Neil

"...gives the ball to Rooney, who of course scored that sensational volley against United's opponents tonight, a few years ago." How long before reference to that Rooney goal? I'm going for 8 minutes.

People who can't do the basics. No-one is expected to have superhuman skill or athleticism but when people can't do stuff like give an option after passing the ball or keep with their man it's extremely annoying. Simple pass and move, and stay with your man. Simples, surely? On a related topic, although neat passing moves are great, there's nothing like smashing it in from distance.

Yup. Hard to recall a more accurate definition of a one-man team than last season, and not a lot has changed. I hope Bent gets crocked just to laugh at them panicking and much ing going on.

Hard to say who got the better end of the Jones deal. Probably Stoke. He'll fit into the way they play, and although Sunderland got a more than fair price for him, they are very short up front. Unless Bent completely carries them for another season. Although I guess Bruce will resolve the lack of strikers by probably buying another so-so central defender.

Don't think Sky could have handpicked a better tie for the 2nd round really.

Isn't he wanting to leave already?

Ok, admittedly that one went WHOOSH over my head, I'll hold my hands up.

Change "wankers" to "the good teams" and you've summed up the current state of the Premier League.

Absolutely no age that. Not going to pretend I knew much about him apart from Jeff mentioning him, but it's frightening nonetheless. RIP.

Something fishy about that.

Excellent news.

Out of interest, zinaldo, who do you class as good players, since Johnson and Valencia are seemingly shit?

Premiership Winners: Man Utd Runners Up: Chelsea 3rd: Arsenal 4th: Everton Europa: City, Liverpool Relegation: Wigan, West Brom, Blackpool Other stuff: Villa/Spurs not to do that well, West Ham and Sunderland to get a top 10 finish. Hernandez and Zigic to impress. Top Scorer: Drogba Break Out Year: Wilshire Season to Forget: Anelka PFA Player of the Year: Rooney PFA Young Player of the Year: Wilshere FWA Player of the Year: Drogba Where will NUFC finish?: 16th Domestic Championship Promotion: Burnley, Boro Play Off Winners: Forest Championship Relegation: Scunny, Milwall, Barnsley FA Cup: Man United League Cup: Chelsea World La Liga winner: Barca Serie A winner: Inter Bundesliga: Bayern Champions League: Real Madrid Europa League: Waiting to see who qualifies for CL groups: 3rd place team to win the Europa. World Player of the Year: Xavi Other First Prem manager to quit/be sacked/'mutual consent': O'Neill NUFC's top scorer: Andy Carroll Will Blackpool get more than Derby's 11 points?: Yes.

Having a quality defensive midfielder makes an absolutely massive difference. Call him a deep-lying midfielder, a holding midfielder or whatever you want, having someone who is capable of being strong in the tackle and more importantly see a chance to intercept the ball before it gets into the final third, as well as distributing the ball to those around him, can only be of huge assistance. That's not to say you need to actually have someone there doing that exact role, as having 2 'central' midfielders has its own benefits, but being realistic I don't think many teams are able to have (afford?) 2 quality players who can each perform all the roles required of a midfielder generally.

Blackpool are the only team I'd definitely expect you to finish above. I think West Brom will do their usual thing of playing well but not pressing home their advantage in games they're the better side in. In what way are Birmingham and West Ham lesser?

Sorry, bit of a late one this. I have a titanic fiver on Fluminese, and a Montpellier/Bordeaux draw, odds of about 8.5/1 I think. 2-0 and 0-0 at HT - going to lay the draw so to speak, I think.

Never have the same points been repeated so much.

Mmhmm, but the packaging is still getting worse IMO.

Sky Sports News feels like it's drifting towards Sky News at the moment, i.e. crap. Admittedly I'm putting this in here mainly because it's buggering off of Freeview, but its smug view of itself continues to sharpen.

Revising a scoreline after a pre-season friendly? Bit daft isn't it? Not really. It was clear we were going to get into the top 4 after a 100% pre-season, but after playing someone decent (Wolfsburg) and losing, we have a relegation fight on our hands.

"Shit, hope no-one sees that previous comment."

Fucking Reading yesterday. I didn't put much on but still. Probably the ones I least expected to fuck up. Some crazy odds going on.

I don't even think you need that. You just need your defence to perform, really. They won't be at full throttle (probably nowhere near) so if your defenders turn up, I reckon they could cope with it.

Due to the interest is it safe to confirm the 16th October as the 5th edition of what can only be described as, this series of football matches?