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Listening to this on the radio and, out of nowhere, my utterly football-uninterested better half just said "STOP SAYING UNITED WE DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE YOU MEAN!". I'm so proud.

Aye the thing the bloke bangs on about more than anything is a lack of identity. He can't see what it is that they're supposed to be trying to be. The one thing that gets talked about based on noises coming out of the club is the fact that Gerrard sees himself as a figurehead and puts his assistant manager in charge of training and tactics. He lost his assistant manager at the end of last season when he went to manage QPR, so to all intents and purposes Villa have had a manager change because a brand new person is in charge of training and tactics. I can understand taking that approach when you've earned your stripes as a manager and know enough to take a step back and oversee/tinker where things are going wrong. But to start your managerial career with "training and tactics are someone else's job".... Well you don't really want to be a football manager, do you? Maybe his experience of managers at Liverpool reflects this approach, but that's because by the time someone is managing Liverpool they've earned the right to take that step back and become an overseer. But they didn't start their managerial careers doing that. He's basically got to the same place that Bruce has, where one has done it through laziness and the other through wrong headed thinking about what a manager's job is.

Was just waiting for their last minute winner to go in so happy enough with that in the end, we were huffing and puffing a bit at the end with some poor decision making as well. Should've made it count first half and pawson can fuck off with the non penalty decision, the rookie on var never going to overrule him. Eddie should've took Burn off a bit sooner, was always an iffy decision playing him LB today IMO. Injuries and squad depth a bit of a concern and from what I saw of Everton the other day we'll have to be a bit more with it but I've a feeling we might be missing more players again.

Took the dog to Chopwell Woods earlier. Turned up in the car park and all the LARPers were there getting ready. And then who do I spot but @Alex, @Howmanheymanand @Rentongetting in a spot of pre match LARPing. Renton was telling them to "watch how fast I get combat-ready" then walking away from the group and spinning round with his fighting staff held aloft. To be fair, the other two looked canny impressed. I think I heard HMHM say "Forsooth, Lord Renton, verily you do get combat ready canny fucking quick like". As I walked away Alex was spinning a staff around like the Star Wars Kid while Renton was helping HMHM get his mace out of the boot. Harmless enough, I suppose. Keeps them out of bother.

"So what order do we think the 'big eleven' will finish in this season?"

Botman. Wow. It's said a lot recently. But he's class.

I can't recall ever wanting anybody to gum disease before in my life, until klopp.

Owen: "the one in the first half was more a case" Shay: "I think they're both penalties" Rafa: "Mitrovic needs to work harder in training and show that he will listen to instruction to gain my confidence"

I don't. I hope he ends up penniless and destitute, the fucking neanderthal cunt.

If fucking LOVE to see Wood get a winner here.

if you need a hand with fire stick stuff mate in the future I'm always here to help.

Hands up if you’ve missed half the first half because you forgot to update your fire stick 🙋🏻‍♂️

So like a Maxi pad?

Just seen the Bamford/Gabriel incident.

Rumours on twitter UM thinking of trying a gin in the labour club instead of the usual cheeky vodka.

We've had a few lucky breaks here. Good test today and, as expected, we're not there yet. But we're putting a gap between us and the teams below us and catching up with the likes of this lot. It's just gonna take time.

Which half did you miss?

People joked about the "big 6" becoming the "big 7" and here we are

“ What were the antibiotics for Therese?” ” Strep Gunt. Still a bit sticky, tbh”.

no, doesn't seem that way - he managed 32+ games in each of his past three seasons in la liga. we seem to be getting loads of these muscle injuries, perhaps one of the costs of howe's intense pressing style

Look at the state of the random shite just floating round the pitch. And don’t get me started on the litter.

“ C ee y hi s.” FTMd your cheesy chips display.

west brom 2 up, the no bruce bounce.

I did like their banner.

in their match thread somebody who's there says.... what the fuck even is that? looks like somebody's brought in a barrow load of old christmas decorations. a reply..... think it says neil quiff another reply..... and now it's blowing all over the pitch.

Returning from the 74 FA Cup loss.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjyUXkLgnKH/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Good news is that shelvey is close to getting minutes so that means he'll drop into the 6 position instead of Longy With Isak and Maxi returning soon we'll be more potent as well. Good point but we'll need to start looking into turning these Ds into Ws next season. Its just a lack of quality in the going forward. The defence is a left back away from being quality.

Aye, Ron Guthrie has actually told me that tale before. About 4 times That aside, their cup exploits in general have been incredible. I think a couple of years after that they played Hull City in the cup. Les Mutrie’s performance as a striker caused Hull to sign him and he played for them for a few seasons after that. Les was from the same village as me but before my time. He didn’t even take football seriously until he was about 25 as he just liked playing local football with his mates. I think he passed away about 4 or 5 years ago. He wasn’t that old. Mid 60s I think

Defence should be easy to shuffle if Schar injured......Burn/Botman/Targett/Trippier Bruno is the worry especially if Maxi still out

bit disappointing 2nd half. were hanging on a bit. still, happy enough with a point in the end to be honest, provided we get 3 midweek!

A point off relegation.

Take a point at this stage?

Yeah but apart from being three feet too short and offside he was really close to scoring.

Ronaldo and Antony carrying on like they were inches away from scoring, when the reality was Ronaldo flung his arm oit and couldn't even get near the ball. Plus he was offside.

I can't wait til we sign a few referees from our rivals.

The co commentator saying that the other defender's position might have made the ref thing twice. That's irrelevant arsehole, it's a foul in the box. Whether there was a clear goalscoring chance is not the point.

Im actually excited by Shelveys return. When he gets match sharp he gives us a different option. Very handy in games where teams sit back against us eg Bournemouth (h).

I should know better than to listen to the twitter bullshit artists

It’s been 24hrs since this effort for Quinn, with no response from @essembeeofsunderland Condolences to his family and friends. I’m sure he was a fun person to avoid. You heard it here first… RIP

The final score commentator on BBC1 was talking about the Sunderland win and signed off with "There'll be cheesy chips on Wearside tonight!" I had to rewind it to be sure.

and that's now part of the thread title...