leffe186

He's done well in pre-season before. Never looked like a truly great prospect, but seemed to make the step up OK. I have to stress, I'm as disengaged from Spurs and football in general as I ever have been. Basically avoided the Football forum all season. It's a conscious effort to disengage - been working on it for a few years really. I sort of want Liverpool to win every single match left this season. Used to be a stalwart on Spurscommunity but I've only been on there a handful of times this season - I'm probably not the most knowledgeable of witnesses any more . Astonished reading that. Not dismissive at all, just really surprised. Aye there's problems at Spurs but had no idea they were bad enough to detach oneself from in the way a NUFC fan could... That's not the point though. It's not about Spurs, it's about what football has become, and about me getting older and moving away from the UK etc. It was always about community for me, and underlying that at least a pretence of parity and competition. I could break it down to a greater degree, but it just became more and more of a charade. The NFL system has an awful lot to recommend it - at least from a "local fan" and parity point of view - which brings the Premier league, UEFA etc into stark relief. Then you factor in the amount of genuine pain and depression that's caused by being a football fan for so long and it's just not worth it - for me at least. I was trying to bow out last year, and had hoped that we would have taken the CL as an apt goodbye, but since there's no God that was never going to happen. The whole thing just feels broken, and being so far away now makes the break far easier, emotionally and practically.

That Calvert-Lewin "goal" was a bit annoying . My team was looking pretty clever when that went in.

He's done well in pre-season before. Never looked like a truly great prospect, but seemed to make the step up OK. I have to stress, I'm as disengaged from Spurs and football in general as I ever have been. Basically avoided the Football forum all season. It's a conscious effort to disengage - been working on it for a few years really. I sort of want Liverpool to win every single match left this season. Used to be a stalwart on Spurscommunity but I've only been on there a handful of times this season - I'm probably not the most knowledgeable of witnesses any more .

Pity about the team tbh.

Had a vague memory of bringing in Auba a few days back. Yup, sure enough, think that’s my third or fourth player this year I brought in only for them to get sent off that very same week.

No word of a lie, scored almost the exact same goal from left back once, just like a mirror version of it (left footed, top left corner). I was massively hungover and had played terribly up to that point, and think I just didn’t want to run with the ball or think at all.

Genuine question - do you think that his prospects are better at Sunderland than at Newcastle? Thinking about coaching, facilities etc. I have no real knowledge of Sunderland's youth programme, but I know yours has been a bit sketchy over the last few years. Dunno, last experienced NUFC’s system personally over a decade ago, know lots of young coaches there, parents with kids and know they are also interested in my son. Wor lass’ friends/cousins has a few kids in there too and one who I won’t name will be a top player and we have very good coaches at under 11 down. I’ve heard very bad things about them though sadly. For now, I’m just treating it as another form of training for him like his Futsal, but if he likes it and they like him I’m gonna push him because this is all his own doing seriously, since watching the WC in 2018, I don’t push him at all, I’m just his taxi and cash machine for strips etc. And thanks man Think I’m more excited tbh! That's probably for the best! You will have a good perspective on how important this could be for his development - both on the field and off it.

Also, congratulations!

Genuine question - do you think that his prospects are better at Sunderland than at Newcastle? Thinking about coaching, facilities etc. I have no real knowledge of Sunderland's youth programme, but I know yours has been a bit sketchy over the last few years.

I presume he means net spend in transfer fees. My point is that that's not a great measure of spending - or in his own words "spending sense". Haven't got on that particular high horse for a while so wanted to get back in the saddle for a tic.

Oh God, "Net Spend", fuck off. Average basic annual pay in 2018 according to SportingIntelligence's annual survey: http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2018/11/26/messis-barcelona-break-10m-a-year-barrier-to-hit-no1-in-global-pay-261101/ 1. Barca 10.45M (roughly 200K pw) 2. Real 8.1M then lots of NBA teams then some Premier league clubs: 10. Man U - 6.5M 20. Man City - 6M 35. Chelsea - 5M 38. Liverpool - 4.9M (94K pw) 39. Arsenal - 4.9M 66. Spurs - 3.5M (67K pw) 69. Everton - 3,3M etc past West Ham, Crystal Palace, Leicester, Southampton. 141. Bournemouth - 2M (38K pw)

Totally forgot to change this . I have Son playing etc. might just scrape into the 20s.

Same. So frustrating man. This week was going pretty well, then Son/Alli/Kane got me a grand total of two points.

What a great choice of photo .

My bench has been amazing all season. Fleck the latest guy to go off.

Kelly’s going to be left on my bench again FFS.

Completely forgot about this for the nth time. Probably for the best.

Was going to treat this with scorn (double game weeks are the best weeks for bench boosts) but right now I have Kelly and Dunk on the bench.

Exactly the same .

Can't quite believe we're third and have got three of the toughest games of the season out of the way (Man City & Arsenal away, and Newcastle at home). West Ham should probably push us down to fourth, but given that we've been a little bit shit, it's not the worst start.

Because England’s record against Sweden is exemplary?

The whole line-up sounds a bit mediocre.

Yup.

Prediction? Weirdly not confident, given recent games where we've been big favourites and lost. It's easy to see a game where you get men behind the ball and we get bogged down in midfield, with Winks not being incisive and Sissoko being Sissoko. Mind you, if we score early and our front three are on one it could be a massacre. Onus is on Lamela to be the creative one. I think it'll be like our game against Villa, and will turn on whether we can score early. We're bound to let in a goal, because that's what we do now.

I knew Ndombele was out, but not super happy about Eriksen being on the bench. Makes the bench pretty good, tbf .