The Journalist

Few people saying the standard of refereeing has fallen - do fans really think this? I think it's a complete myth. In 25 years of watching football I've never thought "oooh, refereeing is particularly good at the moment". In truth, the vast majority of referees get the vast majority of decisions right the vast majority of the time - despite the game now being harder to referee than at any point in history. I say harder because the game is now quicker than ever before and referees now also have to make far more decisions during 90 minutes than ever before. You can argue whether the above is positive or negative - and, indeed, whether the laws of the game have improved or otherwise - but I'm not having it that the actual refereeing has got worse.

Stopped playing between the two goals. That’s the difference between a side pushing upwards and a side not. Would’ve won that otherwise.

For as bad as he is, if anyone is going to give us a penalty it’s Keith Stroud. Would absolutely relish being the referee to finally do it.

If you’re trying to improve culture, is having bad apples train with the most impressionable group of people within a club - the young players - going to ultimately be a positive thing?

I realise this is a fairly worthless thing to say, but Semenyo wouldn’t have finished that second goal. He has neither the touch nor composure to have scored from that position. There’s obviously plenty that Semenyo has than Bell doesn’t - but almost all exclusively physical attributes.

He’s the most complete player I’ve seen play for us in 25 years of watching - especially when you consider he’s doing it in the hardest position on the pitch and at the highest level we’ve played during that time. I just can’t think of another player who comes close to his all-round game? And he’s 19! ?

Wish Alex Scott would just give us one more full season.

What a first touch. Made that look much more routine than it was.

Excited to see how he does. Hopefully it all clicks into place for him because has all the attributes and seems a good guy. I thought his goodbye message was lovely - felt unusually genuine for that sort of thing. At that level, the key bits will be working on that first touch and being able to look after the ball when it’s played into him and adding composure to his finishing. He’s always struck such a clean ball, but is miles too wasteful for the Premier League currently. It’ll be very interesting - he has a lot to work on but good luck to him and I think it’s a good deal for both parties.

Versatile too. Clearly settled well into that right-sided centre-half role, but also did well in the middle of a back three and can play at full-back and even as a defensive midfielder too. We’ve had a pretty settled team for a fair while so probably easy to forget how many options he actually gives you. Worth adding for full disclosure - until this season I didn’t think he had the mentality/concentration to play at this level, but he’s stepped up for a consistent period. No doubt confidence has played a part, but fair play to him.

So basically all referees are really poor? It’s almost as if it’s a really difficult job.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not - £210m in today's market doesn't get you much if you're trying to build a team to get into the Champions League! Genuinely, their recruitment has been excellent and building a team - and bearing in mind they were absolute relegation fodder for a sustained period time - in that short space of time is much, much easier said than done. You only need to look at the sort of money other clubs/managers have wasted to appreciate that. (Apologies if you're being genuine!).

Eddie Howe has done fantastically. I really questioned whether he was the right appointment for them, but I think player-for-player he has them probably overachieving currently. To turn them around that quickly has been remarkable.

Would you go for the sugary ones or plain? So many variations to choose from now.

Superb. Both making excellent points and absolutely delicious.

I guess it’s interpretation isn’t it? I think Rashford continues to move towards the ball even if he doesn’t swing a boot at it.

I’ll tell you why the goal should’ve been disallowed on this point, IMO, albeit it’s slightly nuanced with a goalkeeper’s head on but… Immediately before Fernandes strikes the ball it’s still within striking range of Rashford. Because of the angle at which both approached the ball, both players would’ve had to hit it with their in-step across the goalkeeper - so if Rashford strikes it he goes to the keeper’s left, if Fernandes strikes it - as he did - he would go to the keeper’s right. On this basis alone it should’ve been disallowed because Ederson is unable to anticipate which corner the ball will end up. I recognise you’ll only likely understand this point if you’ve played in goal, but it’s 100% valid IMO and it should’ve been disallowed.

That is extraordinary. Who was that against?!

But the club is up for sale, isn't it? What else can he do at this point?

Yeah, no problem with that. So that's what you're asking for? Just for the manager to be sacked? But what's that got to do with fans being customers? Or getting the club back? What else is it you actually want?

Some interesting messaging here. Does that mean if we sacked Nigel Pearson tomorrow we'd all have our club back and feel like fans instead of customers? Edit: I'm conscious I've probably sounded overly facetious here - my question is what are they actually asking for here?

They’ve controlled the ball but neither team have controlled the game. One shot each tells you how poor it’s been. It has 0-0 written all over it other than one really poor moment from Atkinson (who has responded well to the error, for what it’s worth).

They’ve had 12 different managers since 2009 (not including caretakers). Six of them have been Darren Ferguson and Grant McCann.

Nice to put in back-to-back performances - it's the first time we've gone two games unbeaten since 31 Aug/3 September. We all know we've got it in us, it's just repeating it. And that's a good start.

Just to emphasise the point - April 2022 was the last time we won a game that was level at 75 minutes.