Scott_M

I know where you want this to go next, I’m not biting. See if Stig takes the bait…

Currently, we have 6 good attackers, plus Doak and Gordon to come back. If we’re going to buy an attacker, space will need to be made somewhere first…

I didn’t see the full article, IMO, both parties want him to stay is the key bit. The rest is just Pearce attempting to teach his words quota despite saying very little of interest.

Although, Endo has also done well this season when required. His cameo against Brighton was great.

One of the reasons Slot was appointed was because of his injury prevention at stats at Feyenord. I know we’ve been burned in 20/21, 22/23 and last season with shocking injury problems, it’s always a concern. Remember in 18/19 & 19/20, we barely had any injuries. The Jota and Elliott injuries are unlucky, we can’t prevent in a match or training with England. They’ll happen. The soft tissue injuries we seemed to get last season - Salah, Jones, Konate, Szoboszlai, Nunez etc - are the ones that we can hopefully suffer significantly less of. Hopefully we can amend Alisson’s load so he is available more often next month. It sounds like Chiesa is mostly fit but we’ve keen keeping him out the squad to work on his fitness. As I said in the summer, we had a lot of good played but needed to step up. Gakpo, Diaz, Granvenberch, Konate, Jones and Tsmiskas & Gomez (when selected) certainly have done. We’re still waiting on Szoboszlai & Nunez to kick on. Those players maintaining these levels is such a major boost it significantly lessens any need to spend, although I’ll continue to bang the drum, although Jones is doing a great job, the drop off between the starting 3 and Endo, IMO, is too great and needs addressing.

Pearce has written an article this morning that Mo wants to stay and we want Mo to stay. Fingers crossed. Not seen VVD mentioned. Trent seems more uncertain. More Spanish rumours on Trent… it’s almost like we play them in under 2 weeks in a game that means more to them than to us.

Pearce has wrote his standard article downplaying expectations in January. No doubt it’ll have the usual suspects pissing their pants. FWIW, I’d still like another quality midfielder.

Uh oh spaghettios.

He literally would be like Billy Zane in the movie, shoving woman out the way and making out he’s random kids parents.

He literally would be like Billy Zane in the movie, shoving woman out the way and making out he’s random kids parents.

A fair argument.

Completely agree.

He could easily have given that Konate / Watkins penalty on Saturday and let VAR intervene. He didn’t and he gave the free kick to us. I’m sure other referees might think Klopp is a cunt. I’m sure some thought Ferguson was a cunt or Mourinho a cunt or Wenger a cunt etc etc. Coote has been daft enough to get caught on camera, doesn’t mean other officials don’t think or have similar opinions of other clubs & managers. Again, I’m not defending Coote. As has been posted we’ve got a very good win % with him in charge, if he is biased or corrupt, he’s not doing a very good job of it. Tierney & Webb have cost us as much, if not more. I do think he is a very, very poor official and his unprofessional behaviour, which undermines all of the officials in the league, should likely cost him his job.

I am relaxed but I wish they'd all hurry up about it, I don't want distractions, we've the title to win.

As Chris has just said, he has shafted us in the past. So has Paul Tierney. So has Howard Webb etc etc etc. If he truly had it in for us, he'd give everything the other way. He'd certainly have given that Konate / Watkins penalty on Saturday. I'm not defending him, not really, I do think he is an extremely poor official. He's poor for everybody.

Ok, Ok, Ok…. Peter “I’m wrong about everything” Walton has defended him, I change my opinion!

I do agree with this. Even after this, I don’t think Coote is corrupt or biased, I still think he is a very, very poor official. It’s hardly he’s like he’s revered as the Premierships best referee and then is just absolutely shite for us. Granted, he’s had some shocking calls against us, he’s also had a lot of poor decisions for other clubs.

When is the next episode of Match Officials Mic’d Up? Edit - Tonight at 7pm on Sky Sports Premiership. Webb will dodge it (“no comment until the investigation is completed”) and Owen will just go “Yes Howard”.

David Schwimmer to play Coote.

To sign off with a win there would be a very nice everlasting memory for all those who go to the game, home or away fans, to stew over / cherish forever.

Yeah, their away games have crossed my mind…. Still, I’d rather be in our position than theirs. They have a lot of pressure on themselves now to have to go on a long streak and I’ve given reasons why I’m not convinced they can do it. I think we’ll know a lot more after our next 4 league games - Southampton A, City H, Newcastle A, Everton A.

I know I criticised them a page or so back, City will still come back strong, they are too good not to. I’m sure they’ll improve when Stones and Dias come back. I think the question is how strong they come back because I agree with your points. I think Arsenal will improve as well, 9 points is a long way back. They need to be faultless and at the moment they aren’t playing well enough. Upmarket Stoke is a genuine comparison. I think an issue they have is their CL campaign. They have 7 points at the moment and have Sporting A, Monaco H, Zagreb H, Girona A… while it might not look particularly taxing on paper, Sporting & Monaco are 2nd & 3rd respectively, I think their chances of getting in the top 8 are 50/50, they’ll need to be going flat out while we should be able to rotate. They have Palace in the league cup quarter final, throw in a 2 legged semi final in January as well and it’s getting awful sticky, especially if they then have an extra 2 CL games in there come February. They have Forest H first game back after the break. That’ll be a test…

I’d happily accept that.

Coote in Thailand…

Although I’m not sure I want us to be raising it (ie it might do us more harm than good) there needs to be a wider discussion now on the professionalism of PMGOL. We’ve had… * A linesman fling an elbow at Robbo. * Dean saying he didn’t want to refer Taylor to the monitor during a difficult game because they are mates. * The UAE trips which were seemingly deemed to be Ok but I can’t remember them happening again since. * The Spurs VAR call. * This incident. I know 4/5 involve us, I’m sure there are others. It’s not good enough.