Stottie

Get Well Butch! I wrote a little project about him at school when I was twelve. I remember writing about the goal he scored against Belgium and doing one them crap portraits you do as a kid. He didn't actually score many and was known more for just knocking it square. In those days, defensive midfielders and recycling the ball weren't exactly appreciated. That might have been why he went to Serie A. Anyroad, a real enthusiast about the game and on all accounts a gentleman. Hope he pulls through.

Just out of interest, have any Rafa "rejects" from his time in other jobs gone on to big success at other clubs? He takes a lot of flak for Xabi Alonso obviously, but he wasn't really a reject and there were other circumstances.

Its from the video Lingard live streamed from his phone as the Man U team bus was being attacked by West Ham fans. The bus was looks like it was bulletproof, so Lingard started treating the whole thing like a joke. At one point on the video, he shouts "Squad" to get the other players' attention.

Martins vs. Spurs was the one with the crazy reading on the speed gun, wasn't it. It looked completely unstoppable. He hit it on the run as well. Mine would be HBA vs. Everton. A lot of watching football (us) is about hope, and for him to do that in his first game after the drawn-out saga in getting him was epic.

The goal against them with their keeper stranded after going up the pitch was probably my favourite last season. Huddersfield strike me as an ultimately poor team but with the luck/knack of scoring the few goals they do at optimal times to put points on the board. This luck/knack/voodoo thing goes back to the Championship where they got promoted with a minus goal difference and without winning a single game in the playoffs. So I don't know how good Wagner is, regularly conceding two or more as they have this season is Pardew/Carver territory, but he's certainly got them a lot of points for the resources available. It would be poetic justice if they stayed up and West Ham and their free stadium went down. We seem to have seen off the can't-win-at-home albatross, but we are surely not as good as Southampton made us look. If Huddersfield are on one of their voodoo days, all bets may be off, but if they are not we should have enough to beat them.

Oh and Pardew is a cunt, and that 365 stat about scoring first in six out of ten games but only getting one win and a draw is shocking even for him.

West Brom are the classic example of a yo-yo club who've often found themselves not quite able to stay in the PL. To their credit, they are yet to fall and keep falling, and have succeeded in the Championship when they've found themselves down there. Obviously this is exactly what we too have become under Ashley. That's why he should get pelters in the national press. We were an established PL club before he arrived. It is true that we differ to West Brom in being a fallen giant, but so are Leeds and Villa. Ashley's mismanagement means that this matters less than it should, because the large crowds we get are offset by our poor commercial revenue. Ashley has lessened the club not just in its league position.

Maybe he deserves a call up into the big squad, just for the change to train with them. His value is as a passer, and its hard to know how useful he'd be without seeing if he could pick out Sterling, Rashford, Alli etc. It goes without saying that we do not have players who make the same frequency of the same quality of runs.

I think we are safe and am shifting my pessimism over what happens in the summer. Stay up and there are still issues galore. I've made a point watching of a lot of our games live this season through dread of disaster, so it'll be nice to relax and miss the odd one or two of the ones left.

2 for me. FiveThirtyEight has us at 5% and the bookies odds are lengthening, so 2 is sufficiently pessimistic for now. It'll go back up if Huddersfield beat us, but lets see if that happens first and not assume the worst.

Moyes at 17 on what he spent in the summer. It's hard to see Pardew surviving now, so I hope they get no-one and it's Carver who finally relegates them. A gallant effort, but relegated, might have got Pardew another gig, but he's only made bad things worse. I think it might actually register with people this time.

Our three defeats in that table were all 1-0. The Bournemouth home game had a wrongly disallowed goal, and Brighton away had a retroactive red card. They were all games decided by fine margins.

West Ham conceding near two a game against the bottom half. I've not watched them, so Moyes may still do "dour", but it's a long time since his Everton days of doing "solid". Unlike the Mackems perhaps, this is a mess of his own making.

After the slog this season has been, that was surprisingly easy. Southampton looked like a team with 42 points needing none, not a team on 28 with the job still to do. Great goals and a great performance from our lads today. A big step forward to safety.

I'm about 2, and that's only through pessimism over the Huddersfield game which we have a good chance of winning.

I might have some sympathy, but then I remember they continuing playing someone who everyone knew had groomed an underage fan. So ferk them.

True dat. Our 15 goals in 15 away games is 11th best in the league. 12 goals in 15 home games is rock bottom. Trying to delve into it, shots in home games is 6th fewest, but we are third worst when it comes to shots from the penalty area or 6 yard box. Some of it is finishing, but we are also not creating enough at home.

Yep, that's normally a red. Stupid challenge to make. On the whole, as expected. A pity we couldn't defend that well when two up against Bournemouth.

In fairness, all we've heard from their fans is "Handball!"

Can just fell over and held his face.

Liverpool looking a bit drowsy here, if we can somehow sneak one.

Given how strong he was in the first ten games, I suspect Merino is still injured.

Game over. Nice goal.

Merino caught in possession v badly there after the poor kick out.

Only two shots on target for each team so far, in case you see anyone claiming this is one-way traffic.