The Fish

Aye, Shaqiri spent most his time over that side as well.

I'm probably just overly cautious, but I can't help think we'd benefit from a Daryl Murphy/Kevin Nolan/Old Head type.

I'm torn between hoping they get mullered every game before ours, and hoping they get a plucky point against a Manchester club. Even better have an unlikely victory snatched from their hands in the 95th minute when they entertain Chelsea. Whatever happens, we'll be the side they 'expect' to get something from, but the way we're set up should make that more difficult than they'd like. Think they'd have a better chance of points from Brighton or Huddersfield, than us. After us and West Ham, they've got Spurs, Everton and Stoke.

Absolutely. One swallow and all that. I'm not criticising the team at all, just mentioning the fact we've one of the youngest squads in the league and the youngest captain, and wondering if that youthfulness will struggle when the pressure piles on.

They've got players with the ability to win games on their own, so if Hodgson sorts them out defensively the likes of Benteke, Cabaye, Townsend and Zaha could well propel them up the league. Trouble is, none of those are particularly consistent and they've only got 33 games to get 40+ points. Roy's record in the Premier League. Matches W D L Goals Pts PPG 219 75 56 88 261:283 281 1,28

Cool cool cool, but I wasn't meaning that experience wins out every time, just that we've a young side and when shit gets real I wonder if they'll have the resilience, the mental fortitude to cope with the pressure.

Aye, that should be enough to deal with most of the league and will only really come unstuck against the top sides, but we would have struggled against them anyway. You think our young team will struggle where more experienced heads might deal with pressure better? I mean, Lascelles seems a good captain and players like Hayden and Clark seem to have their heads screwed on right, but could their youthful exuberance see us come undone in the future?

And us after that nightmare run. It's entirely conceivable that they'll come to St James' with 0 points from 8 games and a hefty negative goal difference. The Manchester clubs are each averaging 3.3 goals a game and I can't see Palace shutting out the likes of Aguero and Lukaku in their current form.

Yeah, I'm not opening that at work.

I have no idea.

Thought he might have been picked ahead of Gamez/Manquillo because of his height and experience in the Premier League? I thought Stoke looked like they were targeting the left back position with their attacks, maybe?

The three stooges are pretty fucking famous like. Want me to just talk about Justin Bieber and One Direction like? had a few times where its posted multiple times. Probably something to do with work internet access.

Larry, Moe and Curly

Larry, Moe and Curly

Larry, Moe and Curly

Ah, the Larry, Moe and Curly approach to man management.

A single piano note played then an actor with a sonorous tone a big Chris Nolan "Bwaaaaaarp" noise and then boom, straight into a trailer for the next Sci-Fi blockbuster.

BR: Jamall, don't give your man so much space. Perez, concentrate. Jonjo, stop having a pissy little tantrum every fucking game.

More chance of going down, and I don't think that's likely either.

Parsons Green seems an odd choice of target. Unless it was the militant Anti Rupert & Binky League.

Fuck me that's shocking

They currently have fewer points than Rotherham did at this stage in the 16/17 season. Not saying they're going down, but to get promoted automatically, they need about 84pts from 39 games. 2.15PpG. Or 28 wins from their remaining games (or, say, 25 wins and 9 draws), Brighton managed 28 wins all season.

Stoke spent less than we did this summer.

Shouldn't be a problem, but if you struggle for whatever reason, twitter is usually a good place to pick up spares from people who can't go.