Dr Gloom

Had an erm interesting 48 hours. I’ve been plagued with lower back problems due to a suspected herniated disc for decades but had a flare up this weekend which was next level. A session of physio yesterday put my back in constant agonising involuntary contractions and left me screaming like a baby, freaking out the wife and kids. leaving hospital now with a prescription of Valium, codeine and anal suppositories. Next steps are an MRI scan to get to the bottom of it and assess whether I need any intervention such as a steroid injection or surgery. How’s your Sunday going?

Valiant effort, Sunderland

i know the market is inflated but £55m feels like a lot of cash for a pace merchant. hope he proves me wrong.

they would do well to take lessons from mamdani's win instead of pretending they've never heard of him

I've spent in time in Egypt, Jordan and Israel - loved all three places. They are all fascinating and beautiful places to visit but can be challenging holiday destinations for various reasons

if he'd taken that simple chance against villa in the first game of the season things could look quite different for him

no, he made the bench in a couple of games early in the season, i think, but no sign of him around the first team squad since then

Elanga worries me more than Gordon - mainly because I think we overpaid by about £20m. Big price tag, big expectations and his confidence looks shot. Plenty of time for him to turn it around but the early signs aren't great.

any update on burn?

barnes isn't that fast. he and murphy are probably the best finishers of the four wingers available however

if liverpool fancy tempting is with £80m for gordon i'd be tempted to try to trigger semenyo's release clause (said to be a similar amount). might be less chance of being gazumped in the january window. but this is guesswork - who knows even what our psr headroom looks like? we got the big money for isak but spent a fortune over the summer.

i'd also like to see a more creative CM as we rely heavily on bruno in that area. but howe tends to prefer runners to technicians in that part of the pitch. an upgrade on joelinton would be good, even if it's one for the future, because he's the weak link in the first choice midfield in terms of technique

this season has exposed our vulnerability at left back. if we decide to cash in on osuala we could try to replace him with a young striker more likely to impact the first team

file under definitely happened

3-1 to brentford if we wear the green kit 3-1 to the mags if we wear black and white

Head shaped like an adidas predator

Not the most convincing win but quite comfortable in the end. An under strength Athletic caused us plenty of problems in the first half with their pressing intensity. Not helped by some wayward passing from us / thought we looked quite rattled at times. It was a bit of a stroll by comparison in the second half after the second went in and they tired. Great to see Hall back. Some lovely touches from him and he always looks to progress the ball. Trippier brought that composure we lacked at the back against West Ham and Barnes looked lively. Elanga’s rough start continues - he is still struggling to influence the game.

Good to see Hall back

Burn

Great play by Barnes for the assist

loads easier.

We’ve been really sloppy. Our midfield and Gordon particularly bad at keeping the ball. Athletic are pressing us really well but some of the passing has been woeful. Gordon is also coming far too deep to collect the ball so he almost always runs into trouble. We need him much higher up the pitch. Having burn behind him doesn’t help with that

he’s been scoring those headers…until now

Best header of all time?