brummie

We've been without Moreno, Jacob Ramsey, Mings and Emi Buendia for the whole season (and in the case of Moreno, going back into last season) - that's pretty much the entire left side of our team, going into this season, they were all amongst the first names on the team sheet.

If we could manage to fix our away form with a bit more resilience, we’d be such a good side. Ramsey and Moreno back and match fit will be huge for us. Buendia also not too far off by all accounts.

See, proof that technology CAN work properly in football.

Good to see Ezri Konsa get called up, he's changed beyond all recognition under Emery, has been immaculate for ages now. Was always the junior partner next to Mings, but since that horrible injury has taken a lead role with Torres. Incidentally, Pau Torres is a fucking Rolls Royce of a footballer. Lacks a bit of pace, needs Konsa to dig him out at times, and still needs to fully adapt defensively, but his range of passing is absolutely mind blowing, and not just mind blowing for a centre half, it's excellent, full stop. Carries the ball forwards loads, absolutely key to how we play. Konsa does a lot to allow Torres to play. Going back to Konsa (and Mings, for that matter), it's amazing how a top level coach gets the best out of players - these are players that under Gerrard looked dejected and finished. Konsa was flirting with being on of those, too.

One thing I've remembered during this last year for us, is if you're top four or five, it's fucking difficult to stay there, and it's even more difficult to climb the league, because you've got almost no room whatsoever for duff results. Chelsea are still way too inconsistent, and seem to have managed to combine spending half a billion with still having glaring holes in their squad, and nothing resembling a striker.

Barry Davies was easily the best of the commentators. Knowledgeable, knew when to shut the fuck up, and had a great line in joyous commentary on goals without the staged histrionics of Drury and his peer group. He hardly ever got the biggest matches, either, as the Beeb for some reason preferred Motson. Honestly, there's so much more joy and admiration in things like his "Look at his face! Just look at his face!" re Franny Lee than there is in most modern commentators. His entire life after that, I associated Francis Lee with "Look at his face!". I could listen to that on loop.

Decent performance from us today. Great first half, hit 3-0, saw the game out without running around energetically too much. 13 home league games won in a row, and this in a side missing four of its best players. The bloke is working wonders. Man City next home game, mind.

Oh God no, not another version of that tune. It's so unoriginal, no matter what the words - and I say this whilst our support sings our version of this dirge every 30 fucking seconds.

What is wrong with Onana? It's not just that he is shit - and, for clarity, he is absolutely shit - it's that he is hilariously shit. Dives in a weird, useless way, over the ball, theatrically in the vague direction of the ball. He dives in a way that makes him look like a competition winner on the pitch for 90 minutes. Genuinely, he dives like no other keeper I've ever seen. I can not believe any defence in the world would feel comfortable playing in front of a car-crash like that. And that's before you even begin to add in the "and one of them is Harry Maguire, too" factor. What an absolute joke Man United are. I hope it goes on forever.

Reading about fans who've hardly been to matches getting tickets for this match and the club organising it badly, the usual faces not being there, full of daytrippers etc How is this happening? How is the ticket allocation handled for your games in Europe? Ours is a fucking impossibility if you haven't been at almost every match since the year dot. Although I guess you've been playing in grounds with larger allocations. Here's ours by comparison, this was for Legia Warsaw:

Everton on 13% possession at home to Brighton. Winning, mind.

What the fuck is Joe Cole cunting on about, picking players out and saying how well they've done? Did he start watching at 90 mins or something? They were absolute fucking rubbish the whole game.

Ha ha ha, that is basically Man United since about 1990, the jammy cunts.

I love Craven Cottage, what a great away day that is.

Pretty amazing how piss poor Man U are. I hope they keep Ten Hag in place for a good while yet.

Is that new Fulham stand now open? I was starting to think HS2 will be finished before that will.

Don’t even try to explain to the kids what Sundays - not just in terms of football - were like in the 70s and 80s either. *insert Partridge Sunday Bloody Sunday quote here*

Obvs the Glazers are evil money-draining monsters and what not, but you look at signings like Antony, Sancho, Mount - how much were those? 200m plus? - and think they've got decent reason to not spend. I was wondering how many of their squad I'd want at our place. Fernandes. Rashford maybe. And that's it.

And for once, not a woman.

Jesus Christ, how is he not sent off for that? Antony misogynistically into the ref's book.

Guardiola bodaciously waving his hands at the pitch.

They're a bit like Radiohead. Exceptionally good at what they do, you have to admire them, but you wouldn't really want to listen to them too often.

Even taking that into account, his exaggerated yelping makes me want to shoot my telly.

Southgate sat there, nursing a hard-on staring at Mount and Maguire.

We all have our reasons to be cheerful.