OutByEaster?

I think we can still be offensive in that formation - three players without much in the way of defensive duties and with the ability all three have to create something out of nothing should give us the offensive power we'll need. That said, I think the manager agrees with you and I'm enjoying watching it. I don't unfortunately think that McCormack can play the number nine role at the head of our front line - I think Kodjia can but Bruce likes him to the left and I think Gestede can, but he's not mobile enough for the way we want to play. I think that's why we're linked to strikers. For McCormack, I think he's perfect for the number 10 role behind the striker, but then so is Grealish and so is Ayew. For me, McCormack is the spare wheel at the moment, but an excellent option from the bench and a hell of a show of strength in depth at this level.

I had a feeling it was. I guess you could make a claim that if we'd taken no action there wouldn't have been an onset of ISIS who were ultimately born from the mess we left Iraq in. If Saddam had toed the party line back in 1991, I wonder how different the world would have been? We're still paying the price for the feeling that came out of the deaths of the one and a half million people that died as a result of the sanctions we imposed after that war. Of course, none of that matters right now - and unfortunately, I think right now what we will need to do is wait until Syria settles back down under Assad, continue to build (delicate) bridges with Iran and hope the whole mess settles down a bit - which means sitting on our hands while some people die today in the hope that it prevents more dying later while keeping that oil and money flowing our way. The problem with the middle east is that there aren't any good guys.

Militarily I think you're right - if we'd supported ISIS a bit more, Assad might have fallen. Morally, I'm not so sure that would have been the right thing to do.

I like him in the same place, but as the head of a four. I think especially away from home we need three in the middle behind him - personally I'd play him behind Ayew and Kodjia, with Westwood, Jedinak and one from Gardner/Tshibola/Bacuna behind him. I don't think that's what we'll see tonight.

Neither do I.

One dollar one vote.

Are things changing here in that the US has given up on the immediate removal of Assad and Boeing have signed a $16 billion deal with Iran? Might we see the beginning of a change in how the players are represented?

That's not gone well. Selection was wrong, we needed another batsman and another spinner, maybe two for this pitch. This does at least give us a chance to experiment a bit in the last test.

I have a feeling that our current set up could really prosper against better teams. I quite fancy us to win this on a series of counter attacks.

Another two or three for the rapidly growing "I got booked for a foul on Grealish 2016-17" club. Membership currently stands at about the same level as small heaths average home gate.

He's getting better and better. I thought he was excellent this afternoon.

I thought he did some clever things, picked up a free kick here and there, did a couple of sensible things that helped us keep possession. Fitness needs improving, but if it does, there's nothing wrong with his mind. I'm still not quite sure how he fits into our system, but I have a feeling January might help with that.

He is.

I thought he was good today. He and Jack offer us something different, the ability to move defences around. He needs a goal to get his confidence up, but I don't see a problem with him at all.

I thought today was his best game for us. In the first half particularly he was excellent.

Great goal, Grealish, Jedinak and Amavi excellent, Hutton was good, the game was flat and we lacked a bot of something through the middle. Adomah disappointed today, but he's a trier and he'll be back. Wet, largely miserable with a magic finish. We're becoming a team that finds a way to win.

When's the draw for the next round of the youth cup?

It's corporate coup. The banks deciding that removing the middle man altogether would be more efficient.

I've woken up with the feeling this might be Ayew's day.

So far Trump has delighted the US corporate structure by pushing for protectionism for them and a free market for everyone else (a sort of reverse socialism), appointing someone to remove any environmental restrictions on their making profit, appointing someone to remove any pesky social wage based obstacles to them making profit, suggesting they'll be able to bring their money home and he'll turn a blind eye on taxation, ramped up the tensions between the US and China (allowing for the continuation of Obama's policy on truly enormous military spending) and given a special and preferential deal to the only US corporation he's had to deal with - if he can find a way to give the CIA more power to monitor and control global affairs then he's pretty much set. The idea that he won't be President for long is becoming more far fetched by the day. The only group he seems to be upsetting is people and people don't matter.

Erdogan's negotiating position is largely down to who is looking to pipe gas across his country at any given time isn't it? How does our defeat in the proxy war to try to remove Assad leave him in that regard?

I'm guessing the club took the appropriate action based on the resulting sentencing - anything to the contrary would most likely have come up in the court case.

I believe in Mr Trumps commitment to clean water and I look forward to buying it from Nestle.

In fairness so have we.

Is Grealish that slight?