The Fish

What? and miss out on the Bridges and the Glass Museum? Philistines!

Just started watching Bad Sisters. It's good. Not sure Apple tv is worth it for this, and Ted Lasso, but we'll see. Anyone got any Apple tv recommendations besides those two?

If only there was a vainglorious billionaire who recently discove3red it's not as universally adored as he believed. If he threw a couple billion at the problem, that could go some way to offset costs to the people who need the most help, right?

"Alexa, outdoor light off" isn't the ordeal you think it is. My wife was hesitant and brought up similar challenges to modernisation, but now she's using the big Echo Show in the kitchen to give her step-by-steps for new recipes that it suggested the day before, while playing her favourite music. She's telling the postie to leave the parcel on the step while she's upstairs with our son. She's a total convert. Join us, don't resist.

We've got the Ring Doorbell and I'll be adding to that with the alarm stuff. Still back and forth on a smart lock though.

Which security system are you using for that? I'm assuming you'll need contact sensors on the door?

Cheers, sorry to hear about your news too.

Ah man, that's awful. A paradigm shift on cancer would be amazing and it's cause for optimism, right?

Aye exactly. I honestly started to spiral a bit after the call I had with my old boss. I obviously making it all about me then feeling guilty about doing that which compounds the anxiety and blurgh), but I come back to that, what's it called? Prayer of Serenity or something? "Have the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept the things I can't, and the wisdom to know the difference." Honestly had second thoughts about posting this for fear of being mocked, but then I realised that, on here, that ship has sailed, discovered new lands, and been ridiculed by the locals.

Just found out that a lad I used to work with passed away over Christmas. We'd stayed in touch and I knew he was ill, so wasn't surprised not to hear from him for a while, but got the text a couple of hours ago and, well.. yeah. He was the same age as me (41), he had two young lads the eldest only 4 or 5. Last time we spoke (about 18months ago) he was buzzing cos the Drs said it was looking good, but apparently the testicular cancer spread to his kidneys and beyond. Cancer is a cunt, isn't it?

Liverpool have been poor at the back (14th for xGA) and they've just lost Van Dijk for a spell, right? They're scoring more and conceding fewer than you'd expect given the chances they're making and giving up. Their biggest issue for the past few seasons has surely been mobility and energy in the middle of the park, yet they've just spunked £40m on Gakpo, another wide forward. Like the £40m they spent on Jota, the £45m they spent on Diaz and the £80m they spent on Nunez.

Agg Pts = current points total. Max Pts = if the team were to win all their remaining games, what would they end up with PpG Proj = if the team were to maintain their PpG, what would they end up with Req'd title race PpG= the Points per game needed to get to 92pts (average points total of the Champions from the past 10 seasons) PpG v ^^ = The difference between current and req'd PpG to be in the title race. Req'd CL race PpG = same as above but 72pts, average points required for 4th in the last 10yrs PpG v ^^ = The difference between current and req'd PpG to be in the race for 4th. You'd have to say that, realistically it's only Arsenal and Man City in the title race itself. The uptick required for the rest of us is an additional point per game, essentially we'd have to win every remaining game. Nobody is fully out of the CL picture, but I think it's fair to say that Aston Villa and below are out of the reckoning (+Brentford). Which leaves Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Man Utd and Fulham and Brighton. I separate those because I don't think they've the squad to maintain any kind of challenge to the top 4 spots.

I'd give Wilson a start, plus ASM. Start Murphy or Fraser on the other flank. Maybe Joelinton and Longstaff in the middle. Manquillo in for Trippier, Targett in for Burn. Keep Botman, Schar and Pope. Have Isak, (if fit), Almiron, Willock, Bruno, Trippier, Burn and Darlow on the bench. How many subs can you name, and make in the FA cup this season?

I don't like this. Don't rate the Scottish leagues at all, and loans to Scotland haven't worked out for us in the past.

Meet with them first, to curry favour.

Wouldn't anyone buying Man Utd also have to go over every commercial deal they currently have? That's a phat book of business. Official cooking oil partners, tractor part partners and all that. What a ball ache that is. Instead, like you say, you could buy Brentford for comparative buttons, change very little on the football side and work at improving their global footprint/commercial portfolio. Reap the benefits from that in no time.

Goals conceded versus how many goals you'd expect the teams to give up per 90. Look at how much Everton are relying on Pickford. They're conceding enough chances that you'd expect them to ship 1.66 goals per 90 (Only Nottingham and Fulham give up more). They're only conceding 1.18 goals per 90, there are only 4 teams conceding fewer. They're not creating much (only Bournemouth and Wolves create less) and as above they're giving up loads of chances. @Gemmill makes a decent prediction. Add to their current performance the incompetence of their board to appoint the right man and they're in for a world of hurt. Lampard has no discernible style, but I'd still not be surprised to see them appoint someone to replace him who prefers a style that's wildly inappropriate for the playing staff they have. I've just remembered the existence of their saviour Anthony Gordon, what's he doing now? Is he injured? Suspended? Doing a stretch for abstracting electricity?

How insecure must you be to get wound up by Newcastle being a threat? They've got an unbelievable number of trophies, a squad peppered with some genuinely talented players and a very, very good coach. If they're this precious about us already, imagine what they'll be like when we really start spending.

It does seem to be Liverpool, more than any other 'Big 6' club, that's taken the takeover really badly. I don't want a rivalry with them, I want a sporting, handshakes all round, rivalry with Man City, or maybe a Wenger/Ferguson style petty rivalry with Arsenal.

Past 5 seasons it's taken us around 30 games to get to 34 pts. 17/18 31 games 35pts 18/19 30 games 34pts 19/20 29 games 35pts 20/21 32 games 35pts 21/22 31 games 34pts 22/23 18 games 34pts We ended up with; 17/18 44pts (+10pts from 7 Benitez games) 18/19 45pts (+11pts from 8 Benitez games) 19/20 44pts (+9pts from 9 Bruce games) 20/21 45pts (+10pts from 6 Bruce games) 21/22 49pts (+15 SUPER EDDIE HOWE points from 7 SUPER EDDIE HOWE games) If we continue at this pace (1.9PpG), we are projected to finish on around 72pts. Past 30 seasons, 72pts has been good enough for 2nd 4/30 times, 3rd 14/30 times and 4th 24/30 times. Past 10 seasons 72pts has been good enough for 2nd 1/10, 3rd 4/10 times and 4th 6/10 times. Past 5 seasons 72pts has been good enough for 3rd 3/5 times and 4th 4/5 times. Break down the three periods of Eddie Howe's tenure; Nov 21 - Feb 22 = 1.36 PpG Feb 22 - May 22 = 1.93 PpG Aug 22 - Jan 23 = 1.88 PpG It's on lads.

LEAVE BRUNO ALONE!

It's a bad thing, so it is, tbstbs

He hasn't been poor, far from it, it's just that in the last 2 games his focus has been very much on getting the ball back and due to the opposition' disparate strengths we've not seen the other side to his game. Against Leeds he lead the team in tackles, drawing fouls, was had a better dribble success rate than any other starter, completed more long passes than anyone else, only Dan Burn completed more short passes... it's just a different, less glamorous side to his game. To be honest, it's more like the player I thought we'd be signing. A lot of the ugly work. Against Arsenal he was, as Craig says, clearly tasked with keeping Odegaard quiet, but he still completed more progressive passes (ball passed >10yd towards Arsenal's goal) than anyone else in the team. Only Willock had a better pass completion%, and Bruno's passes covered more ground. Nobody put more balls into the final 3rd, or into the box. Nobody on our team attempted or completed as many dribbles as Bruno.