Optimistic Nut

Heart's not in it. Sell.

Hopefully England go canny at the World Cup now and some of the Howe for England noise quietens this summer.

Think he'll be fine there. Long as they don't do a Wolves in the summer.

In terms of permanent managers (if they get one), I'm guessing it'll be a record in this country like. Mental.

They should both be considered top 10 in terms of all-time club legends. Bruno genuinely pushing Shearer, Beardsley, Milburn, etc, but Trippier for what he's done and has meant to us pushes him close as well.

Even Watford normally limited themselves to 3. 4 permanent managers must be a first.

Since you're all on board with the offside law changes, how about managers only being able to leave clubs during the transfer windows?

Yeah was a good foil for Martins tbf. Am I misremembering or did we get him because we failed to sign Viduka? Seem to remember we were about to let Milner go to Villa, he was even there at the training ground because we thought we had Viduka lined up, then Viduka fell through, we brought Milner back up and Le Sib came in.

He was pretty naff for us domestically tbf. Was a bully in the UEFA Cup. Did a job though but was a symbol of the end of the Shepherd era. The big money dried up and it ended up with Bernard & Srnicek coming back, Rossi & Onyewu on loan, Duff an opportunist signing for £5m and Martins a bit of a panic buy because Owen was fucked.

One of Bobby's biggest mistakes. Preferring to go for Bramble over offering what Distin was after.

+18. I know xG isn't the be-all, end-all, but it's gives an idea of performances. That's insane.

Doesn't surprise me. Don't think I've seen either play well.

Oof, 10-men Motherwell equalise in the last minute v Rangers. Proper title-race this.

Is there an xG table because Villa & Sunderland feel as though they're 8-10 points ahead of where their performances lie.

Hopefully he stays around next season and at least stops the rot.

Oxlade-Chamberlain saves Celtic in injury-time. Spawny cunts.

"Ballard stands on the edge of the 6 yard box for every corner and heads everything away". Ballard pretty much on his hands & knees as Van Dijk rises unchallenged to head it. Nice work, Ally.

15 defeats in a row for Gateshead I noticed last night. Ouch.

Celtic 1-1 Livingston. SPL in danger of becoming a 2-horse race again.

Was a fun front 5 to watch last night. Lots of pace in Elanga, Barnes, Willock, Ramsey & Gordon.

I'd think this even without VAR, and it's how most took the law before that anyway. I don't see why it'd be a big deal just making that the law and be done with it. I bet if we could go back and watch any match in the 90s/00s where there was a contentious offside, the commentators and pundits would look for daylight and the managers and players would in the post-match interview.

Also, go have a look at what was fundamentally wrong with the backpass rule that had been used for over a century that needed changing 34 years ago. That was perfectly acceptable, should we have kept that?

The fact that last night was a factually correct decision. Same with Haaland against us, and countless others. The example with the line being from Aguero's foot to Tiote, if the law is daylight, it's not gaining an unfair advantage, he's playing within the laws of the game. It'd be dicey because it's right, but if he's off, there's no grey area. No VAR, you're also a lot happier to accept if that got pulled up, than the absolute guesswork which is involved in the rule as it stands. The guideline years ago was "daylight" even though it wasn't law, but it was definitely workable. Just make the law daylight and there's no longer a grey area.

Also, if you're in the stands or watching on telly, you're far more likely to suspect they might be offsidr and it be overturned, over some of the shite we're seeing at the moment. That's got to be better for the spectacle?