Y!kes

I absolutely love NY To LA, will definitely check out the rest of the album!

It was pretty deflating to go out the way we did, especially after how well we performed against Sweden, but a month ago, if you'd have told me England would be reaching a World Cup semi final for the first time in almost 30 years, i'd have laughed you out of the pub. And on the plus side, we have a fairly young squad of players to take into Euro 2020 (albeit players who will need to deal with heightened expectations having achieved what they've achieved this World Cup), it's something to build on.

A friend donated his unwanted copy of Pokemon Soul Silver to me a few weeks ago, so i've been playing through that. I'd wanted to play the remakes since they were announced, as Gen II was absolutely my favourite Generation. I'm doing a "completionist" run and catching everything that becomes available to me as I progress. It can get a little tedious, but it's fine for a casual like myself.

Seems like it's France's to lose based on individual quality and strength in depth, but Croatia shouldn't be underestimated. Hoping for a decent game anyway, I got my Sunday afternoon shift at worked covered so I could watch it :lol:

Promotion simply has to be the aim this season, but it's going to be difficult. We're a club in complete transition at the moment; we've finally got rid of Short and the rest of the charlatans at boardroom level, we've got a new manager and backroom staff and we're in the midst of revamping our squad. I've not heard of many of the players we've brought in so far but most of them have came highly rated so we'll see, we still need to get shot of the likes of Cattermole, Djiliobodji, Kone, who are eating up massive wages before we can strengthen any further. Personally, after two of the worst seasons of my life, I just want to get back to feeling some pride in my team again.

Ack, been waiting for this! Really enjoyed Jumpsuit on first listen, thinking Nico & The Niners might be a grower. Glad their hiatus didn't last very long :lol:

Was glad to get last season out of the way. Awful football, (for the most part) awful results, just glad to see the back of it. Looking forward to the coming season, feeling quietly confident of a decent campaign given how fit/sharp we've looked during pre-season. We're still missing full-backs, a central midfielder and a striker despite all of the incomings.

Quite like this.

Coincidentally, I was listening to a couple of songs from Seventh Tree again the other day, wondering when they were going to release some new material. Quite like Drew, sounds a little bit Bond theme-y (but maybe that's just me).

Pleased with our summer so far; dirge like Bardsley, Kilgallon, Bramble, McClean, Vaughan and Graham have all left or are on the verge of moves away, and we're signing some real quality. Little bit gutted about Mignolet leaving, but can't begrudge him the move as he's earned it; he had an outstanding 12/13 season and was the one of the main reasons we stayed up. Giaccherini was confirmed today, massive coup for the club, and only £6.5m. Peruzzi's reportedly on his way for a medical tomorrow, and apparently there are a couple more deals in the pipeline. Exciting times indeed.

Week 9 Fixtures: Saturday 27th October Aston Villa 1 - 1 Norwich 12:45 Arsenal 2 - 0 QPR 15:00 Stoke 0 - 1 Sunderland 15:00 Wigan 2 - 1 West Ham 15:00 Reading 1 - 1 Fulham 15:00 Man City 4 - 1 Swansea 17:30 Sunday 28th October Everton 2 - 2 Liverpool 13:30 Southampton 2 - 3 Tottenham 15:00 Newcastle 1 - 0 West Brom 15:00 Chelsea 1 - 2 Man United 16:00

He'll not last long. Was shitting myself when he finally re-called Fletcher, would have been just Sunderland's luck for him to get a call-up and then come back with a knock in time for Sunday. Breathed a massive sigh of relief when he came off unscathed :lol: As for England, i've said it before and i'll say it again, we are now a very, very average team with a very average manager. Our better players for the most part are ageing, and most of the younger players we've got in the side are distinctly average (in terms of international quality - it's one thing being decent in the Premier League but international football is a different kettle of fish). Until we sort out our youth system and start bleeding through real young talent, results against quality sides will continue to be mediocre. Look at Belgium, hardly a footballing institution in the grand scheme of things, and yet they're benefiting from having an organised, effective youth system. Same goes for Germany, Spain, the list goes on. That's what we're crying out for desperately in this country.

Nope. I never, ever predict derby scorelines, far too worried i'll jinx it. Safe to say that with just two days to go, i'm nervous as all hell. The week or so building up to the derby is always awful to have to endure, it goes by so slowly, especially when it's just after an international break. Early start Sunday morning, getting a taxi into town with some mates for about 8am, meeting everyone in the pub from thereon in, suffice to say by the time kick-off comes around, we'll all be merry. There are fans coming from all over the place for it, a big group of Swedish Sunderland supporters are coming over, should be approaching 30 of us by the time everyone's arrived. Really, really hope Sunderland don't let us down (again), it's got the makings of such an amazing day. The place will be absolutely bouncing if we win.

Week 8 Fixtures: Saturday 20th October Tottenham 2 - 1 Chelsea 12:45 Fulham 2 - 0 Aston Villa 15:00 West Brom 1 - 3 Man City 15:00 West Ham 3 - 0 Southampton 15:00 Swansea 1 - 0 Wigan 15:00 Man United 2 - 0 Stoke City 15:00 Liverpool 2 - 1 Reading 15:00 Norwich 0 - 2 Arsenal 17:30 Sunday 21st October QPR 2 - 3 Everton 16:00

Saturday 6th October Man City 2 - 0 Sunderland 12:45 West Brom 2 - 1 QPR 15:00 Chelsea 3 - 1 Norwich 15:00 Swansea 1 - 1 Reading 15:00 Wigan 0 - 1 Everton 15:00 West Ham 1 - 2 Arsenal 17:30 Sunday 7th October Southampton 2 - 2 Fulham 13:30 Tottenham 2 - 1 Aston Villa 15:00 Liverpool 1 - 0 Stoke City 15:00 Newcastle 1 - 1 Man United 16:00 Edit: lol, missed out Newcastle v Man Utd