt.
Glad I stayed home, glad I had an early night (before half time)
Meanwhile
I would have bitten anyones arm off for a chance of 8th and a Cup Final and a European away day.
I would have laughed if someone had told me we’d score more goals at home than Man Utd this season in the League.
I would not have believed it possible that we would have more shots on target in a game against Utd than any other side in the EPL except Spurs
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Except against United this season we’ve had FUCK ALL!
OK write off the first half; cat and mouse cancelling each other out but with just a little of that elusive luck we could easily have won that game and on the second half showing it would have been deserved.
Boufal is young…learning when to “take on” and when to “lay off” will make him a much more effective threat…hopefully next season. FF had little to do all game and their keeper was MotM…says a lot for me…cup half full.
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We upped the tempo at the start of the second half, but then, as usual, took Gabbiadini off after 60 minutes and lost momentum. Recently he’s had such little service or support in the whole first half which is strange considering the service he was getting after he joined. Clearly a tactical decision. His strengths are his movement around the box and his finishing from close range, neither of which his team mates are giving him the opportunity to do at the moment.
As for the passing between the back 4 and the midfield, Man Utd we sat deep and left so many areas of space if front of their midfield, that it was easy to play in these areas, especially when we have twice as many players in that part of the field. For my money, not superb. Stephens was allowed to pick the ball and run with it well into the opposition half quite a bit in the 2nd half and not face a challenge. Shame the rest of the team didn’t share his adventure.
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As Wayne Gretsky, the highest scoring ice hockey player of all time once said
‘He knew that he wouldn’t score 100% of the shots he didn’t take’.
Another of Gabbiadini’s strengths is his defending from the front, you could definitely see the difference in this when J-Rod came on and hardly chased the ball at all. If he lost it he would stamp his feet and sulk, if Gabby had lost it he would have chased that damn ball down.
We were as guilty as Man United of letting their players run at us, there did seem to be a general “don’t tackle anyone” clause out there last night.
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How can the first three randoms out of the crowd wander out in their flip flops and nail those penalties at half time, yet we have professionals who can’t take a corner let alone a penalty?
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I have just seen the first 25 mins of the first half and Gabbiadini"s penalty was as limp as my cock the morning after arriving in Labuan.
At least Long thumped it against Middlesboro