BOF

I just hope we're still fighting by the time McGinn comes back, because ths is garbage.

I've taken one step backwards in order to take many steps forward this week. A -12 is the first (and the last...) >4pt hit I've taken this season. I now have a sea of green fixtures ahead for the foreseeable with players in form and in the right areas. I just did not like sacrificing 12pts from an overall rank of 111k. I start this weekend at 150k now.

F1. The most technologically advanced racing series in the world. Except for innovation. We don't like innovation. Unless it's a **** gimmick to aid overtaking because our regs are shit. Then we're OK with innovation.

The one thing that properly rubbed me the wrong way about him was his behaviour and reaction to the Max Verstappen clash 2 seasons back. The one where Max ended up giving him a slap. Now blah blah physical violence etc, but you could see Ocon was on the wind-up and Max was justified to do what he did in the circumstances. Everyone got on their high horse about it at the time, because high horses are the fashion these days, but Ocon is a whingy sneery little prick. He's also renowned for being a 'very political driver'. That's a nice way of saying he's a back-stabbing word removed. He's also French.

I'll have a think and come back with some predictions (or hopes and dreams) of my own

Ocon is definitely a possibility, even if I'd hate to see it. He's clearly a very quick driver, but he's a hateful **** ponce so I'd much rather see him get battered - which I also know won't happen. I would be amazed and mighty impressed if Lando could turn around a 96% beating against a driver who; himself; is still improving year on year. I think the gap will definitely come down, but a Lando win is more than a bold prediction IMHO I love Günter That's more an inevitability, that prediction

I can't imagine a team as German thorough and professional as Mercedes would have over-looked something like that.

I'm hugely encouraged by Williams in the first 2 days of testing. They had their first little moral victory at the very start by making sure they were the first team to start testing, after the horrors of last season. That means very little in the grand scheme of things of course. But since that, Russell has been competitive. He has not been cut adrift and he has covered the 3rd most amount of distance of any one driver in those 2 tests (Perez, Hamilton). He finished 9th out of 15 yesterday, 1.192s off Hamilton's 1.16.976, and today he was 7th out of 13 at 1.29s off Raikkonen's 1.17.091. As a team they're 9th in distance (Renault) but their times and their reliability has me hoping they will at least be up at the back of the pack rather than pootling along at the back staying out of everyone's way. Early days of course, but the signs are there. Renault also look to be improved, which Danny Ricc also seems to think. He reckons there might even be a Shoey in there somewhere.

Yeah I've been reading this one with interest Seemingly the steering wheel can be moved forwards and backwards, towards and away from the driver, and the toe angle of the front wheels changes in-line with this movement. So cornering behaviour and tyre temperature regulation can be managed on that axis. Very cool if it's legal, which as you say it appears to be for now. Important to point out though that testing does not have the same regulation restrictions as a race weekend, so the legality won't be properly tested until Australia. But all noises from Merc and the FIA so far suggest that they're aware of the idea and happy with it for now.

Of the 12 games left this season, 8 of them are against the current top half of the league and 4 are against the bottom half. Southampton are one of those bottom half sides. With Villa having 25pts so far this season we probably need 4 wins to stay up. The reason I point out the 4 wins and the 4 remaining bottom half opposition sides is because here is our record against the top half of the league this season. Cut adrift at the bottom. This game against Southampton is absolutely pivotal, and I also have no confidence in getting anything from it. I am not looking forward to Saturday If you're up there Superman ... please please let this be one of those surprise results.

Absolutely **** all.

I still do.

Fulham stats updated. Far and away our youngest team of the season, by basicallly half a year. This side averaged 18.26 years old where we're typically in and around the 19 year old mark. We have a new name in the matchday 16. Seventeen year old English centre mid Hayden Lindley. He remained an unused sub. We're also now seeing some of the younger players feature more and more in the starting 11 and squad. Players like Brad Burton(18), Kaine Kessler(17), Sebastian Revan(16), Carney Chukwuemeka(?), Anton Hooper(19) & Aaron Ramsey(17) have become familiar names on the teamsheet over the past 2 or 3 games, and hints towards a further shift in M.O. for our "U23 side".

Well as QI taught us, only one species of frog actually makes a "ribbit" sound, so they're probably as accurate with quack as we are.

I asked for that