feltmonkey

Crazy start to the Newcastle game. A disallowed goal in the first 30 seconds, then Sky cut back from the replay of that to Newcastle scoring again. It's clocked at three minutes, but there had only been a minute's play at most.

From the sounds of it, Fred was immense in the last few minutes. Is that right?

2 minutes ago, Gabzy said:

Well, Sabitzer will be starting for us sooner than he’d imagined!

With McTominay out as well, if we hadn't signed him we'd be looking at three games of Fred and Lindelof in the midfield.

Well, I'll be surprised if we hold on for the win now.

I'm listening on the radio as well. They reckon it's a ridiculous decision, that Casemiro was holding a Palace player back from getting involved in a melee. Is that a crazy take? It sounds like quite a crazy take.

Rashford 

Hope we see Sabitzer and Sancho in the second half.

Nice that the fans are singing Sancho's name when he came out for a warm-up.

It is really sad, particularly as he has obviously been working on his game, and has improved his consistency. He talked in an interview a year or two ago about how he was aware that he took too long to get his game going, whereas Cavani was always at 3000% even if he only played a few minutes. I think pretty much every time I've seen Martial play this season he's hit a good level. 

I think he's worth persevering with, and trying to find some way to keep him fit. To my eyes, twice this season the problem has been Martial coming back too early and playing while injured, which seems like a player that is desperate to play. I don't think we can say it's an attitude problem.

We're a better team when he plays. He seems to be a key element in unlocking our forward players. I'm not saying we don't try to get a centre forward in the summer, but we need to keep trying with him at the moment.

Wales are getting a right battering off Ireland.

Chelsea's results continue to be very funny indeed.

2 hours ago, Ork1927 said:

 

If they do get shot then he’ll be playing at championship level at the very least next season for someone. 

They'll get shot, surely. The difference this will make is that now they will probably have to work out some kind of payoff. Tricky if Greenwood insists on the full value of his contract, because the club has no money, apparently. I have no idea if they have been paying him since the whole thing came out last year. If they haven't, he could probably claim the backpay for that whole period. I wouldn't be surprised to then see Greenwood pop up in the Middle East, playing against or alongside Ronaldo and earning a good living out of the spotlight, having got away with everything.

For those wondering how the case got dropped, the victim stopped cooperating with the investigation and is apparently back with Greenwood. If the victim isn't going to testify against the defendant, and may testify in his defence, there's not much chance of a conviction. The possibility that they might be back together makes me feel ill. It's a horribly common thing in abusive relationships for the victim to take the abuser back, and the abuser rarely changes. I feel bad for speculating about football matters in the light of this realisation, to be honest.

Well that clears that up. Phew.

I wonder what will happen now. I think his contract will still be cancelled by United, but there might be some sort of payoff behind the scenes. The question is whether he will get a contract somewhere else and continue his career. Ched Evans plays for Preston North End, and the Brazilian goalkeeper Bruno who murdered his girlfriend was signed by three different clubs in Brazil. There's always someone willing to ignore morals if it gets them a good player, and Greenwood was on his way to being one of the world's best.

I hope we don't try to integrate him back into our squad.

Archer is really back!  6-40 today.

Imagine if he sees off the Glazers as well.

Lovely to see Steve Cooper giving Sancho a big hug. He's a class act. He was Sancho's manager at England U17 level, that team that won the World Cup. Sancho didn't play in the final (I think he was recalled due to his transfer to Dortmund) but was arguably the star of that squad, even ahead of Foden, in the early rounds.

9 minutes ago, Gabzy said:

Lindelof CDM is… interesting! I assumed Licha would move there.

I think he's looked the part so far! Hasn't @5R7 been calling for him to play there for years? 

We've looked really good since the changes. That goal was just brilliant. Fred plays it inside, ball forward from Case, nice layoff from Martial, lovely pass wide by Sancho, cross from Fernandes, cut back by Rashford, tap-in by Fred who's made an intelligent run into the box. All the front players involved. I love it.

Fred is finding all sorts of body parts to score with. 

Great finish Martial!

That bounce pass by Casemiro was a thing of beauty.

Blatant penalty.

That half time was almost entirely adverts. We got about 30 seconds of Keane being unhappy, then adverts adverts adverts, and when they came back to the studio it was over footage of the two teams coming back on for the second half!

Dennis should have had a yellow for diving, too. Twice he's thrown himself to the ground for no reason.