Alex Bullard

Amazing #ncfc birthday present from my brother which he designed and painted himself @TBullardDesigns

@umirf1 @HOMESofFOOTBALL

Mattsson gives me serious Howson vibes and I can pay him no higher compliment than that

England games like that make me miss the days of Batty, Ince and Butt where we would have happily forgotten the football and resorted to violence. We don't really have anyone now to kick the shit out of the opposition.

@umirf1 Brilliant example of this at Norwich, got it horribly wrong with Manning, ill-suited squad for his style, changed to Clement, suddenly the same players look like world beaters. Also helps Clement is clearly a vastly better coach, so the transformation has been even more dramatic

But process-focused mapping of game models and personality of a coach onto a club and its staff/players/culture is where teams can get ‘moneyball’ scale advantages in managerial recruitment. Gives you more Kompany examples and less Amorim examples. Cheaper too probably.

Igor Tudor’s game model at somewhere like Liverpool would be a fun (and mental) watch. M2M across the pitch, willingness to go long when space opens up, it’s a bit early Klopp culturally. Double 10s behind a striker to pick up knock downs. Rotations. Suits that type of squad and crowd. Don’t love his settled defensive approach though. And don’t think Spurs suit his style (and vice versa)

Like the look of Mundle-Smith, wouldn't mind seeing him start in the league. Also think we could play Ben Slimane and Maghoma together when his fitness improves, while Makama and Toure are out.

Ironically this is the kind of performance you might expect from a Norwich side managed by Farke away to a Premier League side.

Lol imagine how Dyche must be feeling? If this happened to me on FM I'd be livid

The audacity of Jim Ratcliffe, a British billionaire who migrated to Monaco to avoid paying taxes, but was trying to get UK taxpayer money to enable his stadium project, saying this. Using ‘colonised’ when actual British colonialism resulted in over 100 million Indian deaths between 1881-1920 alone, transportation of 3.5 million African slaves, and an endless array of other atrocities with the impact still being felt today. And when the success of Manchester United, on the field and commercially, is in large part dependent on foreigners. Vile, vile, vile.

It’s actually being held to ransom regularly by tax dodging billionaire polluters like you and your cronies, big man. Top tip: if every interview you give ends up making you look a fucking prat, maybe stop doing them

Shows how far we've come that we could easily have taken a point from that game. Mattsson is a big miss, really could have done with his legs and energy today. None of the front 3 really imposed themselves, but still created some decent chances.

@clarebearthomas I'm sure we'll be telling him all about it in the tunnel, amazed how calm Mattsson was, I'd have been after him

@AlexB_Bacon It should be us benefiting from his absence. Hopefully the ref has seen it at half time and books him twice for nothing fouls..

Looking forward to a long retrospective ban for Thomas-Asante and hopefully we spend the second half kicking him up in the air, but I'd much prefer he got the red card he deserved.

@Holtamania All about the world cup for me, I don't think he would be pushing hard for a move if it wasn't for the chance to play in a home world cup this summer and I think he's got next to no chance of making the squad if he stays.

Fascinating. Wait to see what comes out, but I think JS has been a model pro the entire time other clubs have come in for him. But now he's playing in the Champ relegation zone for a struggling team, I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted that move.

Today we looked like a team in the bottom 3, desperately short of any real quality.

Quite inconvenient that our 3 best attacking players are all 9s. Kvistgaarden needs more minutes but it's hard to find a place for him without squeezing him in out wide or playing 2 strikers, neither of which has really worked for us.

Will we ever do it again? No, probably not.

[High Performance Podcast] Santa: y'know how long it takes to make a list of every child in the world? And y'know what I do when I finish the list? Jake Humphrey: *nodding* deliver the presents Santa: *shaking his head* check it twice mate Jake: *grinning* fucking hell

@dan_brigham @meds89 @leeroypatel I feel like if they turned up at Old Trafford or Headingley with the team they had for the first test they get absolutely pumped. We were in such a phenomenal position too and still somehow managed to bin it.

@AlexB_Bacon @meds89 @leeroypatel Not winning one of these first 3 Tests - and not even being competitive in the first 2 Tests with no Cummins, Lyon or Hazlewood and needing to find 2 new openers - is probably the most disappointing of the lot since we won in 10-11

Important that players are able to relax away from the cricket on a long tour. But this report sounds like drinking is an established and key part of this team’s culture, which is - at best - negligent. Increasingly hard to think of reasons why McCullum should survive this series

@dan_brigham @meds89 @leeroypatel Yeah I'm not saying we should be winning the Ashes, more that we shouldn't be losing every series 4 or 5-0. Even in the 90s when they were incredible and we were pants we generally won a test or 2. Start with small goals 😁

@AlexB_Bacon @meds89 @leeroypatel Think the simple answer is most teams struggle there. So it’s not just England. It’s rare Australia don’t have the best bowling attack in the world. But our record since 10-11 has been abysmal.

@dan_brigham @meds89 @leeroypatel I'm trying and failing to grasp why time and again seemingly talented English players fail in Australia. Don't think the technical differences alone account for our record in Aus, as you say Duckett should suit the conditions, Brook & Smith have an abundance of talent and yet...

@meds89 @leeroypatel @AlexB_Bacon Think Strauss played a little bit before moving back to England? Botham did. But there are very few