The Fish

You try a low block against this Man City side and they will absolutely gub you. The movement of Grealish, Foden and Haaland with or without the ball will find pockets of space even in the tightest defensive shape. The best way to limit the chances falling to those players is to stifle the supply line. It doesn't have to be a particularly high line, there just needs to be a lot of pressing. Don't let them settle, don't afford them space, hunt in packs and close off the escape routes. They are supremely talented footballers, so force them to play at their peak, rather than letting them stroll about unmolested. That's how our under strength team almost took all 3 points from them at St James'. Pressure, pace and pkicking lumps out of them.

Think this shows that with Wilson and Bruno returning to the starting line up and getting closer to full fitness we have the start and end of the answer tot he problem posed by a low block. I know Fulham were poor, but even before the red card we were getting in behind them. Then, when we had the man advantage, we made it count. We could have scored a lot more and I think as players like ASM and Isak get back to fitness, we will. Despite getting some criticism on twitter, I though Willock played well. He created a lot of good opportunities, got 2 assists (even though 1 was really just an attempt at goal itself), he broke the lines well and probably would have scored at least one goal if players around him made better choices (e.g. Fraser was offside and if he'd left it, Willock would have been clean through). Shame we conceded and the fault there lies in the player who didn't stop the cross (Lascelles) and the player who didn't track the man (Lewis). Proves to me we should drop all defenders whose surname begins with L.

Take some consolation, I took out Almiron for ASM because I am unbelievably stupid.

Yeah I doubt we'll sign another striker for the first team squad, but more of a goal threat from our wings is definitely on the cards.

To be honest, the only way to stay in the game against this Man City is to press them relentlessly. As Man United showed, you can't sit off them no matter how good you think you are, they'll punish you. If De Bruyne is afforded any time or space, he'll create a chance and with Haaland playing like he is, that chance is getting buried. I think we can go to the Etihad and press them, especially when we've got Joelinton back and ASM posing them problems on the break. Wonder what odds I'd get on Haaland missing a relatively easy chance and the commentator saying "Well, he is human after all"?

Makes total sense, even though he's made of glass. Plus, he's good enough to help younger strikers with their movement, and finishing.

Exactly. The criticism of his ability hasn't changed in over a decade; no identifiable style, mish mash of ideas, poor defensive organisation, poor attacking movement, no balance between the two and no control of midfield. When he gets a job at Derby and takes them from 8th in League 1 to 18th, it'll be the same complaints; fans were against him from the start, injuries, not enough money spent, not enough time to get his ideas across.

Read something on the Atheltic about their latest loss and was looking for some paragraph that sums it all up, but I'd have to copy and paste the entire article, such is the breadth of criticisms. He is laying the groundwork for blaming the fans, mind you;

I think this part is really important. ASM starts against Liverpool, Palace and Bournemouth, I think we get between 5 and 7 pts, which would have us 4th. I'm fully expecting us to go on a run of form where we string together a few wins and some good performances. Isak will be important when he settles a bit, but that task has been made more difficult by us missing key players in his early games. Him and ASM should cause defenders no end of bother and even if neither of them score, they'll create spaces and opportunities for others to get in on the act.

I feel like I'm alone in not being that bothered about the start. We're playing ok, only lost to Liverpool, creating a decent number of chances, defending all right and when the big guns come back, we'll be better. Zen

Late call apparently

John Carver, or Pardew on his magical mystery tour?

Being a moderator on here wasn't deemed 'relevant experience'. It's all political.

Even after I go, my legacy will live on.

There should be punishment if people fail to hold true to their manifesto promises. I'm happy to be the board policeman (RIP LeazesMag)

Moderate this! Fist is great, I wish I was him.

Nope, not going to happen, what else you got?

Well, that's the thing, I'm not sure. But I do often talk shit about her to the Mrs, or anyone we have round, so maybe the walls are thin enough for her to hear? Fuck her though, her and her adult son have blazing arguments at all times of the day and night about the most mundane shit. "BEN! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO LEAVE THE WINDOW OPEN!" "URGH MUM LEAVE ME ALOOOOONE THIS IS WHY NOBODY LIKES YOU!!" Really interrupts the zen vibes I've got going when working on WIP-Project New Draft 20210821 ver 2.0(7).xlsx

You come at the king, you best not miss. (Disclaimer: Until the above, Dave had no idea about when the election was, let alone when the Brexit Party was formed. This should not in any way take victory from him, because he needs this win.)

Would it though? Would sufficient Tory and Labour voters have leapt from the comfortable familiarity of their regular party to some single issue fad? I'm not so sure.

Yeah, since then, I've had a new kitchen put in, we signed a stack of good players, relationships with one of my neighbours have soured to the point she'll blank my wife and son.

Because there could be legitimate reasons why campaign promises could not be kept. Say Labour win and promise a fuck load of spending on services, but the global economy tanks and now they can't afford it. And surely anybody with enough competence could come up with a whole host of reasons why promise A couldn't be delivered because of instance B.

Well, you should. I'm hilarious. Just wondering, if Kwarteng reverses a lot of the mini-budget to restore some public confidence, couldn't they paint themselves as having listened to the people, while their banker chums pocket the money they made from shorting the pound? Couldn't they turn a reversal into a kind of win for the type of people who need any slither of hope to keep voting for them?