The Round Ball Game

[Nick Armstrong]

"Taxi to the airport for Mr van Gaal!"

[Beef Oven!]

"Taxi to the airport for Mr van Gaal!"

Let him get the feckin' bus!

Ok the special one, come on up - you know you want it!

[EdgeleyRob]

Let him get the feckin' bus!

Ok the special one, come on up - you know you want it!

The media full of this story now.
Van Gaal odds on to be the next Prem manager sacked.
Mourinho to Old Trafford
Guardiola to man citeh at the end of the season
Ancelotti to Bayern
Merry go round........

Anyway

Chelsea 3 Sunderland 1 Post Mourinho era begins with a comfortable and much needed win.
Everton 2 Leicester City 3 Held on after conceding on 89 mins,top at Christmas
Manchester United 1 Norwich City 2 Unexpected defeat piles the pressure on LvG
Southampton 0 Tottenham 2 Both goals came just before half time,worrying run continues,mid table
Stoke City 1 Crystal Palace 2 The winner came on 88 mins,6th level on points with 4th place.
West Brom 1 Bournemouth 2 Late penalty winner sealed a third consecutive win,5 points clear of bottom 3
Newcastle United 1 Aston Villa 1 Conceded the equaliser on 61 mins,plenty of chances to win in the second half
Brighton 0 Middlesbrough 3 Well beaten by the top placed team,unbeaten run ended and slipped to third
Coventry City 1 Oldham Athletic 1 Missed the chance to close the gap on the leaders,conceded the equaliser on 90 mins
Dagenham & Redbridge 0 Bristol Rovers 3 Made sure with 2 goals in the last 7 mins,in the play off places
Hartlepool United 1 Plymouth 2 Looked to have rescued a point with an 84th min pen only to throw it away in the last min
Newport County 2 Wimbledon 2 Great fight back from 2-0 down at the break to earn the point,mid table
York City 2 Morecambe 1 Held on despite conceding on 54 mins at 2-0 up,to end a run of 9 straight defeats
Braintree v Wrexham was postponed on Friday
Boston United 4 Stockport County 0 You win one,you lose some more !
Chelmsford City 0 Wealdstone 2 Killer second goal came right on half time.inconsistent form continues
Truro City 1 Eastbourne Borough 0 Penalty on 41 mins earned the win against a team that finished the game with 9 men,8th
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2 Dundee Utd 2 Heading for a defeat when the visitors scored on 81 mins,then scored in the 91 st min
Partick Thistle 1 Ross County 0 OG sealed a fourth consective win,the first time PT have won 4 in a row for 40 years
Alloa 0 St Mirren 2 Straightforward 3 points (in the 6 pointer) v the bottom side,new manager off to a winning start
East Stirlingshire 0 Berwick Rangers 4 Easily beaten conceding 2 goals in each half,now bottom of the table
Lye Town 1 Hereford 2 Remain top of the league by 6 points,can't find a match report though

Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday play tomorrow

[teamsaint]

The media full of this story now.
Van Gaal odds on to be the next Prem manager sacked.
Mourinho to Old Trafford
Guardiola to man citeh at the end of the season
Ancelotti to Bayern
Merry go round........

Anyway

Chelsea 3 Sunderland 1 Post Mourinho era begins with a comfortable and much needed win.
Everton 2 Leicester City 3 Held on after conceding on 89 mins,top at Christmas
Manchester United 1 Norwich City 2 Unexpected defeat piles the pressure on LvG
Southampton 0 Tottenham 2 Both goals came just before half time,worrying run continues,mid table
Stoke City 1 Crystal Palace 2 The winner came on 88 mins,6th level on points with 4th place.
West Brom 1 Bournemouth 2 Late penalty winner sealed a third consecutive win,5 points clear of bottom 3
Newcastle United 1 Aston Villa 1 Conceded the equaliser on 61 mins,plenty of chances to win in the second half
Brighton 0 Middlesbrough 3 Well beaten by the top placed team,unbeaten run ended and slipped to third
Coventry City 1 Oldham Athletic 1 Missed the chance to close the gap on the leaders,conceded the equaliser on 90 mins
Dagenham & Redbridge 0 Bristol Rovers 3 Made sure with 2 goals in the last 7 mins,in the play off places
Hartlepool United 1 Plymouth 2 Looked to have rescued a point with an 84th min pen only to throw it away in the last min
Newport County 2 Wimbledon 2 Great fight back from 2-0 down at the break to earn the point,mid table
York City 2 Morecambe 1 Held on despite conceding on 54 mins at 2-0 up,to end a run of 9 straight defeats
Braintree v Wrexham was postponed on Friday
Boston United 4 Stockport County 0 You win one,you lose some more !
Chelmsford City 0 Wealdstone 2 Killer second goal came right on half time.inconsistent form continues
Truro City 1 Eastbourne Borough 0 Penalty on 41 mins earned the win against a team that finished the game with 9 men,8th
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2 Dundee Utd 2 Heading for a defeat when the visitors scored on 81 mins,then scored in the 91 st min
Partick Thistle 1 Ross County 0 OG sealed a fourth consective win,the first time PT have won 4 in a row for 40 years
Alloa 0 St Mirren 2 Straightforward 3 points (in the 6 pointer) v the bottom side,new manager off to a winning start
East Stirlingshire 0 Berwick Rangers 4 Easily beaten conceding 2 goals in each half,now bottom of the table
Lye Town 1 Hereford 2 Remain top of the league by 6 points,can't find a match report though

Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday play tomorrow

Thanks for the round up, ER.

A really pretty woeful effort from the Saints today. Played well enough and were the better side for half an hour, against a surprisinly ordinary spuds side,although with little confidence or sharpness up front.
Another dreadful goal conceded, and we were all but finished. No leaders on the pitch, no confidence. Going to be tough to turn this round, although I think they will, in time.
All the talk is of how Charlie Austin would help us, and its hard to disagree.

[Beef Oven!]

A really pretty woeful effort from the Saints today.

They got ideas above their station based on last year's performances - who do they think they are? Manchester United?

[teamsaint]

They got ideas above their station based on last year's performances - who do they think they are? Manchester United?

The man uted of the south, potted version.or something.
Both gotunderperforming dutch managers right now.
Anyway, well done todays winners, commiseration to todays losers.

Foxes amazing run continues. Veryntough place to win, Goodison.
A board sweepstake on where they will finish might be fun.

Any guesses?

[EdgeleyRob]

The man uted of the south, potted version.or something.
Both gotunderperforming dutch managers right now.
Anyway, well done todays winners, commiseration to todays losers.

Foxes amazing run continues. Veryntough place to win, Goodison.
A board sweepstake on where they will finish might be fun.

Any guesses?

Two tricky looking games over Christmas,Liverpool and city.
I'll go for 5th.

[Beef Oven!]

Both gotunderperforming dutch managers right now.

Yeah, but we're getting the special one, next week.

[teamsaint]

Two tricky looking games over Christmas,Liverpool and city.
I'll go for 5th.

And I hope they win it.

They need another 32 points from 21 games to reach last seasons 4 th place total of 70, or 37 to reach the 75 which the third place team had.

A point and a half a game ought to be achievable, even allowing for some tough spells, so I would think they have a better than even chance of top 4.

Hard to see anybody other than city or arsenal winning the league now, and the other main threats to leicester finishing in the top 4, Spuds and liverpool have a lot to make up.
i suspect that one of the those two will do well over the rest of the season, or united may even perk up, so i would go for fourth.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yeah, but we're getting the special one, next week.

I don't know why Man U would want the Specialist in Failure.

[cloughie]

I don't know why Man U would want the Specialist in Failure.

There's no success like failure and failure's no success at all.

[Beef Oven!]

I don't know why Man U would want the Specialist in Failure.

Are you avin a tin barf???

[Lat-Literal]

Scores on the doors. York City won to end a series of nine straight defeats. It has to be this way. Relegation would be wonderful if it saved Bootham Crescent being turned into a housing estate after December 2016 but the "gods"-that-be have decided. Nice to hear from a friend who I haven't been in touch with for a while. He says that York will not go down and also advises he is more on his own at Barnet now. Son no longer runs the fanzine having got himself married in the shadow of Glastonbury Tor. Genuinely best wishes to him but I would rather have had at least a hint of white robes, divining rods and King Arthur. A few people with dogs on ropes and chanting to drumbeat at midnight. His is the way the convention goes I guess. Perhaps in that regard one might mention Ivanovic. Isn't conventional modern power broking an absolute wonder? A sudden transformation. Anyhow, officially I am the Arsenal. It came in 1971 whereas York arrived in 1982 with such an impact that the two are equals in my loyalty. AW is delirious abut the departure of The Special One and the Gooners looks surprisingly promising notwithstanding creatine injuries. Still, many of us have been before. That is why I have captained Aguero in my ff team.

Ah yes, fantasy football. I left it to the last possible moment to play my wild card and then immediately plummeted. It's been a ludicrous amount of transfers this week by way of compensation which means that I am out of the game. A shame because obviously what I now have is the perfect team. Except that I am not including Vardy on the grounds that his truly wonderful ongoing achievement has to be a bit of an astrological anomaly. It is no secret that I can only cope with one Premiership team north of Watford. That is the Toon Army and, Ashley aside, it is very pleasing that things there have slightly improved. By a strange quirk of fate, though, a large percentage of people I know "are" Norwich City and consequently Delia Smith supporters. So very well done to the Canaries for proving that VG is all hype but I said that from day one as I did of the Hooded Claw in Wacky Races.

[gurnemanz]

I don't know why Man U would want the Specialist in Failure.

.... but it would be highly entertaining for the rest of us if he succeeded in dragging Man U down to where he has recently taken Chelsea.

[aeolium]

Thanks very much ER for the comprehensive round-up.

Best game for quality yesterday was the Everton v Leicester one. Congrats to the Foxes for their win and for always playing entertainingly. It was good to see Bournemouth and Norwich win too. Bournemouth deserve to stay up for their style of play.

And an especial cheer for jc's Buddies:

Here, from a couple of weeks ago, is a blog with a poem from Rachel McCrum, Poet in Residence, on her visit to Saints v Hibs, apparently her second game ever. We got cuffed that day too. I think you can work that out. 'Twas ever thus...or it feels like that just now anyway.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/arti...-halves-poem-6

Thanks for the link to the blog and poem, john, but don't you think she left at half-time? The second half of the poem is awfully like the first