Gemmill

I'm not worried about it affecting our momentum. The break will do us good and as long as we return to the field with the same fundamentals, we'll continue to cause problems for every team we play. If anything, giving Howe another mini pre-season should worry our opponents more than us.

20th November is the aniversary of that particular yellow kegs moment. I wonder if they'll do something to mark it at the World Cup opening ceremony.

I don't even know how the man who said we were down after the 3-3 with Brentford EVEN DARES.

I bet they were dead sexy and much closer to being right than the relegation doomsayers, WEREN'T THEY?

That's been our version of a wobble this season. If you look at how long it took us to get clear of the 4 big 6 teams that we HAVE got clear of (I've charted it bitches), we were languishing behind most of them until we got past the draw daftness. The thing that I'm taking most heart from is this doesn't feel streaky or like unsustainable form. We're just really good now because of incredible coaching. But the squad is still thin and if we have another run where we're stuck in draw mode, top 4 comes under threat. Mad if we can do it (top 4) this season because of the leap forward it would give the whole "Project", but we'll see.

What we're seeing here is the people that got carried away with the threat of relegation this time last year, now getting carried away with the possibility of the title this year. It's a basic emotional control issue.

I think we've got a really good chance of getting CL football next season. We're not gonna challenge for the title though. We're 10 points behind Arsenal if they win their game in hand. Title challenges will come. But it's way too early for that now.

Once you see behind the curtain with some of these lads. Like I would NEVER buy a Tesla now that I've seen the cavalier approach Musk has taken with twitter. These people are cowboys.

I've just found out that this is coming from a TV interview he's done with Piers Morgan, where he's gone on solely to slag the club and manager off. Which makes it better/worse/funnier.

Ronaldo's final act in top level football is to become a Real Housewife of Manchester. You love to see it.

If Bobby Moore came from Blyth.

I went through the match thread earlier. The patter from one kid in particular was all about the supposed fighting that took place outside the ground, and every post was designed to let everybody know that he's a bit handy and this is the kind of stuff he gets involved in. Although obviously a gentleman hooligan like him wouldn't do any of this stuff in front of kids, and it would need to be arranged in advance. Oh and make sure it's away from coppers cos he doesn't want to be stopped once he gets started. Just fuck off you absolute urban commando.

You're supposed to be happy when your kids go on to do better than you have.

Class, thank you. Bit of blood and thunder.

Way too much wackiness going on in these Pakistan crowd shots. Wackistan.

Looks like game on. At least for now.

Would anyone like to try and argue that Howe and his team is NOT the best coaching unit we've had in our collective lifetimes? I'd be interested to hear your incorrect views.

I'm up for a Villa win and a Fulham win today. Minimum I'll take is two draws.

Was there an incident during the game that brought about the shenanigans at the end? I've watched two highlights packages and there was nowt to suggest what caused that. Other than Havertz being a 400 year old transylvanian bellwhiff.

Sexy beast.

Haven't seen much from Paqueta to suggest we missed out not getting him btw.

Pope should be starting for England in the World Cup for definite. Pickford's making mistakes every other week. The fact Pickford is playing out his career at an absolutely stinking Everton side and NO ONE wants to take him off their hands tells you what you need to know about that little mackem balloon knot.

Disallowed. Just the 7.

8-1