The Fish

Our Wearside focussed friend does kind of have a point though. The "Big/Top" group has swelled over the past decade or so. Was recently a “Top 3” of Arsenal, Man Utd and maybe Liverpool. Then Chelsea joined the “Big 4” party soon after 20013 2003 thanks to Abramovich, and Man Utd’s noisy neighbours paid for their admission to the “Top 5” around 2008. It’s now stretched to the Big 6 because of Spurs’ methodical and sustained improvement. Could the Big Top stretch once more to accommodate another team? If so, why not a resuscitated NUFC? I mean if any team should be in the Big Top it’s the circus that is Newcastle United.

I'll ask my peasanty parents for you.

I mean, you're a twat for giving birth to that earworm, but nonetheless.

That's the Eloi sorted.

You reckon if you take the top off that stadium, there's a smaller one inside?

Has she got herself a corporate box yet? Deal breaker iirc

A statement that I'm not sure about. Like. "I think I remembered the milk?" Or "I don't think I threw up in washing machine?"

Benitez' system plugs the gaps in quality of a few of our players/positions. Christ imagine how we'd be doing if we had a proper left back, left wing, #10 and a striker of note. Someone in Demba Ba's mould would have had a few goals already this season.

HYP

Apparently Staveley was at the ground for the Stoke game too?

He's useful to combat more physical sides like Stoke, West Ham, Brighton, but perhaps being out of his normal position would be laid bare by more ... technical sides? Dunno.

Get fucked.

There must be a way to frame the argument that would get through to the voters, if not the lobbyists? Surely? It's so self-evident that some form of gun control would reduce the frequency of mass shootings in the U.S.. I mean, you can legally buy a minigun as long as it was made before 1996. How can that be justified at all? You can buy a flamethrower, what kind of monsters are you defending yourself against that requires a fucking flamethrower?

# Club(s) Matches W D L Goals +/- Pts 1 Spurs 27 20 4 3 67:18 49 64 2 Man City 26 17 7 2 63:20 43 58 3 Chelsea 26 18 3 5 55:26 29 57 4 Man Utd 26 14 10 2 46:12 34 52 5 Arsenal 27 16 3 8 49:33 16 51 6 Liverpool 26 12 9 5 45:33 12 45 7 Everton 26 12 5 9 41:33 8 41 8 Swansea 26 10 4 12 27:34 -7 34 9 Stoke City 26 8 7 11 26:35 -9 31 10 Southampton 26 8 6 12 27:33 -6 30 11 West Ham 26 8 6 12 31:44 -13 30 12 Watford 27 8 6 13 29:50 -21 30 13 Burnley 26 7 8 11 25:31 -6 29 14 Leicester 26 8 5 13 33:44 -11 29 15 West Brom 26 7 7 12 24:36 -12 28 16 Bournemouth 26 6 8 12 33:47 -14 26 17 Crystal Palace 27 8 1 18 21:47 -26 25 18 Hull City 19 6 3 10 21:39 -18 21 19 Newcastle 7 3 1 3 7:6 1 10 20 Middlesbrough 19 1 7 11 10:31 -21 10 21 Sunderland 19 2 4 13 12:34 -22 10 22 Huddersfield 7 2 3 2 5:7 -2 9 23 Brighton 7 2 1 4 5:9 -4 7 NORTH EAST TOP DOGS 2017!!

Yeah, even if "responsible gun owners" who, for whatever reason, want a rifle and thousands of rounds of ammo were concerned about the faff of some checks, and being on a government list, isn't that a small price to pay if it stops 59 people dying and 500 hundred people getting injured?

Aye, that's the lad. Apparently a Nevada official just said that no gun laws could have stopped this latest mass shooting. I don't know where to start with this idiocy.

There was something about some kind of universal flu-jab that's close to being successful. So that will keep more of the people who voted for Brexit alive long enough to suffer it.

Where's that gun nut who used to post on here?

I think the biggest issue we have in the UK is sit wipers vs stand wipers.

In my vast experience of football takeovers I've found that those involved in the deal tend to look like Tory wide boys. So this is good news.

This point is crucial to me. The pro-gun lobby seem to think that any restriction on gun ownership, even if it's just restricting some of the people who can buy them, is too much regulation. Why wouldn't responsible gun owners want everybody to be held to high standards? I've not heard a single convincing argument for a 1st world country to have such lax gun control, it's mental.

No, it couldn't be that. Don't be ridiculous. Clearly we're going to witness the start of an era of total dominance of the domestic and European leagues, the kind of dynasty that defines the sport.

I just don't get the connection between her and this fixture. Why this game? Liverpool host Manchester United next. If Amanda Staveley is a Liverpool fan that rarely attends games, surely she'd pick that one, rather than the game at St James'. Clear to me that we're being bought out by some Scrooge McDuck type, we're going to show that Messi, Neymar and the a magically restored Pele can do it on a cold Monday in Stoke and we'll win the league on the last day of the season.

Normally at 1-1 against a better team I get bed-wettingly nervous as the game goes on, but I just didn’t get quite as terrified yesterday. The way Benitez sets us up kept Liverpool to quite difficult chances, which has been a theme in every match we’ve played; let the opposition have the ball as long as it’s nowhere dangerous. Part of that was made easier by Liverpool’s apparent struggles up front, but mostly it was our resolute defence. Coutinho’s goal was top class and people have been saying that there’s little we could have done differently, maybe closed him down quicker, maybe Elliott could have second guessed he’d be going near post? That chance came from Lascelles and then Ritchie not clearing our lines properly That aside (and aside from a couple of slips, Clark again) I thought we matched their brilliant forwards manfully. I can’t remember Mane having a real chance all game, and Salah didn’t get much joy out of a left back that none of us were particularly excited about in pre-season. That’s not because Salah came up against a good defender, it’s because Liverpool came up against a good defence. Special mention has to go to Yedlin, he was brilliant yesterday. When he was caught out of position his unbelievable pace gets him out of trouble and there were a couple of times when they broke that he covered twice the ground as our centrebacks in half the time. He was a real threat going forward too, and if he and Ritchie can get onto the same page even more I look forward to the damage they can do to lesser teams. There was one passage of play in particular where, if Ritchie had left Shelvey’s through ball, Yedlin would have been clear in the box ready for a pull back to Ritchie, Shelvey, Joselu or Perez. Merino and Shelvey looked good in the centre, and against lesser sides they’ll get a lot of joy. Merino seemed to start a bit nervous, but only grew into the game as it wore on. Shelvey’s passing is a joy to watch, but he worked hard today. Can’t say I’m expecting him to keep that up though. Joselu battled manfully all game, and did well to time his run and get his chance. Hopefully that’ll give him some confidence? Perez works really hard and kept Wijnaldum and Henderson’s influence to a minimum which was vital to the gameplan imo, he had a few decent flicks and touches too. Biggest issue is that he doesn’t really offer a goal threat at the minute, and he’s not picking the right final ball. The next two fixtures are different challenges, but challenges I think our two in the middle will enjoy in particular. We’ve got Southampton and Palace after the international break, and I’d stick with the same team for them if all stay fit. Maybe swap Lejeune in for Clark. Southampton are struggling to score, they’ve only got 5 in 7 in the league so far, and 3 of those came in their game against West Ham. They’ve only scored twice in five fixtures, and five fixtures against pretty average Premier League sides teams (Man Utd aside). I’d fancy our defence to keep them out if they maintain their focus. The concern will be whether or not we can find the back of the net. I don’t think that will be a problem against Palace. 5 points from these 3 fixtures is a very good return.

Weren't those pictures taken during a failed bid to buy Liverpool? I've not seen anything to say she's categorically a Liverpool fan, and even if she is why hasn't she been spotted at other games? Certainly she's more likely (if she's a Liverpool fan) to go to Anfield for a game against Man Utd, or Chelsea? Rather than a Sunday away trip to Newcastle? I'm skeptical that we're about to bought out by some Oil rich billionaire, but when you add her attendance of a less than glamourous tie, to the previous rumours about Ashley looking to sell, it adds weight to the rumour doesn't it? It could just be that she's mates with Rafa and she was just another in the long list of famous faces in the crowd, I mean there were plenty of ex-players and managers with links to both clubs, but given everything else I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it out of hand.