Turkish Delight

On the Van Dijk offside, that only happened as Reece James put two hands in his back and shoved him offside. If that VAR clip starts earlier that becomes debatable.

There's internationals in South America in that two week break so I can't see it being played then. I wouldn't be shocked if the Leicester game was moved to accommodate it though.

There's only a title to be won if City drop their level in the second half of the season or we win 18 of the last 19. It's not over but it's increasingly unlikely. Our ruthless edge of two years ago has gone. We don't kill teams as often in the moments we have the opportunities to do it and don't manage games well when in front. We're still good but not quite as good as we were.

Four titles in five years when they win it this season and eight in total. On a bit of a downer after that result but honestly think they'll pass us in my lifetime with the way the odds are stacked. The cynic in me wonders whether the Premier League only allowed the Saudis in as they recognised the damage a one team league would do to their brand. Our challenging them just doesn't look sustainable over time.

I prefer us to not kick towards our fans in shoot outs. I just think it's easier for players to shut out everything else when there's people trying to put them off than when they're looking at hopeful faces on the way to take the pens. I can think of this game, Stoke a few years ago, Chelsea in 07, West Ham in Cardiff and Milan in Istanbul off the top of my head that we've won kicking in front of the other team's fans. There's only City in the League cup final I can think of us actually losing. As a side note, I also hate player's names being sung before pens. I was pretty nervous when Bobby stepped up for that reason last night.

He bottled a tackle for the first goal and then generally got bullied. He lacks tactical discipline and is only effective if he has people around him who cover the space he leaves. He isn't good enough on the ball to be carried in that way.

He may or may not make a very good manager and time will tell. His tactical philosophy needs to have a clear identity that's aligned with something that would challenge in a competitive league before he's ready to make that leap in my opinion. That's very unclear right now. When we recruit our next one it needs to be the best choice available. I think I'm just nervous that we'll make the sentimental choice because of the momentum behind it instead.

I'm not saying he should have gone toe to toe but anyone trying to make out he's suddenly a top manager by playing that way is kidding themselves. It's a blueprint many have played before. Several of them took it to big jobs and failed for it. Unless he can demonstrate he can manage a progressive attacking style elsewhere that can play further up the pitch (at Villa or somewhere else) then he should be nowhere near our job.

You also have to have a clear tactical plan to play that way and the knowledge to coach it as well as having the players. Klopp inherited a team that was a bit better than this Villa one but miles off title challengers. He got the funds through his sales but he stamped his way of playing on it early. There's been many managers who've stabilised teams through making them hard to beat and failed by taking the same style to bigger jobs.

Villa played similar to last season but without as much attacking threat (probably due to us having better players on the pitch). Gerrard set them up how Hodgson/Allardyce/Pulis/Bruce have consistently set teams up at Anfield down the years. Tough to play through and hoping to nick something off a set piece. Unless he makes them more progressive in time then I don't want to see him in the Liverpool job any more than those. Love the fella but if he ever gets our job it needs to be because there's something in his teams that makes it look like he could replicate it here.

I agree on the playing the kids bit. I'm probably in the minority but I want Atletico through. There's nearly a 50% chance that whoever comes second will get United, City or Chelsea. I'd rather they had Atletico's shithousing to deal with than a walk in the park v Porto or Milan.

7 Premier League goals in 165 appearances. I think he has 3 or 4 against City just from catching them for pace down the middle from the halfway line. Against more defensive teams he basically doesn't score. He'd be a terrible signing for a top club who can't just use his pace on the counter.

The beauty of that was they won the corner we scored the third from off that free kick. Karma in action.

He did brilliant to get them up but had significant financial backing when they were there and they got gradually worse as he spent it. Ake, Ramsdale and Wilson moved on after he left and accounted for 100m of the 150m you've counted. Their spending was partly funded by being in the Prem but also by their Russian billionaire owner. They may be a little club but they're certainly not poor these days. They had lost all identity by the time he took them down.

He actually spent 200 million there across the years they were in the Prem. They got progressively worse too and eventually completely lost their identity across that time. They started off with a team that had come through the leagues together playing some nice football and ended up playing deep defensive stuff and barely able to get out their own half.

I was delighted they signed Ronaldo in the Summer. They did ok last year based on a defence that defended deep and having lightning pace on the counter. The now play a forward each week who can't/won't run which harms their ability to do that. To compensate their defence is no longer as deep and it exposes the likes of Maguire, Wan Bisska and Shaw who don't have the pace or ability to play further up the pitch. They're caught between two ways of playing. Dropping Ronaldo and going back to last season's basics is the short term answer that would probably get them 4th but he'll be looking to plunge the knife at any opportunity if they do that. Long term to be a progressive team their whole defence and midfield needs a complete overhaul.

The parents of the kid at the academy are a disgrace in my opinion. If you see the videos of him doing gymnastics at the age of 2 and the photos of him with a six pack that have done the rounds in the past then you can only imagine what he's put through at home. My son has played against him a few times and while he's talented I've seen him play against a number of kids who are better too. He's exceptionally small for his age and most likely because the workouts he's forced to do have took an effect on his growth. Kids should just be allowed to be kids.

We're way too relaxed and casual in tracking back. Examples to add to the Virgil one in the post are: - Four players jogging back and leaving Robbo one on one for Brighton's early chance last week. - Konate for Brighton's second jogging behind Trossard up until the point he scores. He jogged to about two yards away when he shot but would have been there with a sprint. - Trent prior to the ball being played to Fornals yesterday (he sprinted when it was too late but could see where the danger was before then).

Torres had given up a long time before he left and his lack of effort was obvious for the whole of Rafa's last season. He then gave an interview saying how great it was to reach his aim of playing for a top level club when he signed for Chelsea.

He played against us how he plays against everyone. There was nothing disgraceful or disrespectful about that. I found it nauseating to look at social media fawning over Torres tonight while Suarez was booed. One gave his all in every game for Liverpool while the other didn't put a shift in for 18 months except when it helped his move and was slagging us off within a week of leaving.

One thing I noticed second half is that at 2-1 we were still trying to force the play to get up the pitch for a 3rd and putting ourselves under pressure. One example I recall was Alisson collecting a ball and throwing it out quickly to Robbo (I think) who was then pressed out of possession in our half. We needed a breather at the time. Two years ago we were brilliant at seeing games out and taking the sting out of them but we seem to be playing higher risk football now aimed at scoring more goals and it's leaving us vulnerable. On Konate, I thought he was awful on the second goal. His initial mistake was stepping up to play offside against a lad on their left who wasn't affecting play early in the move but my biggest issue was with his light jog back after realising he'd left us facing a 3v2 by doing that. He had maybe a 50/50 chance at best of affecting play if he sprinted so it was no guarantee he's have stopped the goal but he should have at least tried. It didn't look like he could be arsed.

We were way too passive second half. I couldn't work out if it it was a lack of discipline and energy in midfield or whether we playing too deep in defence. Or both. Either way it was shite. Disappointing result but a point more than we deserved. As a side note, Konate's lack of effort in his running back on their second goal after mistakenly stepping up to play offside and leaving them 3v2 was embarrassing. Had he sprinted might have had a slight chance of affecting play. Instead he jogged and watched.

7 goals in 146 PL appearances for Adam Traore. The hype around him just because he can run fast is crazy.

It's Diouf for me. The team he joined had not been far off in the league and signing him over Anelka for what was big money at the time took us down more than a level. He was also a terrible representative of the club. I get the Balotelli shout too though. I often heard it said that he had the ability to be a world beater in there somewhere. He really didn't and was just an ordinary talent with a load of hype because he was a bit crazy. He didn't give a fuck at all either. I recall a goal we conceded at Hull where we pushed out on a set piece and he stood in the 6 yard box watching everyone go as he couldn't be arsed. It's no surprise to me that at 31 he's playing for some no mark Turkish team.

I'm sure the blues will refer to him as Andrew rather than Andy.