The Fish

Yeah, being frustrated that your team couldn't break down a perceived lesser opponent is one thing. Blaming that opponent for not rolling over to have their tummy tickled is entitled bullshit. Don't get me wrong, I look forward to the day we turn up at the Emirates and play open expansive football to make Ty and his ilk cry into their club branded pillows. But until then they should stop crying, and fuck 'em if they can't

After the first few lines I was looking more at the league as a whole. Looking for trends that might undermine good league position now, e.g. Fulham may be in a false position because they've already played 5 bottom half sides at home to get 10pts. Chelsea haven't yet played any bottom half sides at home. Everton haven't played any team that finished 7-10th last season away from home.

Yeah, it had to be against last season as the bandings could change on an almost weekly basis.

In love with his own voice, that lad. Respect. Game recognises Game.

Alan Varela (Boca Juniors) – Scout Report – Target Scouting

Played all of the 'Big 6' and only lost to Liverpool (arguably unjustly). Played 4 of them away from home and took 5pts back home. Scored 7 conceded 6 Best defence in the league, conceding roughly 0.6 per 90. Fifth best attack in the league, scoring roughly 1.8 per 90. Simple table showing where teams have picked up their points this season. BH P = Games played against teams who finished in the Bottom Half 21/22 season, TH = Top Half 21/22 BH Pts = Points won in games against teams who finished bottom half 21/22 The sides promoted from the Championship at the end of the 21/22 season count as Bottom half for this table. Stand outs for me are; Brighton, Brentford, Fulham and Wolves. Former two have taken the majority of their points from top half sides. Double what they've taken from the bottom half sides. 80% of Fulham's and 100% of Wolves points have come from bottom half sides. Breaking it down further; Splitting the halves into more granular bandings. First table is games played against opposition in each banding. And this second one shows points returned from those fixtures. Shows that Chelsea and Tottenham have failed to beat any of the sides who finished higher than 7th, so far. Aston Villa have only taken 1pt from the promoted sides.

Yeah, apparently Simms has gone, that Diallo from Man Utd is a loanee too so the risk they could actually lose all three of them.

Who's tempted to stir the pot a little?

Saying that 16th placed Hull are genuine contenders for the Play Off spot isn't the brag he thinks it is Rumours abound that they're going to do lose their top scorer again, because that always goes well.

Fish is concerned by seeing RobinRobin unable to tell the difference between stats and opinions.

I knew it!!

I didn't want to mention Michels for fear of being called out for plagiarising Jonathon Wilson. Glad you're not afraid of that. wait... my Spidey sense is tingling.

I got a similar satisfaction from Benitez' Newcastle taking points off the big boys, as I do from not letting a cunt in a flash car merge in turn, purely out of spite.

I've a couple of Chelsea supporting mates. One is a massive toff who's not much more than an armchair fan, never goes to early cup games, always somehow gets a ticket for a final, the other is a proper salt-of-the-earth, been going since he was 5, hates modern football, hates the players, hates the people who sits around him and all that. They're both cunts, but I like them a lot... if that makes any sense.

The pressing game definitely has grown in popularity, not just with coaches, but more importantly with the fans. I think more credit has to go to those that influenced Klopp, Pep, Pochettino et al. You'd have to look at Bielsa, Sacchi and so on. They laid the ground work and the newer managers may have taken it forward and tweaked it a little, they were among the progenitors. Mourinho's football may have been successful (at the time) but holy Hell was it boring and the fans made that obvious. Benitez' game was similarly pragmatic and for a time it was working very well, and for us it made a lot of sense (we couldn't play more expansive football with Rondon up front and Lascelles at the back). However, it was very difficult to defend it from criticisms of being tedious and drab. I'd much rather watch Howe's pressing football, he's shown that despite Bruce (and Benitez' claims) you can play that kind of system without superstar players. I've not enjoyed watching Newcastle as much since Robson's time.

You're not absolved of responsibility just because you volunteered. When dozens of homeless people die by poisoning, the Police won't discount Wykiki's part in it just because he volunteered.

Wonder no more, it isn't. I also think that Potter will turn things around at Chelsea, if he's given time. Ditto Ten Hag at Man Utd and Old KlippityKlopp at Liverpool. Not sure about Conte at Spurs.

Why has he included Tripps in the title? It suggest there's more Trippier than normal. Like, additional Trippier. Which, don't get me wrong, I'd be all for, but surely it should just be (-Gemmil), even then, why is Gemmill out of the picture, has something happened to him? This has all gone horribly wrong and I feel very uneasy.

Chiefly because with Joelinton and Willock ahead of him he plays more like a 3rd CB than a true fullback. Trippier operates more like a wingback on the right and one of the Joes does similar on the left, and we tilt from a 4-5-1/4-3-3 to a 3-5-1/3-4-3. Can't really do that with ASM because even with his improvement defensively, his first instinct is to get forward, to commit defenders and stretch the play. That's incompatible with Burn at LB imo.

Both Saka and Saliba are on 4 yellow cards each. With the North London Derby coming up next they can ill-afford to be without their best attacker or best defender. I don't think we'll win, but I fancy us to give them a game. Especially if Wilson is starting and ASM plays more than just a cameo. I'd start Joelinton in the middle with Willock and Bruno. Almiron ASM wide and Wilson up top. Botman to score a goal please.

Do you know much about Matheus Franca and Andrey Santos? I know we've been linked with both of them.

That I should trust my head.

Head says our winning streak has to end sometime and it might be after the lord mayor's show... 1-1 Heart says we'll win 3 or 4 to nowt