Holmes_and_Watson

Lots of generally positive views here. As I was reading, I popped on the radio, for what seemed to be something unusually scathing on the Beeb "tax rises that can seen from near earth orbit" "The shredding of commitments, including borrowing rules to fund...more borrowing." "Money pumped into infrastructure to get growth that even with that investment is showing to be somewhat anaemic in projected figures." They are mentioning the risk of the borrowing not resulting in a growth that already tails off the year after next.

History will show us as the true winners.

It was I think 3 in the first half. Despite massive amounts of possession, it reflected how few passes actually reached probably our best finisher. Archer saw at least a few times that he had taken up positions to receive the ball. One was when AA went for goal himself. We were getting more room with AA, as Stoke kept it more compact in the middle.

I did let out a laugh as that ball bounced towards our goal for the their third. Just farcical to nearly lose the game.

Suga saved us conceding a third, and Bree gets his second late goal of the cup to get us the win. As always Martin will look at the possession, their few chances and our errors. We can all look at a dominant team failing to press most advantages. Also that teams will always get gifted at least one. Martin took off Archer, AA and Fernandes. That left us with TP, Sule, Cornet, SAA and BBD late on trying to get a goal. But boy we struggle to move into anything direct. TP crying out for a cross. It was a poor couple he got in the end. Sule did well for the assist, but very little else other than a poor touch. BBD anonymous. SAA did okay with very little to do. Cornet is incredibly rusty. Without Fernandes, who had taken a knock, we lacked creativity. Aribo was needed all over tonight, in a Smallbone like role, to keep things together. For the Leicester game I thought Les should have been the one to come on. I now wonder why he was on that bench. A couple of good passes into space, but well off in breaking them up, first tough and tackling. A strong 40 odd minutes, without pressing our advantage undone in a second and a fairly disjointed struggle over the line.

Need a goal? Try Russ' risk averse football. Make sure you get that new contract first though.

Oh for... Dominance without killing a game off does for us again. Big Les nowhere near strong enough. Marker at back post missing too.

Nearly total control, yet we still gift a goal. Not the best defending from a clumsy free kick, and Suga gets an assist for them. Apart from that, our strong team are too much for Stoke with RussBall passing it around their compact centre. Them being central is giving AA plenty of space. He clearly wanted a goal. He could have brought Archer in at least once for a tap in, but thumped it. We had a good set pieces resulting in THB's header. Their defender struggled to clear giving us a pen for the second. Aribo has been the stand out this evening. Linking things up, mobile and getting forward too. Les' made some raw touches early on. With the space he's getting, he's settled in a bit. Cornet trying to be involved, having come on for Fraser, but rusty. 75% possession, but 6 efforts and only a goal ahead.

Another day of interviewees on Beeb completely avoid answering, relying on 30 seconds of repeating a line knowing that soundbites will be fine. Contrast with a 3 hour interview. Not many would want to go anywhere near that. He does engage. I'd wonder about the fact checking (but both sides have issues there when it suits them), but the style he has does have an entertainers cunning behind it. He broadly knows what he wants. Another popular appearance for the candidate with by far the most name recognition. That he did it, engaged, while the Harris team didn't is only going to go his way. As I mentioned in other posts both sides are so used to trotting out the same rubbish. Our lot inherited it. Trump is different, and opponents used to dealing the standard soundbites are on the defensive and unable to compete. As the way both parties dismissed a lot of voters and views, Trump offers an alternative. The democrats lost last time in part because of it, yet still still can't get out of their standard thinking. Harris' coherency and energy to interact has made this closer than it would have been under Biden. Perhaps Biden, having been VP himself, would have made Harris more prominent rather than it being a lame appointment, stuck in the background. But that's hindsight, and how the roles are projected. She doesn't have the decades of craft he has, but he simply isn't up to the punishment of it now. It does seem incredible that someone like Trump is running this close. But some of that is due to both parties being a distant elite. Trump's populism has cracked that a bit. And that it took someone like that to do it, shows how rotten the whole thing is. Not that a core of Democrats and the side of the media that supports them seems to grasp what they could have done to stop it happening. Since they didn't last time either, makes you wonder just how remote they are.

One of the Beeb podcasts said that Martin had shorter odds than Ancelotti for the post. They looked at that as a sign of how mad things were there, unfortunately for Russ.

The much heavier, heated ball has Stephens written on it.

I think that there's not many suddenly stand out players that are being eyed up by the big clubs. Results and PL performances would also suggest there's not many that are playing significantly better, to the extent they change games. Then there's the players who are developing anyway, and that gap from them looking better in the Championship than in the PL. Fernandes has come in and immediately stood out. But that's as much his talent than any development so far. But Martin is supporting that, so some credit. Broadly, and there's debate on doing it at all, but as a team nearly everyone has better awareness, positioning and passing off the back of RussBall. It has cost us goals. We can get caught out. But we do so much of it, that we do ping it about better than they did before he got here. I see other team struggle to get it out more than we do. There's the players who have secured first team slots like THB and Downes. Archer could be another one too, being trusted with a first team berth and improving from that. Aribo has gone from being a lump into a more versatile player than he was even at Rangers. Will developed really well last season, even if that hasn't worked out this season. Martin has encouraged, and tweaked the system to support the skills of players. KWP and AA come to mind there. While the final ball still wasn't there, Edozie's all round game was improving. Even if Martin leaves, the requirements of his system, will have left most of the players with a bit more in their wider game. Successors, with different systems will get some benefits of that.

I'm not following everything they do. But a combination of Trump's personality and Harris's weak spots seems to result in some second guessing from her team. From the Rogan bits I heard. Trump was himself. Rambling (he calls it weaving), borderline lunacy with some answers. But he nearly always has some answer, or some approach. He's done so much of this that he will no doubt have engaged his supporters. Rogan was asking some tough questions like the disputed result (that Trump did a little stumble on). Where Trump is far more in command of his responses than his team, Harris is much more the standard politician that you expect in these elections. But she's not strong on policy, still caught between supporting Biden and having some individuality, and has the standard suite of political diversions when called out, that often comes across as weak. Trump clearly disrupts the opposition. His approach is so different, they can't go head to head with it (and considering who it is, you wouldn't really want to). She could do the show, and be far more coherent than Trump. But 3 hours leaves her open to all the things she struggles with, that Trump eases through.

Thinking of ex Luton managers, the radio indicated that Rob Edwards was starting to be under pressure. It can go south for all sorts of reasons. So, I can understand why Martin wants to get to as high a their as possible. Because that's the group of clubs he might still be able to get work from when the inevitable parting of the ways occurs.

Then we really will need to have a manager able to transform a team on a budget of buttons.

https://news.sky.com/story/manchester-united-approach-sporting-for-ruben-amorim-after-sacking-ten-hag-13243667 Martin out of running for Man Utd job? Not at all convinced at all that this guy's hair and facial hair are better than Martins, making me wonder if Wilcox has been overruled.

He prefers to play centrally. Got a "should have scored" after one game. Archer looks the better bet there. I think his workrate made a massive difference for Martin last season, so we miss him in there. Just that Dibling offered something different and earned a shot.

Sedative

If it appears on the delayed FM25, then the club are going to just have to update their org chart.

Sorry to be critical. But it's madness to not have more Stephens in there.

Usual time? Oh, it wasn't a euphemism...awkward...

The US version of The Rest is Politics has one host who worked for Trump, but now supports Harris. He was saying that there are different scenarios for Trump. There are those close to him that say he's going to have lots of sound items, have lots of spur of the moment ideas that aren't enforceable and get nowhere, and the rest of the time he'll be playing golf. I think you can add nest feathering and immunity forever to that. Some others, there but perhaps not as close, have valid concerns about the think tanks post Bannon, waiting to get their own ideas into place. However, their websites claim they got loads in under Reagan and others, so it's not a new threat, which some hyperbole would suggest. I know my views were shaped by newspapers. My parents would have bought those they agreed with. But the papers would have reinforced that daily, more than any opinions expressed by them. It takes a lot of years to not only see other sides, but be open to unpicking your own views. Endorsing candidates is just an extension of the daily bias. On one hand our press has some standards to adhere to, and you know what to expect. There are other platforms outside of that (often by former journalists) that provide more incisive investigations. But without the same levels of oversight (although they often have to fight financially ruinous legal action before vindication) and the risk of entering incorrect echo chambers. I'm happy to see more platforms to express views and criticism. Sadly, the press are on a race to a polarised bottom, desperate to hang onto the core support of their bias. But better to have them than rely solely on social media. Their decline has also removed a lot of local journalists for the future.

Had we some more points on the board, he'd be putting his name in. Depending on how long their process takes, he has a chance of getting a couple of wins on the board. While managers get paid far more than assistants, I wonder if he'd consider going to United in that capacity, the structure put in place by Wilcox.

That pinging noise is Martin sending off his CV to Wilcox.

Not that there's not a very long list of Trump comments, but this was a warm up act, that they have already distanced themselves from. So doubt there's any Trump punishment, except at the ballot box. "Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told Reuters that the joke about Puerto Rico "does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign." Why the comedian felt comfortable saying those things, and the response he got is telling though. As is Trump's labelling of criminals and mass deportation. As you say, so much that is beyond the pale for us, in terms of divisive toxicity.