This Weekend's Fixtures (10/11 May).

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Saturday, 10th May 2025
Fulham v Everton, 15:00
Ipswich Town v Brentford, 15:00
Southampton v Manchester City, 15:00
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brighton & Hove Albion, 15:00
Bournemouth v Aston Villa, 17:30 https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg

Sunday, 11th May 2025
Newcastle United v Chelsea, 12:00 https://i.imgur.com/tM2pRxb.png
Manchester United v West Ham United,14:15
Nottingham Forest v Leicester City, 14:15 https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg
Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace, 14:15
Liverpool v Arsenal, 16:30, https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg

[Mac76]

lf Saints pull off a miracle today it would be very handy if people want second place

And Palace's job here is simple, forget the game, just go out and break some legs :threaten:

[HCZ_Reborn]

Fulham in front at Home to Everton, Jiminez

Schade gives Brentford the lead away at Ipswich (all the talk about Wissa and Mbeumo, and this guy gets somewhat forgotten)

And Welbeck gives Brighton lead at Wolves

[HCZ_Reborn]

So Welbeck goal was chalked off but he scores from the spot two minutes later

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fulham 1-1 Everton, Mykolenko

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fulham 1-2 Everton, Keane.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-3 now, Beto, :blink:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Wolves 0-2 Brighton, Gruda

[HCZ_Reborn]

How the hell have City not managed to beat Southampton? :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

0-0 FT. St Mary's is a very weird ground for Man City.

Also Haaland coming back. :whistle:

Derby out on their own in the worst points total again!

[Mac76]

Can't believe Citeh drew, but good news for us

[Niall_Quinn]

Can't believe Citeh drew, but good news for us

God they are shit. How have they won more games than us?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bournemouth 0-1 Villa, Watkins.

[Marc Overmars]

Great result for us at St Mary’s.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Newcastle United: Pope, Livramento, Schar, Botman, Burn, Tonali, Guimaraes, Murphy, Barnes, Gordon, Isak.
Subs: Dubravka, Ruddy, Lascelles, Wilson, Krafth, Osula, Longstaff, Miley, Neave.

Chelsea: Sanchez, Caicedo, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella, Lavia, Fernandez, Madueke, Palmer, Neto, Jackson.
Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin, Badiashile, Sancho, Dewsbury-Hall, James, Gusto, George, Acheampong.

[Marc Overmars]

A draw would be good here.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Yarp

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-0 Tonali already. :lol:

[HCZ_Reborn]

The idea of supporting Chelsea sickens me, but them getting a goal back might be helpful

[McNamara That Ghost...]

That has to be a red for Jackson.

[Mac76]

Agree, he's got to go

[McNamara That Ghost...]

And he is sent off.

Had to go, what an idiot. :lol:

[Mac76]

He's now banned for the rest of the season :lol:

What gets me is Newcastle players like Bruno Guimeraes do that all the time

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Tottenham: Kinsky, Danso, Porro, Spence, Davies, Gray, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Tel, Odobert, Sarr.
Subs: Vicario, Son, Bissouma, Richarlison, Romero, Solanke, Johnson, Van de Ven, Moore.

Crystal Palace: Henderson, Mitchell, Lacroix, Richards, Guehi, Munoz, Sarr, Lerma, Hughes, Eze, Mateta.
Subs: Turner, Nketiah, Franca, Clyne, Kamada, Esse, Chilwell, Devenny, Kporha.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Nottingham Forest: Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams; Anderson, Sangare; Dominguez, Elanga, Gibbs-White; Wood
Subs: Miguel, Awonyi, Toffolo, Jota, Yates, Sosa, Danilo, Boly, Abbott

Leicester: Stolarczyk; Justin, Faes, Coady, Thomas; Skipp, Ndidi, El Khannouss, McAteer, Ayew; Vardy
Subs: Iversen, Coulibaly, Okoli, Kristiansen, Soumare, Evans, Bounanotte, Monga, Daka

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Manchester United: Bayindir, Mazraoui, Yoro, Shaw, Amad, Ugarte, Mainoo, Amass, Fernandes, Mount, Hojlund.
Subs: Heaton, Lindelof, Maguire, Dorgu, Eriksen, Garnacho, Casemiro, Fredricson, Chido.

West Ham Areola, Todibo, Kilman, Cresswell, Wan-Bissaka, Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Rodriguez, Coufal, Bowen, Kudus.
Subs: Fabianksi, Carlos Soler, Emerson, Paqueta, Mavropanos, Luis Guilherme, Alvarez, Ferguson, Fullkrug.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Newcastle 2-0 Chelsea, Guimaraes. Really good strike, might have been deflected a bit.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Newcastle 2-0 Chelsea, Guimaraes. Really good strike, might have been deflected a bit.

Buggereth

[Mac76]

In terms of our staying top 5 (which is the only meaningful priority now) not a bad result tbh, first of it means Newcastle won't need to win their game against us so much, plus Chelsea stay 4 points behind us

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Newcastle 2-0 Chelsea, FT.

Chelsea. :lol:

[HCZ_Reborn]

In terms of our staying top 5 (which is the only meaningful priority now) not a bad result tbh, first of it means Newcastle won't need to win their game against us so much, plus Chelsea stay 4 points behind us

On the other hand this season has been shit enough without Newcastle or city finishing above us

[Mac76]

Chelsea. :lol:

Exactly, would love it if they finished out of the top five

[Mac76]

On the other hand this season has been shit enough without Newcastle or city finishing above us

Only if ypu let that bother you, ultimately it matters very little in the context of things

[HCZ_Reborn]

Only if ypu let that bother you, ultimately it matters very little in the context of things

It does bother me, and I will continue to let it bother me.

It’s about prestige. I don’t want City to have their worst season in years and still finish above us. Nor do I want the club owned by MBS’ chief fluffer to finish above us.

It’s no different to Spurs and the Europa league. Them winning the thing makes no possible difference to us, but we don’t want them to win it

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Tottenham 0-1 Palace, Sarr

[HCZ_Reborn]

Tottenham 0-1 Palace, Sarr

Sadly no

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Disallowed

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 0-1 Leicester, Coady.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 1-1 Leicester, Gibbs-White.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Soucek puts West Ham in front at United

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Europa League final will be 16th v 17th.

:haha:

[Letters]

It does bother me, and I will continue to let it bother me.

It’s about prestige.
The prestige of finishing 2nd?
It’s hardly open top bus stuff, is it?

[HCZ_Reborn]

The prestige of finishing 2nd?
It’s hardly open top bus stuff, is it?

Does it need to be?

I wanted to finish 1st, that’s no longer possible so I want to finish 2nd. Whether you care or not is irrelevant to me, but acting like wanting to finish as high up the table as possible is bizarre….


Will it change our season into a better one? No not really but just makes it that little less unbearable

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Tottenham 0-1 Palace, Eze. :lol:

[Letters]

I wanted to finish 1st, that’s no longer possible so I want to finish 2nd. Whether you care or not is irrelevant to me, but acting like wanting to finish as high up the table as possible is bizarre….
It’s not bizarre to want that, although I do find how much some people care a bit odd. Obviously I want that too. I just don’t regard it as that important now. You acknowledge yourself it’s not going to make the season any better. For me the only thing that could make this season worse is bloody Spurs winning the Europa League. But if they don’t then Utd will. It’s a bit of a “which leg do you want broken” one, that.

[HCZ_Reborn]

It’s not bizarre to want that, although I do find how much some people care a bit odd. Obviously I want that too. I just don’t regard it as that important now. You acknowledge yourself it’s not going to make the season any better. For me the only thing that could make this season worse is bloody Spurs winning the Europa League. But if they don’t then Utd will. It’s a bit of a “which leg do you want broken” one, that.

Because we’ve held onto 2nd for most of the season. I don’t want things to get any worse

I don’t want Spurs to win the Europa league. But back in 2019, there wasn’t even one part of me that thought they would win that final….which is odd given I’m not an optimist.


And now? Whilst I obviously hope they lose, I’m not going to lose any sleep if they win the Europa league anymore than I did when they won the league cup in 2008. Certainly will bother me far less than Liverpool winning the title

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Spuds 0-2 Palace, Eze again.

20 defeats in the league. :wacko:

[HCZ_Reborn]

Wood puts Forest in front

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Man Utd 0-2 West Ham, Bowen. :haha:

[HCZ_Reborn]

Bowen doubles West Ham’s lead at United

[Mac76]

Eze scores twice, what an idiot ;)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Forest 2-2 Leicester, Buonanotte. Wow that's a huge blow for them.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Eze scores twice, what an idiot ;)

I don’t know what’s worse

Being ignorant or pretending to be ignorant

As an expert, what do you think?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Spuds 0-2 Palace, FT.

20 defeats in the league. :haha:

[Mac76]

It does bother me, and I will continue to let it bother me.

It’s about prestige. I don’t want City to have their worst season in years and still finish above us. Nor do I want the club owned by MBS’ chief fluffer to finish above us.

It’s no different to Spurs and the Europa league. Them winning the thing makes no possible difference to us, but we don’t want them to win it

That's because they're Spuds, it's about their pathetic fans and all their friends in the media being able to call us a 'failure' and spuds 'successful' no matter the reality of our beating Real Madrid to get to a semi-final and their wimning a pub competition after losing 18 league games this season

[McNamara That Ghost...]

20!!

[HCZ_Reborn]

That's because they're Spuds, it's about their pathetic fans and all their friends in the media being able to call us a 'failure' and spuds 'successful' no matter the reality of our beating Real Madrid to get to a semi-final and their wimning a pub competition after losing 18 league games this season

And you know that that they’d be winning a pub competition, and it has no substantial impact on us yet it bothers you anyway.

It’s hard to argue that one objectively matters and one does not. Neither objectively matter to us, but they are things we desire all the same

[Mac76]

And you know that that they’d be winning a pub competition, and it has no substantial impact on us yet it bothers you anyway.

It’s hard to argue that one objectively matters and one does not. Neither objectively matter to us, but they are things we desire all the same

The spuds result has more of a bearing because as i tried to explain we'll have to endure all the crap that follows

[Mac76]

I don’t know what’s worse

Being ignorant or pretending to be ignorant

As an expert, what do you think?

Gakpo, Rice, Eze... every time you make strong negative statements about a footballer they categorically prove you wrong - please can you start putting down Martinelli right now, and then maybe he'll get a hatter in the second half...

[Niall_Quinn]

Utd and Spuds - that reeks! How the hell can clubs with that much cash take the piss out of their fns that badly?

Europa League finalists! LOL. They better call that shit off before people realise those £250 tickets are actually worth only 50p

[Marc Overmars]

37 defeats between them is laughable.

As bad as it is that one will be in the CL with a trophy, at least we know the other will truly be left in the mud.

[Niall_Quinn]

Got to shut down all these shit Euro competitions now - get rid of them all and go back to the European Cup for just the champions. Then you can have a UEFA Cup that would at least have some quality in it. But now that pub teams are in the CL it means even Utd and the Spuds can do "well" in Europe against the absolute dregs.

[Letters]

Got to shut down all these shit Euro competitions now - get rid of them all and go back to the European Cup for just the champions. Then you can have a UEFA Cup that would at least have some quality in it. But now that pub teams are in the CL it means even Utd and the Spuds can do "well" in Europe against the absolute dregs.
:gp:

It’s embarrassing that the two sides in the final would, in a normal season, be in a relegation scrap.
Obviously the wankers down the road will be having their open top bus parade if they win it and that will be sickening, but they’ve not had to play anyone of note.
There’s too much dross in the CL which leaves even more dross in the lower European competitions

[HCZ_Reborn]

Got to shut down all these shit Euro competitions now - get rid of them all and go back to the European Cup for just the champions. Then you can have a UEFA Cup that would at least have some quality in it. But now that pub teams are in the CL it means even Utd and the Spuds can do "well" in Europe against the absolute dregs.

What a ridiculous idea. Think of all that money not being generated by UEFA, think of all those unnecessary fixtures not being played

Seriously though, I’d go for the European Champions Cup (when the word champions meant something) and the cup winners cup

[HCZ_Reborn]

Gakpo, Rice, Eze... every time you make strong negative statements about a footballer they categorically prove you wrong - please can you start putting down Martinelli right now, and then maybe he'll get a hatter in the second half...

I explain why I don’t rate these players and you in the unsophisticated way you do, think because they score a goal or have a good game that this negates my opinion about these players


Gakpo and Eze are examples of the types of players where athleticism and strength are favoured more than technique, now that’s fine but I imagine them playing for a team such as ours which is already bereft of creativity and think hmm really (and I make that point because for reasons I still don’t really get you wished we’d signed Gakpo, and I compared a player we were linked with, with Eze)


It’s definitely not that I have lamented constantly the lack of creative and technically talented players in the game. For you it’s an indefensible position which needs to be corrected like it’s a spelling mistake.

And only today the way you jumped on a post I made to argue against something id not even said, does rather highlight that this is a bit of a problem for you

[HCZ_Reborn]

The spuds result has more of a bearing because as i tried to explain we'll have to endure all the crap that follows

“As I tried to explain”

This is your problem, you genuinely are unable to understand opinions that you don’t hold

I got the point completely, i don’t see why it substantially matters anymore than Newcastle finishing above us . As I’ve said, if you know yourself that them winning a second tier European competition is less of an achievement than getting to the Champions League semi finals, so then it shouldn’t matter what Spurs fans bray about.

That’s the problem you find yourself in when you insist one objectively matters and one doesn’t, in an objective sense neither matter.

And I’d respect your argument if you said “I’m less bothered about not finishing 2nd than Spurs finishing a trophy” I doubt you’re alone in thinking that.

But trying to argue that one is more important as a matter of fact….no sorry

[Mac76]

I explain why I don’t rate these players and you in the unsophisticated way you do, think because they score a goal or have a good game that this negates my opinion about these players


Gakpo and Eze are examples of the types of players where athleticism and strength are favoured more than technique, now that’s fine but I imagine them playing for a team such as ours which is already bereft of creativity and think hmm really (and I make that point because for reasons I still don’t really get you wished we’d signed Gakpo, and I compared a player we were linked with, with Eze)


It’s definitely not that I have lamented constantly the lack of creative and technically talented players in the game. For you it’s an indefensible position which needs to be corrected like it’s a spelling mistake.

And only today the way you jumped on a post I made to argue against something id not even said, does rather highlight that this is a bit of a problem for you

Literally everyone except you sees Eze as a creative player, as for Gakpo I didn't at any time say we should have signed him tbh, I just said he was a good player while you dug a deeper and deeper hole saying he wasn't, just like you were so sure Liverpool wouldn't keep going and win the title (whereas I said all along that they could)

You simply said Gakpo was 'overrated' you didn't talk about whether he could do this, that or the other, as for Rice you consistenly said he couldn't help us in attack when he's so good there, including in his distribution and ball carrying which you specifically criticised, that most people now want him to stay at 8 rather then be a 6

[HCZ_Reborn]

Literally everyone except you sees Eze as a creative player, as for Gakpo I didn't at any time say we should have signed him tbh, I just said he was a good player while you dug a deeper and deeper hole saying he wasn't, just like you were so sure Liverpool wouldn't keep going and win the title (whereas I said all along that they could)

You simply said Gakpo was 'overrated' you didn't talk about whether he could do this, that or the other, as for Rice you consistenly said he couldn't help us in attack when he's so good there, including in his distribution and ball carrying which you specifically criticised, that most people now want him to stay at 8 rather then be a 6

You’ve really got to stop trying to pad out your arguments by claiming to speak for anyone but yourself

And you did in fact say you had wanted us to sign Gakpo when he was still at PSV. As for being overrated, I went on to say perhaps it’s unfair to call him overrated because you appear to be the only one who rates him


This started with a like for like comparison with our attacking players and theirs where I said, whilst I think overall they are better in attack I didn’t think a player like Gakpo was any better than Martinelli or Trossard. Actually I would say I said I preferred both of them to Gakpo. And then when you factor in Saka, Salah is the only player in that team far better than what we have in attack on an individual comparison basis.


Eze looks to me like a player that relies on speed and strength and those of course are good features for a winger, but also plays too much with his head down, and especially when he’s played for England doesn’t seem to demonstrate that he can read the game, make himself available for a pass….the things one might equate with having a football brain rather than just being a good athlete.
You can score goals and that be the case.


As for people wanting Rice to play at 8 and not 6, people are fickle….ten years ago people thought that Francis Coquelin would become a top class defensive midfielder.

People simply can’t have it both ways, you can’t lament the lack of attacking opportunities we create and then in the same breath say that Arteta has got it right by playing a DM at 8. Odegaard has been shit this season but the fact that we rely so much on him to be the creative spark is half the problem

We know full well that teams that get back quickly into defensive formation and sit deep we’ve struggled against and that’s partly because we are playing Rice there, it’s not his fault it’s just not his forte (though to be fair on him he’s no worse than Merino at it). The player we need in those situations is not one that we have at the club, a player that is quick enough to see a pass half a second earlier than Rice does, has the acceleration to get up the pitch half a second quicker than Rice can.

Rice is an intelligent footballer in that he can spot danger, he’s also an incredible grafter and leads by example. But technically gifted he is not.

But by all means find me a counter example of where he’s bossed the game at 8 in the way he did against Real Madrid, against an opponent which cedes possession to us and the only way we can get at them is by passing and moving far quicker to open them up

[Mac76]

In no particular order:

The deep block has little to do with Rice and in fact, especially recently, he's sometimes played long balls quickly or carried the ball himself to get things going

Odegaard's been a much bigger culprit on that front as has Partey at times

I didn't even know who Gakpo was when he was at PSV, I only knew about him at the Euros so clearly that's not true... and he's outscored any of our players by quite a margin this season and I'd argue he's a more assured finisher than Martinelli and probably even Leo, albeit i admit he's helped by their far quicker transition football, I think Martinelli in particular would do better if we could get up the pitch quicker

I can only say again that most people, including me, see Eze as a fairly creative player although yes he needs to develop his overall game more - but seriously if you're saying you woudln't take him if we could get him, I'd bet you are pretty much in a minority of one

[HCZ_Reborn]

In no particular order:

The deep block has little to do with Rice and in fact, especially recently, he's sometimes played long balls quickly or carried the ball himself to get things going

Odegaard's been a much bigger culprit on that front as has Partey at times

I didn't even know who Gakpo was when he was at PSV, I only knew about him at the Euros so clearly that's not true... and he's outscored any of our players by quite a margin this season and I'd argue he's a more assured finisher than Martinelli and probably even Leo, albeit i admit he's helped by their far quicker transition football, I think Martinelli in particular would do better if we could get up the pitch quicker

I can only say again that most people, including me, see Eze as a fairly creative player although yes he needs to develop his overall game more - but seriously if you're saying you woudln't take him if we could get him, I'd bet you are pretty much in a minority of one

Again I’m only going by what you said last summer about him, you also did mention the Euros as well and insisted that he made the team of the competition (which apart from not meaning a whole lot, also he didn’t make Uefa’s official team of the tournament).

Gakpo wasn’t exactly an unknown when he went to Liverpool, he’d played for Netherlands in the World Cup and he had played against us because PSV were in our group for 2022/2023.

Is there really this great clamour amongst fans for us to sign Eze? I’m not going to say most would think we could do better because unlike certain people I don’t try to claim support for an opinion I hold from this nebulous “majority”

It’s not about blaming Rice, it’s saying that when we don’t have a more naturally technical player with greater acceleration at 8 it’s going to be more noticeable when someone like Odegaard is also stinking up the place, plus I’d argue with Odegaard that his form over went off a cliff at the beginning of the year….we’ve been struggling to unlock teams all season.

My preference would be to sign a more creative midfielder and then play Rice or Zubimendi/Partey only when we are playing sides where midfield supremacy is more important than getting the ball forward more quickly. Ok if Rice is more adept at playing long balls…that might prove effective when Havertz is back….but our team isn’t the best at trapping long balls

[Mac76]

Ii didn't say there was a clamour but that's because we're focussed on other things, plus he'd be very expensive, but if he was in offer for something reasonable I don't think anyone would think it was a bad buy

[HCZ_Reborn]

Ii didn't say there was a clamour but that's because we're focussed on other things, plus he'd be very expensive, but if he was in offer for something reasonable I don't think anyone would think it was a bad buy

I think at most he could be an ok backup option, but given the money Palace would be asking for him I’d rather not take the option.

[Mac76]

So you want as a 'backup option' someone who's scored more goals than any Arsenal player this season?

I'm glad you're not Arsenal manager, I'd sooner take my chances with Arteta

[HCZ_Reborn]

So you want as a 'backup option' someone who's scored more goals than any Arsenal player this season?

I'm glad you're not Arsenal manager, I'd sooner take my chances with Arteta

Oh believe me the feeling is reciprocal

I think the only difference is one of us probably holds onto a lingering delusion that they would make for a competent football coach and it’s not me

And Eze has fewer goals than Martinelli in the premier league this season, the total is where he’s scored in the cup competitions against teams like QPR and Stockport.

[Mac76]

Eze was out injured for a while, so I suspect his goal-to-game ratio is better than Martinelli's (though maybe he got injured for a bit too, most fo our team have at one point or other...)

But as you say goals aren't everything and most people regard Eze as more creative than a Martinelli-type winger

btw Newcastle want to buy him apparently which shows big teams (and with their money and league position we now have to call them that) are interested in him

[HCZ_Reborn]

Eze was out injured for a while, so I suspect his goal-to-game ratio is better than Martinelli's (though maybe he got injured for a bit too, most fo our team have at one point or other...)

But as you say goals aren't everything and most people regard Eze as more creative than a Martinelli-type winger

btw Newcastle want to buy him apparently which shows big teams (and with their money and league position we now have to call them that) are interested in him

Eze has been out for about the same length of time as Martinelli was

Cool let Newcastle have him.

Problem for Newcastle is that they won’t ever be a big team in the way they hoped to be when the Saudis bought them because of Financial sustainability rules, whilst Man City might just get away with their blatant cheating I doubt they’ll allow another club to act similarly. They’ll challenge for the top four but that’s really as good as it will get for them.

That sounds about right for a player like Eze