Lighthouse

Fair point. Let's just assume Mane is a given in the squad, as pretty much everyone would pick him anyway.

Even assuming Newcastle rocket up the table with er.... Chris Wood, that would still require either Norwich or Watford to produce lower-midtable form from here on in and I just don't see it.

We haven’t seen enough of Perraud yet but I’ve never thought Targett was anything special, personally. It did seem like he’d kicked on at Villa but now it’s starting to look more like playing behind Grealish was flattering him.

https://youtu.be/KCzwyFHSMdY If Ronseal made YouTube videos.

I did include him originally but his first touch took him into another thread.

Anyone else watch the Cup of definitely not corrupt nations earlier? The ref blew for FT with Tunisia attacking, after 89 minutes, 45 seconds and no injury time.

I think Man United basically did that with their fax machine in 2015. 7 years later, they still own De Gea.

I call him Broy-a because it annoys me when Americans, like Brad Keslowski, can’t pronounce their own names correctly. To me it would be like mispronouncing Sarajevo, Hajduk Split or Banja Luka, in that Balkan region.

A 31 year old fullback and Chris Wood. Get the crosses in, nod them down to Mbappe to tap in. Sorted.

Just for giggles, supposing you're going into next season and you can choose any of the strikers we've had in our ten years since promotion, in the condition/ability they were in while they were playing for us. For the purposes of this thread, we will say Sadio Mane was an attacking midfielder and therefore isn't included. Likewise Redmond. It's not necessarily the best four, you may want more by way of variety so you can mix it up tactically. In case your memories need jogging it's four from: Rickie Lambert, Jay Rodriguez, Billy Sharp, Tadanari Lee, Dani Osvaldo, Sam Gallagher, Graziano Pelle, Shane Long, Charlie Austin, Manolo Gabbiadini, Guido Carrillo, Danny Ings, Che Adams, Armando Broja, Adam Armstrong I'm going with: Pelle - A key fixture in our most successful period in the modern era. Broja - I think the lad has got everything. If we can get him permanently or even on loan for another year I'll be delighted Ings - Just about edges Jay Rod in my book. Both had one excellent season and a couple of so-so seasons. Gabbiadini - A hat trick in a Wembley cup final against Man United. I wish his career here hadn't coincided with us being at our worst.

Excellent result. JWP, Broja, Forster, Perraud and Diallo all excellent I thought. Can't really think of a poor performance among them if I'm honest. Even Lyanco was fully committed and the kind of nutter you probably dread playing against.

I'm start to think we might be able to cling on to a draw.

If nothing else he's got forward, pushed them back, run at them and made them need to defend. It's night and day with last season's Bertrand.

We almost threw away this exact scoreline in injury time at Villa last season.

Wake up lads, 10 still to go.

Supposing we get Long to grow a goatee, give him a few Albanian lessons and send him back to Chelsea in summer. Do you think they'd notice?

First time a Ralph team has scored 4 at home, I think. We've done it away to Villa, Newport and someone else in the League Cup, I forget who.

This use of subs is making me moist.

If that had been a Saints player, 20 minutes into the game, he'd be straight off.

If you think of Lyanco as being better than Hooiveld, Danso or Caulker then he's actually reasonable enough. Nobody first rate is going to want to be back up for Southampton. Now we have the budget, I'd like to see someone better than Bednarek as first choice. 3-1!!

It kind of died out with muffins and slutty nuns.

You'd almost think football fans respond positively to goals they score and negatively to goals scored against them. Fancy that.

Isn't that coached into them deliberately these days, makes it harder for the 'keeper to read the trajectory of the ball?

My phone is a minute ahead of my stream, keeps ruining things.