Altamullan

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!

Thought you might be interested to see our 'group guesses': the most popular scores (mode or median goals, after 27 entries) for each team turned into results: Aston Villa 1-2 Man Utd Southampton 2-1 Everton Spurs 2-1 Stoke Sunderland 1-1 Norwich Swansea 1-1 Newcastle Watford 1-1 West Brom West Ham 2-1 Leicester Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal Man City 2-1 Chelsea Liverpool 2-0 Bournemouth Wonder whether 'he who dares' or 'middle for diddle' proves to be best strategy...

Missed 1st week, hope ok to join: Aston Villa 1 v 0 Man Utd Southampton 2 v Everton 0 Spurs 0 v 0 Stoke Sunderland 2 v Norwich 1 Swansea 1 v 1 Newcastle Watford 3 v 1 West Brom West Ham 2 v 1 Leicester Crystal Palace 0 v 1 Arsenal #Man City 2 v 0 Chelsea# Liverpool 3 v 0 Bournemouth

Me too Kaka. I would personally love to see (a fully fit) de Jong at "no 10", with Wijnaldum and Sissoko given roaming central roles, alongside Aarons (I really think he has all the attributes, if nurtured, to be a world beater) and one from Colback, Anita, or Tiote. I actually veer towards Colback, which seems rare in this forum. I appreciate that may not fit with an appropriately 'balanced' midfield. You know what though, I would love to see those players have a chance to develop an understanding. If we had a central defensive pairing which instilled confidence, this would help.

Well said mate; voice of reason. Only minor disagreement, pure opinion, is he has been (for us and the Mac-na-maras) a solid 6+ out of ten player. He is reliably above average and consistently puts in 'discretionary effort'; gives his all. A rare rather than 'to be expected' quality in premiership/any footballers, or any other job role.

Received an adult shirt, ordered 28 July: it's good quality, really happy with it. Still awaiting a child's shirt (but this had printing to be done).

He's a completely different type of player to Yaya Toure. To risk further crossed wires, there were a lot of early comparisons between Sissoko and Toure. Perhaps we're not playing to our strengths if we rigidly stick to a 2 and 3 in MFD. If there is a formation to enable Wijnaldum and Sissoko to safely roam (ie without leaving us too exposed) I'm sure SMc will know it. Can't see many teams living with the two of them in full flow.