Dan

Honestly couldn't have done much worse this season. I've never seen such abysmal luck in my life. I've literally missed every Haaland goal and caught every blank. I generally play it properly but honestly I've had so much go against me already it feels like pissing in the wind this season.

Completely inevitable Chelsea buy Hermansen off us. Would improve them no end.

Lots said any other year Leeds would've gone up last season and it looks like they've retained a similar level while the level of the teams at the top has come down. I do think they likely win it by 10+.

Convinced there's value to be had in this market. There seems to be a mad swing in the odds pretty much weekly and clubs just seem far more reluctant to sack these days. I'd get rid of Martin if I was Southampton but I think he'll sweet talk his way out of it. West Ham aren't much of a sacking club at all despite their fans being quite demanding of it but Lopetegui I thought was an obvious duff appointment. Bloke's a real mystery to me.

I would as well. I don't think we can sustain these results with the level of performance on offer. But this isn't the first time I've said this about Cooper's teams. He does seem to have a real ability to outperform the data. I can't tell if he's doing something many of us miss or if he's just extremely fortunate. We're such a strange team this season to put your finger on. We've created the fewest chances in the division yet are the 8th highest scorers. We seldom play our best team. The fans aren't happy. The players don't look happy. But 14th place and 9 points at this point I do think virtually everybody would've taken. Fuck me - if we'd had 6 points deducted, we'd still not be in the bottom 3, and that is mental.

John is on the board!

Our squad is quite underrated by people I think but we'll be nowhere close to Europe. We've had relatively kind fixtures as well. I do think though people forget how recently we were a top half team. We dropped completely unexpectedly, our level probably never dipped as drastically as people think. Obviously we have lost a lot of that side, but I still think our squad is a level above the two we came up with and I think if you pitted it against a lot of bottom half sides there'd be far less in it than people think. I don't even think we've played to anything like our potential either. Our results have definitely been better than performances.

Such a strange game. Gutted I missed that one, looked fantastic in the away end. I thought we were quite fortunate with a lot of it. First half as covered was a disgrace - we can't keep starting games this badly but this isn't a new thing, it's plagued us for years. I think the non-penalty award for Southampton and our subsequent penalty completely turned it basically. That and bringing Fatawu on who was outstanding. How he isn't starting games is beyond me and I don't think he's just somebody who'll be better from the bench. I really think going forward he's got to start Mavididi, Buonanotte and Fatawu and take the initiative in games. Cooper seems to set us up badly but we do have the talent to pick up wins. Buonanotte is a real gem of a signing. Gutting we've got basically no chance of getting him permanently. Brighton might genuinely regret loaning him out this season. 19 years old and already probably our best player. He's fantastic. I've been pretty heavily critical of Southampton and once again they showed their flakiness. They're a bad side with a bad manager. The non-penalty award was mental and I do think they've been unlucky, but that's an absolute hammer blow of a loss for them. They must really hate us by this point. I can't think of a club we've had more joy against. We're not convincing at all but I think we can stay up. I think we're fortunate to be as high as we are, but I'm hoping he starts utilising this squad properly because we've proven in the last few games that it really isn't a bad one. There are goals in this side and our goalkeeper is miles better than the other sides down there for me. Massive three points, bit lucky I think, but if we can't enjoy winning like that what can we.

It's hard to not see the promoted trio all going down again.

Disgusting first half from us. Absolutely woeful.

Strange how us, Southampton, Arsenal and Bournemouth have all played each other one after another. Notice how us, Southampton, Ipswich and Everton all play each other when the others face each other too - coincidentally four of the sides you'd expect to struggle, and two of the matchdays are in May. I'm doubtful of coincidence.

Yeah pretty much entirely agree. I don't think people would've turned down this league position but I'm getting worried that history is repeating itself a bit where a decentish position is papering over the cracks. But then I'm not as sure as last time either. I think our performances are a bit worrying but Cooper does seem to have this bizarre knack of getting results better than what he seems to serve up in performance and it isn't dissimilar to what he did at Forest. I think the difference there is he had huge credit in the bank while here the fans just aren't really taking to him at all. These are absolutely beatable but I fear he'll handbrake us to a draw or worse. He showed against Everton he'll never start both Mavididi and Fatawu too - if he won't there he simply won't ever.

From this, Forest and Ipswich I want probably 6 points but then bang on 6 means we lose one of them and I think these are quite possibly the three least loseable fixtures of the lot. You don't want to hand Southampton or Ipswich three points, and losing at home to Forest doesn't bare thinking about. This is the most winnable. I've been pretty vocal in my criticism of Southampton and Martin a while. In a way I'd sooner draw and keep him in a job We beat them 5-0 and 1-4 last season. We can absolutely beat them. He won't start the team I want though. I really wish he'd get both Mavididi and Fatawu on from the start and then bring Ayew on if we're ahead. But he'll start Ayew.

It's just a whole load of rubbish again this week, the less said the better - luckily only three people played with a tenner each so the loss isn't particularly heavy. The Croatia Scotland game blows two players in one game. I was a bit unlucky on Peru Uruguay with a late winner, but the other game Serbia won it fairly comfortably. Poor week.

Mask slips moment. It's all agenda-driven rubbish and I don't consume a great deal these days. I don't think the manager being foreign is something that should be ignored. Ultimately this is international football and I do think England being unable to produce a manager worthy of the job is quite a damning indictment. That doesn't mean I'd be going for Graham Potter over Tuchel though.

I mean what the fuck is this load of absolute waffle? This sort of thing really gets me behind Tuchel to be honest.

Mills has always been an absolute cretin. I really don't like our media and it isn't because they're harsh - they're just ridden with agendas and very selective.

Fine with me. I think this whole happy camp and culture thing is blown well out of proportion and think it's just a convenient line for the media (who liked Southgate) to go with to promote him. I didn't see much evidence of a happy camp in the Euros personally. I liked the below assessment:

Namedropped him as the manager I wanted in July. I'm very pleasantly surprised that the FA have gone up this route - I think it's a gamble and I respect them for taking it but he's a higher calibre than not far off any other international manager currently, I think he's got the right skillset for it and it's a good way of masking over his weaknesses. I think he's somebody who could totally blow up but he's also somebody who can win England a tournament. I like it. I'm genuinely quite enthusiastic.

We are just simply not allowed to be in the green. Soon as we get close it all goes to pot again.

What goes up must come down. An absolutely horrendous week last time out with 5/5 players losing, although the strange quirk being that of the 9 selections made, only the 2nd and 3rd unlikeliest according to odds actually came in, so there was some good work within the bad outcome. I register another loss having once again paying the price for going against my own team. Similarly to last week, I think the price all considered was quite generous as we've got a real tendency to go behind at home - the first time all season we haven't. But this game took a different path and we won. A good win. @RandoEFC was unlucky landing Brentford -1 in quite bizarre circumstances but being let down by Aston Villa who seem to be drawing a few lately. That game was one of those ones where the bookies knowledge just baffles me - the game priced very evenly despite it being abundantly clear to anybody that Aston Villa are the better team, yet a total stalemate plays out. @...Dan probably takes the wooden spoon of the week by backing two handicap teams who didn't even win their games, let alone heavily. An infuriating pair of games which I had my own interest in. Marseille v Angers possibly the most annoying 'freeze' game of the season, for anybody who follows. @Stan put AI above himself and maybe on this evidence it's safe to say the world hasn't fallen to the robots just yet, with both picks not paying out despite quite sound logic. Bournemouth had 17 shots yet only managed 2 on target. Haaland didn't score because he's in my fantasy team - I've landed 100% of his blanks and missed 100% of his goals so far. The unluckiest player this week though, by far for me, is @CaaC (John) who landed a really good pick in the Sunderland Leeds score draw, even if the circumstances surrounding it were frankly hilarious. But then was let down by heavy favourites Linfield at home to Glentoran. Just sums up his season so far. A shit week. Was always going to happen. A dreaded international break this time out - I'd snap your hand off for a breakeven. Nobody play!

I'm doing it again, draw double attempt. Peru v Uruguay - 3.10. Serbia v Switzerland - 3.10. £10 returns £96.10.

Happy for you to use these games for next week but do you want anything for this one?