TheBrownBottle

Would take 0-0 in the first leg any time mind. Plenty of time to better that though

Freudian typo there

Any chance we can ask Longstaff not to shoot? Like, hold the ball and look for a better option?

Another who hasn’t looked at his best post-WC - though he did have a form dip before that tbf. Doesn’t make him bad, of course, but it’s been a while since he had one of those superhuman performances.

At the risk of bringing down a lot of ire here, Joelinton’s hand moves towards the ball. You can see it from a couple of camera angles. It’s a pisser, but there is no way they’re going to give it. Generally speaking our passing has been woeful at times, and our finishing is wasteful. We’ve still been the better side by a mile, which indicates just how shite Southampton has been. 0-0 quarter of the way through though; can’t be too unhappy

If it is truly heartfelt, then those who want to show their support for victims of Saudi aggression should be writing to their MPs for more Yemeni asylum seekers to be allowed into the country, and for Sunderland to be at the front of the queue as a destination. I’m sure they’ll find swathes of support in that beacon of progressive values. For what it’s worth, some of what is happening in Yemen is genuinely horrifying - that these ghouls would try to weaponise it out of a sense of petty jealousy of another football club is so risible and contemptible that it is genuinely embarrassing to be from the same fucking region as them.

Manquillo won't, nor will Dubravka or Karius. Eight is the magic number tbf

Most would have paid their plane fares home

I've seen a few mention it - and not in a jokey way, either. We're a couple of years away from those types of signings

Pretty much everyone I know didn't think Bellamy would be any good either - his form for a relegated Coventry team had been shite the year before, after being a highly rated young'un at Norwich. That panned out ok in the end ...

Has it just been so long since we were in Europe that everyone has forgotten the 'home grown' rules? This is why you pay an 'English premium'. Filling the squad with HG players who have potential is exactly what the big boys have been doing for years for that exact reason.

Yep - it is incredible how many would happily sign Leicester's entire midfield, when most of them haven't exactly been great of late

It's a composure rather than a technique issue I think - Lee Clark was the same; he also looked a much better player once dropped back into a deeper role

I mean, there's no doubt that a bloke who effectively writes up entertainment gossip for a gutterpress hate rag knows far more about this than, say, rocket scientists and astrophysicists - all of whom seem universally confident we went.

Yeah, it is incredible. The worst are always your comic book big blockbuster efforts - constant fucking waffle from knackers. I've heard less patter during the films when I listen to directors commentaries - and at least they have both been asked to do it and know what they're on about. I will admit I get irritated by the smallest sound in a cinema - it ruins the immersion and the willing suspension of disbelief for me; but they are concepts that are beyond half the twats who fill cinema audiences it seems.

Fucking hell - the thick twat. Imagine being glaky enough to actually record that and post it on the internet. I can see how he ended up at the Mail.

First I heard it was Metz away in the UEFA Cup in '96. It was bastard cold and it helped warm us up - not sure if that was its first airing, but it worked.

The best songs are often one-offs. Leeds away in 2003 was a particular favourite of mine; the 'Peter Ridsdale is our friend' song (based on the old 'Harry Roberts is our friend song' - don't sing that in front of the matchday police young'uns) which got more and more verses added over the course of the game. Fucking marvelous. 'Have you ever seen a mackem in Milan' in Duomo square that same year - great stuff. Also, a one which sticks out from a home game was Arsenal trying the wind-up when Shearer was injured for most of the 97-98 season; 'he's only got one leg' to the tune of Blue Moon, instantly met with 'he only needs one leg'. Etc etc and so on and so forth

Honestly, if people can't switch their phones off for two hours, then 1) they've got a problem, and 2) I hope they never sit next to me in a theatre or a cinema, because I'll fucking chin them (edit: metaphorically speaking, of course)

I've just pulled my fingers out of the armrests of my chair to type: yes, you're absolutely right, my brain had buried that one. Never sang that shite either - fucking embarrassing stuff. At least when Liverpool started it 'John Arne Riise' fit the tune correctly.

I'd definitely trust Howe to develop and maximise the lad's talents if he joins. Everton are a broken mess at the moment (we've been there and done that - we've seen what that can do to young players; there's no way that Ivan Toney or Mitrovic would be playing like there are at present if they'd continued their development at late-era Ashley NUFC)

There's calls for a singing section to be introduced on another thread, but I think even if I had a ticket in there I still couldn't feel the need to sing the 'Bruno in the middle' song. Its cheesiness makes me cringe tbh; I'm struggling to think of another NUFC chant over the decades that makes me do that. Each to their own, of course.

Scolari compared him to Ronaldo - but that goals to game ratio doesn’t look Ronaldo-esque from when he was the same age

I’m like a kid at Xmas. Unbelievably exciting, no anxiety - just can’t wait to watch

“so-called ‘presenter’” was enough to make me burst out laughing. Proper Annoyed of Tunbridge Wells, NIMBY, That’s Life! vibe.