Abacus

I like him "being genuinely honest", this time. Next escalation point : "And I really mean that, cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." That man could avert the energy crisis with his flaming underpants alone.

Not able to comment on much of that, but I'd tend to agree with this bit. It's a bit of a Bruce excuse, when actually it was the job he did that got him fired there. As for the way he conducts himself part...I can only judge from his time here where he rarely put a foot wrong. But he is, no doubt, stubborn, picks fights and needs everything his own way. In our case, he needed to, as everything was rotten. So, he did a good job here overall, but in my opinion is quite overrated on here for that. I wouldn't want him back now. It also did come across like a blatant job interview. Don't go with these young new managers, go with an older one like you would with an open heart surgeon, they're the best...

1 point, bottom of the league, minus 12 goal difference. Rodgers just waiting / hoping for his pay off. Except the £16m it would cost them will be approximately what they got for Fofana's left leg.

If St Max is touch and go, I'd have him on the bench. If we need him, take a risk and bring him on. But if we're well ahead, there's the international break to let him fully recover. Same with Wilson, really - though I'm always more pessimistic about how long he'll need on past form. Plus, with Isak, there's less of a need in that role. I'm assuming Bruno is OK, and that big Joe can do the strenuous running for him. It's also why I'd start Willock over Longstaff - faster and with a better engine, to let Bruno stroll about and pick passes.

Lose to Norwich tomorrow and the fans' consensus seems to be he should be gone straight away, there being time in the international break to replace him. What an ungrateful lot. After all he's done for them. You don't just turn a situation like that round overnight you know. Even with all his experience, with the way he's been treated he might even have to announce another cry-baby retirement and head off to Portugal to lick his lips. I mean wounds. Luckily for Steve, it's the international break, so he'd have already booked his holiday flights to Portugal then anyway.

I don't know what the Baggies are complaining about. He was brought in to bring immediate results and him, his son and his mates have certainly delivered.

I think you're probably right, and they'll have at least a chance of a play off slot. But the Championship is a long old slog of a season, with a lot of teams yet to click into gear, so I reckon they'll fall a bit short in the end. That should probably be regarded as a good season for them - they'd be marmalised in the premier League without serious investment.

Not sure you can get pork pies in the Middle East. I think he'll be managing Melton Mowbray FC next.

They're playing pretty well, to be fair. I've thought that whenever I've watched them so far this season - they look hard to beat anyway. Really thought they'd struggle with the jump up from their natural home in league 1, but doubt they'll be in much bother now. Mid table for them, I reckon.

Not a bad idea as a hypothetical. My issue with it would be that often, the relegation scrap is more interesting than the battle for the top 4 etc, and I feel this would take away from that drama. Going in to the last game of the season with two or three teams in the mix to go down in the sudden death of the last relegation spot is one of the most exciting ends to a season. However, knowing that they still had a chance of staying up due to there being a play off still to go would take away from that. Of course, I suppose you could argue that similar drama would apply to the battle between 18th and 19th instead. But I don't like to think about that, since I fear change. NB, in it's favour this kind of system would have given Ashley the terrors by meaning he couldn't just aim for 17th every year. Also, instead of going to Wembley in the final, this play-off of "who is the crappiest" should have it's shame confirmed by being at the Stadium of Light, to mark it as a true festival of rubbish. FA Cup style, they could call this journey "The Road to Sunderland".

Then it's the premier league that is the global embarrassment. Imagine deciding how people should react, and then blaming the fans for something they haven't even done.

Think they've taken a lot of criticism for postponing these games and been made to look (rightly) stupid by all other sports doing it properly. So I reckon it'll be back on next weekend. But once again, surprise surprise, they made this decision with no thought for the majority of actual fans - also again proving they're not fit to govern the sport.

A year or so ago Rodgers would have been in genuine contention you'd think. He must be cursing now. They wouldn't want his left leg.

Though you can't blame him for being interested, imo Potter should be very careful to properly understand the conditions he'd be working under before signing up. It seems that Tuchel wasn't given much say in recruitment for one thing - they even weirdly seemed to be considering buying Ronaldo at one point. It's hard to know if the new owners will be as impatient for success as the old one was, but... Potter is already making a great reputation for himself. Go to Chelsea there and make a quick success with that squad and your reputation is made - you're on the elite manager carousel. On the other hand, fail to do enough fast enough and you're gone and likely forever known as a manager that can't do it at the big clubs. Out of all of them, you'd think he'd fit in much better at Man U, Arsenal or Spurs if the opportunity came up and he wanted a bigger stage.

Good shout, that. I reckon Tuchel is on borrowed time.

I can already think of problems with that, now I think of it. Ignore me.

Agree with this. If he hasn't had a clear view of something or just isn't sure about a critical call like a penalty, then he should have the option to decide to look again. I also wonder if there could be some merit in having a cricket style review system instead of a second VAR ref. E.g. by the captain or the manager having a limited number of reviews if they think a decision is wrong at the time, for penalties, red cards etc. Those challenges could be shown on screen in the ground for the crowd, not just have a random "VAR checking possible handball" type message, because at the end of the day it's supposed to be a live spectator sport. That way, VAR doesn't need some incompetent referee second guessing decisions - just a video operator who shows what is asked, for the main ref to decide on.

At least Peter Walton, writing in the Times about the VAR controversies, was on hand to give his view. Having said that they got every other decision wrong over the weekend, here he is on Lee Mason; "To give the referees some credit, I think Newcastle United’s goal against Crystal Palace was justifiably chalked off. Vicente Guaita, the Palace goalkeeper, was fouled by Joe Willock, who was reckless in his contact. The push by Tyrick Mitchell on Willock was not forceful enough to be ruled an offence by VAR." Made a terrible mistake Lee? Peter Walton - Hold my beer.

El Crapico

Be very disappointed if my 80's snooker based chant doesn't catch on; Alexander nuts are we, We're all Isak...loopy! In defence and in attack With a mazy dribble and nice pull-back Alexander nuts are we, We're all Isak... loopy!

Pedro looks a player on tonight's performance. I didn't really notice him last time Watford played, but you can really see him dovetailing well some of our players. He's not really a striker, though imo. Stick him where Willock is, with Bruno and Joe behind, and Isak /ASM/Wilson up front and that's a fearsome lineup.

Watford play Boro on Sky tonight. Be interested to see if he (or Sarr) play, given deadline day looming.

I wonder what happened to this supposed interest from other clubs, who were prepared to match our offer at the last minute? Sounds a bit like gameplaying from Watford that backfired. Still think we could go back for him on deadline day, especially since the deal seemed all but agreed with both club and player before the late messing around.

? I know, I was being a bit tongue in cheek, really. But I don't think it can do much harm to say sorry - I know you want to be Man United's reserve keeper, but you're under contract with us. So, here are your options, on terms that we would accept.

If it's an 'option' to buy for £5m, there's no way they're taking that up for someone of his age in a year's time, so it's worthless. Unless there's a hefty loan fee. If not and if he has to go, must be plenty of Championship teams in need of a keeper, send him there with an actual fee.