Coffee_Johnny

Whilst the midfield, and general, ‘unavailability’ issues (particular Little Joe and Tonali) have been extremely detrimental to our season, they have been fantastic for Miley’s development. He’s stepped up. Held his place played against the best and not looked out of place. I can only imagine what it will have done for his confidence and desire. He could have easily gone under and being played so much might have set him back. even scuppered his PL/international ambitions. He’ll be seen to be and actually may become a much better player for having this baptism of fire so young.

Then you’ll get what you’re given, bonny lad, and like it anarl!

PL only: Grealish P14 G3 A1 Gordon P26 G9 A5

That, with Watkins as back up, looks a seriously good combination.

This shows where points have come from this season. Tier based on finishing position last year. Thing that stands out for me is that Man Utd have only taken one point off Tier 1 teams (played 5, only had a draw at Liverpool; lost the others so far). Villa have bullied the Tier 4 teams, with 23 points from 10 games (we have taken 13 point from 8 games against Tier 4). Spurs have done best against Tier 1 sides: 12 points (from 7 games). We have 6 points from 6 games against Tier 1 opponents.

Doubt it would happen for a variety of reasons but having a stand which had more affordable tickets pitched at younger supporters (say 25 or younger) would enable a proportion of our support to attend, who are currently priced out, and probably lead to the kind Gallowgate corner, and previously Scoreboard, or before that Leazes, volume and passion we grew-up with. Anyway, any new capacity could be distributed in a way—if there is the will to do so— so that we make space for and cluster ‘the loud’ somewhere; irrespective of age.

That’s the ticket

This run of results would give us 26 points (66 overall) and almost guarantee 6th. If one of the wins becomes a draw, or there are any more losses (without a draw becoming a win) and I don’t think we’d catch Man Utd. Chelsea A 1pt West Ham H 3pts Everton H 3pts Fulham A 3pts Spurs H 0pts Man Utd A 1pt Sheff Utd H 3pts Burnley A 3 pts Brighton H 3pts Brentford A 3pts Crystal Palace (date tbc) A 3pts 8 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss. HTL!

It’s not a must win (with regards to having a sniff of Europe) but it is a can win and would give us great momentum for West Ham at home (which is must win). I’m ignoring the QF at City as it is a bit of a free hit. It’d be wonderful if we upset the odds but isn’t going to impact confidence wise if we don’t; nobody expects us to win.

Scripted, as was his response.

He is on a Kinder choccy bonus for goal involvements.

What if Bobby had agreed to Pep’s plea to come as a player coach. He then developed such an affection for us English Catalans (ok I’m stretching, but bear with me…) that he stayed and took over from Robson. Cutting his managerial teeth with us instead of Barca. Would he have been a success? Might we have avoided the Ashley era?

Third place outside chance of the title. Yes please. Thank you very much.

Once saw Messi miss a penalty (and the follow-up) ?‍♂️

This guy needs cloning. Definitely now my favourite ever centre back. Longevity, recovery arc, tough as granite, understated, phenomenal passer, steady influence, and doesn’t hurt that he’s handsome. p.s. forgot scoring the occasional thunder bastard.

Definitely have to start from zero ?

More a Canadian fashion statement ?

For what it is worth, I think that, after close statistic analysis of the relative wage ratio of ourselves Villa, Spurs, West Ham and Manure (… not really) that we will show relatively great form for the remainder of the season and likely pick-up 22 points from the available 33. This, 62 points, should be enough for sixth in an average season. However, we would be depending on others having less good form. That said most don’t need to fall of a cliff form wise. For example if West Ham continue their 1.56 points per game (ppg) until the end of the season, they will finish on 59 points. The issue that makes me think 7th might the best we can do, is that Manure need to do significantly worse than their current 1.69 ppg; 1.42 ppg would return them a total 61 points. I don’t see them deteriorating that much. So, in order to have a realistic chance of sixth we will probably need 2.2 ppg or better, at least another 24 points from 11 games. Not impossible, we’ve had periods like that before (8 wins from 11), but unlikely. It will be important not to lose to them at Old Trafford, and to win our home games against West Ham and Brighton.

I apologise for underestimating this lad. ‘Double figures’ by March ?

What a player he was!

Also think Saka is more likely to grow through a long career. Hope I am wrong but Foden has the whiff of someone, private life wise, who will implode and finish early.

Gameweek 27 Brentford 2-1 Chelsea Everton 2-1 West Ham Fulham 2-2 Brighton Newcastle 3-2 Wolves Forest 1-2 Liverpool Spurs 3-1 Palace Luton 1-2 Villa Burnley 0-1 Bournemouth Man City 4-2 Man United Sheff United 0-5 Arsenal

Ruined by the early success and trappings of his undoubted talent.

An alternative way of looking at it is can you think of any manager who has taken a group of players and improved so many of them? In his first half season he amassed 38 points with a team who had only managed 11 points in the first 19 games. Rather than subjective categories like ‘elite’ or ‘world class’ or whatever, if we want to know whether he is remarkably good at his job, we should bear that in mind.