Cornish Steve

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.

Everton 2-2 United

Mirallas

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

My cousin's dog died suddenly at the age of seven. She, her partner and two sons are devastated. It's sad, he was a lovely dog, I've took mine with him and gone to West Kirby beach on a few occasions in the summer. His death wasn't something that was expected. I was thinking about how the boys had gone through secondary school with him at home to return to at the end of each day, to talk to and walk with, and now he's no longer there. I later learned that my cousin's niece (9) was inconsolable, she took a day off a school. I remember being a similar age when my auntie's dog died and being upset about it. You don't think about how much an animal can have an impact on your family 'til they're gone.

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.

I learned today that many Americans don't have electric kettles. Instead they prefer to use microwaves or use a stove kettle to boil water. Odd people.

 

The lack of butter on sandwiches, I can sort of understand.

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.

It's like an airline company running 737s suddenly replacing their fleet with 767s. It's a numbers game. Their costs will go up with the bigger stadium, so they need bums on seats. The only way to achieve that is through lower prices.

The headlines are making them sound like a generous, magnanimous team that's rewarding their fans for the increased TV revenues. This is not the case at all. They can't afford to have empty seats. There are costs associated with those seats, and a half-empty stadium looks terrible on broadcast games. Frankly, it was a risky decision to move into such a larger stadium. What if they can't fill the seats? A 10 percent reduction in seat prices will need a 10 percent increase in attendance (give or take a few) just to break even. Are there really that many new potential fans out there to be tempted by a 10 percent discount? I doubt it.

But why are West Ham lowering their prices? You can only do that if you end up with more revenue, which means selling more seats. Do they have spare capacity to sell more seats? Is this just a clever way of filling their new stadium? One thing we can be sure of: They are NOT reducing prices because they're nice people. The only reason, in the end, is that it will guarantee them more money.

For Everton to do the same, we'd need a larger stadium.

No way will Swansea finish 12th imo they're way ahead of us.

But just look at their final fixtures. That's a tough finish for them.

"Outgoing Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp, 47, has turned down an offer to take over at West Ham."

Hilarious! It's like asking Daniel Craig to play the lead in Dumb and Dumber.

Eleven points from 15 and I think we could get ninth but expecting tenth. Now, as Villa beat Liverpool yesterday that means that if Arsenal win the FA Cup seventh will be good enough for Europa League. I would find that a wee bit frustrating when I look at all the points we have thrown away this season - must be about 20. If only we had taken ten of them!

After the impact the Europa had on our league form? Let Liverpool play the Europa next year, having to qualify from the first round.

(Tongue in cheek, because I do believe that playing in Europe is a positive thing.)

Doubt we can pass either Swansea or Stoke, hope so. Confident we can pass Palace, with their tough run in. The issue for me is whether our 3 remaining home matches to WHam's only 2 allows us to grab 10th. If we win or maybe even draw at WHam, we get 10th. Highly unlikely we could fall below 12th, as WBrom are 5 behind us and have harsh matches remaining. And Newcastle, even with relatively easy schedule, are 6 behind us and playing poorly.

 

Rusty has discussed opponents' schedules, so here's a list for reference:

 

8. Swansea 47 points, -4 GD, @Newcastle, Stoke, @Arsenal, ManCity, @Palace

9. Stoke, 46 points, -3 GD, Sunderland, @Swansea, Spurs, @Burnley, Liverpool

10. WHam, 43 points, 0 GD, @QPR, Burnley, @Villa, Everton, @Newcastle

11. Palace, 42 points, -3 GD, Hull, @Chelsea, ManU, @Liverpool, Swansea

12. Everton, 41 points, -2 GD, ManU, @Villa, Sunderland, @WHam, Spurs

 

Thrilled to rise to 8th, hoping for 9th, expecting 10th, disappointed with 11th (must be a loss @WHam), cursing Roberto if 12th, give him until Christmas if 13th, until October if 14th, fire him May 25 if 15th.

 

10th.

So I've followed through to see what it means in terms of final position.

8. Swansea 47 points, -4 GD, @Newcastle (draw), Stoke (lose), @Arsenal (lose), ManCity (lose), @Palace (lose)

9. Stoke, 46 points, -3 GD, Sunderland (win), @Swansea (win), Spurs (draw), @Burnley (win), Liverpool (draw)

10. WHam, 43 points, 0 GD, @QPR (lose), Burnley (win), @Villa (lose), Everton (lose), @Newcastle (win)

11. Palace, 42 points, -3 GD, Hull (win), @Chelsea (lose), ManU (lose), @Liverpool (lose), Swansea (win)

12. Everton, 41 points, -2 GD, ManU (draw), @Villa (draw), Sunderland (win), @WHam (win), Spurs (draw)

Final positions?

8. Stoke 57 points

9. Everton 50 points

10. WHam 49 points

11. Palace 48 points

12. Swansea 48 points

That has to be one of the stupidest statements I've seen written here!!

 

Baines is the penalty taker if we were 4-0 up I could half understand it but at 0-0 and the West Brom fiasco no way should the penaltiesbe passed around.

 

Do you think it's just a kick about in the park of a Sunday? It's a premier league game in a professional football game, you don't just fuck about trying things out for a laugh there has to be structure, there has to be discipline, there has to be continuity and there has to be respect for the fans who pay to watch.

 

It has absolutely nothing to do with giving the kids a chance it happened at West Brom and cost us 2 points it happened again yesterday, it's an absolute disgrace that Martinez just shrugs his shoulders and says "oh well" don't worry about the penalty and it has A LOTto do with the way we've gone this season. It's sloppy, shoddy and amateur behaviour and if it carries on we'll continue to slide down the table like we have been.

 

A football team needs a leader, it needs a manager who is feared and respected to be succesful otherwise you become a GROUP of players and not a TEAM of players

Then why have so many insisted we play unproven youngsters in these final games? The exact same logic.

For the record, I've made clear elsewhere that we should NOT be using games to experiment right now because millions depend on our final position. I'm simply pointing out the inconsistency of people's arguments.

From FA Cup to Sweet FA.

From fireworks at Wembley to fireworks at Balotelli's.

Exactly. West Ham are failing now, and Crystal Palace have hit a bump in the road. We have an excellent shot at 10th. It will be more difficult to move ahead of Stoke and Swansea to clinch eighth, but it's definitely a possibility. I would point out that 10th is around about where most said at the start of the season, and 8th would mean we exceeded most people's expectations.

That is exactly the type of shite Martinez spouts that absolutely astounds me.

 

He is happy to have 3 or 4 penalty takers on the pitch?

How many people on the forum have been saying "bring in some of the youngsters, give them a shot since it won't matter too much, now is a period when we can be learning"? So, we do that with penalty-takers and "it astounds me." At this point in the season, why not allow others to take a couple of penalties?

Apparently its Steven Gerrard's birthday on FA Cup Final Day

 

 

Wouldn't it be nice if somebody got him a ticket

Are you organizing a collection?

Derby played a nerve-wracker today. 4-4 final. Just goes to show that games against teams with no supposed interest can be tricky. Teams, thankfully, play for pride if nothing else.

Yes, the 10-pointer definitely helped me! It's put me at the top of the monthly totals, and I'm now tied with MikeO for the season. Romey still leads for the season, though, and by a whisker for points per prediction. Frankly, it's wide open with only a few weeks to go.

Other than a 10-pointer, the unusual thing this week is that everyone scored at least one point - even Matt for predicting just one goal for Everton.

Seriously this is turning into nothing more than a witch hunt. The fella can't do any right. We got 3 points FFS and he was a massive part of that. But once again the wins overshadowed with conspiracy theorists.

No conspiracy here. Mirallas caused the controversy. His tackle was also cynical, and he should have had a red card. Not one of his better games.

Baines played very well in the second half. Gave it to him.

Happy to see us pick up the 3 points although it would have been nice to slot a couple more past them, we just couldn't finish them off. They seem to have a lot of fight left in them and I don't see them going down that easily.

Disagree. They have little quality and struggle to score. They're going down.

Whether his gesture was meant at the media, fans, or Father Christmas, Mirallas was stupid to make it. It was childish and impetuous, and he must have known it would be misinterpreted. If you want to criticize the media, do it in the interview after the game. He did himself no favors today. Yes, he scored, but the big picture is more important.

Bit of a let-off there.