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Remind anyone of someone ??

I just stared at the league table for a good 5 minutes tonight What the actual fuck man? We’re third, with two games in hand over one of our main rivals for a CL spot with 11 games to go. This is fucking mental, even just looking at 3 losses is mind blowing given we’d usually rack that up before September in recent years, it’s also the same as the team that are likely going to be champions. Only 19 goals conceded too, that’s 7 less than the closest which is fucking Manchester City. Then you look at the playing staff we’ve got into this position with and it shows what an absolutely stunning job Howe has done, of course all of the players deserve a fucking mountain of praise but the vast majority of them would barely have dreamed of a season like this let alone be living it. I know the media are biased as fuck but they really aren’t talking about this enough, we were fucking bottom with 0 wins 18 month ago .

When Burnley come up, they'd be mental to sign any players. Just keep the Championship plodders that got them promoted and hope they can improve further. Because if nothing else, what watching football for decades has taught is that sentimentality always wins out.

I am looking forward to getting hammered in the CL, perhaps in a Bilbao bodega where we can discuss their longstanding ties with Sunderland.

FC Plovmadov have a long and storied friendship with Sunderland dating back several centuries. Marra.

Don't make me say it.

Yep, and there's that word again!

Think you’re right but he’s possibly on trial.. at the end of the season it’ll be a cost/benefit analysis….did he do enough or will the FFP factor mean the club can do more with his transfer fee and wages?… 🤔

Only 8th for npxG+xAG though. Whatever the cunting fuck that is

They did and the stupid cunt that said no is now a beige boring twat. Sometime life gives you what you want, sometimes you get lucky and you end up with what you need, EH is exactly what we needed.

Aye he’s incredible tbh, you’d never think in the lead up to this game we were the side who hadn’t been in this sort of position for donkeys years and they were the team that were used to it, Ten Hag looked like he was lashing out under pressure and losing his cool while Eddie didn’t rise to it, the tactics from both pointed to it as well tbh.

It's what fish do, tbh, hardly boast worthy

He'll love the place until long after he's left the club, and he'll defend it til he dies.

Has this ever happened?

Ancient Greek lad walks in to a tailors in Athens, holding up his torn toga. Tailor looks up and says “ Euripides ?” Bloke nods and says “ Eumenides?” Tailor nods.

Ok, lets say I'm Sean Longstaff. My hometown club has made it into the Champions League and I'm a big part of making that happen. Eddie Howe, the man who's taken my game to another level pulls me to one side before I go off on my summer holidays and lets me know that he's going to make me available for transfer because he's bringing Milinkovic Savic in to replace me. I'd be gutted, I'd plead my case. But ultimately I'd rather play football than be an unregistered moody cunt, and I'd take that phat transfer move to West Ham (or wherever). because, THAT'S HOW FOOTBALL FUCKING WORKS.

Get rid of the deadwood - Ritchie, manquillo, Dummet etc - and keep the players who have performed this season, adding more quality to the squad in the summer. Longstaff, Burn, Miggy etc - even Murphy - will all play an important part next season as we compete across 4 tournaments. They’ll just play fewer minutes. That is progress

That's not how progress works.

Wooooah there spreadsheet dude, what is this xA of which you speak?? 🤔😧

We're third on merit. Comfortably the best defence in the league. No team has lost fewer games. Only 4 teams create more chances. Only one team concedes fewer chances. 13 clean sheets from 27 games, no team has more. Final of the League Cup as well. If there are people out there suggesting we're not a good side, or don't deserve to be 3rd, they either haven't watched enough of the PL this season, or are being cunts.

Agreed, if it had gone into the goal then it would have been a goal.

xAG leader per 90 is Anderson. Fuck me I am down the rabbit hole now. THANKS FISH!

TBF, we’ve only started creating chances this season and he’s been injured for most of it Under Bruce, we were lucky if our attackers could tell you the colour of the oppositions keeper top

I'd like to see brighton do it, obviously not at our expense mind! still think they gave us the hardest game we've had this season, battered us at their place, luckiest point we've picked up all season.

I think it’s 11 years (the season we came 5th) since we’ve passed the 50 point mark in a season in the top flight. And we’ve still got more than 1/4 of the season to go

Wyki, was this you ??

Yea Eddie Howe deserves some praise but let’s remember it’s mainly Steve Bruce’s team. Who knows what we could have achieved if Steve was still the manager? I’ll see myself out

I love their new banter that the whole CL qualification thing, which was never going to happen a few weeks back, is only happening because we’re flukey. We’re headed for a similar points tally that top 4 always requires, and they’ll list who has been “horrendous” as if there’s not always some of the “big 6” having seasons like this every fucking season . Can’t wait until we fluke a league title win.

Meanwhile the mackems are upset. Again! Not sure why?

After our form last year I often thought how we'd handle the inevitable blip that will come. He's managed it perfectly. Switched around a few players to re-energize the team, retained confidence and intensity levels in the squad during the dip in form and got us playing good football again very quickly. Funny how things work out sometimes, if we hadn't been in a relegation scrap at the time of the takeover, the club might have gone for a Tuchel/Ten Hag type profile.

"...... AND IT'S LIVE!!!"

So it is still possible he could play for them after us? They'll be dancing on the streets of Wearside tonight.

Mind it would be fucking hilarious if true. Hola bonitas et batardos. J’ mappelle Eduardos Conquistadores. Effer zins I vaz une petit hombre I dream of visitez la Toon. Seulement et naturellement ah fucken hate the mackems. Mon papa et mon mama, vos papa et mamon, et tout de Conquistadores zins cinquechita Mille ans, hate the fucking mackems. Any questions Lee?

It happens all the time...... ..... If you use your......

You havent watched much of burnley this season have you?

Succinct'dYP

The "6 chances created" is simply that 6 of his passes lead to a shot. His xA was 1.2, which is very, very good. He had Dalot on toast, but also contributed to the defensive side of things. His decision making was much better, but he still drove inside too often, for my liking. I'm convinced he could have gone wide, dragging at least Dalot with him, leaving fewer defenders in their box. It was a very good display in a game of very good displays. He, like Longstaff, are players who will likely be moved on or pushed further down the pecking order if we get Champions League football. But he's an attacking threat in more games than he isn't, and he's adding more to his game with every fixture. No, he'll not be dancing through 4 defenders to score a Ben Arfa, because we don't play that way any more. Even in this game, he had several opportunities where once he'd shoot, but instead he chose the higher value pass. Several of those passes could have resulted in a goal, all of them were more likely to result in a goal than him taking the shot. I like him and there are few players in the league that are more likely to get you out of your seat as frequently as he is. I'll love him until long after he leaves, and I'll defend him til he's dead.

I think we're all forgetting the slide-by tackle that he executed after he'd lost the ball to someone in the second half, which was tremendous. If you'd got a camera alongside that I'm convinced you'd have got a freeze frame of him turned to the side and doing the finger guns at it.

I think you'll find it would have had an xNetBulge of 1.0

The reaction to the Everton v Spurs result is them now telling themselves it’ll be great seeing us get hammered in the CL. Just when you think they’ve peaked with the mental gymnastics they take it to a different level

I'll help