Neil

See, writing "draw" on all those betting slips was justified. Shame I didn't put any money on our game to go a similar way. Both games had 1-1 plastered all over them, as seen in the predictions thread () Good weekend on the betting front. Oh hello, late Brazilian games...

If I were a Sunderland fan I'd be livid with that performance btw. A complete lack of any invention, urgency and spark resulting in no more than a few shots on target in 90 minutes against your local rivals, at home, playing against 10 men for more than an hour. Pretty embarrassing really. I think it may have dawned on a few fans tonight that MON really isn't that good a manager. As an aside, what a boring team they are. They're too shit to do well but not quite shit enough to go down, they'll float around in 11th/12th nicking some wins here and there and boring teams into submission. They are the mushy peas of a fish and chips. They are Green Day's other guitarist. They are Neil Armstrong's right foot.

What about that smackhead looking one on the right? Equally as pathetic. At least he looked like he could beat a man. Johnson? i didn't see him all afternoon tbh thought he was injured or something. Thought you did an excellent job on Johnson. Sunderland were looking to attack down the right in the 1st half and you consistently doubled up on him. This a) prevented him doing anything of note and b) clearly pissed him off, thus the equally lacklustre attempts on the left when he went over there. McClean is generally just not very good.

Not sure which referee was worse in both of our games today. Poor decision on Tiote's red card combined with a succession of baffling calls throughout the game. There was an interesting one I seem to recall in the 2nd half when someone clattered into Ba from behind, no free kick, went up the other end, there was light contact and he immediately blew for a free kick. Also, not even a card for Larsson's chest kick?

Why weren't Nelsen & Diakite sent off then? Just as many if not more fouls than Pienaar. And the one Pienaar got his second yellow after, wasn't even a foul. Ref was awful all game (both teams should have had a pen btw) and blatantly bowed to crowd pressure when he sent Pienaar off. Weak & out of his depth. Yep, utterly awful decision based on nothing more than crowd pressure. Bosingwa's foot hit Pienaar's leg when he was running and he sends Pienaar off. Equally, he missed an absolutely obvious penalty for them when Coleman bundled into Hoilett (I think). We were poor today mind.

Good luck today.

2-0 with Shola scoring twice and I owe thou a few wee drinks.

Or Betfred mixing up Shola and Sammy and having Shola at 12/1. Just realised, if Shola scores first and then scores again, Betfred double the odds they pay out at. 24/1.

Get on at 12/1? Maybe it'll be actually so likely, it won't happen.

I see.

Just won some money (not much) on a race at Haydock whereby my logic was "the favourite won't win, but the outsiders are too unlikely, so I'll go for 2nd favourite". Betting is all about skill.

Got right on that, FGS and LGS. He's also an equally tempting 10/3 anytime.

GW8 1. 1-2 2. 2-1 3. 2-0 4. 3-0 5. 1-1 6. 1-2 7. 2-1 8. 1-4 9. 1-1 10. 1-1

How's Dan getting along? Guess.... Works hard but has nothing he's particularly any good at?

How's Dan getting along?

What's the thinking behind that? Didn't think you were short of midfielders? Not severely, but a) Fellaini and Gibson are both struggling with injuries currently and b) ANYONE but Phil Neville in central midfield, please.

Him and Gibson.

We've thrillingly brought in Thomas Hitzlsperger.

SUNdErLaND vs NEwCASTLE UTD Nah, don't follow you.

Was going to say, Pele seems to be off his rocker with a lot of the things he says. Is he just really biased, Felipao? Odd for someone often considered to be the greatest player ever to play the game.

David, you must know you're setting yourself up for a fall when you say stuff like "A Sunderland win will 100% not happen" when it's pretty much just as likely an outcome as a Newcastle win. Fwiw think it's got draw written all over it. I'm so sure, I'll go into Ladbrokes tomorrow and write "DRAW" in permanent marker over the fixture on every sheet I can find.

It's odd you ask because I associate about half of the Brazilian league - top league anyway - with being a "big team". In no particular order, nternacional, Santos, Sao Paulo, Flamengo, Gremio, Cruziero, Botafogo, Palmeiras and Atletico Miniero just to name a few I, for whatever reason, think are massive teams. In answer to your question, they're pretty good anyway.

This, this, this. Equally tempted by a wee flutter. In betting on the Brazilian league though I've found watching the games very enjoyable. Yes, the theatrics can be absolutely ridiculous but the pace of the play from one end to the other can be exceptional.

It's the man himself!

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