TheDrowningMan

I’m inclined to agree on Zidane, but then I think back to what I’ve said about City and how it took Guardiola to really unlock their full (unfortunate and ill-gotten) potential despite spending shedloads before him. I’d go for Alonso ahead of him, but I’d take Zidane ahead of any of the others, in the hope that he really is a special manager and not a right place, right time one-club wonder. Suspect he wouldn’t want the job though.

Emery is a good manager if you want to win the Europa or qualify for the CL - how often do you see someone with that sort of CV build dominant, title and CL winning teams? It doesn’t tend to happen, and that’s why I’m hoping for Alonso, and would rather take a chance despite the fact that he is relatively unproven - he might have that combination of tactical nous and charisma seen in only a select few. Replacing Klopp with a proven quantity who has found his level and whose level is just ‘really good’ isn’t going to get us anywhere fast unless we start spending like City. Even they had to wait for Guardiola to start winning year after year.

That’s about as close to “of course I would fucking take it” as possible while under contract with your team at the top of the table.

He announced it after they’d won the title. I think in the early 2000s he was going to leave and then did a u-turn after they’d fallen away (01/02 when we came second to Arsenal, possibly?).

Has a manager who has announced his departure in advance won a title in recent memory? I can only think of them falling away when it does happen, which is admittedly not often.

I’m not talking about him going anywhere mid-season, but there’s no reason why we couldn’t get in touch and attempt to do a deal for next year and beyond, if his contract allows.

Well, if we isn’t willing to wait four months, it would suggest he doesn’t really want the Liverpool job. So I don’t think short-notice Bayern interest need be a concern.

Alonso. He played for some of the greatest clubs in the world and has shown every indication of developing into an intelligent manager. That he has a link to the club is meaningful too, but only in addition to his skill set. I’m sure he’s decent in his own right, but I wouldn’t go near De Zerbi. I think Brighton is a system club - several high profile players have struggled since leaving, and Potter was a disaster at Chelsea.

Thought the same. No good reason whatsoever.

How does Pap do it with unlimited funds and officials very clearly told to do all they can to inhibit City’s rivals?

Agreed. We need to be stronger about it as a club though - can you imagine Ferguson-era Man Utd allowing this to continue? I suppose you could argue it was a different scenario since they tended to get the lion’s share of the favourable decisions and were the favoured team of the day, but there’s not a chance a ref like Tierney would have been anywhere near their games for the rest of the season after a tenth of what he’s done to us.

There’s really little question that the officiating is corrupt - at this point I don’t think it’s possible to deny that without being, at best, astonishingly naive. You can’t put this stuff down to incompetence when you have VAR. It’s impossible.

Nope. Not even a free kick. And people still think it’s all above board!

That’s a very, very clear red card based on some of those that have been punished by one this season.

Game over at the Emirates. Arsenal 1-0 up.

Yeah, I think the political element will, in effect, ensure that nothing much is done. The government simply will not allow it.

I’m not sure about that. A season in the Championship where they win every game followed by an immediate Premier League title and the narrative will be that Pap, loyal to a fault, took being dealt a bad hand in his stride, knuckled down and returned them to hard-earned glory. The press and pundits are complicit in the City story, and I have little doubt that they will continue to be in the event they’re found guilty.

Yeah, they definitely have the more favourable set of fixtures and from now until we play them it’s a ridiculously easy run for them. On the other hand, perhaps having it somewhat tougher over the first half of the season is why they’re not top now. There’s going to be barely any room for error so it’s back to treating every league game like a cup final, knowing that we can’t drop points in stupid games. Next up is Bournemouth away and if we can’t win that, any hopes of the title are completely and utterly gone.

You have to break their spirit and make it a lost cause early. There’s a reason that, since 17/18, they’ve only lost out on one title and that that occurred in a season where at no point were they ahead on points against the eventual champions.

Look at their fixtures from now until we play them. There’s next to zero room for error - I reckon we can probably drop points in two games at the absolute most over the remainder of this season, but even that might not be enough to finish ahead of them.

Inevitable. City will have taken 33 points from 33 by the time we play them - we absolutely cannot afford to drop any points before then.

Certainly not, although I reckon we need them to drop points tonight to have half a chance of pipping them. After today, they have what must be the easiest run of fixtures in top flight history until we play them in March.

I can’t imagine so…that was post Man City (harsh though that sacking was) and a couple of short-lived jobs with Mexico and the Ivory Coast. As obviously terrible a fit as Hodgson was, he was a massive media darling after what was, in fairness, a really good stint at Fulham and I never got the impression anyone else was seriously considered.

Quickly moved on from the suggestion that England 1966 might have been his dream job.

Trent is out “for a few weeks”. Massive mistake as far as this season goes if we don’t spend big money over the next week or two. The squad is threadbare.