The Kraken

Jim maybe wasn’t a shouter but he was absolutely a protector. I read his book recently and he talks about it as his role here, plus players like shearer, rod Wallace and MLT have mentioned it too, they always knew that he had their backs and would stand up for them.

Thought we played good football throughout tbf. Just some poor decisions, Edozie being his infuriating blind-ally self, and really as said earlier my me and plenty, no real focal point up front to play through. We played some nice looking stuff but not enough of a breakthrough threat when in their area.

Gonna be an interesting august. Martin gave an interview a week or so ago where basically said we need to get players out of the door. Think we need to shift on the likes Lavia, JWP, Adams and Onuachu before we get any more incoming in those areas. If we can’t get rid of the, for the price we want then it’s a bit worrying.

We really need a strong presence up front. Look back at our last Championship side, class throughout but with Rickie Lambert up top we had a proper focal point. He could drop deep and play it, he was an aerial threat, you could ping it up to him and it would stick. And he could hit them from distance too. The likes of Tella and Edozie would be much more of a threat with someone like that to play off. As it is, up front we look very nice but just not threatening or clinical enough, and it almost pointless to put a cross in as there’s no height to attack it (how many goals did that side score from headers, RL got loads at the back post and other players did too).

Lovely move and ball from Alcaraz, think Armstrong could be greedier there and take the shots himself.

To get nowhere near it he’d literally have had to jump out of the way.

Weak goalkeeping, that was straight at him. Not as much of a blunder as his previous games but he’s got to be saving that.

Adam Armstrong looks like he’s getting his mojo back. Think the PL was too big a step up for him, and doesn’t help being played out of position. He could yet prove very important for us this season, season liking the look oh him in this setup compared to Che.

It is, when it goes right. When it goes wrong we’re very vulnerable to the turnover.

That’s quite the injury list already. So what does that give us for a side? I’m guessing it might be: Bazunu Livramento - Stephens - Lyanco - Manning JWP - Charles Tella - Alcaraz - Edozie AArmstrong Salisu would obviously be a better choice than Lyanco but I get the feeling the club are preparing for him not being here, same for Lavia though he’ll likely get minutes. Also the Edozie spot is between him, Djenepo and Amo Ameyaw. Always an option for Manning to go in the middle and KWP on the left, depends what the line is with JWP. Definitely think Charles needs some game time at CM though.

Treat them well, they can lead the way.

And that’s fine. No one should be asking you to nod along, it’s an extremely complex scenario with no easy answers. In fact I often find it difficult to get onboard with myself; I want to accept everybody’s wishes to live their life how they want. But that comes with limits, especially when it impinges on the rights, risks and vulnerabilities of biological women, whose opinions are the most important on this rather than a bunch of men on a football forum. I just think it’s important to get the basics right.

If you want to put forward the opinions of experts who say that sex=gender I’m more than happy to look at those arguments.

There is plenty of information out there though, and that should absolutely be your starting point rather than asking someone on a football forum what their personal interpretation of what a woman is. Your question is pretty much irrelevant. When experts in their field like theWorld Health Organisation tell me that there’s a difference between gender and sex, I tend to sit up and listen to them rather rather than people like Lighthouse from the internet who say there isn’t, and that it’s sinister to suggest such a thing. When countless other experts in their field reinforce the fact that sex is biological, gender is sociological, I listen to that too. When those same experts tell me that gender has been fluid for centuries across the globe with multiple examples, again I endeavour to learn more about why it goes against the flawed concept of sex=gender. That’s the point. It doesn’t answer any of the more important questions like how we go forward from here, but at it at least frames the starting point.

He’s a strange one, seems to be quite a divisive character. His whole scenario with Ghana from the start was very odd, seems like he’s not the most popular of players behind the scenes. Very good player on his day though and definitely PL level, prob needs to play alongside someone older and more experienced, knuckle down a bit, listen, and refine his play.

Tbf I’m sure if the situations were reversed we have some fans on here speculating the same type of thing. Burnley just re-promoted, a seemingly excellent manager and a team on the up, Tella being back at a club that didn’t want him before and loaned him out. Understandable they’ve got some fans who come to that reasoning, and I dare say there’s a lot that’s appealing to Tella about a move. I just hope he does see value in staying with us, but if he doesn’t I feel fairly certain that £9M is about half of what would be needed for us to let him go.

If he makes it to Saudi Arabia he’d be lauded for that, his (alleged) behaviour is entirely encouraged over there.

If you want definitions and examples of how gender is seen as being different to sex, there’s tonnes of information out there on the subject. You can start with good old Wikipedia, lots of examples for you there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender And yes, of course biological men shouldn’t compete in women’s sports. It’s insane that gender has dictated these areas, it should be done by biological sex. That said, there also clearly needs to be something of a shift for inclusivity, which is why many sports are now looking at ‘open’ categories and ‘female only’, which imo is the absolute right approach. The changing room analogy is valid but, as I said, a simple one size fits all rule on sexuality doesn’t solve the societal issues.

The definition of gender is quite clear, it’s a term whose definition has evolved over much time. I absolutely don’t have to answer any basic questions first as it’s there is a difference between sex and gender, the term gender has evolved over a long period of time and it just doesn’t mean the same thing as sex. As to your wholly nonsense statement “the people saying it don’t believe it at all and have no intention of acknowledging the supposed difference between ‘biological sex’ and ‘social gender’”, this is the complete opposite of what I think, so well done there. As I’ve said sex and gender have different meanings, and basing things on the modern-day understanding of gender rather than sex starts to make things troublesome. That said, it’s an enormously complex societal issue that isn’t solved by a simple one size fits all remedy.

Looks like you’re conflating the term ‘gender’ with ‘sex’. The two aren’t the same. Sex as a terminology refers to the biological nature of a person, whereas gender refers to behaviours and societal norms. Hence why it is often said that people identify as a different gender to their birth sex. Your whole diatribe would ring true if you were defining sex, but the whole definition of gender allows it to be interchangeable and entirely non-binary.

Doyle is a nice player but needs to learn to take fewer touches, needs too much time.

Get used to that type of goal conceded. So brittle on the counter.

The Bournemouth keeper made an absolute a Bazunu of that. Get in there gingerman.

Man of the match so far: Dean Hammond. Very forthright and excellent at getting the tactical view across. Excellent co-commentary from him. You can see why he was a skipper.

Of course. There’s no better player than Elmo when he hasn’t got the ball at his feet.