Saigon Raider

Thanks for all the tips. Not sure I can fit Coutinho into my team with the chemistry. Might try to add Sane in the future as not convinced by Martial. Definitely agree about my midfield, been much too easy to score against. Will see how Vidal with Shadow goes.

Been playing since October and have this team. Since packing De Bruyne I have really struggled!! Maybe been unlucky with playing people who have been relegating themselves. I am in Div 9 and not even been up to Div 8 - I always score goals but defending is a nightmare. Any tips for my team??

I worked in The Stand in Edinburgh for a few years back in the day and I can confirm that Maxwell is a p***k.

Skinny Dip and Star Island by Carl Hiaason + I think he might be my favourite author when I just want a fun blast. The South Florida setting and brilliant characters make his books very enjoyable. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - this was superb. Two stories told alongside each other in WW2. It won a pile of awards and easy to see why. Currently on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - has started well, the story of a young boy on a quest in Manhatten after his Dad does in 9/11. Again, won a load of book of the year awards - very interesting style of writing. All recommended.

[emoji849][emoji849] Not to take the piss but I just packed De Bruyne from a Gold Pack with rivals rewards...

Was that the 81-83 Euro SBC? Been considering doing the 86+ one but would have to buy someone so not completed yet.

Saw Knives Out last night at the Premier (lazyboy chairs, blankets - £5!). Thought it was great, like an old fashioned whodunnit with an impressive cast. I actually liked Daniel Craig's accent (Deep South/New Orleans) and the script was great - very funny. Will have to watch it again to get all the little tricks.

Any ideas how I can go about getting the 15 goals in online friendlies objective when I can never get matched in a game? I don’t have any mates playing it on PS4 so can’t see how to complete it for the Rousillon card.

I thought, especially second half, Saints were very good last night. Struggling to think of a player who was disappointing. I watched on Saints TV and Fizzy Scott thought Beaton had a good game - didn’t think he was as bad as some folk are making out but he let it go too long with the first booking and this caused him trouble later on. He gets a load of abuse on here, I think a lot of it is ott, but I thought Ralston was good yesterday. Yes, his distribution can be iffy at times but he showed good energy and he was driving Saints on in the last 10 minutes. He’s definitely not perfect but I thought he was a lot better than a Foster, at least yesterday. Gordon has made a huge difference coming back - Booth did alright but I actually thought Tommy might have brought on Tanser early in the second half as we were doing all the attacking. On another day Matty scores 2 or 3 yesterday, the last chance he had, from a good Booth cross was actually the best one. He kept going though and always looks our most dangerous wide player. County were pretty awful but they weren’t helped by the injuries they got throughout. There seemed to be an incredible amount of off the ball stuff going on and they were lucky to end with 10. Overall, an encouraging performance by Saints. Deserved the three points but I think the last 5 games have shown we have enough to stay up.

That was torture! Not sure I ever need to do another one of those now it is ticked off the bucket list. From about 32km on it was a real struggle. Cardio was alright as I went slowly but legs were not happy. Could hear the U2 concert and Bono singing Beautiful Day when I was at 26km was just taking the piss. Very pleased I have completed one but my feet and legs are wrecked. Also, the 25C was a forlorn hope...was 28C pretty much the whole way round.

Singapore marathon starts in 3 hours... Can't believe I have managed to get a cold the day before it. Not too bad so hoping I can power through. Never done a night race before so been a long day of waiting. Weather is for some showers and a nice running temp of 25C.

I have a 7 and 5 year old - these are their favourite games: Rayman Legends - this is superb and was really cheap when I got it. Kirby Star Allies - the only one that really holds my 5 year year old daughter's attention Fortnite... - the boy loves it (even without spending any cash on it) Lego Games - we have Lego Undercover but they are all pretty good. You can put them on the TV and co-play, that works best for us. We have also done the Nintendo Labo - kept their attention for a little while but can't say we go back to it that much. Santa is getting my older one the Switch Lite as he mostly plays handheld.

That's fair enough but, if I couldn't see them on the screen it was at least 30 yards away. My point is more that if you play 3 central midfielders then I would expect one of them to drop a little deeper to collect the ball.

Watched the game on Saints TV last night and the first 60 minutes was some of the lowest quality I have seen in a long time. We improved and got the goal we probably deserved and thought we could have gone on to win the game. I don't think Davidson's tackle was malicious but it looked awful slowed down and looked a definite red card straight away. The Hendry one was bizarre from him, the tackle by Logan on Kennedy looked bad but I thought he took the ball and it was fair enough. Hendry was just so late that a red was always likely - of course, the Aberdeen players' reactions, made sure there was no doubt. I have no idea how it took 70 minutes for Ferguson to be booked. I reckon there was 7 or 8 niggly little pull backs and fouls and still he didn't get booked. Added to his near-constant dissent and he was a bit lucky to stay on. Saints were very poor on the ball except for when we got it wide to Kennedy who always looked dangerous. I actually thought we defended pretty well - obviously, you don't want to see Duffy on the ball too often but he stood up to the physical challenge fairly well. Taking Holt off was the right decision for me, none of our central midfielders were dropping deep enough to actually take the ball - so we ended up with Kerr/Duffy launching hopeless cross-field balls all game. When we got hammered by Hibs, while we were awful, they were very good. At half time yesterday I was most annoyed at losing as Aberdeen were awful. Very little football played and just seemed to get launched forward for one of the big lads to get into a battle. Yes, they created some chances in the last 10 minutes but none of them were from particularly creative play. I am still confident Saints will have enough to stay up this season. Confidence is obviously very low but there were signs of fight in the team. We have got 7 points from a possible 12 in the last four home games, not amazing but solid enough.

I am assuming you aren't going to give it up for COD anymore [emoji23]

That is what I have been getting - happened maybe an hour ago. Glad it's not just me!

I reckon Lou Macari as well. Two Celtic managers in a row got sacked after we beat them in Perth - I am sure John Davies scored in both games as well!!

Did 28km yesterday - furthest I have ever run, don't feel too bad this morning but going to go for some physio on my knee later. Reckon I will do one or two more big runs before 30th November, probably up to a maximum of 32km. If I did the final 14km yesterday in 6:30/km that would give me a time of 4h 20m - would be very happy with that for my first one.

I thoroughly enjoyed that game today. Thought we were excellent and could have scored 6. No real disappointments in the Saints team at all. Thought Tanser and Spoony worked really well together down the left. Wright was a bit hit and miss but he will keep improving. McCann and Davidson worked well together and I still can’t believe McCann is the same player I watched at Forfar and Arbroath. We are potentially a very good footballing side. I would like to see Zander keep it shorter from hand and free kicks etc, we never win the header and end up scrapping for second balls. I have never been as worried as some on here, defence is still an issue though and Liam confirmed he will be our for another 3 or 4 weeks. Personally, I think Ralston is an upgrade on Foster with the added advantage of not appearing to be a total w****r. Shout out for Saints TV which is excellent. Camera work improving all the time and Liam Gordon was very good as well - his nervousness and then delight with the winner were well worth my £12 for the month!

A quick shout out for season 2 of Trapped which is also fantastic.

Ha! They're small horses... Anyway, beer in hand now - proper training can wait until I'm home.

Just did a 5km round Gili Air in Indonesia. Tough going running in the sand but starting to feel unprepared for my 1st marathon on 30th Nov. Work and holidays mean it has been a struggle to get out enough.

My first teacher training was at a school in Cleckheaton, Bradford. A weird, racist, white enclave that was awful.

Adam Buxton is back, which is great news. First one is with Phillip Pullman and is really enjoyable - especially his rants about C.S. Lewis.

Just watch it dubbed. Absolutely do not do this.