Thiago

Best I've seen him since the days of Rafa. Amazing what confidence internally and competence externally can do.

That's the politest way of saying 'he's shite'.

This. The fact we've not seen Bruno do anything of note now is also of comfort as we've got him to come in and hopefully make a positive impact.

Was incredibly underwhelming with New York Red Bulls and comes days after his manager seemed to take a swipe at his efforts. Everton aren't a great place to go to right now, but I wouldn't expect much.

Honestly, I think they've done well to engage as an easy way to win fans over. It also shows how low the bar was under Ashley.

I commend any and all who put time into this. We should never stop seeking dialogue with these people.

The key here is not to get too high or too low. A win is great, a loss is not the end of the season.

Is Maxi fit?

He wouldn't be the first journalist to hit tweet without considering every possibility and he won't be the last - so I get your point and agree. I don't feel sorry for Bruce at all largely because he has done well to control the narrative with us and reinforce the 'delusional Geordies tag' while his spell at Villa is now being painted as 'he came in and steadied the ship'. I think we have to accept that too many of these folk have personal relationships that supersede objectivity. It's like if you took the job. There'd be people on here loathe to criticise you regardless. Right now, this guy is extending him a chance to turn it around. We know he won't. We know he's shite, but they'll argue he deserves at least some opportunity. I also feel like because he's been there four games it's hard for most of them to realise what they've signed up for. We had a brilliant manager before him and were trending upwards - we knew what we'd lost and what we'd gained. They, by all accounts, are having a shite season so in reality it's nothing to do with Bruce it's just more evidence of how poorly run they are as a club. That's why I compare him to the Monorail guy. He'll come in as Steve '1000 games' Bruce and he'll say the right things early doors. They'll talk about his promotions and his experience, and even give him a pass early on because - like he told us - he's 'undoing the work of a predecessor'. The problem comes when he has to deliver. If come the end of the season the form is roughly the same, the football is shite, they'll start asking all the same questions we are. I'm not for a moment saying I feel sorry for Bruce. I'm just saying the notion that he can step into a bad job is totally possible. If anything he seems to have made a career from it.

Nor can he Sunderland.

Tbf I get the bloke's point. Bruce can be shite and also take a shite job. I don't watch West Brom, but I assume the previous bloke was under performing by quite a bit if being in the playoffs is considered a failure.

It's quite surreal that he started the season in a PL job, had a whirlwind of support and well wishes as he tanked the first 8-9 games of the season and now barely a whimper out of those same sections of the media. It's like he never existed. A whisper in the wind.

Possibly Moshiri too.

I assume the Guardian will dedicate a whole pod to Abramovich and what this means for the league.

I never understand what Storey's aim is. If it's cheap publicity you'd think he'd have gone for the bigger fish in Derby.

I like to convince myself it is simply confined to kids with keyboards that have never even seen the outside of a Premier League stadium never mind been in one. The sad reality is that it probably isn't that and the consequence of social media, video games, and the general dehumanising of the game. There are times the whole thing feels like numbers on a screen and that our experience is only ever either positive or negative. You're either winning or losing. A few losses speaks to a fundamentally broken club while a few wins is the sign of some special sauce that has taken so much time to concoct. The club's are no angels mind you. They'll flog you everything from a limited edition third kit that is worn once to digital tokens that you can trade for a gif of Mo Salah. I think the Keegan idea of football being the consequence of a hard week at work is diminishing year on year. Now it feels more like a ubiquitous accompaniment to the week. Like with the rolling news cycle the rise of podcasts and YouTube channels means you can live in the world of your team every day and when anything becomes that engrained it will ultimately produce wild - and often irrational - responses.

Was that the thing with Caulkin in a pub? I wouldn't mind getting involved more tbh, but I sense I'm too far geographically to achieve anything but vanity projects.

I also must say how much I fucking hate Burnley They play awful football, Dyche is desperate to be a 'personality' and they don't even fill the Brexit Thunderdome.

Leeds are banking on Phillips and Bamford returning and helping them turn things round.

Honestly I'm all for it. No disrespect to the current crop of former players on the coaching staff, but none of them are close to what you'd consider elite.

Brighton are understandably blind sided by this. They're not looking to do us any favours and right now we don't need to force their hand. I think it'll get sorted this summer and he'll move across.

See, this is exactly why I have a hierarchy. When we went down under Rafa and had a clear out we got rid of about a dozen. Man City did the same the first summer after their takeover. I think unless you've got a squad largely out of contract it's very difficult to move more than 12 on and replace them. We have three players out of contract this summer: Schar, Dummett, and Sean Longstaff. There's talk of all the first two staying, and even Longstaff has some benefit as a homegrown player. We have eight players that are out of contract next summer. Of that group I could see Shelvey and Woodman staying. That would allow you to try and move on Gillespie, Clark, Fernandez, Krafth, Ritchie and Matty Longstaff. Where I think we might struggle is in getting rid of people like Dwight Gayle, Karl Darlow, Jamal Lewis etc. They're all still on decent contracts (Murphy is somehow signed up until 2027) and while we can just take a hit, we should be somewhat aware of FFP. That's why I suggest anyone that can be a serviceable depth piece should and will likely hang around. It's those pushed to third and fourth choice that will be first on the list to go.

Lucky to get a point based on this.

"Ah can't remember me goalkeeper being tested."

Part of me wonders if any of this is just keeping folk happy until the season is over.