JRC

Pearce still didn't think it was a pen after watching the reverse angle view which shows the defender catching Naby's knee/shin full on, so don't value his opinions. (Ref gets a pass on the pen for me, not at all clear from his angle)

Tells Bobby where to put it as he storms into the area. Bobby's celebration was class too.

Also so close that it wasn't clear whether they froze the frame a frac-tion after the ball had left Trent's foot, but enough to make Mo just off.

Given we don't concede many, and have kept a decent number of clean sheets, that's a pretty useful capability to have.

Sky 30 minute highlights don't have us anywhere near as poor as live commentary suggested. Felt like those impressive aways round December (Watford, Burnley, Wolves) - get settled, get job done by the end, team less in doubt than fans.* Keeping that up would be good. * Much as Bogman says in the previous post. Away end when Salah scored looked insane - Fulham 2014, Portsmouth 2009 style

City stumbled earlier in the season just when they were looking imperious. We sneaked a last minute goalkeeping-error gifted win and went on a 6 game winning streak. It's on.

Amazing - perhaps not - that the single named player with the most praise in the MOTD2 highlights last night was Kane. That pass! The defensive header (3 mentions)!

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Battered us. Obviously a bogey club with an Indian sign over us. Payback time.

A new record for a win against Fulham would wipe out the goal difference difference in one swoop.

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You can only really pick out the West Ham and Leicester results as outliers. Losing away - narrowly, in a well-matched contest - to the current champions is not the stuff of bottling, nor an indicator of poor form. The last 2 aways were disappointing, but given the opponents, not unusual in the context of a season, like the Chelsea and Arsenal results in the first half. (As Hassony has pointed out above). That our points per game averages are fractionally different over the season so far is still more significant.

There's an increasing tendency in those of that mindset to turn on anyone who isn't determinedly negative as well - as in 'When are the "superfans" going to get frustrated, then?", which generated a lot of likes and, bizarrely, a lot of good humour amongst fellow miserablists. Wierdos. I'm more relaxed these days at people responding differently to football results - probably since moving from an old Mains Stand location that was an abyss of nihilistic pessimism to a spec with more nuanced responses - but what I still don't really get, and fundamentally don't agree with, is the conflation of disappointment and frustration - which we all recognise - with rage and anger. I suppose venting your spleen on Twitter or Forums is the modern equivalent of saying that you are going to kick the cat - but most fans didn't actually kick the cat, and when you are spouting on social media, that actually is you being angry, not some kind of pretend joke mechanism. Also - I don't 'get' or accept is the early throwing the towel in. Keeping us driving on until it's mathematically impossible is part of the fan's role, whether or not the players read what's on here. Let's have the spirit of 1986 - about this time, we'd just lost at home to the (excellent, current champions and home of the top scorer Lineker and a world class goalkeeper) bluenoses, leaving us 8 points behind them.

Agreed - always pleasantly surprised when Refs - PL specifically -are not absolutely s***e; I didn't know this ref, so the fact that he was, in fact, quite good was encouraging. (The only caveat being he got in the way a few times - not sure if that isn't a mixture of the latest 'coaching' on positioning for refs as its true of plenty, combined with our speed and mobility around the pitch)

Burnley away? At the fag end of the brutal 2009-10 season. He was brilliant btw, in a meaningless game.

Lineker, Wright and Shearer's tongues were hanging out last night at the quality of those crosses.