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I’m not a lawyer but I have a bit of legal training. I’d imagine that any judge will show some compassion and excuse his recent indiscretion as long as his missus agrees for the next 12 months to drive him to training topless.

LTA’s username on RTG revealed:

He was down by the gallowgate end on the Milburn side walking back with not a player near him whilst everyone was in the leazes half and you're looking at him and he's either fucked and it's just too much for him or he's just lazy, I'd say the former as even our engines must be feeling the strain with the effort they've put in for over 12 months and I'd imagine our match fit now is harder to get to than under a previous manager's match fit so maybe a run of games would help but as has been said, I just don't see it happening as he's not built for our current set up in my opinion. He was genuinely needed when were all over the shop but those days are gone. Part of me feels a bit sorry for him as I think there's fuck all he can do about it which must be frustrating for him but he's getting well paid and will get a move to another club to be their main man so he'll get over it in the long run. We, however, can't risk giving him a run on the off chance he'll come around to our style.

I was at the match yesterday. You really get a sense of how little effort Maxi puts in when you watch the game in the flesh. He had a chance to play his way back into the side and he fucked it. Gordon looked much better in half the amount of time on the pitch. It wouldn’t surprise me if Gordon replaces him for the next game. I suspect ASM might be sold in the summer

Beyond "beyond parody".

Wilson should be burying that

Ahem, as I was saying.... https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/celebrity-lads-fans.1599769/

I'm in a crippled mood! Carried 2 pinballs downstairs yesterday as the bairn announced she wanted the spare bedroom as her playroom. Woke up with my back in bits this morning. She then asked if we could paint the walls 4 different colours "like a rainbow". Backs doubly in bits now and the wife isn't happy she's lost her conservatory (that she hasn't sat in since we moved in )

Thought a draw was a fair result and won’t go over too much of what’s been said in here already but some of our players look fucked, even at this stage. Hopefully Gordon and Isak can bring a bit of spark back into the side. As for Maxi He can’t even be arsed to move to try find a slight bit of space to receive the ball. That’s why it’s so easy to double up on the lazy cunt

Or at least got across the defender and been brought down.

What a monumental prick he is.

at great personal sacrifice i might forego any attempt to get a ticket for this as well as not bothering to turn on the tv, instead listen on the radio whilst needlessly re-weathersealing the rendering on the back of the house. it seemed to work for our trip to craven cottage. we need goals, hopefully isak can be loaded up with a paracetamol and ibuprofen combination and make a start along with gordon, who i and many others thought looked decent yesterday, not so a minority of one! as for saint-maximin and to quote (nearly) the legendary haircut 100's 'love plus one' masterpiece.... where does he go from here, is it back to the bench i fear? aye aye aye aye aye ah aye aye aye aye aye ah ps..... if anybody feels a thread starter needs refreshing i'll happily delete this.

oooh, look at me, I hobnob with managing directors. can you get your hands on any corporate tickets for the league cup final?

I’m gutted that Frank Bruno is a lads fan ☹️. Is there fucking anyone that isn’t ffs? It really makes it hard to enjoy all the exciting things going on at NUFC when our neighbors have such star power fans like Frank Bruno, and maybe even the likes of Les Dennis, all while watching a team littered with players that might sell for £10m.

Sunderland have only sold 5 players in their history for more than 10 million, all during their Premiership stint. The two Jordans, Mingolet, Bent, and Van Aanholt. Yet apparently nearly every player is worth 10 million after coming up from L1? They are fucking tapped

When Che Adams scored on Tuesday I had this really strange feeling of incomprehension. What had just happened, what does it mean, what is this negative emotion?

Looking at our bench yesterday and we are easily at least 2 years ahead of where we should be by being in the champ league positions this season. The squad needs so much investment to get us achieving consistently.

Makes a change for me, the Lee Ryder of toontastic sentences sequencing.

There was one moment yesterday, towards the end iirc, where ASM lost the ball and did backtrack and win the tackle, knocking the ball out of play. The fact I remember this instance though tells its own story, it was an exception to the rule. Anyhow, he served his purpose, we need to maximise our revenue when he's sold. If he goes to an EPL club, nailed on he will score against us imo.

He loses the ball, or doesn't win a tackle and he's either on the ground or uselessly jogging. He's never been rewarded for flopping to the ground in an exaggerated fashion and yet he still does it each and every time. Miggy used to do it (but he was never workshy) and he's completely stopped it, but ASM seemingly can't. He didn't have as bad a game as some are saying here and he did play some dangerous balls and troubled the defense on occassion, but more often than not he looked like the odd one out in team, the rest are moving into space (not just in a forward direction) and covering for each other defensively, he's only looking for his own run and when he does defend it's like he's doing you a favour.

The lengths many in our fan base go to defend him is what’s extreme tbh. He’s not a luxury like, he’s not good enough to be a luxury. He would be a luxury if he was a consistent threat but then showed his disinterest defensively, but what we get from him is largely disinterest on both sides of play except the odd occasion where he decides he wants to play a bit. He’s a talented dribbler of the ball but he doesn’t lift his head or have a good enough footballing brain to pick out a key pass, or capitalize on the advantage his dribbling ability creates. We’ve seen enough of him now to know the glaring weaknesses to his game that he has, and they’re ones he’s never improved which is why he won’t fit in at a side like we are now. He’s a player you look at and think if only he could do xyz he’d be brilliant, but he simply won’t ever do those things. I don’t see any of my criticism of him as extreme, it’s fact imo. I don’t think he was the only issue today of course, but I do think he’s a wasted selection - Murphy would have done more than him to help us win today iyam. The issue I take with him is his disinterest and laziness, I can accept Murphy being below the level we need as he works extremely hard and gives us a chance in games due to that commitment and work rate - if ASM showed even half that effort I wouldn’t be this angry with him. Sorry like but he’s a player that come on in a semi final we were leading and he proceeded to walk around looking uninterested, given a chance to start today after we signed a £45m player in his role was a similar response. I’ve made my stance on him clear often on here but he’s taken the fucking piss the last two outings for me.

ASM is absolutely world class at what he does. He can carry a ball like no one else, given space. He scores the odd one on the edge of the box. But he doesn’t suit Eddie Howe’s side or any team at the top of the table. He’s an exciting maverick who does his own thing on the counter attack when he has space. He has benefitted from years of us not being taken seriously by other sides. Now that teams are looking at how to stop us scoring rather than trying to beat us he isn’t getting the same opportunities. Everyone in the squad has had the same training under Eddie Howe. They all know the system. They all know their role. They all know what is expected of them. He simply doesn’t fit in. I don’t think that ASM is deliberately ignoring the manager. I think he just isn’t capable of playing the role that is asked of him.

The famously left wing economic establishment.

if he is a mackem, tell him giovanni pernice bounced the fucking bones out of her when she was in strictly.

I didn’t expect us to get cl and I won’t shit my pants if we don’t.

I heard one of the Grumbleweeds has a soft spot for them. And Gary Wilmot.

I hope Isak starts. I know Wilson scored but he also missed 2 other good chances and has 1 goal in 10 whilst we have a £60mil striker on the bench.

Instant ban for @LondonBlue if you ask me?

Eell that was fucking shit, thanks a bundle @LondonBlue Lots of twists and turns still to come in this league. We've still got a game in hand over Spurs and got to play them at home, but we've got to start winning rather than drawing games now.

They're worth whatever another club is willing to pay. Has any club payed £10m+ for one of their players lately? I don't recall that happening so I'd suggest, in a shock turn of events, they're talking their usual demented shite?

Yeah, but we missed out on Francis Jeffers iirc. I guess that piece of Robson serendipity was more than evened out by us ending up with fucking Hugo Viana rather than Ronaldo.

Nailed it. If we do qualify for CL its a double edged sword. Positive is it brings in the revenue we need, it makes us more attractive to certain players and who doesn't love European nights. On the negative if the squad isn't built for it, it can seriously hamper the league. Look at what happened to West Ham.

they also had Declan Rice, which didn't help our Bruno-less midfield. Better to draw than lose tbh. Can't comment in detail about game as I watched it in blurrivision as was dragged into the local by Hamish (the dog) at 1:00 and had a liquid 4 hour lunch 😳

Just wish we'd been a bit more adventurous in the window, especially with a creative mid or premium striker. I know it's not feasible or that Rome wasn't built in a day etc, but thankfully at least we have Gordon who was really impressive.

It isn't all about ASM, I totally agree. I think we're looking a bit burnt out, a few players not in great form and other teams are preparing against us a bit better. All little details add up a bit.

Perfectly summed up. Don't think anything else needs said.

baffling too given how long he has had to wait for his opportunity

Fair play. That’s taking football hipster-ism to previously unplumbed levels of ridiculousness

I thought Gordon looked electric when he came on. Looked as though he was playing about twice the speed of everyone else. It will be interesting to see where he ends up playing as some of his passing / play around midfield was superb. It’s almost like he would be wasted out left or right. In my tiny football brain that doesn’t always understand formations I can imagine a diamond that has Bruno at the back of midfield him at the front and then Joelinton and Longstaff either side. I can imagine the speed of passing and creativity between Bruno and Gordon being magnificent. Not sure if Howe would play like that or if it’s even possible. He’s definitely going to get goals and assists.

Arsenal lost because of racism apparently that’s a new one fucking hell.

falling apart at the seams. I sincerely hope we make the cunt unravel on the 18th.

This is my take. He was poor today but honestly the criticism on here is too extreme. The whole team was poor for long periods today with a few notable exceptions, ASM was not to blame for everything. But ASM is very much a square peg in a round hole now. As we have transformed from a counter attacking side to ne which dominates possession, this was always going to happen. I don't see any place for him now other than an impact sub if we are under the cosh and need to score against a more dominant side. He's a luxury not so much that we can't afford, but one which has no function. He will definitely be gone next transfer window and I doubt he will start another game for us.

Careful Alan.

Let’s hope that changes against Manure in the final.

Aye. It's strange but Tuesday night I wasn't exactly elated despite getting to our first final in 24 years. Just feels like we have already hit our inevitable bad patch. The first half was just a continuations this apart from the blip of the goal. Let's not pretend Southampton and West Ham are good teams and let's not forget we were at home. Next 3 matches decide our fate imo. I was sad to see what I assume is the end of ASM too. Whatever people say, he was one of the sole players that gave me hope in the Bruce years. Fortunately Gordon looks like the perfect tonic. We also nadly miss Bruno.

Bring that cup home Eddie and you can have your own statue outside the Gallowgate