Neil

Speaking to fans of other clubs it seems the opinion is the same: it's nothing against Sunderland as such, but everyone hopes he gets injured just to laugh at how much they'll struggle without him.

Early in the season but it amuses me: Darren Bent is the only Sunderland player to score for them this season.

Nice one, hope this is all done and dusted by the weekend. First appearance would probably be against Blackpool, right? Great chance to make an instant impact. Will be interesting to see how does in the Premier League.

Is it just me or do Arsenal consistently get piss easy CL groups?

I agree. He's not awe inspiring. He's shite.

A good point and then abuse Blackpool, I reckon. A superb start to the season for you.

Even if was against considerably worse opposition and 10 men for the latter stages, just pleased to get a win under our belts and some goals flowing.

Cheers Greg.

From Football365:

Stop voting Blue Team you knobs. And aye, in. Any chance of hitching a lift from Central off anyone? If not no bother.

So is ~£45k your absolute limit now? Do you have players on wages above that, i.e. is it only for new players coming in/new contracts for players already there?

365 packs of Nobby's Nuts and 15 JLS tickets. Deal.

Definitely in. Red 'til I die, and you won't hear me saying that often.

Spurs were lucky to finish 4th?

Too early to judge Beckford. He hasn't done much in the first 2 games, though a few of our lot haven't. The Yak is at Burger King at the moment. Basically we need to get what we can in our next 2 games, and if we put in performances I think we should be getting points, and then crack on from there.

I don't think he played against Everton either. Doyle set up Ebanks Blake for the goal IIRC. Still a decent strikeforce. Ebanks Blake did absolutely nothing... ...apart from score.

I agree. For Champs League, I think Manure and Chelsea are locks, Arsenal would be a huge surprise for them not to make it, Man Shitty and Spuds for the last spot. If Spurs qualify for the CL this season I think the extra games will really start to take their toll on the squad, particularly at CH. They're going to be playing every 3 or 4 days and they're going to pick up injuries and suspensions too. Can see them slipping out of it a bit unless the droopy-eyed prick signs another couple of players. I think they'll finish about 6th. That's true. I still think they are the only team that has a chance to break the top 4 of Manure, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Shitty, the rest of this league is just not up to their standards. I'd go along with that. I think the top 4 will be away and clear by March and the likes of Spurs, Everton, Liverpool and Villa will be scrambling around in a little league of their own. The other 12 clubs will be trying to make sure they stay in the division. Think City will finish 2nd unless ManU sign someone massive in the next days. Chelsea M City Man U Arsenal Spurs Everton Liverpool Think Everton need to pick things up a lot to finish that high tbh, the two games I've seen from them, they've looked toothless and distinctly average. They always seem to start off slowly though, so you may be right. Think they need a couple of big signings though. Disagree (though I was bound to really). We don't need any signings, we need our squad to stay fit throughout the season (which it is atm). And although I'd agree with you about being toothless against Blackburn, we were much better on Saturday and will play half as well and win comfortably this season - and Wolves will play twice as well and lose this season. Just wasn't our day. Doesn't help we have Villa - desperate to prove a point - and Man Utd in our next 2 games, admittedly. We'll come good, and I honestly think it would be stupid to write us off for a while yet. Thought you were toothless in the Wolves game too, sure you dominated possession, as you would expect to against Wolves, but that cutting edge just isn't there. You need a proven goalscorer, it's as clear as the nose on Andy O'Brien's face. There's a lot of quality in the midfield but without someone up front to regularily put the ball into the back of the net, you'll never reach the heights you should be capable of. Not saying you won't be comfortably in the Top 8 but you could aim higher with more goal threat than just Tim Cahill. I'd like to have a quality striker but we just don't have the money for that. I think we can cope and make a top 4 challenge without one. Once we get into our stride, and I don't think it will be too long before that happens, the goals will flow, of that I'm confident. I fully expect our goals to be shared out again this season - Saha was our top scorer with 13 last year, but we scored a decent amount overall.

Bruce strikes me as fairly incompetent in the transfer market. "The Darren Bent mould", meaning his one successful signing.

They've got a huge struggle to finish top 4. Hope they can get into the CL group stages because a) it's a different English team in there and b) it should nicely stretch their squad.

Nope, iirc. You're live on Wednesday, and Birmingham v Rochdale on Thursday. And no, I don't have a clue why.

I agree. For Champs League, I think Manure and Chelsea are locks, Arsenal would be a huge surprise for them not to make it, Man Shitty and Spuds for the last spot. If Spurs qualify for the CL this season I think the extra games will really start to take their toll on the squad, particularly at CH. They're going to be playing every 3 or 4 days and they're going to pick up injuries and suspensions too. Can see them slipping out of it a bit unless the droopy-eyed prick signs another couple of players. I think they'll finish about 6th. That's true. I still think they are the only team that has a chance to break the top 4 of Manure, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Shitty, the rest of this league is just not up to their standards. I'd go along with that. I think the top 4 will be away and clear by March and the likes of Spurs, Everton, Liverpool and Villa will be scrambling around in a little league of their own. The other 12 clubs will be trying to make sure they stay in the division. Think City will finish 2nd unless ManU sign someone massive in the next days. Chelsea M City Man U Arsenal Spurs Everton Liverpool Think Everton need to pick things up a lot to finish that high tbh, the two games I've seen from them, they've looked toothless and distinctly average. They always seem to start off slowly though, so you may be right. Think they need a couple of big signings though. Disagree (though I was bound to really). We don't need any signings, we need our squad to stay fit throughout the season (which it is atm). And although I'd agree with you about being toothless against Blackburn, we were much better on Saturday and will play half as well and win comfortably this season - and Wolves will play twice as well and lose this season. Just wasn't our day. Doesn't help we have Villa - desperate to prove a point - and Man Utd in our next 2 games, admittedly. We'll come good, and I honestly think it would be stupid to write us off for a while yet.

If he has the ball centre left about 15 yards out, he's great. Any other of the infinite situations a player finds himself in then, he's crap. Edit: I should point out the ball must be on his left side.

Right philosophy or not, Wigan were a pretty dirty side last year. Can't forget when they came to Goodison and did nothing but kick lumps out of us (7 yellow cards I believe), and scored with their only shot on target. So pleased we won it in the last minute with a penalty.

Ah, the forgotten man. Seemed to do pretty well at Everton, not a bad shout. No. Just, no.