21 Oct 2026 10:40:46
Some say I'm moaning again about midfield. It's not moaning. It's realism. Grav was a disgrace before going to RB. To put in a shift like that on the money he's on, no not for me.
You can't have a first team player like that where he decides when he wants to graft. You can look at the exit for me.
Macca scores goals at least but his legs are made of stone.
21 Oct 2026 10:54:23
What does it matter how much money Grav is on? If he was on less would you be happier with his performance?
It was a poor start to the game last night and VVD decided to play as a number 10 for the opposition for the first 30 minutes but we sorted it out and got the win. Job done.
It's a very busy time for us at the moment, playing every 3 days and we have some significant injuries to key players. To not expect the odd lull in performance is just unrealistic.
The main thing is we won the game. Now on to Brighton on Sunday.
21 Oct 2026 11:37:54
Sounds like you're moaning about what moaning is Ron :)
21 Oct 2026 12:20:39
Ron, there were issues all over the pitch in that first half but Grav is the only one you slated because of the money he is on?
Yep, not scapegoating at all.
21 Oct 2026 12:26:34
I'm with Ron. If our first half is like that v Brighton they'll put six in the net. Being busy with games doesn't mitigate the 'lull in performance' as Rio phrases it. My phrasing would be somewhat more expletive than that. The players need to be switched on from minute 1 to end.
From August to May. If not then forget about winning anything regardless of how many shiny toys we have in the box. And I may be a critic of both but credit where due to Rio and Wirtz. Both were good last night. On towards Brighton. That's going to be a good one.
21 Oct 2026 14:29:23
Alarming the amount of goals we have conceded in champions league.
21 Oct 2026 16:01:16
I agree that we have conceded a lot in the UCL but I'm not alarmed by it with the context.
Substituting both of your CBs at once is something you never want to do as a manager, in Iraola's own words. You can only do that when you're up as far as we were, and the gamble more than paid off. 6-3.
Yesterday was a bizarre start to the game, with Virgil making a couple of big blunders very early on. One wasn't punished, and one was - the first goal. A combination of the whole teams imbalance, especially after we conceded, and some really good tactics from Villarreal, they baited Araujo into following Moleiro centrally. Rio did then not cover himself in glory with the tracking back and they ended up with an overload on the right-centre of our defence leading to the second goal. We then make changes, thrash them for a while to end up ahead 4-2. Gomez then comes on (another CB sub), gets caught chasing a player in midfield and struggles to get back in time to stop them destabilising our defensive line and we run 4-3 winners. All that considered, I'm fine with it.