Abacus

I don't think Wilson could complain about warming the bench. He's so good for us that when fit he always plays, until he gets injured again. It would be good to share the burden a bit with another striker (or two). He'll be more than aware of his own injury record, so I'm sure you could sell it to him as proper game management for a change, to keep him fit and ultimately playing for longer.

I think you should be able to carry a flair player, at times. But that requires the rest of the team to not just be good enough to do their jobs competently, but to do it well. Just look at the difference that having an actual left back and (briefly) a real quality right back made on the rest of the team. I think the trouble is that so much of our squad has needed upgrading for so long, that's it's really hard to tell if he is someone who is worth carrying occasionally or not. Love watching St Max play and he can win a game on his own, but I can recognise his flaws too. I just think it's quite hard to judge him until the squad in general has been upgraded. I.e. to what extent has he been masking our weaknesses, and to what extent could he perform better with other players around him?

Sounds like another fine mess from their owners - Del Boy, Salmon Pants, a Uruguayan blueberry farmer and a confused little French boy who has spent all of his pocket money on a bag of magic beans.

Ooaar nooar! No more Defor!

Wonder how many shirts they sold with his name on them?

Having played almost constantly since signing for us, if Wood plays for all NZ's games, it's a pretty crammed international break. Fiji today (21st), New Caledonia (24th), a probable qualifying semi final (27th), and then final (30th). Fine, it's not exactly against top level opposition, but it still sounds a bit knackering.

I'm pretty sure I remember Viz already doing an actually funny skit on the takeover anyway. The club got taken over by Darth Vader in an episode of Billy the Fish

4 now. To be fair, Everton could probably do with being out of the cup rather than trying to cram more games in to their run-in. That said, they wouldn't want to go out on a performance like this.

It hasn't, it's not a Viz cartoon - completely separate. Just drawn by one of the people that does some of their strips. There is still always a copy of Viz next to my toilet just for the letters alone, which I always have to hide whenever expecting guests, as I'm sure they intended. Edit - now I feel like Steve Bruce, talking about my sit-down toilet habits, as he did once in an actual premier league press conference, sharing the thoughts he'd had on Newcastle whilst sitting on the big white telephone.

They also need to redevelop their stadium, which seems impossible on their current site or any other comparable one, with no unrealistic money and sponsors dropping like flies. American investors are in it to invest, not as a vanity project. So, whoever buys it will either need to quickly stitch up the league ESL style just to keep their TV money and tread water, or to accept they've just wasted a few billion on a lemon.

This could hardly get much worse for Leeds. Unless someone chained themself to the goal so the first half lasts an hour.

Ah, you're right! I must have mixed them up with Burnley in my head somehow re teams with games in hand. Had a shocker there ?

Despite giving that annoying 3 points to Everton yesterday, I wouldn't swap places with anyone currently below us. In Everton's case, I certainly wouldn't swap their two games in hand for actual points on the board. If anything, those games could be a hindrance in the run-in. Our April fixtures look pretty hectic, but imagine having that, arguably a tougher run in, and with two extra games to cram in as well. Some weeks they'll be playing every 3 or 4 days, and as we've just found, that can catch up with you with fitness, injuries, prep time for the next game etc. Anyway, still hoping that one of Leeds's games in hand gets used up with zero points added tonight. It'll be fun to watch the scrap down there with us well away from it. More fun than the title 'race' or the 'who cares' top 4 spots, for me anyway.

Quite a few little fouls and battles being fought all over the pitch. I think that played into Everton's hands and contributed to quite a few of our players being drawn in and playing below their recent standards. So, I'm not going to single anyone out as you could pick out maybe half a dozen players who were a bit below par. Bruno really seems to be growing into the PL, though, so that's a real positive. Seems like the right time for an international break to rest & reset. Would have been nice to have gone in on the back of a win, of course, but sometimes you can't help the odd performance like that.

Peter Walton in the Times on Monday, who has never knowingly disagreed with an onfield refereeing decision, even stated that this was a clear red card and Havertz shouldn't have been on the pitch. For context as to how out of character this is, he rather more typically also stated that he could understand why the penalty wasn't given, even though he wouldn't have overruled it if it had been given.

I like Almiron, but he's one of those players who doesn't seem to have a natural position. We've bought a few of those under Ashley. Rafa obviously had a role for him, and for about 6 months he regularly linked the deep-sitting midfield with our attack and it seemed to finally click for him. But ever since Bruce, he has regressed and never really found a role. A shame if he goes that he never really broke through, but hope he does well if he does go.

So, because they can't find an easy way to ask the right person (even though they could easily ask the club, the PL or the govt anything they liked at any time), they should be allowed to ask the wrong person in the post match presser instead? He's a football manager, and obliged to answer sports questions as a result. I don't know why I need to hear his opinions on geopolitics re the war in Ukraine, or the internal affairs of a Middle Eastern state when that's not his job. Nor why I should pay any attention to them even if he did. He can of course choose to offer any personal opinions other than on football that he might have, if asked, but that's entirely up to him. He might well have thought deeply about PIF's ownership. He might well not. I don't know or care myself. Because that's also up to him - his personal thoughts and ethics are entirely his own business. And it's clear that the whole tone of the questions are to try and set an elephant trap, so that the press can claim a "gotcha" moment whatever he would have said to create a headline. He's both wise and correct to avoid all that. For what it's worth, only one owner of a football club on Sunday has had the legitimacy of the source of their wealth recently publicly questioned by the BBC and mainstream press, been officially sanctioned by the UK government (sanctions that club then tried to remove claiming 'sporting integrity') and been banned as a director by the PL for links to Russia, who are currently engaged in an invasion which could ultimately lead to nuclear Armageddon. Ah, yes, but what about Eddie Howe choosing not to answer a stupid question ...

West Brom actually played quite well and probably deserved the win. Mitro missed a decent chance to level it, but on balance the right team won. I'm actually quite glad Bruce is back in management now that he's not our problem any more. I can just enjoy him as a sort of comedy buffoon now, realising that his successes in management are largely flukes, which will only make him even more confident about his abilities and even more confused when it all goes wrong.

Not a bad game this, and if anything West Brom should be ahead. Time to see whether Bruce can work his usual magic at half time.

I started out a bit underwhelmed by this appointment. Now I think he needs a statue. Really so chuffed with what he has done so far. Great performance and should have been at least a point today - I'm excited to see what this guy can do next

I enjoyed Brucey's post match comments last week after they finally won a game. Even in victory, he comes across like a classless buffoon. Livermore, apparently, had a good game after missing the last few games through suspension. "...he owed us that after getting sent off like a prick, but there you go! I can say that about Jake, because he’ll take it the right way!” Notice the crass language, and the chummy, matey, "I'm just one of the lads" banter! Notice also, that he still subtly spreads the blame for the last few performances onto Livermore for not being available. One of their star players in that game was from a rising youth player that their forums have been clamouring for him to start. Until now, however, he'd been ignored by Bruce (since he'd no doubt never heard of him). This is from the Birmingham mail; “I have to say ... the young kid, just did the trick for us."... The young kid Bruce is referring to, of course, is Taylor Gardner-Hickman. “He does what a young kid does - he gives you that vital ingredient which is enthusiasm,” Bruce reasoned. “I was pleased with him, he’s been knocking on the door for a while, certainly in the month I’ve been here in training....He has given us a little something else in the middle of the pitch.” Vital ingredient...a little something else in the middle of the pitch ... only been here a month ... Mostly interesting that the Birmingham mail needed to spell out Gardner-Hickman's name, since it seems clear that Bruce probably didn't even know that. In fact, it's apparent to me that not only does he not know who he is but he couldn't even explain what he did, just roughly whereabouts on the field he did it. I'm so happy he is gone - now I can just enjoy the comedy of watching this prize plum dimwit his way around the middle of the championship.

Then here's an even bigger low. It's not as simple as saying that Abramovich is just Putin's friend, which is one of the arguments I've heard. Russia is run by gangsters with Putin at the top - no-one gets to earn or keep huge fortunes there without support from the very top, and there will be quid pro quos to that. RA has been involved in the Russian parliament and was also instrumental in getting Putin into power. He clings to that power by dishing out wealth to his favourites, the oligarchs who then go around the world doing his good works, due to them having a veneer of separation from the state. Even though her quote was butchered, this is where Staveley was dead wrong in saying what she did about Abramovich. It's not just someone RA knows. Any and every Russian oligarch is basically one of Putin's puppets. Maybe she didn't understand that, so all the better for a "no comment" in that case. But to come back around to the comparison with us and PIF. PIF's wealth is not brought about from state sponsored theft in the first place. The separation from the Saudi state may seem wafer thin, so there is that parallel for sure. Meaning, any sanctions against Saudi and PIF could always happen and that could affect PIF's multiple investments, including us. But there are no sanctions on KSA or its investments, and there's no pressing new reason to impose them just because of the conflict in Ukraine. I.e., it's always a risk, but it's a pretty remote one. I doubt any political party would sanction them seriously either, unless things took quite a turn in the West's relations with Saudi. All that said, whilst I'd love a bit of fun - buying players and competing at the top of the league - if sanctions were to happen for good reasons, I'd obviously accept it. The main thing is that we're rid of Ashley forever, and it was only ever the unrealistic Saudi cash that could have prised the club out of his cold dead grasp in the first place. So we're free regardless. On footballing matters, I hope we stuff Chelsea tomorrow and drink all their remaining beer.

Mike Ashley wins again.

There's a lot to consider - it's quite the moral and intellectual minefield. I'd like to hear the views of Paul Merson and Gabby Agbonlahor.

If he only scores one goal this season, I just hope it's the winner against Burnley sending Dyche Vader into a meltdown. Although, smashing in a thunderbastard from outside the box against Southampton would come pretty close. But anyway, I quite like him - whatever way you look at it, he's a vital cog in the team right now.