Altamullan

Where did you read this? Prediction: if he doesn't play this weekend, he's away next week.

Liam O'Brien's free kick at Joker, was most intense but short-lived celebration. I was in the wrong-end (corporate bit of clock stand--ticket from a lass who worked there--unfortunately not too far/not far enough from lunatic fringe...) but just couldn't contain my joy/help myself. The 'burning magnesium' of goal celebrations. Or, seeing us (Rob Lee) score at Wembley in Semi: Overwhelmed with emotion. Hard pressed to beat feeling of Tino's second against Barca- 2-0 at half-time, I felt alien, like I was outside myself. Of course, Albert's goal. After the disappointment of the previous season, and the humiliation of the Charity Shield...how sweet was that! My new boss apparently walked past at the end, and we spoke, whilst I was standing on the seats with a friend mimicking the paddling from the opening sequence of Hawaii 5-0; didn't recognize him/couldn't remember speaking to him!

By the time we reach the 'have to' win games, e.g. Watford H ( 19 Sep), Flying Florian could be well settled-in. More importantly, by 25 October, we could have an established , fit starting 11, in SMc's favoured formation, with a few results and a bit of confidence. How would you feel about: Krul Janmaat Mbemba 'Steve Black' Dummett Anita Colback Thauvin Wij-aye-man Aarons Mitro-stay-on-the pitch Or maybe Gini alongside Colback, and de Jong in his place. As well as the most obvious gap, I'm concerned we're a bit 'light-weight' in the centre. Don't think an aggressive hard midfield presence needs to be at the expense of skill, e.g. would have loved to sign Shelvey

Never seen him live. From what I have seen, he's fast with great feet, but a bit ragged. From what I've read, about him and SMc's preferred formation, he's a better fit than,say, Sissoko. Florian the dogslayer (...) is more of a natural right winger, but can play in any of the front three AM positions. Hope a few positive strokes,coaches and fans, can help him feel settled, appreciated and, let's face it, needed. Suspecting we might have to stifle a few groans though: there maybe a higher than ideal percentage of wayward crosses and missed chances, hopefully with a fair smattering of pearls amongst them.

Thanks man. Would have missed that. Is it just me, or does Thauvin look like a stroppy little she-ite? That said, he doesn't seem as much of a wong 'un as Shaqiri; and, while I'm on about him, that song about his hips not lying...it is just daft. In the clips I've seen he's shimmying and chucking dummies all over the place: his hips are pathological fecking liars!

Ahhh...ok...thanks for... er... clearing it up/bridging the gap (in my understanding), my Roman friend.

Agree/well said. There's plenty of players who don't make the impact those 'in the know' expect, or reach the potential, many can see that they possess; here, and at every club. Jon Dahl Tomasson always springs to mind 'the best finisher at the club', who never really did it for us; but went on to great things. Or Siem de Jong's brother Luuk, who was apparently scoring for fun last season--with Gino--to help PSV win their first Eredivisie title in yonks (...can't believe I put £50 on him scoring a debut hat trick against the Makems...Deluded). Good luck to you Remy; may the road rise to meet you....

I'm taking the p*ss all the time. I barely even post when we play you 'cause it's the wrong time to joke. 3-0 us mind. Argh Froggy man! You're ManU, you? Disapppointing s**t that; you sometimes talk sense a'nall... Why would you be here? You're not some kind of Steve Mc stalker are you? Can't imagine you've recently hot-footed it from a Derby forum (after some Euro wilderness years typing ins zee lokal ascent 'n' dialekke)... reet, I'm off for some CSI-stylee investigation "with a sponge and a rusty spanner" of your joining date and IP address. (the quote is a line from a song written in Stretford, purely for your delectation, all for diversity me, don't do tribalism--apart from when we're playing the mak-na-maras, of course; that said I can't think of any Essex songs... just in case they're more relevant for you )

Man Utd 4 Newcastle 2 Crystal Palace 2 Aston Villa 1 Leicester 1 Spurs 2 Norwich 1 Stoke 0 Sunderland 0 Swansea 3 West Ham 1 Bournemouth 0 West Brom 0 Chelsea 2 Everton 2 Man City 2 Watford 1 Southampton 0 Arsenal 2 Liverpool 0

What full backs?

...Mitrovic steams-in, taking offence at the disrespectful way Depay's body flew past him, and launches the Noo Manyoo's heed toward the Ship Canal.

There maybe be some strategy to the sequencing of our transfers; at least I'd like to think so. I'd also like to think that ambitious, young, and undoubtedly elite, players like Abdennour, may be more likley to join a team with our recent history (performance and politics) when (if) they see players like Thauvin join (along with Wijnaldum, Mitrovic, and Mbemba). I do think there maybe some luck too, as my reading of the Thauvin situ, was he was completely disinterested in us, until a poor start to the season apparently saw him spat at by a 'fan' (in carpark), who he then had a 'Cantona-lite' moment with. I know I'm speculating, but sometimes random stuff like that tips the balance, and a stick becomes a twist.

For week 2, the game which produced the most points--so easiest to predict, at least for the Geordie horde-- was Palace Arsenal, with 137 points scored. Closely followed by Liverpool Bournemouth, with 129 points. Lowest scoring game was 3 points; only the selectively psychic tgarve , taking Everton to win at Steaming' (a result which took the shine off our openning drawer, a little...). Neil deserves a mention: missed first week then steams in with 31 points! (... ringer!). Our 'group guess' (i.e. average of all our predicted home scores v average of all our away scores), with LivBour as the double-up, produced 17 points for 'Malcolm in the Middle'. Which is one point better than Mark Lawerenson and Mark Radcliffe (BBC site) would have done, if playing by Magpie's rules (gave them both their favoured teams as their double-up).

We had a shot second half?

Shelvey keeps featuring in BBC Sport comments; is he running the show in MFD?

Early in the season as it is, this is an important half-time talk and chance to see SMc's planning. Times like this you get a great idea of the strength of character in your squad; who is prepared to dig in, up for the fight, refuses to lie down. Howay the lads!

Aarons and Mitrovic at 60 if stays like this. Be interesting to see if SMc has practiced a two striker formation, and is prepared to change/have a good go at getting something.

Can't view or listen to the game; BBC Sports stats look pretty one sided. Is it the bad?

0-3... only one person got any points! (3). Collectively we scored a total of 123 pts for the Villa Manyoo game, and '3' for Steaming vs Toffees...it's harder than it looks, this prediction malarkey...

Morning All, I haven't checked with Magpie (tried to send you a private message M, but couldn't get it to work, to check you're ok with me occasionally adding stuff like this. Please let me know.) but I reckon that the following number of people got the following number of points last night: Pts People 0 2 1 4 2 15 3 5 4 2 5 8 6 1 10 2 So two of us who fancied the long shot, me included, got a big fat zero. Five of us got five points, and two of the clairvoyant five, doubled-up to 10. Great predicting! Our 'average' guess was 1-2, so 'Malcolm in the Middle' would have scored 2.

Really enjoyed that; thanks

Never fear 'Ed', you won't be after week 2! You've a good head start on at least two of us.

:indi:

If it is a slam 'Dunk', then after 160 odd appearances and five years, gan canny Mikey... but gan!