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What an absolute sickener. It’s an all timer for me that, just because of who it was, how it happened, and the fact that it was all so fucking unnecessary. We’ve lost here in the cup to a couple of late goals before and it hurts like fuck, but when that happened they were better than us and it would have been a great effort for us to have beaten them. It hurts but it’s understandable. That’s not how it is now. They’re shite, we should never be losing to them and I don’t feel any better about it today than I did yesterday. I'm still fuming. That said, having been able to sleep on it and collect some thoughts, I can compartmentalise this to some extent. With the dust having settled on it, I’m not that arsed we’re out of the FA Cup. I’d have loved to have won it, obviously, but going out of the cup in itself isn’t bothering me today. I can easily find a positive in that because not having to play in the semi final means the Fulham game takes place at the weekend and does not need to be crammed in somewhere late in the season when we’re already going to be overstretched. We still don’t have a date for the Everton game unless I’ve missed that. So does going out of the FA Cup help us when it comes to the league? To a degree, yes it does. Is the league more important? Fuck yes is it. I’d like to still be in the cup but it’s the manner of the loss and who we lost to that hurts today, not the fact that we’re out of the FA Cup. There’s a reason quadruples don’t happen and it’s not because no team is good enough to do it. It’s because competing on four fronts takes a monumental effort and you need a huge amount of luck. Trying for four actually makes it harder to win any because the mental and physical toll on a squad is huge late in the season. And when you’ve got as many players missing as we’ve had (and still have) then it’s even more unlikely. So yeah, I can make my peace with no longer being in the FA Cup quite easily. The thing I can’t make my peace with is losing to them. They aren’t a serious football team. They do things that proper football teams just don’t do. Honestly, look at the number of screenshots doing the rounds showing countless instances of how much space we had. We don’t get that kind of room to play against anybody. Maybe that’s how they’re as high as sixth, they just lull you into a false sense of security by being utterly fucking inept tactically. They’re the worst Manchester United side I’ve ever seen. If we’d been beaten by Fulham or Palace or someone of that ilk I’d be over it already. It wasn’t Fulham or Palace though. It was a shite team with cunt fans who spent all afternoon chanting about Hillsborough. We can’t do anything about that (the FA have put out a statement saying it’s not acceptable though, so I’m sure that will ensure it doesn’t happen again), but the players can. They need to fight that battle for us by inflicting misery on those cunts. Instead they gave those Hillsborough mocking lowlifes the best memory they’ve had in a decade. Nice one lads, thanks for that. Good job. *slow hand clap* We beat these cunts 7-0 a year ago. Seven fucking nil. They somehow escaped from Anfield with a 0-0 draw this season but we should have been going there and spanking them and - I don’t say this lightly because they’ve been incredible and I love them - but for once the players let us down. I don’t mean in effort as they gave absolutely everything, they always do. I mean in execution, in focus. I mean in just making the right fucking decisions. You just can’t not win this game. Can’t happen. Not acceptable. Not the way the game played out. Look, if we just hadn’t been at it and they’d played well, then of course we can lose to them. Shit as they are, it can happen. We almost lost at Luton and needed a last minute equaliser to spare our blushes. You can have an off day and when that happens you can lose. This wasn’t that though. We didn’t have an off day, we dominated the game. But you have to beat them and make your superiority count, and instead we thought 2-1 would be enough.

Monday Mar 11: Kyle Walker is doing the media rounds today for some reason or other, and for some reason Sky are asking him for his thoughts on the ref's performance yesterday. Of course he was effusive in his praise of Michael Oliver (or “Mike” to his friends such as dirtbag Kyle) because he showed great “character” to not be swayed by Anfield yesterday. This isn’t normal and I can’t believe Sky are putting shit like this out. What’s going on? I feel like we’re in a footy equivalent of a Black Mirror episode. This is even worse than someone slagging a referee off, as the next time he’s involved in a contentious incident and Oliver is the ref, this interview is going to do him a lot of good I reckon. PGMOL needs a massive shake up and I don't mean with the refs on the pitch, as their job gets harder by the week because of the "protocols" they have to adhere to. What needs looking at is how VAR is implemented and how it seems to exist for the purpose of backing up the on field decision rather than getting to the right outcome. Yesterday is a prime example really. Oliver doesn't give the pen and Attwell is coming out with complete horseshit to try and validate the decision. Foot not in an unnaturally high position apparently. So studs up into a players chest is normal then? Fuck off. You didn't want to tell Oliver he was wrong, that's why you let it go. We all know it. The technology is there but they don't use it properly. It's used to rule out goals for the most stupid of reasons (Solanke had one disallowed this weekend for a laughable 'handball' for example) and not used when it would be really useful. They need to work together to get the right outcome, but there's ego involved here. VAR rarely wants to tell the ref on the pitch he's wrong and the refs on the pitch don't seem to ever ask for help. It shouldn't be there to tell the ref he's made a mistake, it should be there for the ref to get a proper look at it and decide for himself what the decision should be. What should have happened yesterday is Oliver should have said "could that have been a foul, should I take a look?" and VAR should have said "yeah have another look and then make your decision". But that doesn't happen because of the protocols they have. All this 'clear and obvious' bullshit. If PGMOL aren't going to use the technology to help themselves then they need it taking out of their hands. Maybe like the NFL where the coach can challenge a decision and have it reviewed. But it can't be reviewed by the ref on the pitch as there's too much ego involved with some of them. Oliver for instance. He's not going to take kindly to a manager challenging his decisions and is likely to dig in even further. He doesn't even like his own colleagues questioning him when they've got access to angles he hasn't. Richard Keys (I know, I know) claims Oliver has told his colleague to never send him to the screen. The last time it happened was September 2022 and he stuck with his original decision. Keys reckons he's been told that Oliver was furious about that and at the next refs meeting told them to never send him to the screen again. Could be bollocks of course, Keys isn't the most reliable of witnesses after all, but he does have contacts within PGMOL and his claims have not been dismissed (not yet anyway, and he's been saying it for a while). All I know is Attwell's explanation for why VAR wasn't recommending a review was absolute nonsense. If there is even a shred of truth in what Keys is saying, then this cunt needs reigning in. A ref on the field gets one look at an incident and its therefore a really tough job. So it’s the absolute height of arrogance to refuse the help and advice of colleagues who have access to different angles, replays and slo motion footage. Oliver is either the most egotistical ref to have ever lived or he wants to influence results without the interference of colleagues correcting his wrong calls. Either way, it needs looking into.