Number 1 Activity

The first knockout round: Borussia Dortmund v Paris St-Germain Real Madrid v Manchester City Atalanta v Valencia Atletico Madrid v Liverpool Chelsea v Bayern Munich Lyon v Juventus Tottenham v RB Leipzig Napoli v Barcelona

There was a stat the other day suggesting the majority of potential Tory voters who would have voted Remain in any second referendum were still going to stick with the Tory party despite that party's pro-Brexit position, which I reckon is a haul tha...

Clearly. Their midfield was oddly passive when they played at St. James' Park, which is a game where I think they would've been expected to dominate the midfield space.

I'm pretty angry anti-Brexit MP's didn't fight harder for a second referendum, because the numbers indicated by this ballot look to me that it might have snuck a win - looking at the totals, the Tory vote is just under Labour/LD combined, a...

Huh... quite something Man United got beaten by West Ham, Bournemouth and Newcastle, then picked up back-to-back wins over both Spurs and Man City.

It does seem to be a pretty intense sacking season, with Spurs, Arsenal and Watford (for a second time) all pulling the trigger in quick succession, Everton's manager under intense scrutiny and West Ham having probably been ready to follow had Pelleg...

Huh. Bruce is doing better than my low expectations suggested. Granted it helps him our defenders are stepping up where our attackers aren't, but still - take what one can get. As for Liverpool-Man City, I'm not going to say that the title race...

Bury have been officially expelled, while Bolton have been given a final deadline of 2 weeks from now. What a complete fucking mess.

With Bury yet to start, Bolton in increased danger of expulsion after their kids limped to a couple of 5-0 maulings and Coventry not playing at home, League One this season looks like a complete mess. It looks to me that the EFL only seems to have tools...

Well... Norwich was a total disaster so my expectations for this were low, even if we have a half-decent record at Spurs. I'm holding judgement on whether its the start of Bruce proving himself - Steve McClaren won our last game at old WHL, for insta...

Its odd how, like 3 months ago, the Laporte handball would've got a free pass, with even Lloris admitting they didn't think it was a malicious use of the arms by the Man City player. Guess it doesn't do a lot to help Guardiola and co be hap...

Siewert has been fired, with dismissal coming pretty much straight after tonight's loss to Fulham. Ultimately not a surprise if the above posts provide an indication. Might well have been a better bet to do it at the end of last season but them'...

Hmmm... was out so missed TV coverage of the first half, where it sounded like we created a fair few chances and looked up for it. Then saw the second, when the Newcastle substitutes weren't thought out and lead to a completely shapeless look and it...

£65M plus a possible loan fee for computer game favourite Jetro Willems... not far off. Tbf McClaren got £80M or thereabouts spent on him in 2015/16... although that didn't exactly go well. Least Fulham last season means we're no l...

Seeing as it got rumoured pretty much every year after he left, I should've guessed Andy Carroll might've returned to Newcastle at some point or other. Whether he's ever fit enough to play is another matter, naturally.

Bury's second game at Accrington Stanley has also been cancelled. This doesn't make for a good omen if it gets to a "kick out or not to kick out" point. Especially with the owner already putting out a statement in response that starts...

The Bury case has been spectacularly bad. It appears the owner got around the rules to take control of all the previous guy's shares for a nominal £1 fee without needing to show the EFL proof that he has the money to run the club, and by the lo...

Imagine its a geographic thing, in that RTE only works if you live in Ireland. Can happen - while on holiday in Spain last year, I found quite a few clips on YouTube that are region blocked in the UK from TV shows I like.

So Newcastle weren't willing to spend something like £18M for Salomon Rondon but were willing to buy Joelinton for £35-40M despite him grabbing less than 10 Bundesliga goals last season... I feel like I'm missing some logic. I mean,...

I liked the Paddy Power video initially having a dark blue change kit with 110 Paddy Power logos on the front. That would've been bold to try out. Actual kit as is looks pretty nice. Certainly better than Stevenage, which I'm guessing their fan...

I think a lot of the big name saw a highly respected La Liga/Champions League winner in Benitez not getting anything out of Ashley and later say that he got little contact or support from on high and thought "Fuck that". To me, it looks like th...

Looked real to me given they wore it yesterday, assuming the EFL/FA don't get involved - I didn't know there was a maximum sponsor size allowance on football shirts but on prominence alone, it looks beyond what's acceptable. Its bad enough...

Saw a quote from a popular NUFC fan site going "Perhaps they've got a manager with promotion to the top flight on his CV 1 year in advance" I was expecting a downgrade from Benitez and downgrade is what we have, complete with the fact we...

Not happening - he just declared he's not interested in returning to management just yet. Also didn't buy the Mourinho rumour even before he said he wants more than just challenging for top 10 rather than trophies.

Benitez officially confirmed as leaving Newcastle when his deal expires on Sunday. Not a surprise. Its been faintly clear for a while Ashley didn't want to give him what he wanted even though he would've been willing to stay. Roll on Mark Hughe...

I presume for the next round of PL auctions that Amazon might try their luck for more if this initial burst is a success. But I don't really know how many people who don't already access to AP will wanna sign up just to see 2 rounds of games. An...

The fixtures for the new season came out today, so seems appropriate to have this ready for 8 weeks time when it all goes off again. Opening run: Friday August 9 Liverpool v Norwich (Sky) Saturday August 10 West Ham v Man City (BT Sport) Bournemouth v...

Didn't watch it but I did gather a tournament of some ludicrous games leading up to the final delivered a tournament decider that fell way short of expectations. Still not sure about the handball, even if I'm aware VAR requires a harsher interp...

Assuming we're still owned by MA, maybe when he's 35, available on a free and wants a final payday.

My natural cynicism means I'm not expecting this week's "Newcastle takeover" rumour to go anywhere.

I think a few people will look at the sequence in Jan-March with the draws against Leicester, West Ham, Man Utd and Everton, and point out a win in any one of those 4 would've got Liverpool the title. But even so, if someone else is not just winning...

Its something that Liverpool picked up a points total higher than any other PL winners apart from Man City last season and Man City this year. The well dones have to go to City tbf - 198 points in 2 PL seasons and over 200 goals is a phenomenal achievemen...

Its extraordinary that we're in a position where we have to decide which of Liverpool and Spurs was the more improbable comeback. Ridiculous and highly entertaining week.

Totally. Seems to not just be an L2 thing tbf - in League One, Scunthorpe, Southend and Plymouth all got top half finishes last year, with Scunny even in the play-offs, and all 3 were at the bottom end of the ridiculously tight drop battle, with Plymouth...

Yeovil going after 16 years is mad enough, especially given how much it went to shit after the Championship and so quickly, but the very real prospect of Notts County dropping out after being Football League ever presents since the 1888-89 original is tot...

Obviously its been a while since the last posts here but blimey there's been some utterly crazy games in the Champions League this season, even before the sheer lunacy Man City and Spurs came up with last night.

Maybe that's just it - I didn't realise they were that reliant on loanees in 2017-18 until I looked at their squad, and clearly the replacements weren't up to snuff. Oddly I said at the start of the thread I thought they'd done bette...

Well... that pre-season prediction Fulham and their £100m+ splurge would ensure they would finish clear of danger fell very wide of the mark.

Yeah I agree choosing to catch rather than punch was the wrong call. Oh well - we bounced back from that kick in the nads and the one at Spurs the week before with a good win yesterday. Given we were winless in November, we're in a pretty good posit...

I really can't tell if Dubravka was fouled or not - looked like one in real time but there seems to be doubt either way. Don't think it helps Boly has hands in such a place that it could be seen as one.

Not really sure beating you guys in the replay was worth an immediate defeat and all of 2 shots deemed worthy of inclusion on the BBC extended highlight reel. What a mess.

A replay... eurgh.

Well that was tedious.

Well... that didn't go well.

Take what we can get really. There may be some questions asked about us being second best and having about 25% possession against a Huddersfield side missing several key players, but clearly, we made our game-plan work for us as we're 3 points better...

I do wonder if certain players in our team would get games at any other PL club. Surely we can aspire to better options in the full back slots than Yedlin and Manquillo at least.

3 straight wins, have more possession and shots against a West Ham side, lose 3-0... Isn't football wonderful.

Seeing official confirmation of the tragic news from Leicester does not make it any easier to hear about. Its an appalling situation for all concerned.

I wonder how much longer Spurs' new stadium is going to be... looks nearly ready from the recent photos.