Figures 1-0 Football

What is Diame's best position? Fully expect Mitro to start this.

I didn't think he was that bad today to be honest, a few neat touches and passes. I wouldn't say that he was great but I wouldn't say he was particularly bad either.

14 points ahead even at this stage is a huge gap. They'll still struggle for form as Bruce finds his feet and implements his methods so I can only see that gap widening.

Looks good. Constantly wants the ball, has pace and tricks and an outstanding first touch. Fades in and out of it a bit though. His crossing is questionable at times but he certainly looks like he can create something from nothing.

This is very enjoyable.

Barely needed to get out of 2nd gear, a very professional performance. Shelvey was outstanding. I've stopped caring about who will play/Rafa's rotation. He's setting our team up well and we're winning games. Anyone have any idea what happened on the escalator about 13:00 at Monument station? Didn't sound or look particularly good but we didn't want to hang around and stare.

On what minute will we hear the first audible groan at 0-0 when a pass is misplaced? I'm going for the 14th and it will be a Shelvey pass.

Our last boss was sacked by Championship team Derby due to epic failure, think we're more than happy taking the bloke sacked by Real

Think we'll go with something like: Darlow Dummett Clark Lascelles Anita Gouffran Shelvey Hayden Ritchie Perez Gayle Can see Diame and Mitro being benched due to how much they featured in the internationals, whereas Gayle and Perez stayed at home. Mitro will play midweek.

Nothing against him as a person, he just wasn't good enough at his job.

Not yet, no.

Considering they never really do anything to make the fans proud of their efforts, I'd say it is very normal Yeah, but when NUFC win i am happy about it. England win and i really am not that arsed, i cant explain why. Yes half the England team are not very likeable, but that has always been the case. I'm the same as you Klaus. I've never had the same excitement when England score as when NUFC score. When I go to the pub and watch them in major tournaments, I tend to find myself forcing to get involved and enjoy it. No idea how I'd feel if we won something.

If I'm having a shocker here, I'm having a shocker Maybe I am. We'll see how this appointment goes. If they appoint Clarke over Bruce though, they are mental.

If it's true about Benitez's people approaching us, would we have ever sacked McClaren?

What utter bullshit. We've won 4 league matches from our last 51. Try finding other fans who have put up with worse than that. We don't want "instant" results, we just want the faint hope of a result every now and then. The thing about this side is it isn't actually that bad. We have turned 5 or 6 wins into draws in the last five minutes of matches. Fix that and there's a huge improvement straight away. Bruce would be a good shout. Sherwood hounded out after 10 games. Di Matteo hounded out after 11 games. Garde given half a season with a team that was already in a terrible decline. If your fans don't want instant results and see a huge rebuilding process, why were they calling for Di Matteo's head after 20 minutes away at Preston? If Bruce comes in with a similar win rate to Di Matteo after 11 games, will he be sacked? Should have made an appointment in the summer and stuck with it for at least the majority of the season, there is no threat of Villa going down this season so why not give Di Matteo the chance to turn it around? Sorting out the problems at Villa will take more than 11 games. Regarding the Bruce appointment, having re-thought I'm willing to accept that it's the most solid appointment Villa could have made. So yes, I was wrong.

York 1-0 up in their must win for their manager game.

Saw the statue up close the other week and agree it's better in person but I just cannot stand his left arm positioning. I can deal with the finger pointing, because he did it every now and again. But the state of that left arm

It is totally tragic that a person got paid to write that.

Villa's fans and owner want instant results. Steve Bruce will be sacked before he gets Villa promoted, therefore it's not a solid appointment. A solid appointment would be getting in someone who can have the opportunity to rebuild from scratch including everything behind the scenes (as we have done with Rafa). Bruce wont be given that opportunity or time to do it so it's just a pointless appointment.

It's a good opportunity to use my favourite image of Bruce though.

I really don't think he is that solid at all. He's been promoted 4 times, but he's also been relegated 3(?) times. He's very similar to Allardyce in terms of achievements, basically nothing and seems to be given a higher reputation than others built on nothing other than being a PFM. That said, he's a much better option than Clarke

The two in the running for the Villa job are Steve Clarke and Steve Bruce Wow.

I presume they are paid out as 33 £1 free bets? Suppose it's a fairly decent offer, but Coral is a minging bookies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37589515 What the fuck

It's not that bizarre like, nor is it exclusive to just this country. I didn't say it was exclusive to this country, but I do think it is bizarre. If a player is good enough to play for the international team, then he is good enough - it doesn't matter which team, league or country they play their football in imo.