Dan

I'm not even nervous. I've already accepted our fate.

I think Liverpool have this.

Not rushing into it because he knows he'll get there. Fair play to this bloke. Top drawer.

Oh god, not more already.

I can only conclude it comes from the ownership. He ultimately has never had to build anything himself and his shortcomings are being badly shown up now. He has blind faith in those who let him down and when you can't see that in spite of the blindingly obvious you lower the motivation and standards at the club. We got relegated in what I think I have good case to call one of the biggest underperformances in Premier League history and nobody at board level was removed. I was told on fairly good authority earlier that the supposed 'inquest' into last season really was just lip service and it was very much just a case of making it look like something was happening. Our fans will never turn on him because they're too incapable of objectively assessing the difference between him and his father. Now Vichai wasn't perfect by any means, but I think given he'd actually built something and achieved something, he did have that natural knowhow to make a change when they were needed. Top just sadly hasn't got this ability and it's not anymore a case of pushing the bigger teams, it's actually running us into the ground. They won't turn on him, but they have to. It's getting that serious.

People will baulk at this, but I think things are looking so bleak off the pitch if we don't go up this season (and not tonnes better if we do frankly) that this is the likelier route we take. I think perceptions of us are going to change quite substantially. We're going to have to pretty much sell anybody of any value, be able to reinvest virtually nothing of it, all under an owner and board who have absolutely no self-critique, no self-reflection and want to try and point the fingers everywhere but themselves. Today was as red as a flag can get. It was abject. Every single thing you feared it could be. We're mundane, predictable, same system no matter who the opposition, no matter who the personnel we have available. If Maresca is this one-dimensional, which each passing game tells me he is given his persistence despite so much evidence staring him in the face, then I want nothing to do with him. He's being shown as nothing but a fairweather like Rodgers. Absolutely fine when it's all stacked in our favour, but absolutely nothing when facing genuine adversity. Utterly diabolical. That's an absolute disgrace of a result. The Bristol City fans I spoke to after the game weren't even remotely bothered. They largely dislike their new manager. They have zero enthusiasm, probably the least to play for of any of the 24 teams in the division and we go there in such an enormous game and serve that up. I hate to speak in these lazy cliches and buzz words, but I really do think that leadership, grit, determination, bottle - these are absolute fundamentals that we think we're too clever for and this manager despite some of the environments he's spent his years in seems to be one of the biggest culprits. I'm absolutely furious. I think we're absolutely nailed for a play-off loss. I've seen it before and we're going to see it again.

I'll get two weeks of tables done on Tuesday, sorry!

I'm sorry Valencia. Mallorca, thank me later!

My opinion of him is below what I thought possible only six weeks ago. He's a complete one trick pony.

Utter disgrace. We're not going up.

Somebody on a pod I listened to reeled off our players who played over the internationals and quite a few featured on Tuesday I think. I've been clinging onto the idea we're a bit jaded but I'm less sure that this time is going to have helped than I was. We have come back from every break under Maresca very strongly to be fair. September - Won all 6 games until the next break October - Won the next 3 games after the break November - Beat Watford, drew with Sheff Weds (that was a disgusting game mind) and then won 5 in a row Could mean nothing but we have tended to have our best runs after them. Bristol City are a bit tricky because they seem to raise their game against better teams. Nobody in the top four has beaten them by more than a goal this season, Southampton lost their unbeaten run there, they beat West Ham at home, held Forest to two draws. Their fans are really down about things and they think that Manning has lost large parts of the fanbase and dressing room already, so we may have caught them at a good time, but they do seem to be able to raise their game a bit for an occasion and I would say in my humble opinion tomorrow is classed as one. Everything to me points to unconvincing 0-1 win, which I will take but I do think we'll pay if we don't lift our performances. We've been massively off it since the Boro game.

I consider the March international break to be the dividing line and the first games back afterwards to be the official "business end" of the season, so hold tight this does not go our way in recent years.

Yeah it's a fair whack. England's is 1.95bil euros a season (well is from 2025 to 2029) albeit that's between two teams more. I don't think another league gets more money than Germany other than England but could be wrong.

Am I right in saying that the German TV deal is actually quite lucrative these days?

Kramaric being in his 30s makes me feel old. Said like I'm not in my 30s myself.

I put money on them about a year ago at 25/1 so I agree. They go too far in tournaments too often to not be in the discussion at this point. now 40/1 on 365 so that wasn't as good as it sounded. I dispute them being a bigger price than someone like Denmark - who for me have become vastly overrated.

Croatia seem to be getting more love than usual going into a tournament. Often overlooked but very rarely have a bad tournament. So it feels like with this being acknowledged more this time around they will probably flunk it.

Germany getting ridiculously overlooked here for me. They have gone through a very bad spell but I think with tournaments that isn't always necessarily relevant and it's more about hitting your stride when it arrives, and that win at the weekend is a sign that they may be about to.

You have time away from England and your hopes start to build. Then occasionally the reality takes over the hypothetical and you remember why it's just probably never going to happen under this manager.

Stan has been officially early kick offed.

You know when you said it's never boring

This weekends fixtures are repulsive. I'll take this without loads of thought being put into it: