OntarioFox

This is the best weekend ever

Side point but Sunderland are so far proving that the 'unbridgeable gap' is a myth. Their squad was garbage on paper but they've made some shrewd signings and are playing as a proper unit. Think some, not just us but other teams that have yo-yoed, have used it as an excuse, and a patronising one at that, for piss-poor recruitment and management decisions. The bottom half of the Prem is as bad as ever, teams have just fallen for the hype.

This is very true, we've ended up in the top 4 despite playing games largely at 3-4/10 until last night. In Cov and Stoke, a couple more of the early pace setters were humbled today, there is no runaway favourite. It bodes well for us to at least make the playoffs.

In the 'sticking it where it doesn't belong Derby', a jammy last-minute-then-some strike has earned the Tractor Exhaust botherers a point against the Sheep Botherers

Don't wish it on anybody but at the same time ffs, they might have a competent goalie in net against us

I've lost count now of the amout of times I've seen someone new come in and likened their playstyle to a younger Andy King, but Page is the first one in a while where I actually see the end product. He's going to bag a few this season ghosting into those goalscoring positions, and he frees up so much space for those around him as shown tonight for Abdul's. It's perhaps telling that the person coaching him for that role is... well you know. Exciting to see him come through, as far as academy graduates go his sudden inclusion has been a bit of a curveball but I'm totally here for it. He's raw, but who cares? Seeing lads like him and Monga is what we've been crying out for, they will make mistakes but you can see the talent is there.

I will hold my hands up, I expected a really tough evening tonight despite not really rating Birmingham as I've watched a decent bit of their games so far. They are painfully average, but they do have a solid workrate, and I just haven't seen anything like the effort required yet from ourselves. I feared another Preston where a bang average side make an effort and take their chances, this time in front of the cameras. The application tonight was massive. We're far from the finished article and there are certain players I still want to see moved on, but they played like they gave a shit tonight. And I'll be real - while we are still at risk of banana skins if we let the levels drop, play like that every game and HMS Piss-The-League is well and truly back afloat.

Someone mentioned Demarai Gray Syndrome to him in the warm-up and Bouba was like "hold my beer"

MOTM tonight, fair fookin play. Now to replicate this for the rest of the season, Bouba.

hahahaha i love this league, birmingham will be seething at that

i love having no VAR

Imagine getting the bait and switch from Jannik lmaooo, it's like being an iceberg and watching the Titanic wriggle past you

We're actually killing them one by one. This is fun.

So many empty seats. Ticket gate issues again, or are people just starting to give up on this shitshow?

I'm working from home so I intend to... I'll be daft enough to have the footy on the second screen though

The energy of Iwata, Paik and Furuhashi is going to cut through our midfield like a hot knife through butter. That said, the bar with that line-up is so low that anything other than a routine win for Brum will be a pleasant surprise. At the very least I'm hoping for a good showing from Page, Abdul and Stephy.

Page masterclass incoming... hopefully.

Hiring Coach Beard would actually make total sense, the whole premise of Ted Lasso was that she was trying to destroy the club through intentional incompetence.

I've had two family members texting me seemingly taking pleasure in it? I am the absolute worst when it comes to enjoying a bit of Schadenfreude, I've been at it already this season with Ward and Coady, but Mads, seriously? Why? I'd like West Ham to go down more because it might shut up some of the people who laud Potter and his turgid style of football, but I will take no joy in a solid professional like Mads, who was the reason we got any points at all before Christmas last season, struggling. Feel the same about JJ at Leeds too. For all his faults post injury he's been a big part of our club in recent years, not one of the 'bad eggs' by any means, and any joy watching Leeds collapse would never be at his expense for me.

Yeah you know what, let's twat these please

ipswich this season are that fella that gets rounds in all night on payday then is begging you for a cigarette by the tuesday after

Makes me laugh every time I see Wrexham's squad and see how many of our cloggers they've taken on. Feel a bit bad for Matty James though having to play with them, it's going to be funny playing them and him getting a cheer and warm round of applause straight after Coady and Ward get booed.

This game is going to make me despair for our complete blind spot in scouting Japanese players after Shinji, isn't it?