The9

My F1 watching over the past 3 years has involved setting a series link to record, then, sometimes weeks after the actual race, eventually getting around to watching the recording, paying attention to the first 2-3 laps before doing something else with it on in the background and not even registering when Vettel has won.

I've completely stopped watching, a gradual slide since Hamilton's title win, not impeded by the sporadic BBC coverage. I've been to a race abroad and everything, but I'm not remotely interested any more. The cars are too uniform, the races now have to have artificial measures to aid overtaking, it's not interesting to watch (other than Monaco, which in itself is a non-overtaking procession but at least there's scenery) and I'm disengaging with the drivers as well, so I've got no reason to go back and see how various people are doing because I don't care about the participants either.

We'd have lost at Anfield if Coutinho (and Sturridge, even though he played) had been fit though. You're right about not being able to break down bus-parkers though.

Pulis was born in Newport, Monmouthshire pre-1974 so English by some definitions...

It's normally 3,000 or 10%, whichever is fewer. With a few shameless tweaks downwards for segregation, which strangely always seems to sit on top of the away seats not the home ones at certain grounds when there's a capacity crowd.

You seem to be obsessed with complaining about the things the system is actually doing right, as opposed to the endless things wrong with it.

Clearly nonsense, as had Gerrard's shot been anywhere in the 2 yards of remaining space towards the post where he should have been aiming it, Boruc wouldn't have got near it.

Coincidentally enough almost exactly what happened for the best save I've ever seen live (without the offside), also at Old Trafford by Paul Jones, diving back towards the goal-line and somehow clawing the ball out wide - before it was crossed back in for them to score anyway. The Boruc save on Saturday was very good, but not sure why he was so far over to begin with and the ball was nowhere near the corner.

It was going to happen sooner or later, I'm just surprised it took us so long to sign the top-class striker we would always need to compete for European places. Of course we now need another 2 of them for the requisite competition for places.

Even if he'd kept up last season's level, it's logical for him to be playing deeper when we've got a pacy striker in the same team, and that almost guarantees he's going to score fewer this season anyway. Without considering his age, squad rotation, pressing, England, etc.

Oh, and I see those damn Daggers wore their one year old light blue exact replica of the Skates' "bespoke" home kit again today... and Newport County are now selling THREE replica shirts which cost less to buy than the ones the Skates claim are "the cheapest in the country".

Can't see the exact moment the ball was played on the video clip on FL Show, but "2 yards offside" does not sound like an accurate reflection of the ball through to Fleetwood's striker, before the comical set of ricochets which led to the hilarious OG that was the winner.

It's got nothing to do with flaws in an opinion of your own - the definition I provided specifically says "persuading others" - not persuading yourself. It's about taking personal ownership of ideas and being prepared to discuss them as if they're right. There's an implication in the definition that an argument has to be shared, but I would imagine that's just because you don't need to reason with yourself once you've settled on your argument and only others will be swayed by it as you already subscribed to those thoughts. I don't really know which end of what stick you've got to give the example you did but I think you were giving an example of someone having a flawed opinion and it's nothing to do with that. You can introduce an argument to a debate and defend them without actually believing it. If you ask a question about people's favourite kit, everyone's argument is built upon reasons for having a particular favourite kit. The "right and wrong" is the discussion which ensues in comparing your opinions to others' from your perspective. The assumption is that when you state your argument you believe it is correct based on thoughts and conclusions you have reached - your ideas are right, you're defending them. If you don't believe what you are saying, it's not your argument, which is often seen in trolling or WUMming. The group of ideas still represent "an argument" as they're a group of ideas which are being proposed or defended and the defending is the attempt in persuading others that the idea is right. However, they're not the actual opinions of the person raising them. As an aside, saying ""the flaw in your argument is that the Rank Xerox kit was more popular in an online poll" is a perfectly reasonable answer if you've said "it's your favourite kit because you like the most popular kit the best" and someone else has noted that "actually, that isn't the most popular kit". But that's irrelevant to identifying what an argument actually is. See, now THAT'S dull.

Fuuuuuuuuuu... ! Well, good luck with that.

Or to clarify : Noun 1) An exchange of diverging or opposite views, typically a heated or angry one: "I've had an argument with my father". 2) A reason or set of reasons given with the aim of persuading others that an action or idea is right or wrong 1 is a shouting match, 2 is just having an opinion for consideration. Just noticed this is covered above. Well, at least someone's learned something.

It is an argument because it is a statement of a person's opinion, there doesn't even have to be an opposing view, it is his personal "argument". It's still an argument. An argument when two people have a heated discussion is a different definition of "argument".

Why don't people understand that "argument" is a synonym for a debating position, not necessarily a fight ?

I've highlighted the teams who are very, very unlikely even to break the top 6 this season or the top 4 any time in the next 10 years from your list wihout £200m investment (and omitted Liverpool, though it would have been good for a cheap laugh). Compare that to the variety of "other" teams breaking the top 6 in the 80s, it's a massive shame that the positions are so locked down. I actually think getting rid of the winter transfer window might even it up a bit, teams get their 25 and stick with them and the U21s for the whole season - ok the top squads will be deeper and they're more likely to ride out injury crises, but at least you wouldn't lose any outstanding players halfway through the season if you're in the top 6 at Xmas...

Someone mentioned us playing back 3 on here earlier in the week (maybe it was in the West Ham thread last week), we basically play 2 at the back half the time so it would actually make us more defensive in many situations - and of course the 6 man midfield is similar to what we already have if you consider the roles of the full backs.

I thought at least half of it was groundless bo11ocks, starting with "they're playing 4-4-2 now...".

For those who have never clicked on the link, here's a sample image : Deserves a medal for this alone.

Having just rewatched MOTD2, Rodriguez's influence was a significant part of around 5 of our best chances - he crossed prior to Schneiderlin's overhead kick, ran from halfway to set up Lambert's curler, ran through with Osvaldo for the one Lambert mis-hit from the edge of the box and a couple of others I've already forgotten. That's not a bad involvement in significant chances we created. Also, having seen all the chances we created, it didn't look anything like as boring as it felt to be there. We were pretty unlucky not to win it.

Because 6 years ago Apple re-invented the mobile phone market, and people expect them to continue to innovate. The fact their massive initial market share has plummeted since everyone else started doing what they did better and cheaper is indicative that there are better products out there. I'd have never settled on my iPhone 3GS, knowing iOS updates would render it out of date and that iPhone users are a bit sniffy about old versions, but I'm happy to stick with a 4.0 Android indefinitely. My phone use has barely changed in the past 6 years other than playing fewer games, so I can only put it down to the phone configurability and the various options for launchers, etc which exploit the functionality beyond what it could originally do.

I think we'll probably finish higher, but we probably shouldn't be relying on beating the top sides to keep our average up when complacently talking about how we've got marginally more points that we got last season against worse sides.

Awwww maaaan, I can't believe I'm going to miss it.