Ripley

He got tripped when running flat out but he just rolled and carried on running as fast before the ref could blow and had to give the advantage. Which was nice. The best thing is Jeremie Frimpong just loves playing football.

Slavko Vinčić ref. He’s usually very good

Ramsey treated like a leper again

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Good keeping rather than horrendous miss on the replay extra time has been brilliant

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Behave yourself. Nothing has been as bad as what Szoboszlai did since the Spanish Inquisition. Needs a hole drilling in his head to release the pressure there

Alvaro Arbalos named as successor

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Given their continuing stockpiling of players, a transfer embargo must surely be expected. Still very kind for them to be given plenty of time for acquisitions if so.

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Strange brill to die on, mind That's my first ever

I should have been clearer and you're right. Sometimes it only needed a headed clearance You're right, I should have been clearer. Sometimes it only needed a headed clearance to just outside our box and 3/4 lads were on their bikes to create a massive overload approaching the other penalty area. Nowadays, the starting point probably should be nearer halfway because pace.

As someone pointed out earler, we were 8v5 in and around our 6 yard box in anticipation of a long throw so Fulham, with extra bodies, wisely rolled the dice on 2 passes to Reed in acres of space and still not closed down. Even then I must admit I was perfectly happy as he lined it up to say, "Go on lad, if you're having a pop from there, it will waste another 30 seconds getting the ball back from Row Z". Hey ho. Which leads to why we weren't using fewer bodies to deal with a long throw, They are more of a hindrance and we should be using 2/3 left outside our area and maybe even close to halfway for the other lot to think about.. I can remember the days when a corner for the opposition was a goalscoring opprtunity for us. Has that happened since Jürgen?

The official explanation of the tolerance underpinning the onside decision is available online at the BBC and the inevitable Dale Johnson but most of the "offsiders" seem to believe that the lines created on the pitch by mowing are the key evidence. As if the VAR technology is dependent on a person pushing a mower. The tech is calibrated to the area of the playing surface. If the lines need to be drawn they are perpendicular to the touchlines, the mowing strips are not a consideration. But because Wirtz and the defender were close to a mowed strip border ..... LiVARpool

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Wythenshawe's finest is inevitably ref and John Brooks will be drawing the lines in favour of LiVARpool

That would be great. And if that mad Hannibal lad is just a loan at Burnley, recall him.

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Has anybody got the recent running stats? It may be the same for all clubs but our squad is in the sense of who Slot trusts) and depleted by a few injuries, but that core of players consisting of more than half of the regulars could perhaps be forgiven for thinking on December 19 that, from the next day, they were about to play 5 games in 19 days culminating in Arsenal away. That is Ali, Virgil, Ibou, Grav, Dom, Flo, Hugo all looking at the thick end of 500 minutes pitch time. Dom excused himself one outing but you could add Curtis and Mac also playing the bulk. Consciously or otherwise, they surely have to be thinking they need something left in the tank for the last in this series. Yes, all clubs have more or less the same matches in similar days but compare the numbers of internationals Arsenal, City and Villa will have rotated in or called off the bench for 30/45 minutes - sometimes because they have made the game safe! It was noticeable last night that Dom, even with the benefit of a match off, seemed very one-paced when he could have been setting the tempo. In fact only Frimpong and Ekitike made any "lung-busting" sprints.Throw in an absurd "subs by numbers" policy and we're at a point where I don't know how to finish this post other than to stand up and go and pour a gin and tonic. Nevertheless, Pip's post above is certainly not to shrugged off.