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Work-rate. Incisiveness. Nous. I don't ask for much. This is how it's gonna be. Build from the ground up. We've fucked about enough against these lot this season (an several times in the last few years). A lack of cutting edge in the home game, and a chronic lack of concentration combined with plenty of complacency in the FA Cup tie last month, mean that we must get our shit together for this fixture, which has added importance if we are to remain ahead in the title race. We can't allow the likes of Rashford (who seems totally disinterested most of the time) look like Thierry Henry every time we rock up at the Theatre of Leaks. He's got such a weirdly shaped head by the way. I bet his silhouette profile looks like an American fire hydrant. They are apparently going to be without a number of defensive options for this game, so make that tell. Last season's fixture in August 2022 was a total shitshow. It started badly when we could have been a goal down within minutes had Elanga found the net rather than the upright. The defence had been cut open repeatedly and Trent was having a wretched time of it. We were second to everything, and soon enough the Mancs found the opener when Rashford again found space down the left and squared for Sancho. He still had a bit of work to do but managed to put a defender on his arse before having all the time in the world to place a shot past Ali from 10 yards out. Virg didn't cover himself in glory with his non-attempt to even block the effort. We could have equalised in comical circumstances but the Mancs managed to scramble the ball clear after hitting their own woodwork. Into the second half, and again we let Rashford have the freedom of Old Trafford to race clear and slot past Ali. A quick VAR check to draw the lines to make Rashford onside even though he was more off than on (compare that to the gnat's chuff level of detail we are routinely subjected to), and the goal was given. We had very little fight, but managed a consolation goal when Mo reacted quickest to De Gea's save from Fabio's effort following a corner. We looked a mile away from the 2021/22 side. At the time it was suggested that we were suffering a hangover from the previous season's efforts where we fell just short in the league and in Europe. As the season wore on it became more and more clear that the midfield stalwarts' legs had gone. Jurgen has, at the time of writing, got all the players who were available for selection against Sheffield United, plus Endo coming back. Ibou might be rested if his recovery from the assault last night needs a bit more time, in which case I'd expect Jarrel to step in. Trent and Diogo are probably ready to rejoin the first team in training for next week, so Conor should start, with Danns an option off the bench. Whoever we pick, I want us to be a lot more diligent and less open in the early stages, much more ruthless in any spells when we are clearly superior, and with absolutely none of the complacency evident in the FA Cup tie. Do the job to the level we are capable of. Maximum concentration, motivation, attitude and application from first minute to last. Three points please, although a brilliantly efficient and effective performance is more than welcome in addition. Get it done!

I’m predicting 5-0 to us.

Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate these games. Zero enjoyment, just trepidation and fear and anxiety. Just please win. Don’t care how.

Lozza getting battered online is now becoming such a regular occurrence it really needs to be separated out from the far right thread, as at this point he’s just a clown.

Absolutely nothing has changed for me. I expected city and arsenal to win. Big deal. They'll all be wanking each other off. And then we can go and do our business and they'll realise they're still back in the same place. We just need to win our games, fuck the rest of them.

Lots of whining on here about City winning earlier. This is the title end game, lads. If you can’t handle us probably not winning the thing until the very last day against Wolves (and we will win it), leave the posting between now and then to the nerveless forum big dogs. You’re welcome to lurk and sample our wisdom, though.

People I have misjudged massively.

Think we could win this 3 or 4, maybe even 5....

I’m telling you now this league has been influenced.

Couldn't agree with you more mate

The way they are playing right now, they try to turn games into pure finishing contests. They press high and send loads of players forward but also allow loads of space between the lines because they mostly don't commit the defenders. That's why everyone is having at least 20 shots against them but they don't really allow the types of chances us and City do. Which is those quick, dangerous counters where teams can sometimes beat the high line and send players in behind. It's a weird way to play that isn't working, but you can also see how they get these ridiculous good results sometimes. Having said all that, we should simply beat them and that's that.

I really hate this fixture, their team and that ground, and now, of all weekends, we’ve got to go there. I really have picked the wrong week to give up glue sniffing.

It's fucking great all these teams winning. It'll make it all the sweeter when we lift the title. Let them win. Fuck them. It's destiny.

I'll never watch The One Show again.

Him getting a touch only works if the ref doesn't give the penalty, as an after-the-fact excuse to cover their own asses. Not enough to create an obvious error and trigger an over-rule. It leaves a massive hole in the rules, and the integrity of the sport.

Fucking hell, people are a nervous wreck in here. What will be, will be. If we're good enough to win it, we will (and we'll have to be, as I think we'll have to win every game from here on in). If not, then not. Enjoy the fact that we're here in the first place. Doubters into believers I think someone once said.

Guy phoned up one of my work colleagues this week and asked if the shares he has invested in were woke. When words lose all meaning and morons get involved.

Atmosphere march. Reminds me of the spectacular Martinez March. THE FANTASY Whos in?Everton is calling on supporters to march to the match next weekend to celebrate Roberto Martinez's competitive Goodison Park debut.The Blues boss will face West Bromwich Albion for his first Premier League game in front of the Everton faithful on Saturday 24 August and the 'Martinez March' is the perfect way to kick-off the new season. From midday next Saturday, supporters can celebrate the start of this season’s Goodison campaign by joining together in Stanley Park. There will be plenty of activities for all the family including a bouncy castle, slide, obstacle course and football coaching sessions. A huge banner will be unveiled in Stanley Park at 1.30pm and handed over to supporters so that they can begin the ‘Martinez March’ to the stadium. Special face masks and Everton flags will also be dished out to junior Blues to commemorate the first home game of the new season. From Stanley Park, supporters will make their way to Walton Lane via the gate opposite the Abbey pub before making their way into Goodison Road. Once at the stadium, fans can enjoy the entertainment at the Park End Fan Zone then build up the excitement to kick-off by watching the Blues warm up from 2.20pm.In the Fan Zone, there will be music, refreshments and Changy will be on hand to meet junior Blues, as well as special guests invited up on stage to give their thoughts on the upcoming season. Our friends at Crabbie’s, the Official Ginger Beer of Everton Football Club, will also be at the Fan Zone right up until kick-off to give out samples of Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer, which is available to buy in the concourses and corporate lounges in the stadium this season.All supporters are welcome to join the 'Martinez March' - simply make your way to Stanley Park from midday on Saturday 24 August to soak up the atmosphere, anticipation and excitement ahead of a brand new season at Goodison Park. THE (RATHER SAD) REALITY

Maybe the only point of interest from Brentford Brighton was that cunt Michael Oliver on VAR sent Andy Madley to look at a possible penalty incident ….. and Madley stuck with his onfield decision. Oliver won’t like that, the jumped up little egomaniac.

I can't stand Owen. And it's not just what he did with his football career. He's just such a fucking massive boring tit as a pundit. He couldn't be more unlikeable. But simply he washed away any status here as a legend the day he pulled on a manc shirt.

Not that Ive listened to the podcast, but Trent should come back in when fit. I could list several reasons, but the main one is his ability to switch play and all the positives that comes with it. This makes it much more difficult for our opposition to crowd our most important attacking players and we dont become so narrow. It help us speed up our tempo and especially Salah, Nunez and Diaz all get more of a chance to get the best out of their abilities with Trent on the pitch as they will find themselves in situations with more space to exploit more than when Trent is not playing.

Oddly enough, I'm not even thinking about the context of the title race for this one: I just want to goal them to bits and send their cunt fans home miserable. Just get these beat, Reds.

Another weekend completely skewed by referees and VAR. So many games were unduly influenced by it, with West Ham and Burnley getting especially fucked over. I don’t understand referees at all you know. If I was a ref and I was watching games that I wasn’t in charge of, I’d be making a mental note of who the biggest cheating cunts are and I’d be making sure they don’t get anything from me unless it’s absolutely stonewall. Top of that list, even above Richarlison and Fernandes, would be that Myra Hindley looking twat at Newcastle. I’d never give him anything, because his first thought in any situation is to cheat. He’ll only cross or shoot if the dive isn’t on, and he’s not even very good at it. You can tell immediately what he’s done. Most of us can anyway. That soft cunt ref at the weekend needs his arse kicking, and even more so the bellend on VAR. Gordon does the same thing for both pens. Since when has just sticking your leg in front of a defender as he tries to clear the ball been a foul? I don’t mean when you’re the one in possession and you step in front to shield it, I mean just coming from nowhere, completely ignoring the ball and just planting your foot there as the defender is about to kick the ball. He did it twice and got two penalties. He’s a horrible, cheating little shitbag but if refs are going to reward it then I don’t blame him. He’s won that game for his team with his cheating, so as long as the refs are too stupid to realise then he’ll keep doing it. Maybe they’re after side gigs in Saudi, or maybe they’re just incompetent. Either way, Moyes had a right to be furious after this but he was fairly restrained under the circumstances. Isak converted the first penalty to put Newcastle ahead but the Hammers came roaring back. Antonio equalised when he ran onto a pass by Paqueta and finished well. Kudus made it 2-1 with a goal that had Newcastle’s players protesting. Nothing wrong with that, Kudus was fouled by Schar who was rolling around on the floor feigning a facial injury. Ward-Prowse took a free-kick and Kudus ended up scoring. The ref did the right thing in letting that free-kick be taken, as why should Newcastle benefit from committing a foul? Bowen made it 3-1 with a composed finish after being picked out by the lively Kudus. Cracking counter attack goal that, but Newcastle’s defenders were nowhere to be seen. Kudus isn’t consistent but when he’s on it he’s fucking boss. With him, Bowen, Paqueta and Ward-Prowse the Hammers have got some real talent. They need a centre forward though badly. Antonio is not the answer, unless the question is “which striker has a handful of great games a season, spends the rest of the time being injured or shit and mocks other fellow professionals on a podcast with fellow crock Calum Wilson?” Longstaff made a mess of a good opportunity and the crowd turned on Newcastle. Then VAR got them back into it. The ref didn’t give the penalty but VAR sent him to the screen and then he did. Here’s the huge problem I have with this. All season we’ve been told that VAR doesn’t get involved with penalty decisions unless it’s a howler. Yet somehow this foul by Gordon on Phillips was seen as a penalty the other way. It’s a fucking disgrace really. Isak buried the pen again and then sub Harvey Barnes bagged a brace to win it for Newcastle. Moyes is getting pelters from the Hammers fans because he subbed Antonio for Phillips and that’s when it all started to go wrong, but the penalty changed everything really. Gordon was sent off for two yellows. Should have been at least four considering the two penalties he cheated to win, the horrible cunt. He’s destined to end up at United him. Mark my words. He’ll be there in a year or two, going the full Rooney See No Evil Hear No Evil as their fans are chanting about scouse this and scouse that. View full article

Their results this calendar year are unreal. 5-0 Palace 2-1 Forest 3-1 Us 6-0 West Ham 5-0 Burnley 4-1 Newcastle 6-0 Sheff Utd 2-1 Brentford 0-0 The Cheats 2-0 Luton 3-0 Brighton Pl 11 W 10 D 1 F 38 A 4 Pts 31

A picture from last year against the judicial reforms...

A wholly depressing Saturday of sporting action. Nobody is gonna do us a favour. Nobody. The refs, well we've got to beat them too, cheating fuckers. We've got 8 games left and I confidently predict that we'll need to come from behind in all 8. We'll have perfectly good goals VAR'd out, players sent off and suspended for fuck all, and we'll have to surmount more unexpected injuries to key players at key moments, forcing Jürgen to play even more of the kids whilst he himself watches from the stands following a 3 game ban for "erroneous sming and fist-pump actions". Piss of piss really.

VAR: "Headed, for me. Possible foul on defender." Ref: "No. Not for me, mate." VAR: "Checking for possible penalty." Ref: "Yeah. I think the ball is in the middle and he just tries to play the ball and there might be some contact." VAR: "OK. So that angle's good. Can you just go slowly, I just want to establish if... So, there is clear contact on the ball by Doku. So here's the ball and then there's a coming together. "Just give me one more that shows Mac Allister coming in. He turns his body." RO: "What do you want to see, sorry?" VAR: "Yeah, so he plays the ball. The ball's high, they both come in high. I don't think there's enough evidence there for a penalty kick. You happy with that?" AVAR: "Let's have a look, mate. Just showing it on broadcast as well. Here we go." VAR: "He plays the ball." AVAR: "Are you happy he definitely plays it?" VAR: "He's definitely touched it. Mac Allister's then coming into his space. Mac Allister turns his back into him, it's a coming together. Ollie [Michael Oliver, the ref] confirm on-field decision of play on. Check is complete, check is complete." What did Howard Webb say about the incident? Michael Owen (presenter): "Was this a penalty? I thought it sort of wasn't at the start. I see it again and I'm thinking it is. I'm really 50-50 on it." Howard Webb: "You're not alone, this has split a lot of opinion. It's one of those, for sure, if it was given on-field it would have been a check complete by the VAR, and equally having not giving it, it is also a check complete. "You hear Michael Oliver saying the ball is in between and two players going together. "The ball is too low to head. Doku lifts his foot to play the ball and he does make contact on the ball. Yes, we know there is contact on Mac Allister as well. As Mac Allister comes in, he is not playing the ball either. "I understand why it has split opinion. I think it would have been check complete either way, not wanting to re-ref the games in situations that are not really clear which is what we think VAR is for. "In this situation VAR stays out of it and that is what we would expect."

The fact that when we get kicked chest high studs up and the player gets a minor touch on the ball after our player, we don’t get a penalty

The inconsistency.

"Appeal to BOTH sets of fans not to engage in tragedy chanting." Yawn. I'd like to appeal to both Ike and Tina Turner to stop hitting each other. Scumbag club, run by scumbags and supported by scumbags.

I see resting players against City for today has worked out well for Villa. Twats.

It does when Brighton beat Arsenal in two hours time.

And wankers.

Some bad cry arsing here. City are European Champions. Palace are 14th. I know Palace have an OK record against them, it would nice if Palace had nicked something, it’s absolutely not a surprise City have won. I expected them to win today. I expect they’ll pump Luton next week. If we win out games it doesn’t matter.

Would you rather your clothes smelt of Semtex or pussy and beak? That’s the real question. Although I do own a nice Aran jumper. It just stinks of dog and despair if I’m honest.

So yet again the spawn is off the fucking charts with these oil cheating cunts. Also... yet again Manchesters Paul Tierney is in charge of a Manchester side, and decisions that would mean a penalty for everyone except the opponents of Manchester City rears its ugly corrupt head again. What a mad coincidence. 115FC fuck off.

Nil Silence Nisi Russ Abbott.

VID-20240406-WA0003.mp4

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13277571/elizabeth-hurley-defends-lesbian-sex-scene-directed-son-damian-strictly-confidential.html I hope the pervy little creep does this properly and tastefully- scissoring, strap-ons, anal, squirting, prolapses. Not some crap softcore shit.

Another top episode of the pod - the new manager chat especially. Thought the point Jules made about modern managers not having a great body of work because so many are sacked so quickly these days, and therefore not being appealing candidates for jobs at big clubs like Liverpool, was really smart and really spot on. One totally separate thing to pick up on - the United-Liverpool game that was at 3pm on a Saturday and therefore not show on the telly was the Danny Murphy penalty game in April 2004, the third of the three games in which he won it for us at Old Trafford, after the free-kick game in December 2001 and the lob game in January 2002. I know because I was there - my first time seeing us play at OT and it turned out to be some Saturday afternoon. #happyfuckingdays

I think a few signs of fatigue are just about coming into Bradley's game. Soon enough it might be for the best if we bring Trent back in. Still think he'll get plenty of time.

Boring movie trivia - the tuxedo he wears in that scene is the same one Steve Buscemi wore in The Wedding Singer.

Was he in the picture ?

They certainly spend a lot of time posting about a Club, its manager and supporters whom they’re so much better than, don’t they? Mysterious how they spend so much time comforting and reminding themselves of it. Special mention there to “efcman4eva” who is ploughing the boot in to our out of town contingent and how much of a blight they are to the City on match days, comparing Anfield to Disneyland… commercialising football and further making the game it about TV and money. Whilst admitting in other threads that he’s from St Helen’s, doesn’t go the game and hopes for a huge boost in revenue, profile and PR from Bramley Moore, given its iconic location.