JRC

Engineered a short break so as not to be away for the last match of the season a few years back, and we were well on the running for the league. Gutted when it meant I missed a Tuesday night European game, felt slightly less gutted when it looked like a dead rubber after losing the away leg 3-0......

Looking at it again, Salah's control and shot - with a heartbeat pause between - was virtually identical to MacAllister's, just as filthy. Dom's involvement also indicative of a 2nd half much closer to his early season form; pace, power and a sharp pass. An unstoppable goal from the moment we moved into their half.

The ball thing at the corner by Coote was as good a piece of game management I can remember, givn we had a head of steam up at the time. Also impressed with how shamelessly he got after Kelleher for taking time over a goal kick, and then chasing Diaz off the pitch as he was subbed. I'm with those calling it the worst performance in a very competitive field.

I think Mainoo looks very good, but the collective noise to promote him to the first team squad is classic Manc hype, and Southgate's compliance weak, or a play to position himself as the next Utd manager (I wish). Particularly like that a few weeks ago he was being touted as Casemiro's legs, being shown where to go and what to do, yet now it's claimed he's so good he's telling Casemiro what to do. Also he was, apparently, critical to their comeback against us, despite going off on 80 at 2-1 down. Even without Elliott's Liverpool form, he has absolutely fulfilled the England pathway (as set out by Southgate himself) being stellar, and one of the grown-ups, in those junior squads (as has Jones, tbf), so overlooking him for pundit brownie points is poor.

Apologies for vagueness, but caught an 'expert' on Talksport this week was arguing that the issues at City went deeper, potentially accounts falsified rather than just FFP or PSR non-compliant, perjury in CASS submissions - actual criminality and fraudulent misrepresentation to the Premier League. (Interestingly, he also claimed that their sponsorship arrangements were not under scrutiny, but accepted as 'fair value') Didnt hear the beginning or end, but it was quite a different and damning take.

Think he scored an extremely late winner for Wolves at Goodison last year, so bonus points there. Very enjoyable game that, here's to the away team winning the other 3 QF matches.

So Dyche is supposed to have landed one on Patterson in training, and the players are less than impressed and up in arms. He's not talking to Coleman either, apparently. Lovely stuff, but not sure if it screws them up or gets them even more fighty.

It's so rare the pundits didn't understand. Bizarrely the last instance I can recall is the disallowed Matip goal in the 22 Caraboa cup final, when Van Dijk was called for preventing James getting out to the crosser, iirc.

Pretty sure the VAR screen came up as possible offside and then the disallowed reason as offside. He was in an offside position undoubtedly, but became active when he 'impacted' the play, supposedly. It was never called as a foul. What's annoying is that the slightest touch off a Chelsea player would have negated the offside (as per Lovren/Kane/Jon Moss a few years back) - a ridiculous change - yet Endo being within a metre of another player in as crowded box gets called.

Jota's was given as a foul iirc, just not a red card.

Some classic McNulty in his BBC Sport Online '5 Talking Points from the match' report. The non-penalty decision is naturally one of them, but whilst McNulty agrees it should have been given, he caveats it by mentioning how hard done by City have been in this game on previous occasions in terms of contentious decisions. And by mentions I mean 4 times in one discussion point. Obsessed.

Didn't know much about Hughes, but we have always sniggered about how much we blagged Bournemouth into paying for Ibe etc. Except they may now be looking at a good return if they sell Solanke, as well as the benefit of his goals return these past years, so swings/roundabouts. More impressed with his offending the little Englanders by binning off O'Neil for Iraola and sticking with him despite the mocking. (Not to say O'Neil isn't a decent coach - he worked under Klopp for a bit, didn't he?, - or that Iraola won't ultimately fail; but I quite like the cut of his jib atm)

Pleased to see him getting a run out, he was definitely hyped, maybe over-hyped, but seemed to be another emerging superstar who doesn't cut it. May still not, but at least there is a possibility he'll have a career.

See also Jamie O'Hara and Gary Neville. End of Days.

Oh he definitely does, and it is a fraction of a second after he blows the whistle. But given the refs decision process - assessing the nature of the head injury, what context applies for the restart, stop the game - is prior to him actually blowing, it is entirely reductive to fume about that fraction of a second between the Forest lad touching the ball and the whistle being audible. The ruling about restarts from head injury stoppages is just fundamentally not one where should expect to apply VAR or Hawkeye type technology to determine exactly the point of the game stopping. Nearly all the fuming, especially from pundits, has been because they didn't know the rule about it being in the area means it goes to the goalie. In this case the Ref knew better and applied it entirely in the way intended. (All notwithstanding that the Kung Fu leap by the Forest player - whether he caught Konate or not - should have been penalised)

Shearer and the Guardian piece both nod at the explanation of Tierney's decision(s) without clarifying, as their whole position becomes farcical. By the rules, if the ball is in or was last played in the penalty area before the game is stoped, the ball is given uncontested to the defending keeper. He blows a fraction of a second before, and Hudson-Odoi hasn't yet touched it, and there is literally no case to answer. So the fume (and the demand for a PGMOL apology) is predicated entirely on whether or not the game is magically stopped only when the whistle is heard (it isn't, he could have raised his hand, for example), or whether it was at that point when he decided he was going to stop the game for the head injury - which was how he applied the rule, as written, both times. The actual blow of the whistle is to bring his decision to the attention of the players, it's not like we should have snicko or freeze frames to determine the precise millisecond it happened. Jenas's 'everything changes' position is both true and ridiculous of course. 20 minutes earlier he gave a goal kick that should have been a corner to us, so this whole situation would never have arisen in a parallel universe, but I suspect he won't be expecting we should get an apology from PGMOL. Can't believe I'm defending this useless clown show of a bunch of refs, but there you go.

Also our enforcer. Was straight over when Chilwell was being a t*** with Bradley, no-one fancies fronting him up.

Elder statesman-like

Just using his name in the old school 'Valore' chant would be a start (there's probably a twist changing the woah-oh-oh-oh to Ibou-ou-ou-ou, not sure it would catch on).

If the first was the cynical Chilwell foul, there was another player who realised he could carry on being a t*** until he finally stepped over a mark even Kavanagh couldn't miss (although mitigating it by booking Bradley as well, unfairly) - Chilwell should already have been off by that point.

And Greek...

Wow. I think Joelinton got away with 5 and it was virtually unprecedented. And wasn't one of Caicedo's a very deliberate, cynical handball?

TBF, I think that offside rule has been applied before, iirc - last time we met them in the Caraboa Cup final Matip had a goal disallowed because Virgil was offside and James or someone couldn't easily move into a position where he still couldn't affect the goal anyway. So there you have it - only comes out the CC final against us Vs them, like Brigadoon. Sorted, good process lads. Btw, anyone got Caiceidos foul count yesterday, looked to be beating the record Joelinton set earlier this season for uncarded persistence even without the waved away one that got our lad stretchered off.

Endo was stood offside, as is always true of someone, but the implication of that decision is that every goal from a free kick now needs checking for any attacking player being a toe nail offside in case they moved in the general direction of the ball or passed within a metre of a defender, even if they are not the scorer or were even anywhere near them.

Good point. Jurgens brilliance this season has probably been seen in his in-play changes, especially subs in the last 30 minutes - the heightened pressure of extant and potential injuries atm, plus the possibility of a further 30 minutes, make that even harder. Good job he's a f***ing miracle worker.