DaveTucker

Great report as ever. Very disappointing game but I do think we've made progress beating the dross in the second half of the season. Not counting decent sides since the West Brom cup defeat we had a run of:- 3-0 Huddersfield 2-0 Southampton 4-1 West Ham 2-0 Newcastle 5-0 Watford 2-1 Palace 0-0 Everton 3-0 Bournemouth Pretty impressive given excuses can be made for the Everton draw. I think the emergence of Oxlade Chamberlain in CM made a difference in a number of these games as his drive causes havoc and offers something different to our other midfielders. I think he was missed Saturday. Squad depth is also a major factor. We've been fortunate the front 3 have mainly stayed fit but it showed how much we suffer if we lose one. Now the midfield is also stretched we have a problem.

It's difficult not to worry when we've seen us hit these sudden slumps so many times before. There are numerous parallels with this time last season:- 1. Beat Man City and send the fanbase into euphoria. 2. Lose a key attacker and fail to replace him. (Albeit a temporary loss last season) 3. Labour to a 3rd round FA cup win against a team of losers ;-). 4. Lose in FA Cup 4th round at Anfield. Hopefully it ends there and this becomes a blip rather than a slump. I'm also not OK with not spending in January. Admittedly I'm hypocritical as we lauded Klopp's patience when we eventually signed Van Dyke and rightly so but I still think we could've signed another CB. Maguire for instance would have been relatively cheap and could have done a job. Depending on performance levels then he could either have played with Van Dyke or provide a useful option and we could have easily offloaded someone else to make up the cash. My concern is that we won't compromise on targets and would prefer to wait until the summer. Understandable to a degree but if we don't get top 4 as the squad is thin then we'll end up being forced into looking at plan Cs let alone plan Bs as the top players won't be interested.

Surely Roy would say:- 'On a good wun' and 'You're all still cwap'. Or is the world too PC for a speech impediment gag these days?

That idiot McLean's back turning antics in the wall for West Brom v Arsenal did my nut in. Wasn't hit particularly hard and was going wide but because he shit himself and turned his back the soft twat deflected it in.

"Their equaliser was scored by some lad I’d never seen before. Every week they seem to send out some random fucker that no-one knows. They must have a squad of about 90 players" Andre Carillo????

Totally agree with that. The depression is compounded by the fact that our rivals all looking good. We can practically forget catching the Manc clubs and probably Chelsea. Spurs are now also playing to a level that makes me think we might not even be in a race for top 4 which is really hard to take. I'm also starting to think we can't be that successful without a top striker. Someone who can turn these draws into wins. Kane scored 13 goals in September - Our strikers struggle to get that in a season. I like Firmino and when it all clicks the front 3 look great but that's usually against idiots like Arsenal and Hoffenheim who play to our strengths. When teams set up to defend deep we've got the same old problems and that's when you need someone clinical feeding off scraps.

I don't think Neidhart is dead. Most wrestlers his age are though in fairness.

It's crazy to claim we'd have won the league with a January signing or two. We won 12 and drew one of the last 14 games and we probably would've beaten Palace if all we needed was 3 points and didn't foolishly try for a cricket score. So basically all the new signings could've done to improve us would have been to change the Chelsea result. Whilst extra attacking options may have helped in this regard It's a bold man who claims that could've been done whilst also assuming that their presence wouldn't have disrupted the brilliant run we had with a settled team. Other than that - good article!

Bacca is 29 in September. I'm not in FSG's camp when it comes to 'sell on' value but I do like to think signings can deliver for us for years to come. If he takes a while to get going in the Premier League then he'll be practically 30 by the time he's any use. If we do sign him I'll still convince myself he'll fire us to glory though.

Is it just me or does Fabregas face look more snidey than ever now he's in blue.

ive been trying to find that one too mate. It was awesome.

I remember being at a game against Newcastle. We were 2-0 up and Bellamy came on for them and was obviously told to just attack down the left and isolate the hapless right back. He completely tore Xavier a new one. We went on to draw 2-2 with Shearer scoring a late header to equalise. I think Speed scored too which was also a late goal if I remember but Bellamy turned the game on it's head.