The Fish

Looking forward to Atsu facing up against this guy

Aussie?! I'll put his fucking shrimp on a barby and no mistake

Absolutely, and had McClaren stayed and taken us down I'd be worried that we would join the litany of disasters mentioned before. We might not be in the financial trouble that other clubs are, thanks to Ashley's niggardly approach. But I don't trust him to make the right decisions on the football side of things. Make no mistake, had Rafa not decided he wanted this job we could well be in a similar position to Aston Villa and, if we didn't go back up at the 1st time of asking we could have been looking at years in the 2nd tier and turning into a well supported but ultimately hamstrung "Big Club".

Point(s) for Burnley isn't great for Sunderland as Burnley are expected to lose momentum as a lot of promoted sides do and points at home against a top side could be invaluable at the business end of the season. Hull and Swansea have a really good chance to get 3pts today and if Liverpool's attacking line fancies it a Cattermole and Kirchoff-less sunderland could be very accommodating.

Shows what damage a bad owner can do. Leeds, Forest, Blackburn, Charlton, Portsmouth, all suffering on the pitch because a lack of foresight and fiscal responsibility from people who thought they were just going to enjoy a vanity project without a care for the impact it has on communities.

Burnley have had to make 2 subs in the 1st half because of injuries. I'd put some money on City scoring quite a few in the second half as legs tire without the possibility of reinforcements the bench, the gameplan that the 1st team has been working on goes out the window and a bollocking from Pep in the break?

If things don't turn around soon they may find themselves finding their level isn't the Championship. I'd be surprised if that changed today, some of their players talking about how excited they are to play at such a big stadium in front of so many fans. Fine for a Cup game, but roper tinpot behaviour for a league meeting.

The hurt isn't as fresh, it's been dulled over time and they don't have the heart to really galvanise the meagre fanbase they do have.

Burnley 1-0 up 30 minutes gone

Aussie? You take that back and you shut your goddamn mouth right now! It's a mangled mess of mild Northumbrian/Geordie, Leeds, "student", Southern, and bellend, but it is not a fucking Aussie accent you hipster cockfondler!

CIA finally got their man, with their new "Just let him die of old age" plan. In the first draft of this post I said XIA finally got their man, with their new "Just let him dye of old age" plan. I'd like to distance myself from accusing the Villa owner of assassinating a world leader with fabric colouring agents

Can only hope @@Gemmill isn't taking notes.

Happens to the best of us. I mean literally, it happened to me and I'm the best of us.

IF you were Phelan would you play a strong 11 so they carried a positive result into their league form, or would you play a weaker side so your strongest side was hale and healthy for the league, but don't have the confidence boost?

No doubt. I think if that was a review written by an impartial journalist, or even a Liverpool fan who has the benefit of hindsight after a few years I'd take it more seriously.

I'm already building up Mitrovic's winner in the cup game against Hull as a David Kelly moment.

I don't think you can overstate the importance of momentum in football and that goal was, for me, the moment the pendulum swung back.

That's a very biased review of Benitez's transfer deals at Liverpool mind.

People gravitate to their own. #JustSayin Safe to say they're not all that confident. http://www.brfcc.com/mb/index.php/topic/31913-newcastle-away-2610/

Nailed on for Pardew's first purchase at Hull.

I'm not talking about worth, the market dictates that. I'm talking about someone saying "We need a £35m player if we're going to compete." It's nonsense. We might only be lacking a defensive midfielder, who rarely go for anywhere near £35m. We might need a 'keeper and unless we're buying Donnarumma (sp?) I doubt we'd be spending £35m! We might need to spend money on a couple of fullbacks and at that time we spend £35m combined, but we're not off to sign the best fullback on the planet. £35m is a huge sum, even in these days. If you meant that if we are to kick on and aim for the top half we'll need a reliable top flight goal scorer, that's reasonable, but who knows who will be available and who knows what they'll cost? Also, Newcastle United cannot attract £35m players at the moment, nor will we be able to for another season or two at least. It's lunacy to declare that if we're to compete we need a £35m player.

Pickford is another one that could attract the attention of bigger clubs and would be as big a loss for them.

Never understood why when some people talking about getting a high calibre player in, they talk about the fee. The fee doesn't dictate the standard, Carroll went for £35m, Sissoko for £30m, Spurs bought Rebrov for £15m in 2000, what about Robinho*, Veron? Talk about the need for a top player, fine, but don't use their fee as the measure of quality. That's just a bit fucking silly. *It can be argued that the Robinho purchase changed perception of Man City as a club and that in itself was worth the outlay, but fuck that noise, AMIRITE?

Yeah was chatting about that, him and Haidara apparently swapped roles during the game. Lazaar's always been an attacking fullback/winger hasn't he?