Checko

Feels they've been asking him to come deeper & get into the game more recently, which suits him. The 433 we play with very wide wingers tends to leave him very isolated, which doesn't suit him well IMO. He's not a Drogba type, he's not that good at the big lone target man role and he can go a bit cold when he's not touching the ball regularly. He's rapid, so yeah you want him on the last shoulder getting in behind, but he's also a fantastic passer and good dribbler so you want him dropping deep or wide to get on the ball. Which means we need a system where there'll be someone there to take his place up front when he moves away. For me that's why I think we looked a bit better when Willock came back into the team - he's our one CM who really looks to make runs and get forward to support the striker. Given that in Bruno and Tonali we have two potentially very good deeper CMs, and a CF who likes to move around and would benefit from an advanced midfielder to play with him, a 4231 system, at least in passy passy situations feels like it would suit our players far more. Just need a really classy, technical No 10 (and some flexibility from Eddie).

Yeah, whenever I get annoyed & think about how much better we could be I always think: imagine if Eddie had Mo Salah on the RW. How would we be then?

Nice to see us really go for it. It's Liverpool, one way or another they'll fuck us over, that's what they always do, but the aggression's there so far.

Think we've been ok, put some pressure on them at times. Bit sloppy at others. Just lacking one or two more really technical players to fashion better chances. Still feel having our best playmaker as our deep midfielder holds us back a bit, but Bruno's kept the ball well under pressure. Could be any result here.

Heard Rashford was fine going down the staircase, but was very unhappy he'd then have to walk back up it.

Can't stand Maidenhead United personally.

If it's based on public voting I look forward to our home matches at StadyMcStadiumface

I read Palace are struggling for goals & don't have much budget for reinforcements. If Guehi doesn't want to sign a new deal then this is probably the last chance to get a real top fee for him. If they do decide to sell they might want to get it done sooner to ensure they can make signings. They won't want to give much of discount because Parish would look silly, which means I bet we're still looking at a chonky fee. Probably more that he's worth. On the other hand I don't really know how good he is so perhaps he is worth a chonky fee. Cue: there will be better value on the continent etc. BREXIT!

Mate, asterisk that shit. Far too offensive for a public board.

Try toad in the hole but with pigs in blankets instead of plain sausages for that real christmas feel.

Is there any food that isn't improved by batter?

Out of curiosity, anyone know why the cock's standing on a basketball?

Netherlands captain is called Ryan Flamingo. If I'm Paul Mitchell I'm signing him based on that name alone. Might be why I'm not a sporting director mind. Also Miley touched the ball a couple of times. England U21s seem worse at passing out from the back than we are.

Motherfucker on comms nicked my research

Been having a little look around this site. Looks like it was designed in 1992 but has some useful stuff: Here's all NUFC players who played for England while they were NUFC players. Even gives the years they were an England player while NUFC. http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamClubs/Clubs/NewcastleUnited.html You can then go to the player and see what games they were in and the lineup. Lots of missing hyperlinks for the matches but you can copy and paste them into a search engine and the page'll show up. I think I found one competitive game with 3 NUFC starters: England Georgia, 30.4.1997 - Shearer, Batty, Lee http://www.englandfootballonline.com/Seas1990-00/1996-97/M0732Geo1997.html A couple of notes: Howey didn't play a competitive game - seems to have been 2 NUFC starters and 1 sub in his four friendly games. Beardsley only played in 2 competitive games for England after his return, Barton was the only NUFC player also in one of those squads (though Blackburn Shearer and Batty were there). Anyway, I've found a couple more with 2 NUFC starters and a sub, but I'm bored with it now so can anyone else find a 3 starter competitive game more recent than April 1997?

Our 3rd choice keeper has as many goals for England as Andy Cole.

16 points in the last 20 games and a -16 GD for the year. We literally Pardewed that 10th!

Top players are always going to get linked to other clubs. Top players during contract negotiations doubly so. He's got plenty of time left on his contract so I'd imagine this'll get done, but maybe with something like a release clause if we're not in Europe/Champions league by x year. That sort of thing.

Pretty sure it's both. And in that order too.

Can't imagine Palace wanting to sell him in January if they're still in a relagation battle, certainly not for less that we'd offered in the summer. That said, I'd take our summer offer, divide it by his remaining contract months at the time, and offer an equivalent amount based on shorter contract, just because. So, say 65 million with 22 months of his contract remaining = 2.95 million per month. Near the end of Jan that's 5 months less on the contract so about £15 million less. £50 million offer. If they accept I'd then withdraw it and offer £45 million, then £40 etc.

Or even worse... an American! 'Welcome to Soccer Match of the Day with me, Chad Veneers.'

Yeah, there's also reasonably that 'has the break come at the wrong time?' thought that journos put out when a break comes during a winning run, but it's nice just being able to be in a good spot for a couple of weeks. Would still like to see Bruno and Sandro tried in a double pivot mind.

Just gonna put this out there, if I was Martin Ødegaard I wouldn't give a fuck about playing Kazakhstan either.

Feels to me like the club are trying to avoid playing him to encourage him to move somewhere else. Edit: Still can't move him from the front of the victory photos though!

Heard Arteta threatened to cry so many salt tears they would have eroded away all of Norways lovely fjords if Ødegaard didn't withdraw.