Badger

Several people have commented how vocal he is towards the back 4, which is great. No idea what he's saying, but if he's bollocking them with a few f, b's, and c''s thrown in for good measure, might it be a case of Peretz Syndrome ?

Not a patch on the christening of ‘Lego Head’ , and more recently ‘Weasley’ although that one didn’t last long enough to catch on.

Nothing against Newcastle, but obviously can’t stand their ownership. And good to see the smug factor on Smug Eddie’s face be reduced

THB struck one with a bit of venom in a shoot out a couple of season ago. Rather him and that approach (Ruddock style) than a tame side footed effort, or straight down the middle. (No mention of a penenka surely no one is that stupid ?)

Ridiculous that a team walking off the pitch causing a 17 minute delay could just resume the match. At the time I thought the ref should have abandoned the match, and Senegal forfeit it. Right decision to strip them of the result.

Argentina tried to set a precedent for walking off the pitch in 1966.

Is someone able to access this to cut and paste the article? Bastard paywall

I’d be happy with the creative potential if it was consistent. The luxury player strikes a chord. Very few will stand comparison to MLT but this is similar to the situation with Peter Osgood in Division 2 in the 1970’s. Osgood was more talented than Azaz but the discussion around him was much the same, how he utilised his skills, but just drifted out of games too easily.

Was he outstanding yesterday? We all see things differently but for me he seemed to lose possession a fair bit. A good signing, though room for improvement and consistency

Coventry fans we spoke to before, and more importantly after, the game were a decent bunch. They accepted the defeat quite well and their observations were interesting. Comment from a couple of them was that our midfield was quite dynamic and overran them, Downes especially. Personally I think a draw would probably have been a fair result especially given their chances. Not a fan of the ‘dark arts’ but we’ve been victims of it all too often - including I recall from them at St Mary’s in December- so nice to see someone else on the receiving end.

He has the knack in the box of arriving undetected, which is a trait of a good midfielder, and Japanese. I’m pleased Tonda and his team have channelled Matsuki’s inner ‘Pearl Harbour’ to good effect.

Of the teams involved you'd think Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool will all want a Saturday fixture with possible European ties the next week. Although i suspect the TV companies will just insist on the scheduling so someone - Pep or Arteta- will be bleating about it.

Have the FA had a QF weekend falling on Easter before, and if so was a match scheduled for Good Friday ? As logical as some of the arguments are, I'd imagine the final say on the fixtures and timing will be with the broadcasters. If they've already designated the slots for Saturday and Sunday then that's when the game will be.

Are they not able to segregate a further section of the Chapel to offer another block or so in the corner?

Wouldn’t surprise me if they try and sign him on the cheap as a back up option. Especially if the qualify for Europe (which now looks unlikely). He made a couple of excellent stops v Man Utd the other night, including one that looked similar to the save Pickford made at St James a few days before, and the media went overboard about.