Dan

My comment was just about how you're coming back from the dead a bit in this league. I've not updated the table yet but I think you're off the bottom. Just occurred I haven't picked anything myself this weekend.

I will give Ayew some credit, very much his buy and if all of his goals are going to be this decisive then he's worth it. I did say when we signed him that he's somebody you bring on. Agree with you though. We're a bad side. We will be in the bottom three in December.

Who's that knocking on the window?

Some very eerie similarities to the Southampton game. Penalty not given to them (wrongly again for me) with us a goal behind, red card ensues from the same incident, Ayew steals us a result in injury time. I don't want to be constant doom & gloom (genuinely!) but I actually think that's quite a damaging result for us in the long run. It's good to prevent Ipswich getting that confidence boosting win and I think they'll be absolutely sick with that, but I think we're demonstrating a really poor level of play for the most part and our 'OK' results are going to dry up by the time it's too late. We've had two big strokes of fortune in our two biggest games of the season so far and I think this is what will paper over the cracks. If I had to describe that game today it would be the first Championship game I've ever seen have VAR. Really poor level on show from both sides. Ipswich have intensity and very little else. Cooper's just guessing, he's got nothing about him at all for me, he's trying to go back to playing Maresca's system which tells me he's got very little idea of his own and very little belief in anything he's truly doing. Our fixtures are turning and I think we'll be put right back into it. It's big to not lose to them, and we definitely owed them a last minute equaliser after they did the exact same thing in both games against us last season, but I think it's a big paper over the cracks job sadly. I hope I'm wrong.

Terrible stats. We play defensively yet have no idea how to actually keep chances or goals out. Ipswich's shots line tomorrow is about 14 according to bookies which is a pretty bad indictment of us and what is expected. I think Forest and how they played last week is what he's aiming for but we're miles off being able to execute it and his lobsided full back system is just making us piss easy to play through. As poor as Justin looks I do wonder if he's being hung out to dry a bit. The amount we've scored is an anomaly as well. I don't get how we keep scoring as many as we do. I mean it's not the worst thing, but I just don't think it's particularly sustainable playing like this. Ipswich will smell blood tomorrow. I expect plenty of goals. I wouldn't be shocked by a 4-3. Ipswich are pretty awful at the back themselves. I've been surprised how poor they've looked this season, I expected a bit more.

Think we're going to hand them their first win and we'll be right back in the shit. I notice the bottom six are all playing each other. Three away wins would create a pretty big gap for the bottom teams standards. If we do win, we are at worst 7 points clear of 18th. That feels pretty big.

Actually rate that appointment. I've tracked him since we were loosely linked about 4 years ago and he seems to just consistently do well. He's made very much the third wheel of Portuguese football into the best team over there.

Meant to be going to this in February.

We're shit

I'd want virtually anybody who's been there 3+ years to be culled as they've been a part of what feels a monthly humiliation ritual. But the problem with this is Ten Hag signed a load more rubbish himself and this isn't really viable as a result.

My heavy lead is restored as I hit an all-time high position of £97.89 profit. As stated I'm in a telegram that tips value bets and I did quite like this one. Opted against doubling it up despite the option to, as I know what would've ended up happening. Raphinha added a 4th in a statement victory for Barcelona. @RandoEFC collects a small win, would've been enough to put him into 2nd if Villa had held on, but you probably have to just about take that. @Pyfish returns with another loss and is the only player yet to land a win, although the caveat being he has only had two goes, hence only being as far down as 4th in the table. A double on his two teams not paying out this time. Sunderland are seriously impressive. Girona seem to be a bit of a bust this year and fall to a 1-0 defeat at Las Palmas, meaning @...Dan loses. @Stan didn't get anywhere near this time with Burnley blanking again even against struggling QPR. Dion Charles missed a penalty in injury time but Bolton did manage to still win from there (was at 0-0!). @CaaC (John) returns to losing ways with a couple of score draws. I need to remind myself, or John, to post odds if you put up a score draw as I'm not actually sure what the odds were, I've just taken the odds for a draw and moved it up a couple of points. Four profitable weeks out of six though. It's going pretty well this year.

It was quite a low uptake week in general meaning that we did actually end up in profit off the back of @CaaC (John) picking up his first win of the season at the tenth attempt. A good win too as he backed an underdog to win at what appears pretty strong value. I was also on the Ipswich game but had a draw. No such luck. I was seconds from landing the Southampton Leicester draw but Leicester pinched the win. @RandoEFC can be disappointed to land neither pick at those sorts of odds. @Stan was quite unlucky in that he landed a winner but his loser was a bit of a bust by the fact the player he backed to score only came on with around 10 minutes left. Onto week 12...

I'm not convinced he will, but I can't really say that with any certainty either. He has overseen a lot of this dreadful recruitment himself. They really need an overhaul. A ruthless manager who needs to bin some of these jokers.

Wonder if Cooper is a low key shout here now. Ipswich away next following a dire loss at home to Forest. This is a bloke who the fans aren't on board with, the players aren't on board with and was appointed under the assumption of a points deduction that never arrived. I wouldn't say it's likely but I think circumstance probably goes against him quite a bit. The flip side is our board are binary and will just see us not in the bottom three and assume all is OK.

This is pretty clearly what will happen as well. They've a serious problem at that club. Obsessed with the past. Their new owners should ban any association from the Fergie era.

I basically put West Ham to beat them entirely on the basis it would be enough to get him out the door just before they play us twice. Absolutely typical. I'm really baffled by just quite how bad Ten Hag actually was. Translating success at Ajax to Manchester United isn't easy but the complete lack of basically anything was astounding. I said it in the match thread - in 2024 they have been no exaggeration one of the worst teams in the league. The cup win a complete freak anomaly amongst this.

Manchester United have genuinely been one of the worst teams in the league in 2024. That isn't even an exaggeration - how are they this bad.

Dreadful weekend for us. Ground lost in a weekend where we had probably one of the better fixtures relative to others. Lose to Ipswich next week and we're right back in the shit.

I'm on this page that tips value bets and I did quite like that one - I did fancy Barcelona to win and he's on fire. But we'll take this all day.

This is a new era.

Barcelona to win and Raphinha to score boosted to 7/1 on William Hill. I'll take this.

It's difficult to not react on emotion to that game because of the significance of that fixture to us. My most miserable take from it is just how far clear Forest actually are of us now. That was no smash and grab - they could've won that by 4 or 5. They're a genuinely good team under Nuno. They're everything I want us to be. Even despite how highly I rate them, that second half is just unforgivable for me. That's as abject a half as I can remember from us. Literally not one redeeming feature.

Will give this table a proper update at the weekend - maybe even a double week update. Been away and not had much of a chance. Reminder to play! @Stan @RandoEFC @...Dan @Pyfish @Smiley Culture