Kid Icarus

It's not really about raising awareness with the proper channels. They know exactly what MBS is all about, co-sign on it, and we wouldn't even know about it or be talking about it if a letter was presented to them - you may as well present it to the bin. It's about raising public awareness. Howe's as powerless to change anything as the rest of us, but he chose to take the job and these kind of PR stunts are likely to be the price on the ticket every now and again. Whether these things are productive or counterproductive overall is up for debate like - I'd probably say they're counterproductive with our fanbase, but productive outside of the fanbase. Either way I'm hardly going to get on my high horse about the act of someone giving a letter to Howe while simultaneously ignoring all of the heinous shit contained in the letter itself, the stuff that's the root cause, to blame, and the driving factor in all of it. It's a pretty strong case of don't shoot the messenger.

It's mad like, does anyone know if the club gets any kind of per-game extra payment or is the TV money shared throughout the PL teams equally?

Don't think I've ever been this apprehensive over a football match. My heart keeps pounding as if kick off's minutes away but I've still got 5 days to wait ffs.

Collina's reputation preceded him like, he was absolutely shocking towards the end of his career.

Little Miami

I noticed that at the time like. Arteta's long overdue a red.

Martinez has just won and played a massive part in winning the World Cup like Same with the Copa America. I doubt he's too arsed. Ramsdale is 100% a dickhead in the same shithouse way Martinez is as well. I don't think Martinez is incredible or anything, but I'm yet to see what the fuss is about with Ramsdale - the hype around that free kick save was weird I thought.

Karius: Champions League final - lost. Trippier: Champions League final - lost. Euros Final - lost. Schär: Uhrencup - won. Botman: Trophee des Champions - won. Burn: League One playoff final - won. Bruno: Copa do Brasil - won. Copa Sudamericana - won. Coupe de la Ligue - won. Olympics - won. Joelinton: No major finals. Willock: Unused sub in various Arsenal finals. Longstaff: No major finals. ASM: No major finals. Wilson: No major finals. Almiron: MLS Cup - won. Isak: Copa del Rey - won. De Gea: Europa League - won x2. Lost x1. Super Cup - won. FA Cup - won. League Cup - won. Community Shield - won x3. Wan Bissaka: Europa League - lost. Dalot: No major finals. Varane: Copa del Rey - won, Supercopa de Espana - won x3, Champions League - won x4, Super Cup- won x3, Club World Cup - won x4, World Cup - won 1, lost 1. Martinez: KNVB Cup - won, Cruyff Shield - won, World Cup - won, Copa America - won, Cup of Champions - won. Shaw: Europa League - won 1, lost 1, Community Shield - won, Euros Final - lost. Casemiro: Copa Sudamericana - won, Copa del Rey, Supercopa del Espana - won x3, Champions League - won x5 , Super Cup - won x3, Club World Cup - won x3, Copa America - won. Fernandes: Taca del Portugal - won, Tara del liga - won x2, Europa League - lost. Fred: Ukrainian Cup - won, Ukrainian Super Cup - won, Europa League - lost, Copa America - lost. Rashford: FA Cup - won, League Cup - won, Community Shield - won, Europa League - won 1, lost 1, Euros Final - lost. Weghort: No major finals. Sancho: DFB Pokal - won, DFB Supercup - won, Euros Final - lost. Howe: No major finals. Ten Hag: KNVB Cup - won x2, Cruyff Shield - won.

We've played Spurs there.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all tbh like. You'd need to already know the name of the Podcast to get the reference beyond it being SBR's 90th.

Title? As in it said 'The Athletic' on the flag?

Class! We need a Joe from Shields one. More niche, but shouldn't be.

I'll give that a watch. Will be interesting to see if he mentions Shearer, IIRC he fucking hated him.

In what way did they promote it as part of the display like?

Shout out to this incredible opening gambit from The Chronicle 'Newcastle United will be without the suspended Nick Pope for the Carabao Cup final but the Magpies know they can ensure Loris Karius has little to do by simply protecting his goal'

Every shower between now and the final is going to be like the one at the start of Rocky V. Proper 45 minutes long with a thousand yard stare

That's a slight bit of creative journalism I think. The exact quote is "We hope he's OK. He wanted to carry on - I wanted to protect him for the games ahead. We hope it's not serious"

Fuck it, I need something to take my mind off the final Goalkeepers: Pope/Dubravka/Karius No changes needed for now, a young 'keeper coming in then going out on loan might be a good idea Right back: Trippier/Ashby/Krafth/Manquillo No changes needed for now, Ashby will likely be our Trippier understudy, Krafth is an able stand in, and Manquillo can play right or left back. Maybe sell Manquillo Left back: Targett/Burn/Lewis/Manquillo This probably needs looking at. Burn should really be the capable stand in here. Howe needs to decide what he sees Targett as and whether he needs to be used, replaced, or moved down the pecking order, but either way Lewis probably needs to go or massively step up, with a young attacking left back being the alternative Right Centre back: Schar/Lascelles We need a Schar understudy, with Lascelles either moving further down the pecking order or leaving with either a young replacement or a steady old-head coming in Left Centre back: Botman/Burn/Dummett Botman and Burn are fine, we should maybe move Dummett to an under 21 role and get a steady old-head to come in Midfield: Bruno/Joelinton/Willock/Longstaff/Gordon/Anderson We need a Shelvey replacement, either a like-for-like number 6, or a DM destroyer type, or both. Someone like Neves would be ideal. We also need a keymaster attacking midfielder, with James Maddison being the obvious candidate. In terms of outgoings, Anderson now needs to go out on loan and probably should have done in August. Right Wing: ASM/Gordon/Willock/Joelinton With us just getting Gordon, I think this can be deprioritised for now, but Howe might look to cash in on ASM and bring in more of a system player. Left Wing: Almiron/Murphy Ideally we need someone who nudges those players down one step in the pecking order. Almiron has been great and has more than proven his potential worth as a rotation/back up for next season. Diaby is the obvious candidate based on previous transfer rumours Strikers: Isak/Wilson With Chris Wood gone, we have no plan B up front. A better player in that mould would be ideal - someone who's either the next Toney or Abraham or a more reliable Calvert Lewin. Imo we also need a goal machine to replace Wilson - I love Wilson but it's not just his fitness that can't be relied on anymore, he's now looking like he has patchy form.

Steady with the language

14 points. Pretty pleased with that in the circumstances

It's always the way when your form's poor and everything looks winnable when you're in good form. I'm just hoping that after the final, regardless of what happens we turn a corner and our form improves. My main cause for optimism is that I think it's solely down to poor finishing. I'd be really worried if we were playing badly or creating nothing, but that's not the case.

Wouldn't mind if it wasn't fucking Spurs and their shite football going ahead of us. Chelsea and Brighton have ended up being the only good results for us in what has otherwise been an awful weekend of FA Premier League football.

I cannot believe this fucking shite Spurs team are about to enter the top 4

...or the Sabitzer thing from like half an hour ago or Rashford getting the benefit of the doubt on an offside call earlier in the season

And it's incorrect decisions we're talking about. Getting a pen at home to Bournemouth is the only time we've benefitted from an incorrect decision imo. Meanwhile Sabitzer just nearly snapped someone's leg and Rashford got away with doing interpretive dance around the ball against Man City