I like the idea of Newcastle not being able to take 40 minutes off the clock everytime they play though.
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Simple caution them when they do it and theyāll soon stop
I like the latter part. 90 minutes and then the clock stops when the ball goes out of play.
They do it for field hockey and other sports , just not sure why they donāt do it for football
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How else would you get āFergie Timeā or let Manchester City play on until they score? 
There are two main reasons for time wasting.
FIrst is the obvious one - run down the clock.
The second is the one that needs a stronger ref. And that is breaking the momentum of the game.
Think back to the 2022 CL final. After the break we absolutely steamed into Real. They constantly went down, and used disruptive tactics. Not to run the time down, but just to ruin the flow of the game which was tipping in our direction.
And it worked. The 59th minute winning goal basically stemmed from the break up momentum tactics.
Any stopping the time rules will not fix the second main point. It just needs the ref to apply the current rules properly.
So take the Man Utd game. Onana from the first minture would take an age to restart the game, with Michael ābest ref in the world, my arseā Oliver constantly just giving the hand wave to hurry signal but not doing anything about it.
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Because it is football, not field hockey, are any other game, leave our game alone!!!
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Well said
Yup ultimately a card for one offence would soon hurry them up.
I love this updateā¦Which isnāt much of an update, anyhow seems like Curtis will have to sort his head out unless you use Endo or Elliott I do think we probably will start with Endo and give Grav a rest.
Do notice it was the two scousers that played poorly. Maybe with Curtis it was more the occasion.
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It crossed my mind that maybe a few of them were struggling with illness. It would explain a lot about the performance.
Anyway, on Tottenham, I think weāll go fairly strong. There was a full week between West Ham and Utd, and I think a lot of the squad actually went away. Then after Spurs we have almost a full week until Forest with only Accrington in the middle.
The way I would approach this is strong for Spurs, the total change for Accrington, with a few lads getting 20 for fitness and rhythm - then bounce into Forest.
The other think here is that Spurs are arguably in a worse state than they were when we did them 6-3. There is a chance here to finish this in 90mins
And finally, those lads who let the side down on Sunday need the chance to go out and put this right straightaway.
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I didnāt realise that Szobs was ill. I thought he was suspended. I have to say that the last time I saw Trent that bad, he was coming back from Covid, so it does make sense.
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Was thinking the same, partly cos I had the flu when watching and couldnāt imagine playing football. Some players will say they canāt play and others will try to push through and maybe be at 60-70%, and weād never know.
Trent and Jones were way off it in every department, but (unlike many here) it didnāt seem to me that they werenāt trying
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Ange says that new goalkeeper Kinsky has been registered and trained for a few days, is in contention for this one.
There have been signs recently of our players getting tired. Iām not sure what the best approach is. Of course, as this is a semi-final, Slot and co. will take it seriously. No-one will want to miss out on an early trip to Wembley with a chance to lift silverware. Tottenham will take it seriously too and put out a full strength team.
But on the other hand, all these games piling up could eventually cost us. I really hope that there wonāt be new injuries, and that whomever plays can come through unscathed, fingers crossed!
As for Slot, he has to find the right balance between keeping consistency and refreshing the team. Play the players who are most in-form right now. Hopefully it will be enough to get a result from there, and then finish off the job at Anfield.
Out of interest, what were these āsignsā?
We drew with the Barcodes: goalkeeping error.
We drew with Fulham: Robbo/referee error (depending upon viewpoint)
We drew with Man U: a one-off result.
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We can go very strong too because we have the FA Cup after this.
Ideally we win this by two or more goals and would be able to rest some players in the second leg.
The Newcastle game is an interesting one. In normal circumstances we would have lost that game, because they totally outperformed us. It needed a stellar Salah to avoid defeat. Yeah, Kelleherās error cost us the three points in the end, but to be 3-2 ahead at that moment in time was a fluke to be honest.
The Fulham game was the exception Iād say, as we had to play with ten men almost throughout the game and still managed to get something.
Against the mancs, we met a good team with a lot of energy, and maybe in the most visible way yet, our lads struggled to match that energy. Our higher quality on the pitch allowed us to take a point, but we were definitely sub-par.
We also won a few games recently, mainly because our strikers were thankfully on fire, but there were defensive errors and sluggish moments in the game. The Leicester game for instance was won after a terrible first half. Diaz scoring just before the break helped us a lot, but it could have gone another way that night.
Our lads have done great to always find a way to get results no matter what, but Iām a bit worried about what is to follow in terms of energy levels.
The only thing I am worried about is the refs.
We have by far and away the best squad and, even at this early stage, the best manager, in the league. As I stated in the Man U post-game thread, no team will win all its games - points will sometimes be unexpectedly (and disappointingly) dropped. In my opinion, given even arbitration, we will walk the league.
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May you be right. Amen. 
Fuck these discussions, let me have my puri choleā¦
Haha @Alright_Now_Legend
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