Just realised the next game is the Cup....thought it was Swansea. The return of Pardew. A little rest for the nerves...want to win but not quite the nerve jangling feeling of a league game.
We play Villa at home before the City game last game. I would love this match to secure champions league football. No doubt if it was it would be on sky.
I want CL sorted out before the City game (in our favour of course )....wouldn't want the last game to matter to both teams, though I would love it to be a title decider for City. We could be kingmakers
And I'm now somewhat relieved that we lost to Sheffield United, much though a possible Wembley final would have been nice; would have been looking at a run of two games a week for most of a month, and a stretch of three cup ties including two that we'd have had to field a full squad at a time when we're (by Fonte's admission) pretty fatigued already.
I must say, I really wasn't expecting the level of humility from him. Says a huge amount for Ronald's man management skills.
Says a fair bit about Elia as well. A month ago, he was watching his role diminish in a club that was struggling against possible relegation, and (perhaps not without cause) branded as a miscreant. Now he's been thrust into an ideal situation, and playing a significant role. Credit to Koeman for seeing that in him; credit to Elia for recognizing the chance he has been handed here.
Their goal......if in any doubt, the defender should get it away. Gardos did absolutely the right thing and did it well. The end result was just bad luck. Re. The 'penalty', one of the Sky pundits was adamant that it was the correct decision and that's good enough for me
It falls square in the middle of the "how did we get away with that?" category. But I'm not complaining.
If the keeper shouts, the defender's not in any doubt. Then again, I was watching on a crappy stream, and having watched it again on MOTD I think I was being a bit churlish blaming anyone for what was basically a freak incident.