MarcusX

He’s only a “good” selection now because he’s had regular game time. He wouldn’t have got any of that here until the injuries

I won’t knock the club for this specific incident as such, as many people wouldn’t have got the reference (I didn’t). That said, any club (or company) allowing public broadcasting of messages should be doing some kind of filtering - and it’s a potential risk if that’s down to an individual. There’s technical solutions available to automate this

Yep thats the call I reckon was made by the ref and VAR have said it's too subjective to over rule. Still surprised he didn't ask the ref to take another look, but can certainly see that as the reasoning and despite my view being it's probably a penalty, can easily see why it's not.

I'm actually surprised it didn't. It's one of those that the more you watch, the more it looks like a foul. I said earlier, it's akin to the classic defender shielding the ball out of play or running across a striker and "getting in front". They've not touched the ball, but it's accepted that they're able to do that. I think Partey "got in front" by a split second, he puts his foot across to shield the ball and then gets kicked. Similar to how the likes of Grealish and Alex Scott often win so many fouls. Either way, VAR would have looked at it, they've just decided it wasn't a mistake by a ref or worth looking twice at. Given some of the decisions VAR has made, I'm surprised it wasn't overruled because although I can see what Partey was doing - clearly what he's actually done is block De Bruyne from shooting without making contact with the ball. A very interesting debate

Yea I miscounted, I meant 9 games to go - eg at the point I was talking about when they blew 2 x 2 goal leads and then almost lost to bottom of the league at home.

I think it’s reasonable to say they’ve bottled it. It was in their hands with 8 games to go, they’ve dropped 2 goal leads in 2 consecutive games (the West Ham game was especially poor) and then almost lost to the worst team in the league, at home. That should have been 6 points minimum instead of 3. They didn’t even need to beat City if they hadn’t dropped those points. Liverpool were called bottlers for dropping a 7 point lead from December and finishing with 97 points!

Shirt sleeve is the guide now isn’t it?

You can see it both ways really, Partey has put his foot in front of De Bruyne as he’s about to shoot - he hasn’t played the ball?

And it’s the last game of the season!

I thought so too. Not sure how it wasn’t, Partey hasn’t attempted to play the ball. I guess it’s akin to a defender stepping across a striker when running after a long ball, and getting tripped.

I disagree. Sometimes it;s blatent, but the large majority of the time "diving" is subjective. You can never truly know if a small amount of contact was enough to trip someone running a full sprint. There also doesn't have to be contact for a foul to be made, if you impede someone without touching them (eg they have to hurdle your tackle) it can still be a foul. This situation here is different, but it's also not a dive it's just outright cheating.

That hasn’t added context at all, as it isn’t clear what point your making. The performances at Xmas went poor, but since then we’ve been really good to watch most of the time. If he can then some of those draws into wins then we’ll be competitive

Not sure what relevance that has to a chant about the manager of a team we’ve not played in almost a decade

It’s precisely because of this habit of self destruction that we have nothing to play for… That said Middlesbrough have a strong record of points from losing positions

To be pedantic, direction of pass isn’t the reason, it’s Cornick being behind the ball that means he’s onside. You can be offside from a ball played backwards if you start in front of the ball.

I don’t think you’ve seen enough of Ramsdale then to be honest, he’s very “hyper” himself.

Can’t be offside if you’re behind the ball, been the rule as long as I can remember

Got it

I don’t know all the detail, but from an outsider it looks like they’ve just pumped money into the club similar to your Chelsea’s and Man City’s but at a lower level (more like Salford). it’ll be great for the area and the community, but Im not sure it’s something I can get behind. Especially the people jumping behind them now because there’s a series and it’s fashionable. Shame Notts County couldn’t put that penalty away to keep the title race alive - all but gone now you feel.

Got a well deserved assist too

Yep he’s been great so far today, hard work from him got that goal

Rubbish, he’s looked lively so far - won the ball back / caused a couple of turnovers that have led to chances. Probably could have done better but great block from the first shot.

Great start this to be fair, could have had 3/4 by now (could also have conceded)

Because Pickford is equally as good (especially for England), we’re quite blessed in that department.