Jimmy_D

Could have made that comfortable far earlier but a win, clean sheet, keeping the unbeaten run going and making ground on the top two is a very nice weekend.

The EU has clauses similar to NATO’s Article 5 regarding mutual defence. For Ukraine to join while this war is still ongoing those would have to be addressed. Four possibilities I can think of; The EU in effect agrees to declare war to allow Ukraine to join. Extremely unlikely. The EU allows Ukraine to join with agreements to intervene militarily after a set date if Russia haven’t withdrawn. The EU suspends the mutual defence clauses for the war with Russia for Ukraine to join, with indefinite future plans on reinstating them. The EU provisionally allows Ukraine to join, but only once the war is resolved. There could also be some sort of compromise which involves some mix of all or some of the above applying to different member states. It’s likely though, that any ascension would be indefinitely delayed by the ongoing war. More important at the moment is the message it sends to Russia that Ukraine won’t be abandoned by the EU.

Fantastic performance today, almost complete control, and (eventually) the result we deserved

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67722252 Accession talks to join the EU beginning for Ukraine (and Moldova). Orban has been one of the biggest blocks to that but apparently left the room while the decision happened.

Point away from home not the worst result. On to the next game.

Switching to claiming a lack of progress for Ukraine isn’t quite the stinging barb you think it is.

Extremely annoying to lose two points so late on. That said, most other seasons we’d have been challenging for the title with this form. Not impossible we’ll still get back to the automatics either. At the very least I’d be massively surprised if we dropped out of the playoff places from here.

Great win and the performance to match today, biggest threat to us was the match being abandoned due to fog!

Great goal, clean sheet against 12, and ten matches unbeaten. That’ll do

No easy games in the Championship, but that's definitely two points dropped. That said, there are worse positions to be in than being disappointed in 10 points from 12 on an unbeaten run of 9.

Gutting, great performance against one of the best teams in the country. Does at least suggest we won’t be out of place in the top flight when/if we get promoted.

Had to work for that one! Might have gone the other way on another day but today is ours! Perhaps most impressive is the change in mentality since last season in resilience and responding to any setbacks.

Clean sheet, win, and yet again showing we’ll push right to the end. We’re on a very very nice run of results now.

Gerrrrrrrrrin!

Properly decent performance and result there

The Kremlin has felt the need to deny the latest rumours about Putin being dead. Rumours of his death aren’t exactly unusual, but denials by the Kremlin are a lot less common, especially ones not delivered by Putin himself. Meanwhile a delegation from Hamas in Russia wasn’t allowed to meet Putin. Neither of those are anywhere near confirmation of course, but something is telling me not to immediately dismiss this one. Not just yet at least. He’s obviously not in perfect health and eventually it’ll actually turn out to be accurate.

I almost don’t care that we’ve dropped two points after that

What a save!

What a finish! With his weak foot!

There’s no negotiated settlement that will mean Russia wants Ukraine to continue to exist as an independent entity. The only reason any part of Ukraine is still free is that they fought for it, and Russia aren’t strong enough to force it to submit. Any kind of settlement would only delay Russia trying to do what it wants to do militarily, would allow them to attempt to recover from the losses Ukraine have inflicted on them, especially if it resulted in sanctions being lifted, and allow them to avoid having to expend more materiel just to hold on to what they have. There’s a reason it’s Russian voices and Russian mouthpieces that are calling for negotiation now, Ukraine has the stronger conventional military, with the balance of power continuing to tilt Ukraine’s way. Ukraine’s best (only?) chance of long term security is keep going and eventually make it impossible for Russia to continue.

It’s Russia that needs to consider what their end game is. All the time they continue staying in Ukraine, things are getting worse for them. The only option Russia have that will actually improve things for them is conceding.

Visual confirmation now of 24 helicopters destroyed in the first ATACMS strikes, 15 of which were KA-52s, out of an estimated 30-50 KA-52s still flying for Russia. Also they will now need to base far further away, resulting in far longer and riskier missions, more maintenance required using resources already restricted by sanctions, and less capacity to pose a threat due to additional fuel/time requirements.

His football days were before my time but obviously he’s a legend. Another of the 66 team gone It’s a very sad day today. RIP

That’ll do! Just!

Russian-occupied airfield in Berdyansk hit, official line says a SOF operation destroyed at least nine helicopters and various other military hardware. There's speculation it's the first use of ATACMS. Either way looks like being one of the worst days in Russian Air Force history.