rubberman

I quite liked him as a player but very much wrong time and wrong fit. Shame really.

Name Home Team Away Team Guess Villa 2 0 QPR Villa Burnley 1 1 Everton Draw Leicester 1 0 Bournemouth Leicester Southampton 1 1 Stoke Draw Spurs 2 0 Huddersfield Spurs Swansea 1 1 West Ham Draw Watford 1 0 West Brom Watford Liverpool 2 1 Newcastle Liverpool Brighton 1 1 Arsenal Draw Man City 2 1 Chelsea Man City Palace 0 2 Man Utd Man Utd rubberman

And sadly, since he came back he's the most fouled player in the league and will continue to be targeted. We'll be amazingly lucky to keep him fit for the run in I reckon.

Isn't the pitch heated?

Don't care about topping the league at this stage. Do care about coming second. As long as Wolves beat Cardiff and Derby and don't beat us, I don't care what their other results are. Cardiff v Derby would be a good draw also.

+ it's snowing and they don't like the cold. Probably.

I'd keep hogan if grealish is back - they work together. If no jack then less bothered.

^ That would do (depending on Jack being back), but no need for Jedi at home to QPR shirley? Thor in for me.

I love the light relief of this thread to have a brief escape from the task in hand. 8/10 Would read again.

Anyone know what happened here - why he wasn't on the bench at least?

Drawing away to Hull would be disappointing. 12-13 points for me.

Size talk notwithstanding...C'mon lad - time to show us what you've got.

Min 7, ideally (obv) 9 from the next three. Get the injuries sorted and back to full strength for the final 10 games. Long way to go yet.

On the bench though so must be ok to play? Looks dropped to me.

O'Hare was never going to be involved having played yesterday. Maybe at the weekend?

It's going to be very tight. We will lose again - hopefully no more than a couple, as will those around us. The 6-pointers are going to be key, and nervy as it will be, those last couple of games have always looked make or break and I can't see us pulling clear enough for them not to be vital. Squeaky bums indeed.

But of course they are all flipped Home > Away. We had tough away games, which we're now at home for. They've still got some hard away games, including us which is probably the key game.

3 dm's in there... Not going to be pretty, but at least the bench looks more attacking. Barney hasn't been great out wide, but maybe his new found confidence will come through. Plenty of free kick options in there. Hope it works out.

Bad news if Jack's out. Wouldn't risk him, but make sure he's right for PNE on Tuesday. If we are missing him and Adomah, I wouldn't be averse to stacking the midfield and going defensive - 0-0 or try to nick one on the break. Doubt it'll be pretty though.

Name Home Team Away Team Guess Fulham 1 2 Villa Villa Leicester 2 0 Stoke Leicester Bournemouth 1 1 Newcastle Draw Brighton 1 1 Swansea Draw Burnley 1 1 Southampton Draw Liverpool 2 0 West Ham Liverpool West Brom 1 1 Huddersfield Draw Watford 1 1 Everton Draw Man Utd 1 1 Chelsea Draw Palace 0 2 Spurs Spurs Arsenal 1 3 Man City Man City rubberman

@Chewie re your predictions - We'll be pretty disappointed with a 2-1 draw at Fulham!

Maybe all posts before 2018 should be nuked and we start on a fresh Steve Bruce thread with everyone in a happy place?

I can't see him going anywhere. If we get up, it's going to be his best opportunity to show what he can do in the PL with the support and ambition of Dr T (leaving aside any concerns that this might not happen). And TBH, even if his budget is not hundreds of millions, he's shown what he can do on a shoestring under the FFP constraints so I'd expect sensible dealing in the summer rather than an RDM / Timmy trolley-dash for all the players. If anything the worry could be Engerland coming in for him when we tank in Russia over the summer!

Derby also chucking away their goal difference advantage as a bonus. (an ABBA little known b-side)

One thing I had underestimated while sitting on the Brence was the pull / contacts of Bruce (as well as Villa as a club and presumably Tony's plans as well). We've attracted JT and had a look at Van Persie while in the Championship, as well as working the loans pretty well - that's impressive. IF we go up I hope we have similarly ambitious targets and think that SB will be better at landing those than many other managers.