Sheaf Saint

I saw a brilliant tweet from somebody yesterday (can't find it again to share it unfortunately). He had a very clear, simple, 4-step plan to reduce the threat of terrorism in the UK... 1. Stop selling £bns worth of arms to states who propagate and sponsor salafist extremism 2. Stop bombing their kids 3. Stop reducing the numbers of police on the streets 4. Stop cutting vital mental health and youth worker services Can't really argue with any of it, but none of it will never happen with the Tories in power.

No, he didn't... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbc-trust-rules-laura-kuenssberg-misrepresented-jeremy-corbyn-a7533096.html "BBC Trust rules Laura Kuenssberg inaccurately represented Jeremy Corbyn on shoot-to-kill"

I find the constant pressing on the point of nuclear war a bit tiresome tbh. You're saying that he doesn't have the balls to defend the country, but launching a nuclear attack on somebody because they have launched one on us isn't defending our nation, it's committing mass genocide on an innocent civilian population in retaliation for the actions of an unhinged, despotic lunatic. It solves nothing. The whole point of having a nuclear deterrent is that you never need to use it, therefore the whole 'would you/wouldn't you' argument is academic. The threat is supposed to be enough to stop somebody launching one against us - the clue is in the word 'deterrent'. I don't believe for one second that even Kimg Jong Un is so deranged that he would instigate something that will inevitably result in the total destruction of his entire country. As Carl Sagan put it: "The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five".

Apparently this is currently at number 4 in the charts...

https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/climate-breaks-multiple-records-2016-global-impacts

The thing that amazed me was how Amber Rudd had the audacity to stand there, with a straight face, and tell the nation that the only person with the strength and the leadership qualities to lead Britain forward is the woman who couldn't even summon the courage to publicly debate her fellow leaders in an election that she herself called. Did anybody see the Sky news clip of her yesterday being asked repeatedly why she was not appearing? She was so visibly rattled, like she always is when she faces a question at PMQs that she can't answer. The maniacal nervous laugh, reaching for her water every few seconds, falling back on repeating the same old line about 'getting the best deal for Britain' and launching a scathing attack on Corbyn while completely evading the question. She's lost the plot if you ask me. A total lame duck PM. She called this election because she thought she would win a landslide and increase her party's majority, but now that the polls are showing Labour a whole lot closer than expected, she's cracking under the pressure, as is her sidekick Boris the clown. If they are the right people to lead the Brexit negotiations, then I'm the b*stard son of Ghengis Khan and Joan of Arc.

More space for our midfielders to dither about in before passing sideways/backwards you mean? I still don't see the benefit.

So you're upset that the manager is now rectifying that with a substitution? Seems like he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

Yeah, because that's not at all going to be anything to do with the fact that this is Austin's first start since December and was never likely to be fit enough to play the whole 90 mins. We've got some utter f***ing muppets on this forum

They could always head to Quayside Road if the crowds get too much at Weston. With its amazing views of a scrapyard, the Stoke fans will feel right at home.

Do we? Really? With Austin out, the only player who looks remotely like getting goals is Gabbiadini. With Long and Rodriguez as our only other strikers, and too many midfielders who don't know how to hit a decent shot, is our lack of goals really that surprising?

And even then it still relies on the player actually accepting their terms and agreeing to the transfer. There's just no way he will agree terms with Everton, no matter how much money they are offering, when he knows full well that one of the top Champs League clubs is going to come knocking sooner rather than later.

Here's an interesting little snippet for you all... I've been visiting family this weekend and saw my 14 year old nephew who is in the Everton academy. I asked him what he thought of Koeman. He said he is undoubtedly a good manager, but he shows zero interest in the academy. The previous managers in his time there (Moyes and Martinez) were frequently seen around the training ground and always took time to get to know the kids, but apparently Koeman never visits and doesn't even bother to say hello if he passes them in a corridor. Fits with what we already knew about his ignorance of our own academy while he was with us. I told my nephew not to worry because he will no doubt have already moved on again by the time he's old enough to sign a pro contract.

No keeper in the world is stopping that. Perfect connection.

We didn't get a penalty because probably because Davis blazed the ball wide before the defender made contact. Not making excuses for him because it was reckless and dangerous, but it looked to me like he was just shaping himself to block the shot.

When refs are making howlers as huge as the handball decision not given tonight, the case for a video ref is overwhelming IMO. It's unforgivable that potential match (and season) defining moments like that can continue to happen when the technology exists to prevent it.

The first one was ridiculous. Totally deliberate movement of the hand towards the ball and he literally punched it away. The most obvious and blatant penalty you could imagine. As for the second one, I think the ref got it absolutely right. Long knew he wasn't going to get to the ball before the defender so he changed the direction of his run very slightly to cut across him and engineer the contact. He does it quite frequently, and I reckon all the refs are suss to it because they never get given.

I thought that too. Watching the replay he initially looks over at Townsend and sees him in space, but then ignores him and leaves him far too much room to run in and provide the cross.

Looks a bad one for Davis.

Shane Long is probably the most limited striker I have ever seen play for us at PL level. Even worse than Iain Dowie!

Anybody still of the opinion that we don't need video technology? The most blatant and deliberate handball you will ever see, he literally punched the ball away, and it's not given. It's just not acceptable that refs can get away with such incompetence any more. And as much as I hate to agree with Fat Sam, if I was him i would be pretty livid about the foul not given in the lead up to our goal as well.

That device must have malfunctioned, just like it did when we signed Osvaldo.

No, I watched on a stream and had the benefit of multiple angle replays, and I stand by my opinion. Forster has been a liability for months now and it's obvious the rest of the defence have little confidence in him.

For the first goal, once again he got beaten by a bouncing shot from outside the box that was well inside the post. He got nowhere near it, like he hasn't done all season because he doesn't have the reactions to get down quick enough. Other PL keepers frequently save those kind of efforts but Forster never does. For the second goal, when the ball broke to Yoshida and he flicked it back into the danger area which lead to the penalty, Forster should have been screaming at Maya to leave it for him to claim which would have snuffed out the attack. He stayed rooted to his line and kept quiet, and for the umpteenth time this season the attack continues as a result of his inability to deal with first time balls into the box. But if you want to keep your head in the sand and pretend that all is fine then go right ahead.

Watch it again. When the ball breaks to Yoshida before he made the stupid flick, Forster needs to be taking command and screaming at him to leave it. But as usual he's just rooted to his line and quiet. He's a total liability in all aspects of his game at the moment.