S-Clarke

Ballard is certainly an exciting one isn't he. Seems like a scoring machine at every level he's put into.

Do you think Kane will leave? I think his chance was last summer and I don't think he'll get another opportunity for a 'big' move. This summer has the likes of Mbappe and Halland floating around to be nabbed and I'm sure City will be aiming for one of those as opposed to Kane.

Agreed mate. I was going for a point from these two as a good outcome, but 3 already is more than I imagined. Puts us in such a good position as the games after this are comparatively better. Although this is Southampton and we know how that works...

I think it'll be between Norwich, Newcastle, Watford, Everton and Burnley. Brentford have possibly done enough in the first half of the season to afford the run they've having now, they're good enough to get back on it in the coming weeks and pickup the handful of wins they need. I'm pleasantly surprised by where we are at this stage and hats off to Ralph and the club for putting us in such a good position. From here, given our remaining fixtures, I don't think we'll be looking over our shoulders at any point.

Thank you for continuing the good work Minsk has put in, would have been a shame to see it wasted. It's so positive looking at this though, the head to head comparison is kind of suggestive that we may end up in the 50's points wise this year. I didn't see that and I thought we'd struggle without Ings goals, but credit to the scouting as we've filled the hole better than I could have imagined.

Why are West Ham being so anal about this? I noticed Zouma played the race card as well, which is ridiculous. Both separate 'crimes' and both equally deplorable in their own right.

Definitely good to see us continuing to bolster the B and U18 ranks. Prior to the summer window it's been neglected for a while but we're clearly baulking it up massively. It's not all about these players making it as first team players for us, but it's about creating a really good/competitive B Team/U18 team for other players to benefit from being part of as well. If you've got winning underage teams then your talented players are going to develop at a faster rate. I'm glad it's getting more focus now.

He's a good player, but I've always thought he's more of a 'support' player than your 15-20 goal a season main man at the highest level. His attributes as a support striker are priceless for us, he provides great legs and presence up top for someone with more pace/ability to thrive from. I'm pretty excited about this Broja/Adams partnership if i'm honest, it could be epic. That header hasn't had enough coverage though, it was terrific technique to get the power and direct on that. You won't see many better headers!

No actual CB's in the Leicester starting 11 today, Vestergaard sits on the bench. That is the best £15m we'll ever make. The 30m for Ings doesn't look too shabby either.

Hoj was always mr average, good at waving his arms around but does lack ability. Put him in a team with lots of good players and he'll do alright turning the ball over for 90 mins, but make him an important part of a midfield with a lack of quality around him and you see the real Hoj. Part of me thinks that Ralph is quietly content that he wanted to go as that allowed him to evolve the team a bit more. I'd struggle to see him our midfield nowadays, he's too passive and sideways.

I think (i hope) the club is looking for a Romeu successor, someone we can bring in whilst Romeu is still here in order for him to grow into the side. Diallo isn't that player. Diallo is more of an advanced midfielder in my eyes, probably more of a JWP alternative. That's why JWP and Diallo often get overrun in there when it's just those two.

I'm surprised we haven't seen more 'open play' asissts from JWP before now, but that position just right of central midfield 40 ish yards out is perfect for someone with a right peg like his, as long as the players make the right movement in the box it's another great weapon in his growing armory. Those two crosses yesterday were very De Bryune esque, I was staggered at how much space he got to take a touch and play it in though. Other teams aren't going to afford him that much time!

He needed to calm down a bit yesterday, those two attempts were a bit erratic (the one he pulled wide was a bit glaring). But his physical presence and physical attributes get him into those situations so many times. The calmness in his game will come with experience and once that settles down he is going to be an absolute machine.

The 'same passage of play' is one of those waffle rules that leads to no consistency what so ever. How can a foul that happens 10 seconds prior to the goal not be part of the 'attacking passage' of play?

Yeah, it's a foul every day of the week. Royal came over him to win the ball, 99% of the time that is pulled for a foul by Royal. And the fact it was Royal adds even more strength to it as he was awful all night and making stupid decisions, so it was rash as hell from him. The 'attacking' phase of play thing is one of those stupid wishy washy rules that could be made to fit certain situations. If that foul wasn't in the same attacking phase then I don't know what I was watching, they scored 10 seconds after it.

Would love to push on again and see another exciting display, but I think we've lost quite a lot of energy tonight and to turn that around again for Saturday will be tough. Not expecting anything, but hoping for a surprise. Will be interesting to see how Ralph plays it as there will be quite a few players on empty after tonight.

What the actual.

Bit of an extra tool received from him today in those open play assists. Such a weapon in all parts of our play. Anyone who wants to sell him for less than £100m is daft. Easily up in the Rice figures. My opinion though is that he'd struggle to win over fans at a top, top club. Grass isn't always greener and he's onto a good thing here.

He's a bit infectious isn't he, really tenacious style to his play and isn't beaten all too often. He's not slow either as he caught up with Moura and Son on a few occasions. I love the guys heart and desire, he's not flashy but he's full of effort.

One of the worst right backs I've ever seen in this league. We've done Spurs good and proper there by nicking KWP for £10m whilst they spent £35m on him.

That was a monumental performance from every single one of them, I can't remember the last time I've seen us swarm a team with so much purpose and quality. We were absolutely relentless from the first minute. We benefited massively from Spurs standing off us in the first half, that allowed so much space for Ely and Armstrong to pop up and drive into. We were relentless in our press and Spurs were so passive. It was so frustrating that it wasn't at least 1-3 at HT as we'd have deserved that to a man. You kind of felt an inventible script was being written. Second half Spurs pressed higher, they got tighter and they certainly weren't as passive. The space we had in the first half had somewhat vanished and we were struggling to get the fluidity in our play, but we stuck at it. It's hard to analyse that second goal as it was a 'false' goal, in every single ground in every single country that is a foul in the build up and it's not a goal. Absolutley insane that it was allowed and even more ludicrous that the commentary team failed to even acknowledge that glaring referring disaster in front of them. But what spirt, what character and belief. The one thing that you could throw at this team in recent years is that our heads drop when the going gets tough, but f**k me this year we have turned that on it's head. We re-grouped and just pushed forward again. Spurs did sit back and decided to revert to their passive approach which helped us, but the quality of delivery from JWP from open play is clearly as dangerous as those from a set piece. Incredible delivery, but also a note on Adams header by the way - best header I've seen for years. It's hard to single a player out, but I want to give special mention to Elyounoussi. He's divided opinion and has struggled during his time here, but that first half was as good as I've ever seen him play. He was good on the ball, good off the ball, technical and skilful when he had it. The perfect number 10 performance away from home. Broja a threat as usual, but he needs to calm down a bit as he snatched at a couple of chances that a cooler head would have buried. Overall that's a bonus 3 points, but the performance has left me so excited. That is everything you want from a high intensity, high pressing side and it would have been an absolute footballing travesty had we not won that.

Everton, even though they looked terrible, should be absolutely fine I'd have thought. Newcastle will sadly be well clear by the end in my opinion. Burnley need to start getting wins, draws aren't going to get them far - but they're still competitive. Watford look pants though.

Newcastle 2-1.

Well, this game woke up. 1-1 now.

Everton lead.....OG by someone.