egg

I thought we put in a very good performance. That said, if BD puts that chance away, and AM doesn't do such a bad job of following daft instructions, we win away at Newcastle. I'm a hell of a lot more optimistic after that than I was at 3.00 today.

Has to be, surely. Had a sensational half.

You don't have to play those passes as a keeper. If he had authority to clear his lines, that goal ain't happening. Yep, McCarthy fucked up, but he fucked up playing suicide football. Clear your lines and then win the ball higher up the park. I'm not letting McCarthy or RM off the hook for that.

He's the only one to blame for suicidal tactics. Expecting McCarthy to be a playmaker from the back is stupid. The tactics are 100% on RM.

Stupid by McCarthy, but, he's playing as he's told. Playing out like that is daft and was/is always going to get us punished at this level. McCarthy has dealt with corners well and looked ok til then.

Yep. Love this fella. Doesn't give a monkeys about reputations and puts it about.

That's the interesting part. Neither of them are wingers, but neither are centre forwards either. RM will probably, I'm guessing, persist with the 2 x forwards idea with no centre forward, or (as I'd prefer) playing one through the middle. Regardless, we're looking better than we did.

And another Abu assist. Larios got 55 mins on the pitch.

Just noticed that Reeves in our midfield is 32 year old Ben Reeves, now our under 21 support player. Started his career here of course, did the rounds a bit in leagues 1 and 2, and played for Eastleigh in the national league last year.

Meghoma starting wide left of a front 3. Interesting to see how he does there.

All this but RM played Mara stuff is bullshit...he literally had nobody else to turn to, so of course he played him!

How do you know we didn't? We may have gone for Phillips too. Because didn't get a player, it doesn't mean that we didn't have a crack at him.

A poor record doesn't mean he isn't a striker! Unproven, sure, but he's a striker. Whether he's an upgrade on Mara remains to be seen, but here's hoping 🤞

Yep. I'm in.

Pah. Imposter.

There's a post up there somewhere in which there was mention of the work rate which was pretty much my biggest issue with Mara. The least a player can do is put proper effort on while he's on the pitch. Hopefully Archer does that, and contributes as a striker.

And then there's the United fans saying he's lazy. Decent finisher, all round game needing work, and questionable work rate could also describe Mara.

Thanks. This kid: https://www.transfermarkt.com/lesley-ugochukwu/profil/spieler/711999

Yep, far from it. We're weak all over the pitch in truth, but creating opportunities for whoever we have up top is vital.

Which Chelsea lad are we linked with?

I agree that we shouldn't, but with what RM has as his disposal, then Dibling is probably his best AM option. It'll end up being Lallana though, assuming his legs ever work again.

Out of interest, would you ever be willing to 'mask up' to prevent the spread of a contagious illness, even if the evidence was clear that it's properly dangerous to you and others?

You've persuaded me to add AA to my fantasy squad as the cheap striker ahead of Joao Pedro.

Hmm. I'll have a look for what I saw.

That I don't know, but pension cash equivalent values is a changing calculation (gilt yields and all sorts of stuff I don't pretend to know impacts it). It use to be the case that as a crude rule of thumb the accrued benefits under a defined benefit scheme would be multiplied by about 25 to get the cash value, a higher multiplier in professions with a scheme what paid at a younger age, so the earlier NHS schemes, forces, police, fire fighters, etc. So a medic retiring on a £50k pension would comfortably have a scheme which would have costed him/her well over a million.