The9

We have also beaten them before, thanks to some spactacular timewasting on my part, and no thanks to Dan Kerins' finishing.

I'd download b-europe app instead, Belgian website with the exact same format as the Dutch site and all the same information, but allows pre-printing of tickets and payment via card in advance. I've had my trains booked for weeks, very flexible tickets. The one problem we had getting to De Kuip last week was the bloody Dutch ticket machines at the train station, which are random as hell and would not give me what I needed despite being multi-language. I think afterwards I worked out that the discrepancy in the price was due to it automatically charging me for a travelcard (possibly an OV-chipkaart, but don't quote me on that), which you don't need to buy at all if you pre-book and pre-print. Also, if someone Dutch could give some advice about whether that ov-chipkaart IS the one you need for travel between cities in Netherlands, or what else you'd need to get, that would be handy. But I suspect they're all off here now they've already visited. I have just looked in my wallet, which currently contains Euros, ov-chipkaart for Rotterdam and GVB tram card from Amsterdam, tickets for the match, debit cards and my season tickets. 3 days away yet!

Not really an issue when the Kingsland was completely empty. The two Espanyol fans in the front of Block 42 were moved pretty quickly after celebrating the goal.

He was MUCH better than in Salzburg, which is good, because he couldn't have been worse! Looked solid enough - still not a patch on Cedric but a lot more competent backup than he looked like he might be. Whether that's down to knowing the system better or fitness or even sharpness training with better players, he put some decent crosses in and was much better positionally too.

Quite pleased to see that when playing in position and after a few weeks with the club, Martina didn't look out of place and has a lot more potential than he showed in his first appearance. Decent enough crossing, though he was a little leg-wavy and lethargic closing down on one occasion second half in front of us. Caulker got caught a bit flat-footed early on when the ball came to his feet, and I have absolutely no idea who was meant to be marking their scorer when he was in 10 yards of space in the box with neither Targett nor Caulker where you'd expect them to be. Overall though, fairly sound, nearly got done by a through ball but recovered. It was interesting to see we played him in his preferred right side CB position second half. Yoshida, solid enough except getting caught in possession on the edge of the box and JUST got a toe in as the player was about to go past, so only nearly gifted a gilt-edged chance this time. The other occasion wasn't his fault, Gazziniga put Reed under pressure and Reed shifted it on to Yoshida with 3 players already on him, can't expect much in that situation. Ward-Prowse for me showed glimpses of improvement, his snapshot moved all over the place when he hit it, and it's certainly something we're lacking in the team. Corners all into the right places, but they're not useful scoring opportunities anyway. Our floating of crosses to the far post must be supported by statistical analysis, but it does not make for happy viewing even if it is probably marginally more effective on more occasions than whacking a shot in from long range. At least his free-kick didn't just miss the target this time. Not sure I'd be critical of him for not playing through balls when more times than not we play simple possession balls and don't really try to get in behind - though obviously holding a pass when the striker thinks you're playing it just leads to offsides. Wanyama and Mane were good without getting near the levels they were at on Thursday, Pelle seems to be much more mobile than he was much of last season. Kelvin Davis had nothing to do and couldn't stop the goal when left woefully exposed, but hardly his fault, Gazzaniga's passing choices were worrying at times, and he played both Yoshida and Reed into trouble with casual roll-out/kicks on the ground to marked players. Reed hasn't changed his game, works hard but is still snapping into challenges late and inviting cards. On the ball he's safe and effective, which is reassuring. I though McCarthy looked comfortable when he came on, and McQueen obviously had the one break where he was repeatedly fouled. Debayo looked a little hesitant, which is understandable, tried to use the ball well though. We already know what we're getting from Targett, defensively sound but offers little going forward. Juanmi looked pretty decent, almost the polar opposite of how Ramirez started with Saints, he takes a touch and turns tightly either way, beating his man, whilst Gaston always took the same early look and always turned the same way into a waiting tackle - for some reason Juanmi is already way past that point and looks much more of a threat as he's running at defenders. On that note, the (Prem I assume from the kit and logos) ref was clearly using UEFA-approved levels of involvement for his decisions, it was practically non-contact out there.

Both systems are pretty crappy for the seller, tbh. May as well find a mate who wants it and arrange appropriate compensation between you. It's only really beneficial if you don't know someone who wants a ticket and you ALWAYS have an ST.

Yeah, the "one bad pass" which the keeper already told him to put off the pitch as he could see we were outnumbered in our own half, which Yoshida heard, ignored, and played the ball straight to the attacker, leaving Davis having to adjust to an unexpected situation rapidly when there was no need for the threat to have occurred. Unsurprisingly Davis would be off-balance and compromised by it. Had Vitesse scored, they'd have a valuable away goal and 3-1 suddenly takes away much of the advantage we had built up over the match. I have ignored all the "not doing something completely ridiculous and awful" because at the level we're attempting to be at, that stuff is expected. As for the "Fonte was worse", he hoofed one up the pitch at one point, conceding posession in the opposing half. Not really comparable in terms of potential detrimental impact. Equally, I haven't bothered mentioning Yoshida's rubbish pass off the pitch towards Targett when stood in 15 yards of space, because it didn't have much impact on our chances of winning the tie.

Alderweireld's ability to read where a ball was dropping, position himself for it and be there and clear it before anyone else reacted was pretty spectacular. Our defensive record was spectacular. Usual problem that defending is best analysed by what doesn't happen rather than what does, and the best defensive performances are the ones where you don't really need to do anything because you're completely in control of all situations. Players who contribute mistakes regularly to that equation are not to be valued.

I think the logic is that we can't afford the kind of creative player that wins games (at best we can sign cheaper options to develop into that player, like Mane), so we sign hard-working players with some creativity to contribute at both ends instead.

There were, but only one of them directly led to a shot on goal and it was also completely avoidable. Yoshida was not better than Fonte.

Our attempts at DISCO~!!! last night were awful. There's a time and a place, and that time MIGHT have been at 3-0 up, but not before.

Yeah, tried to get some photos but he kept changing direction in a bat-like way.

Yoshida PASSED IT TO THE BLOODY STRIKER.

Ah, you've fallen into that trap of thinking we need to create chances to score goals, we just stop the other team scoring them and wait for things to happen up front. We very rarely go out and overcompensate to score goals, we always sit back and see what comes to us that we can take advantage of. Seems to work well for us. Occasionally (last season at home to West Brom and West Ham, and maybe Swansea) it doesn't unfold and we don't score at home, but usually we get a result without needing to risk conceding - the only time I think we overcommitted last season was at 1-0 down to Man City with them having 10 men, and we got caught twice and lost 3-0. Stekelenburg has been completely flawless for us so far, excellent keeper. Glad to see it's not just me that sees Yoshida as a liability, that clearance to the striker on the edge of the box (when Stekelenburg was yelling for him to put it off the pitch) was his contribution to the opposition cause for this week, the only shot on target Stekelenburg had to deal with, and he does it far too often.

The lack of a loan to buy option tells me more about our recent experience with that clause than anything, also if Caulker's contract is up in a year or two it makes no sense to tie ourselves to a deal, especially when QPR could bounce back and want to play him again next season. All of which have nothing to do with his ability.

Was good in the ground.

I took the chip out and stapled it between two pieces of thin plastic, it was ideal. This year's arrived on a card to be put into the band, needless to say I have just stuck the card in my wallet. Though the barmaid in The Spitfire who said they took contactless (and said they didn't have Slimline tonic when they did) didn't help much, as they don't have contactless terminals.

I post in between working smart, often at home.

It was a strange attempt at humour apparently.

Top 10 players? Really? How bad have we been in that time? We had about 6 better just last season alone.

If Pulis wants to find out he can't run any more I don't mind...

PS Shance, we already went over this a couple of pages back, it's easier to identify the 22 non-seeds who if they go through guarantee we're seeded. Is useful to be reminded of the coefficients though. After that it's trying to avoid being in Pot 4 of the groups (at least we can't get Liverpool or Spurs).

Heard them plenty in Block 41. Also heard them from the Premier Inn and Solent Uni when they were at Guildhall Square which was no mean feat.

Reed is completely the wrong kind of player for matches when you get a yellow for just thinking about tackling for a start. As for dropping Clasie after one match, that seems both stupid and expensive. He's going to get plenty of game time to get him up to speed, which he isn't yet. He was good enough away in Rotterdam last week to suggest he's got something, but he's got some big boots to fill.

I basically disagree with all this apart from the last two paragraphs and Clasie looking lightweight, but he'll improve once he's got his bearings and our scientists on him.