Yorkie

Tidy instinctive finish from Delap in that game. Looks a decent striker.

Yeah, it's exceptional.

Cup. We're doing nowt in the league this year, too many teams have improved. I fancy us in the cups though, can see us having good runs in both.

Unrelated; Stranraer easily one of the bleakest places I've ever visited.

I'm expecting Karius to score the winner in the FA Cup Final at this point.

I'm glad we're not currently 19th with two points but agree that it's a shame.

What's this supposed to demonstrate? Other than the thigh injury he got five minutes after joining whilst on international duty, it's basically been the odd knock here and there. He was a mainstay in the side during the worst of our troubles last season.

Well that's shite. You'd expect the most modern of all stadia to be a bit easier to get a pint at half time.

The concourse experience is generally crap like. Obviously we slag people off for leaving their seat early because it indicates they care more about going to the shop than they do about the game, and there's a fair percentage for whom that is an accurate description. However, enjoying a pint or pie at the footy is a genuinely delightful thing which is all part of the experience, and I can't blame people for relishing that. I do it at York every time without fail, missing virtually nothing of the game (maybe a minute or two tops). But attempting to achieve that experience at SJP requires you to enter a brawl and leaves no time to actually enjoy the activity; hence why people go down early. It's basically the only thing, as a user, that would see me back a plan to move: massive concourse/facilities upgrades. Is Spurs loads better? I assume it is.

Always been the way. Littlewoods started the Liverpool dynasty was it? Levy’s taken spurs from midtable to a team just under the European elite. Blackburn, Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea, City all broke British transfer records while challenging for the PL. What club has risen beyond the ambitions of the owners consistently? In the entire history of the sport? Your statement about owners was true; what's very 'this era' is that you wouldn't be bothered about the departures of those who traditionally represent 'what it's all about' due to the owners' existence.

Quite like this fella's stuff.

Proper 'state of the game' statement, this...

An underrated annoyance. So irritating when you've got someone just constantly fucking waffling on about nothing.

York might actually be the real deal this season. Just twonked top of the league Barnet 3-1.

So true, really good point. Trippier was our out-and-out playmaker, certainly in the first third of last season. Dortmund beat us at SJP almost exclusively because they shut him down.

There's definitely something significant in this point and it really hit home at the weekend. Scoring early has been a huge part of our gameplan, especially last season, where we scored 23 times in this window across all competitions - often more than once. And when we scored within 30 minutes last year, we almost always won (W15-D5-L1). We like to come out of the traps but it's clear that when we're really, really having to work for the first goal, it's affecting us. Guess it's a mentality gap.

We're 8th so we are atm, depending on your definition, but I was casting a prediction re May.

Fantastic. Needless to say it's a big yes and happy for you to pass on my deets so I can involve them in all the comms when it comes around.

We've definitely been a weird team so far. Pre-Fulham, with very dodgy performances, per game we had 1.32 xG, 1.5 goals, and 2 points. Post-Fulham, with much better performances, per game we've had 1.9 xG, 0.33 goals and 0.33 points. It all feels a bit mid-tabley really.

If there's one thing at the moment that I'll directly criticise him for it's this. He's got to get creative with finding a solution to this; we can't just keep expecting Murphy to do something. Barnes was a good signing based on solid logic; he made a huge difference to us last season when fit and has done this time when allowed. I still think last summer's transfer window was perfectly fine; not adding to it this year totally undermines it, though.

Is 'the project' 3.5 seasons long? What is the target after 3.5 years? Champions League qualification? We already did that so the project has surely already succeeded in that case? Consistent/guaranteed Champions League qualification? That's basically impossible in the context. 'Project' chat is total waffle if you're putting arbitrary deadlines and extremely narrow definitions on it (i.e. league positions); I doubt the owners will appraise the 'project' in pass or fail terms at a single point in time. The whole thing is presumably viewed holistically: to be a sustainable and lucrative venture that is consistently growing in all metrics, and aids Saudi Arabia in achieving whatever its geopolitical aims are (yey). We're definitely post the post-takeover era now though. Initial wave ridden, Staveley and Ashworth are gone and Eales will obviously leave soon too. We're into a fresh chapter and Howe's position is as vulnerable as it ever has been, but I doubt it'll be measured in such a binary way as us finishing 7th as opposed to 6th. (6th being a brilliant result for any sane observer). On Howe specifically, it does feel a bit ominous because of the fact we are into that next chapter, and evidence so far indicates stagnation moreso than progress. What's frustrating - from a purely analytical, unemotional, point of view - is that there's still significant mitigation, like there was last season, because we didn't back him this summer. Personally I think that obstructs a fair judgement of his performance at this stage of his NUFC career. Gut instinct is that he won't be in the dugout next September. I just hope he gets a crack at the cups.

04:00 on clip 4 for Sifu's penno save.

No words for that.

Yep - predictably brilliant day. We've been doing these things since 2008 but the joy of putting faces to names never gets old. Amazing effort from so many to get there and thanks to everyone for being there in good time - the order of play was super slick. Shout out to @Jill and @Shays Given Tim Flowers for between-game cat-herding and VAR calls. Some other shout-outs. Fair play to all the goalies; Dan and Chris W made lots of great saves but Sifu has to take the golden glove on account of that (*that*) penalty save. Brilliant to have Nut out there after 9/10 years of not playing. Thoroughly enjoyed sharing pressing duties with wor Jimburst. Shak joins the likes of Ian W in the annals of 'good feet for a big man'. Plenty more I could mention. For posterity: Reds 3-1 Blues 🔴 Jimburst, TaylorJ, Yorkie 🔵 LFEE Whites 1-1 NUFCs ⚪️ Shak 🔲 Bowlingcrofty Reds 1-0 Whites 🔴 Slim [Jimburst VAR ❌️] ⚪️ [Shak missed pen] Blues 1-2 NUFCs 🔵 Chris 🔲 Ryan, Bowlingcrofty Reds 0-1 NUFCs 🔴 🔲 Ryan Blues 2-3 Whites 🔵 Chris (2) ⚪️ Superior Acuña (3) Player of the tournament: Pata Table 1. NUFCs | 7 | +2 2. Reds | 6 | +2 3. Whites | 4 | 0 4. Blues | 0 | -4

Guess it wasn't enough of a howler or whatever made up shit they're applying at this point. Clear pen for me; the moment the ball strikes his arm is more clumsy than it is deliberate - but he's clambered awkwardly on all fours to get himself into a position to clumsily handle it. He gets himself into trouble then gets out of jail by the ball striking his hand. That's not fair and should be considered an infringement.