Sciatika

Maybe just me, but I'm not a big fan of Colwill at LB.

Obvs. It's a very ugly colour.

It would be extremely Spursy (and as funny as heck). And at Bramall Lane.

Only criticising in the sense of having a moan in the pub afterwards. It's traditional.

We need Spurs to lose to Man City (likely) and to lose on the last day, Newcastle to drop points to Man United (not impossible at Old Trafford) and to win our games. If we do that, we will be fifth.

Quite a few injured for them (assuming you believe the EPL injury site) . No Mitoma, Jaio Pedro, Veltman, Estupian, van Hecke, March, Milner, Ferguson or Hinschelwood.

Moving the attacking player is something they learn and practice and, for the most part, Trevoh was doing it well. But, it only takes one error.... On people like Poch being lucky, I tend to think that being lucky is essential in a good manager. The skill becomes how to capitalise on it. I could also quote Gary Player, but am not sure that's appropriate in this case.

The second half was much better. CHO scored a good goal, but poor to show him inside. Raheem scored a lovely goal with the same defensive errors. We need to work much more with these defenders on the training pitch. They are still making silly errors. Still, it's nice to win. Reece James—what a player!

Need to speed it up and for more movement off the ball. We are making it too easy for Forest.

Enjoying Burnley ahead at Spurs and Brighton ahead at Newcastle. Didn't last long.

In the quarterfinal this morning, we beat Arsenal 3-2. Diego Moreira scored all our goals. We will face either Spurs or Liverpool in the semifinal. If we win, we will play one of West Ham, Sunderland, Forest or Reading in the final. Premier League 2 Standings - Football/England (flashscore.co.uk)

If ifs and ans were pots and pans, there'd be no need for tinkers.

JM's face:

@My Blood Is Blue, I think he was speaking very much tongue in cheek, given the endless speculation about his future.

Our academy team plays in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy (aka Johnstones' Paint Trophy). And, yes, I want to win that one too. Taking part is overrated.

And the fans, of course. One reason we liked RA is that he seemed to be a fan.

If we don't do the conference league, how can we sing "we've won it all"?

I would not be unhappy if we concentrated on our PSR/FSP position rather than any new acquisitions. Silva will go. We should book the Mason Mount fee and sell Maatsen and Hall. We should try to get what we can for Ziyech, Sarr, Lukaku, and Kepa. We might also consider letting Sterling go to lower the wage bill. Then, we should operate a one-for-one policy. If we acquire a player, we have to raise the cost through departures.

This post is proof I have no life. I have been looking at the table and the remaining fixtures. Currently, the table shows: Pos Team Pld GD Pts 5 Spurs 35 11 60 6 Chelsea 35 11 54 7 Newcastle 35 22 56 8 Man Utd 35 -3 54 The remaining fixtures are Spurs - Burnley(H), Man City(H), Sheff Utd (A) Newcastle - Brighton(H), Man Utd(A), Brentford(A) Chelsea - Forest(A), Brighton(A), Bournemouth(H) Man Utd - Arsenal(H), Newcastle(H), Brighton(A) I aim to figure out how much this is in our hands, so I will assume we win all three of our games and capture a net positive on the GD. I will add 3 to GD, one for each game, assuming a minimum of 1-0. Let's say Spurs will be beaten by Man City but beat Sheffield. Both results seem likely. However, Burnley, fighting relegation, picks up a win. That leaves Spurs with 63 points and probably not much change to GD because I expect them to be tonked by City. So, I won't change the GD, though, in that scenario, it might be negative. I expect Man Utd to lose to Arsenal at the weekend. However, the Newcastle game is key. Newcastle is inconsistent, while Man Utd is abject. However, United's key players are returning from injury. Also, the match is at OT, and as we know, all referees are "homers", especially at OT. So, let's say it's a draw. If so, Man Utd's last game against Brighton is fairly irrelevant to the final positions, so I'll put it down as a draw. Apart from Man Utd, Newcastle have Brighton at home, which they will probably win. If I am right about the Man Utd draw, then, as far as the final positions are concerned, their last result is key. A Newcastle win places them on 63 points, along with Chelsea and Spurs. GD becomes key in the final positions. Newcastle have a big positive GD that places them fifth. But, just for fun, let's assume Newcastle draw the final game. On that basis, you end up with the table: Pos Team Pld GD Pts 5 Chelsea 38 14 63 6 Spurs 38 11 63 7 Newcastle 38 22 61 8 Man Utd 38 -3 56 So, assuming we win ALL of ours (long shot), the key fixtures are: Matchday 36 Spurs vs Burnley (need a Burnley win) Matchday 37 Man Utd vs Newcastle (need a Man Utd win or draw) Matchday 38 Newcastle vs Brighton (need Brighton to pick up at least a point) Come on, you Clarets!

Put another way, they are young, inexperienced and inconsistent.

I shouldn't get into this, but I suspect the board spent the money for results over a number of seasons. The targets for this season would not be the only consequence.

I am still waiting for the end of the season. We have had highs and lows this season, and knee-jerk reactions are dangerous whether we have just lost in an embarrassing way to Arsenal or Liverpool or tonked Spurs or West Ham. In the end, the table will reveal where we are and that's the time to consider what, if anything, should be done..

Hindsight is always 20/20 vision. When CHO was sold, he had scored 4 goals in 60 league appearances (I'll ignore those when he was very young). He had a serious injury and had not really recovered. His time with Leverkusen was not all that productive. On the evidence, he didn't look like a safe bet and still doesn't. Meanwhile, Mudryk was playing for Shakhtar and scoring goals (9 in 29) and looked like someone with a lot of potential, and probably still is. I think Mudryk's ceiling is higher than CHO's because of his pace, but he has really struggled this season. Part of that is that he does not get the free role he had at Shakhtar, but that will not happen at Chelsea. Even Palmer is not getting that. As far as the fees are concerned - the player can do nothing about it. Did we spend too much? Of course. I'll admit to being a bit old school and never really got over a million quid for Trevor Francis. You know there is something wrong when clubs spend more than the GDP of many nations on their teams.

According to the EPL Injury Table (yes, I know), seven of the eleven Man Utd players not fit for last night's abysmal showing against Palace may be fit for Newcastle at Old Trafford. This includes Bruno Fernandez, Varane, Rashford and McTominey. On another positive note for Man Utd, Maguire won't recover in time. I think it might be lining up nicely. It's the hope...