Stottie

Lewis Dunkey skinned again. Hard to believe they kept him and sold us Dan Burn. We definitely got the best deal there.

I may be wrong, but Mitoma struck me of too much of a football nerd to go to Saudi. He'll have lucrative promotion work in Japan and should be loaded already. Brighton powder puff in defence today. This couldn't be easier for Forest.

In a non-PSR world, any relegation threatened club would give us our money back for Harvey Barnes. Unfortunately, they can't spend either. In the case of Everton, their PSR woes are worse than ours. fwiw, I see Leicester's relegation with Harvey Barnes as an outlier that should never have happened. Easily the best squad to be relegated in years. Probably going back to us, and our problem was arseholes like Steven Taylor, not the total level of the squad.

Forest have been succeeding so far with 40% possession and many single goal victories. They're a clearly a good team, but its hard to consistently do well playing that way. Bournemouth look the real deal, to the point where I might have to cheer on Liverpool against them. This only happens in extreme situations.

That's the BBC quoting out of date Opta analysis. They now see us as more likely to get CL than Forest. You can get the latest Opta numbers here. https://theanalyst.com/2024/08/opta-football-predictions

If he can destroy us and Forest with his second string, he must love the lads he's got. More than the chance to reunite with Solanke and what looks like a ragtag bunch of strangers.

My thought was whether it was pronounced "Killjoy".

Spurs sacked Mourinho just before a final, he'd won something like 18 out of 22, so Ange promising a win in his season two and them being 1-0 up in the semi won't bother them. That's 8 losses in 11 games. Five points. Disaster form.

Scored two in his first few games for us, suggesting there was some under-the-radar goal machine in there like Kevin Nolan. Alas not to be. Still only 32.

Maybe JL7 threatened him for not scoring from the 20 shots he had before that one. fwiw, Isak has 11 more goals than Gordon, from only 14 more shots. Really chuffed for him. He won it back in midfield to start that break and just kept going. What a dynamo.

Conceded an easy one but fought back well. Murph to Isak again, for the tenth time if not a Giggs stat. Other matches going our way too.

BIG DAN BORN!

Nearly as lucky as Sandro failing to keep it in yesterday.

If we get decent money for Lloyd Kelly after getting him in on a free, that's PSR 4D chess.

DCL is also with Wasserman, the agent used by Tino, Hall, Harvey Barnes and one Eddie Howe.

Looked leggy and were completely outplayed. Our defence, esp. the CHs, looked completely unprepared for press and were lucky to not be caught out before Bruno was. We were lucky to not go two down earlier in the second half, esp. with the out of play goal. We failed to adjust to a soft referee and should have done more fouling ourselves. Congrats to Bournemouth who played well and didn't look remotely like a team with many injury issues.

Imagine if this is his last appearance for us Don't suppose Miggy will get another go at SJP either.

They've done us here, with their press, the clinical finishes, and the fouling, but the ref hasn't helped. Guy clearly stands on Bruno's foot and nothing given. Mackem on US commentary says "no intent" or some other bollocks.

Pards stroking the chromedome. What an alpha move.

That's what I like to hear. Before I looked it up, I imagined Bournemouth was a bogey team who'd beaten us several times, but our record against them under Eddie is P6 W1 D4 L1. The win was in the FA Cup. We've had some bum results and very damp squib performances this season, but none of them so far were after five or more straight wins. That gives me hope for today.

As Wilson replacements go, DCL is very close. I reckon he'd do well for us. He's not struck me as a goalscorer but does more CF stuff than Wilson ever did. Wilson would go for months averaging 10 passes a game. It didn't matter so much because his instincts got us lots of moocher goals. Widely mocked rumoured Eddie targets include Scotty McT and Conor Gallagher, who are now tearing it up in new leagues. Elanga and Ekitike too. This suggests he knows what he is doing and can judge a player.

Thierry Henry is pretty much the PL era's greatest player but played in a way better team. Check out his teammates, listed here by who set him up. Young Cesc is just below the cutoff and played with Henry in that CL final they lost to Barca with the Jens Lehman sending off. By comparison, here's Isak with us. All good lads, but not many of em get in Arsenal's invincibles.

Dunno if serious, but DCL has similar numbers to Bournemouth era Callum Wilson, who actually played in a higher scoring team. If Eddie could get NUFC era Wilson out of him, he'd be useful. Out of contract in the summer, so last chance for Everton to get anything for him. Its not as if Everton have much PSR headroom to say no even if lowballed. Since weird swapsies are all the PSR rage, one option would be to loan them Wilson himself because he is "back in February" (!!)

Played well for us in the periods where he was not serving a clown-car manager, so thank you and good luck to him. Probably the best pressing forward we've had, which would still matter a lot more if the team as a whole had not leveled up to the extent that it has. Never stopped running. Great smile and an almost hilarious lack of English. I wonder if he speaks any Geordie. As a word of right wing caution, Mbeumo is currently on what looks like a hotter goal streak (yes, goals scored exceeding expected goals) than Miggy was in 22-23 or on-loan Willock in 20-21. Another player banging in way beyond xG this season is yes, good ol' Chris Wood. Be careful what you wish for.

Shola the Mackem Killer would have very good "shot creating actions" stats. Those long legs were very good at catching up with his first touch and giving him a half yard. Unfortunately most of the subsequent shots ended up in Row Z.