If we can score first ………

I still have a pair of “ lucky socks “ . Unfortunately I only wear them now for hospital appointments ! They’ve worked so far.

As I said earlier he’s got whilst the end of the season for me. I’m uneasy at the moment. He seems to be getting as much wrong as he’s getting right. Long term that usually leads to the manager getting fired. That’s at a normal club of course.

Far be it for me to make excuses but given the fact we no longer have a reserve team as such - how many of those players will have played together as a team ? Although they are mostly decent players in their own right they lack the cohesion that playing together regularly brings. That cohesion is vital and it was obviously missing last night.

Or fill a place on the bench.

I had all sorts of superstitions in my playing days. I remember having a hot bath just before a game and playing great. So I did that until I had a shocker ! Having a pint before the game. That didn’t last too long. Spending half an hour warming up. Again it worked for a few games until the inevitable poor game. Loads of other involving “ lucky boots laces “ etc.

We need a better class of carrier pigeon.

The point being is Dougie was wearing the No10 shirt most of time when we were wearing the shirt in question.

Paul Mariner was born in Farnworth.

That was my playing weight. No anymore alas.

Bryan Douglas ?

Very much like Messi in his style of play.

It’ll be a while before another nation goes to Pakistan and wins 3-0.

Yeah we needed a few more modest posters

Foden’s got his age in his favour but he needs to be playing more centrally soon. You can only have one conductor in an orchestra. As long as DeBruyne is there he’ll never get the chance.

They’ve been brilliant on this tour. Usually Pakistan is a bit of a graveyard for English touring teams so to win 3-0 is a fantastic effort by all concerned.

If Foden were playing for say Brighton or Leicester he would be getting the valuable experience in the middle of the field and learning how to run the game. As it is he’s a bit part player at City. Same goes for Grealish and Phillips. From a player development point of view signing for City was a backward step.

When other teams know you’re going to be trying to play the ball in inappropriate areas of the pitch they’ll press you more than ever. Mixing the game up by bypassing them with longer balls will make the think twice. It’s obvious that the best place to win the ball back is as near your opponents goal as possible.

There’s a time to play keep ball and there’s a time to play a longer game. Knowing when and where to play both types of passing games is the secret. You need to be able to mix it up. Playing one way all the time makes you predictable to play against.

So were West Ham’s.

By the time that round neck long sleeve shirt came out Dougie was predominantly playing in central midfield wearing No 10. Mike Ferguson had taken over the right wing No 7 shirt. Ferguson 7 McEvoy 8 Pickering 9 Douglas 10 Harrison 11. Ask anyone who saw that forward line in the flesh - the best attack we ever had. A goal scoring machine. By the way the first game we wore that shirt for was the Everton home game on the 17th of November 1962. I was there, the game ended in a blizzard so the players were probably grateful for the round neck and long sleeves. Dougie was wearing the No 10 in that game.

I’m undecided at the moment. There are lots of things going on with the team I don’t like. I can’t see us going down now so he’ll obviously get the rest of the season. Big improvements are needed before May for me to regain the enthusiasm I had when he was appointed. The manner of the two derby defeats was unacceptable as far as I’m concerned.

Name one or two were we might make money on. BBD, Kaminski, Dack before he got hurt. Dolan - maybe in the future ? Plus he got good money for Armstrong. That’s it as far as I can see. He gave Raya away on the other hand. Nobodies going to be beating a path to our door for Ayala, Hedges or Pickering. On the other hand I haven’t time to name all the flops he’s signed. Maybe later tonight when I’ve got an hour or two to spare. When we needed him to sign a player or two to get us into the play-offs last season he signed 5 players that contributed 0. Most of the guys on here would get at least 1 out of 5 right.

Lots of clubs are watching him. We’re well down the food chain unfortunately.

A quicker Bradley Dack. How did we manage to pick both of them up so cheaply. It just shows there are undiscovered gems out there.