Cornish Steve

As I read this, it comes across as lame excuses in a non-apology apology. All they need to say is "we screwed up, we apologize, it won't happen next time". Done. Move on.

Brighton are an excellent team (and I was very impressed with Adingra when Brighton played pre-season in Atlanta), but they appear to be going through something of a lack of form right now. Their eyes might also be on an upcoming European tie. They're fully rested, though, whereas this will be our third game in six days with essentially the same players. Let's hope we can continue our upturn. I'd like to see the same team as beat West Ham.

What matters is momentum in the league, and we're building that. It would be foolish to tire our players ahead of a game for which the Brighton team is fully rested. I'd hate to see us be relegated at the end of the year because we dropped points against Brighton. We should plan as if we need 52 points to be safe this year. Everything else is secondary.

Which is more important: going all out to beat Burnley in this meaningless cup, or securing 3 points at the weekend? If we're docked 12 points, as rumoured, every single point in the league is precious. Do we want to risk a 75m plus financial hit with relegation to win a trophy that generates virtually no revenue and carries no cachet? Let Burnley tire their players for the weekend league match, not us. Priorities, priorities. Brighton have no midweek cup tie, so they'll be playing us in three days' time with a fully rested team. If we have to risk players who are just starting to gel, at least rest our spine: Pickford, Branthwaite, Onana, and DC-L. McNeil and Harrison were clearly off their best against WHam, so give them some rest as well.

We shouldn't underestimate the importance of Tarkowski's experience beside him. You can see them communicating all the time.

Everton 1-1 Brighton DC-L

All teams have now played six matches. For England, this has to be the low point. It really can't get any worse than this, can it?

The results for round 10 are in. Palfy, Romey, and myself won for the week, even though we failed to predict the correct score. Romey wins handily for the month of October. Boston Toffee remains the one to catch for the season.

Apologies, but I spotted an error in my updated spreadsheet formulas, which is now corrected. Here are the revised totals for the previous round.

It could've been any member of our defence or DC-L for a special moment of skill. For me, though, given how much stick he's received in recent weeks, I'm going with Mykolenko.

No-one's posted MotM so far, so here we go...

Solid and deserved win. We're now getting the results we've deserved all season. Our defence was outstanding, and all four (plus Onana) deserve joint MotM. I don't understand the complaints about lack of subs, for several reasons: 1) If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We defended well throughout, and that's what was needed after we'd scored. 2) Our first-choice players need to play together as much as possible, so keep them on. 3) Not all players have a great game every game, so just accept that some will have an off game.

Predictable and best lineup. I would hope we’ll claim at least one point if not all three.

What a heart-breaking day for New Zealand. So close, but no cigars.

Six to win off the final ball. What a game!

You can always predict in advance and change it just before the game.

Bailey asked that I make his prediction 0-0 every week in case he forgets. That would soon get confusing. By all means let me know your prediction in advance if you know you'll be away, but no blanket requests.

I've made a change to the rules. This season, a point will be deducted when you fail to make a prediction - unless you made a prediction the previous week. This penalizes habitual criminals but gives a week's grace for occasional forgetfulness. I can assure you that the totals are now correct using this new scheme. Since I've not gone back and corrected earlier result tables, you may find inconsistencies with them, but all is correct now and everything will be correct going forward.

Let me check what’s happening. Sorry.

WHam 1-2 Everton DC-L

Congrats to Bill, MikeO, and Romey for scoring 10 points this round. As a result, Bill has moved within striking distance of Boston Toffee to lead for the season.

There's a difference between the person who occasionally misses a prediction, because of illness or travel for example, and the person who only shows occasionally. The point deduction is a way for me to identify those in the latter category since they eventually have a negative total so I can remove them from the game. Let me think about this. Maybe I can automate my spreadsheet in such a way that no point is deducted if the player made a prediction in the previous round. Bailey gave me advanced notice this time around, so his 0-0 prediction is valid - but it won't be for the next round.

Well done to Luton for their comeback against Forest. They were written off before the season started, but I think they'll survive. The bottom three teams right now are truly awful.

He's young, and he's a pleasant guy. Wasn't he laughing with the player whom he tackled so brilliantly? I'm not reading anything into this at all. A derby is a derby, but that shouldn't stop individuals from simply being good-natured. There's enough ill-will in the world without letting derby games promote bad attitudes. I'm not going to blame Young either since he saved a goal and the yellow card was harsh. Neither am I going to blame Keane, who's too often a punch-bag. This was a good team performance, and the players and manager should feel proud. This is a team on the up and up, and any worries about relegation will soon be consigned to the past.