Cornish Steve

Let me say upfront that my thoughts on this will sound very controversial, but...I really think the drinking problem is made worse by, and in some respects a reflection of, British culture. When I worked in central London, everyone went out to the pub at Friday lunchtime, and few got anything done for the rest of the day. That's a productivity hit right there of ten percent. There was a certain pride and expectation about getting drunk (which I admit I have never been), so the social pressure was there. Now living in the US, I can pretty much guarantee the first few words most visiting British businessmen will say when they show up at a meeting: "So how's the beer?" During meeting breaks, conversation will again revolve around beer. The evenings will be spent searching for beer. At the start of the next day's meetings, we'll all hear about who drank the most and who was the most stupidly drunk. Honestly, to an independent observer, it borders on obsession. Why? Because of British culture. That's not to say that other nations aren't heavy drinkers - I've attended far too many meetings in Russia to think otherwise - but I don't see how the problem can be fixed in general while an entire culture is so obsessed with the expectation that men must be heavy drinkers. Waiting for quite a few tomatoes.

It'll have to be Ipswich, because I have a feeling that Derby will fail to be a qualifier. Brentford might be the fourth team in the mix.

Liverpool 7th, struggling through the qualifying rounds of Europa. Everton 8th, ready and waiting to move up the table. It would be nice to have finished above them, but the burden of Europa qualifying, and subsequent impact on their league performance, would be some compensation, for sure.

Given the form of the two teams right now, the answer could well be "one place below Liverpool." Now, it would be better to be one place above Liverpool, but that's still an achievement few would have thought a month or two ago.

Don't you know that two wrongs make a right? We need an odd number: We're getting spanked!

"We have been working in training on a different style of play"

Is that corners or goals?

Well done, Milesey, for predicting the correct score. No one predicted any of the three scorers, which, I believe, is a first. My 10-pointer last weekend means I managed to win for the month of April, despite scoring a goose egg on this game. Interestingly, the Forum Average has taken the lead for points this season and points per prediction. Also of note, TonkaRoost has overtaken Romey for points per prediction. Thank you, Haf, for joining the prediction game - even though it meant I had to make a lot of manual changes to the spreadsheet. If you fail to make any more predictions after all that work, be prepared for some snarky comments!

We learn far more from being wrong than from being right - which makes me a real expert!

Disagree on this. A draw is preferable, but, if it must be a victory, go for Swansea. Their remaining games are much tougher than Stoke's.

Big whoop!

Now we can add "scores goals".

Hey, no problem here. It has been a disappointing season. On the other hand, it's certainly nice to see Everton give United the biggest hiding at our hands in 20 years - especially when everyone claimed they were the team in form.

Well, that cost me a point. Have been driving from south Pennsylvania to New York today, so apologies for not yet posting results. I should be able to get to it later this evening.

Been something of a super-sub.

Are they wanting to send everyone to sleep? It's quite amusing to read of Mourinho and Wenger traded blows about whose team is the most boring.

Personally, I think the one that hurt the most was against Chelsea - conceding those two goals so quickly. The way we played the rest of that game (minus Besic's screw-up) was pretty good, and we matched them.

As it happens, my comment wasn't particularly aimed at you, but if the shoe fits...

We just beat United 3-0, with their manager admitting we were more hungry to win and were the better team, and still there are moaning minnies. Can't we just celebrate for a little while?

Can't wait for the post-match interview with van Gaal. He suggested this week that, if United hadn't had a slow start, they would have won the league. Hahahaha.

Change first scorer to be Barkley.

The fourth playoff spot is looking interesting. Derby are in freefall, so one of Brentford or Wolves have a chance of pipping them at the post.

Everton 2-2 United Mirallas

That's the one tough thing about having dogs. We had to have one put down a couple of years ago. My oldest son flew in from Denver just to be there. My wife and two of our adult children came along as the dog went under. I was the only one not in tears. It was sad but it had to be done. Pets become such an important part of the family. Sorry for the family's loss, Louis.

It's because of the lower voltage. It takes about 3x longer to boil a kettle of water here. I notice it every time I return to Britain. Mind you, it's a small price to pay for not having deadly voltage. I grabbed a live wire once and it was no problem. My cousin did that in Britain and it killed him.