Slojo

8 GD to 3 GD and Roma top of the group... pfft hate these f**king head to head rules.

Willian is destroying these counter attacks..

Morata... YOU HAVE TO SCORE THAT!!!

It's beyond me how Drinkwater isn't starting games over Bakayoko.

Bakayoko are you f**king joking me

I had a nasty feeling.

What do you mean? He's entitled to take a shot, there was nothing malicious in that whatsoever.

I think defensively so far we've been superb, great organisation, but sloppy passes are ruining the overall play.

The left side at the moment is consisting of Bakayoko-Cahill-Zappacosta, it's definitely a weakness and the link-up has been sloppy there.

Hazard & Morata very isolated, perhaps too isolated. Might need to switch it up in the 2nd half?

Another Bakayoko cliche, gets forward with the ball, looks promising, misplaces the pass.

This is a must win this one, I can't possibly see Roma getting anything but a win against Qarabag, should we draw we come 2nd of the group by default. I have a good feeling tonight, we are playing well and we can definitely win this.

My post was pretty clear, you're neglecting the fact that Clattenburg did it for a reason. I'm not saying Clattenburg wasn't selfish or very unprofessional, I made it pretty clear what I think of Clattenburg in my second post on this thread. The man is justifying his decision and doesn't understand what he has done wrong, so no I can't respect him, also he was a sh*t referee. But what he's said is bound to be on the mind of every referee who officiates big Premier League matches, they can't withstand the repercussions from top managers and the media should they do something wrong. I'm not sure how that is so hard to understand, it's pretty obvious and everyone in this thread knows it. So as for your point, video technology would completely contradict the referee's decision, the referee can't simply say the ball didn't go past the line when the video technology proves otherwise. So yes you could pretty much say it would solve issues like Clattenburg's blunder at the "battle of the bridge".

On the Benitez situation @Scott Harris makes a good point, Benitez's substitutions were frustrating and always negative. He would sub on two players around the 70th-minute mark as always, and usually they subs didn't make sense. He did win us the Europa League so I respect that but at the same time we were in 7 competitions with a very talented squad, we were in a semi-final with Swansea and lost, we would've gone on to play a Championship team in the final, that would've been an easy trophy in the cabinet. Also the club world cup final... What on earth happened there. I thought Rafa handled himself well in the media but he also dodged a lot of questions, he refused to apologise for his comments towards the club and the fans which were just disrespectful. He reached further than Jose Mourinho territory, I was glad when the fans protested the way they did, shows we don't forget so easily. I don't hate Rafa Benitez anymore though, I actually don't really think about him. He's irrelevant now and he's shown that he's an average coach at best, it might offend a few but I respect him more for what he did at this club than before he joined. Yes, he joined for his own self-interest but he took it on and tried to salvage the season for us when it was a hard time, I respect him a bit for that, but that's as far as it goes. I don't hate him anymore, but I don't like him either.

If Conte doesn't think he's worthy of having a squad number then I think it speaks for itself. Conte seems to give many players a chance here, if it was Jose Mourinho I would give Baba the benefit of the doubt because Jose is known to make heavy statements wherever he goes. But Conte doesn't seem to rate him at all, I would trust his judgement on that.

Moses is more of a consistent performer, he can actually link up with the team really well. Zappercosta seems to be quicker than Moses but his overall play is quite sluggish, takes heavy touches, lacks vision. We've rarely seen Zappacosta make use of his pace because usually the teams we play against sit back deep against us so all he'll do is whip the ball in. But he is a good squad player and I think some games will fit him perfectly when teams are coming forward and attacking us. Not every player in the team is going to be Eden Hazard, we have to accept that squad players are needed, I think Zappacosta is capable of that role.

Yes but he also listed his reasons for why he did it, he didn't want the media scrutiny of losing Spurs the title, a lot of referees will no doubt feel the same way. Why do you think so many referees were frightened to death of Sir Alex Ferguson? You would be on the front page in no time if you made a bad decision against United. Chris Foy actually got demoted to League 1 refereeing when Ferguson ranted about him in the 3-2 loss against Tottenham in 2012. How many bad decisions did Chris Foy give us? Yet he was consistently refereeing our games.

And right away Sky & the BBC are trying to make out like Tottenham are the victims.

EDIT: Actually no scrap that, after reading more of the podcast script the bloke seemed like he's happy about it and thinks it was right.

Further proof that the media is a massive influence on the referees, that's with help from punditry. Is it any wonder United, Liverpool & Arsenal get away with so many decisions? Tottenham that season and the season after were massively hyped by the British media, a lot of it was due to them having so many British players. There is no doubt there are many referees who feel just the same as Clattenberg did when they referee these games with teams that are heavily hyped by media. It's just protection now nothing more, the same happened for Liverpool back in 2014, if anyone can remember Liverpool couldn't stop winning games and when they needed 1 more goal you could guarantee they would get a penalty. But most of all they had the worst defence in the league out of the top 6 by a distance and would never concede a penalty. What referee would want to be in the spotlight for that? Stopping the mighty Liverpool and ruining their amazing season, the season the media highlighted as "JUSTICE FOR THE 96" Gerrards tears after every match, the drama. Imagine being a referee and stopping that? Something needs to be done about it. I like the traditional rules but they're being heavily duped and it's no longer fair. The more I read and see instances like this the more I start agreeing with @yorkleyblue that we need video tech to referee games, having more officials barely does anything. The other officials were supposed to help Arsenal against United on Saturday when it was a stonewall penalty, the other officials as always done nothing.

City are not that great though, they're not as good as they were at the start of the season. They're beatable and they've struggled to get victories in the last 3 games, I hate the "Champions performance" crap, grinding out games isn't something you have to consistently do if you're a very good side. At the moment City are struggling, although every other team would love to have their problems right now, they're still struggling. I fancy United getting a win actually.

It baffles me how teams can't score more than 1 goal against Mangala & Otamendi, both are absolute dreadful players.

Even if West Ham get a draw that's a brilliant result. City will have a 6 point lead over United, that's not a HUGE cushion like some people make it out to be, United lost an 8 point lead with 6 games left to go of the season. So it'll still put pressure on the top contenders with not even half of the season played.

Sterling last minute goal incoming

As it should be, it’s nothing serious. I know theirs double standards at play but still I would rather the FA done nothing.