The Fish

Nope, he was a Jet, I was a shark. It was a forbidden love.

Burnley have a stinking run in and they weren’t up to much against us. Still have Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal to come and for all Arsenal and Chelsea have looked vulnerable, I’d not expect Burnley to get more than a couple of points from those four fixtures at best. Plus games against Everton who’re decent if unpredictable, Wolves, Rodger’s Leicester and Crystal Palace too. I’d enjoy Burnley going down because of their shit football and the over the top praise they get for being plucky cloggers. Probably be Cardiff mind

I’ll take option C thanks Mr Tarrant

I’ve hung up my quizmaster cowl.

Up to 13th, 31pts, Crystal Palace host Man Utd next. Nice.

Rafa thinks you're a fool, brings on Diame for Longstaff instead.

You take that back. Spiteful, nasty little hobbit.

I'm the voice of reason, my arse is peppered with fence splinters and you fucking know it sunshine.

can see Burnley getting a goal from a dead ball situation and the crowd will get nervy as fuck.

Not going to relax until we're 3 or 4-0 up

He's one of our own, y'know.

https://twitter.com/KTD89/status/1100492559674167296

Schar, what's he like eh?

Went to school with him.

Aye, if they managed to get promoted to the Championship (will never stop being funny btw), they're miles behind the teams who're aiming for play-offs, let alone automatic promotion. Is next summer the last Parachute payment? What will their owner do when the the crowds stay away? He's not got the money to keep such a large entity ticking over himself. How long will it take for them to get into the top flight again? 5yrs, 10?

How do you mean? That their ambition will be their downfall? That won't be their downfall, those tinpot clappers will be. Well, that or Brexit.

There's a weird mentality for a significant number on there, where they have to twist, or obfuscate reality just to have a dig at Newcastle. It must be exhausting. I don't think we have the same odd need to reimagine the truth to fit a biased agenda because of an erstwhile football rivalry. And it's not just Benitez they've done this for. Pardew wasn't shit, Robson was. Gullit and Dalgish weren't but Keegan was. Allardyce is brilliant and definitely not a long ball manager. We demand attacking football and would rather lose 4-3 than win 1-0. We demand a big name despite being happy enough with Hughton. We demand attacking stylish football, despite being happy enough with Hughton. We demand big money signings, despite being happy enough with Perez, Dubravka, Fernandez, Schar... I've got Chelsea and Arsenal mates, Man Utd and Man City mates, Liverpool and Norwich and Wimbledon mates, even West Ham and Stockport mates. None of them think Benitez is anything but a top coach, not even the Man Utd and Chelsea lads. None of them think Ashley is a good owner. None of them think Newcastle fans demand Keegan's football. Now, if they were saying this to Newcastle fans, I'd kind of understand they're trying to have a bit of a laugh, but they repeat it to each other in some sort of weird self perpetuating fantasy.

Think they're guilty of downing tools because they're safe. Which is admittedly on him. I dunno, I was surprised by Southampton fans treatment of him and now Leicester. I guess because I don't watch them every week I'm not in a position to defend him, but after a casual glance they look safely ensconced in midtable which is about where I'd expect them to be.

I'm glad he hasn't yet. Much better if his accent is more heavily influenced by ours. An American twang is nowhere near as good as a Julio Geordio-esque lilt. Perez was much improved because he's playing with an intelligent mobile dynamic attacking midfielder. With Atsu, Kenedy or whomever because there wasn't the intricate give and go that we saw with Almiron. He gets a lot of shit because he's where the attack usually stalls/ends and that obviously and justifiably frustrates the fans. Hopefully with someone with a little more about them, he'll score more and contribute more to the team. Kenedy can fuck off.

Puel sacked. Leicester are an odd club now. The football isn't great to watch, but it's pretty effective. Some shocking purchases (Iheanacho cost them what, £35m?) but they've still got a decent pool of talent. They can't expect to repeat the fairytale and they'd need years of steady improvement to break into the top 7, would Puel have delivered that? I dunno, but sacking him won't.

I wouldn't even bring Dimae in yet. Hayden's been playing alright with Longstaff in the middle and Huddersfield shouldn't be too tough an ask for those two.

£

Because the ref was poor. The idea is fine, it's application needs improving and that will come with experience. Ref has final say. Frankly we should be getting to the stage where the ref can view the incident by jogging over to the linesman who's got an iPad stuffed down his shorts. Ref stops the game, reviews the major incident, Bob's your uncle. If the ref is reviewing the VAR the game is stopped, why does the crowd need to be told what they can clearly see is a VAR review? Or do you mean the crowd should be watching the incident at the same time as the ref but on a big screen? Personally, I think the ref should be mic-ed up. Similar to Cricket. Call his decision and ask/go for a review, then if there's a clear and obvious incident overturn or confirm his decision. That way the crowd knows what the review is about without necessitating a big screen display. Also, only the manager or Captain should be allowed to request VAR. I wouldn't have what happened on the Schalke bench happening again.

Why is the ref being overruled? VAR is an advisory tool, not taking away control from the ref. It's no different to a linesman flagging for something the ref didn't see. We don't get any on-screen notification that the goal-line tech is buzzing the ref now?

How will the laws change? I for one don’t see the point in metal poles. What’s wrong with jumpers?