egg

Yep, same experience for me. Getting on the ladder is significantly harder now. I bought my first house at 19 with no savings. Buying that house now, with the same salary but inflation adjusted, wouldn't be possible even with a 10-15% deposit. The situation is ridiculous and I cannot see how my kids will be able to buy without a huge handouts, and even then it'll be difficult.

Wig

Two years is too much. He's faded already this season for me, and at 32, he's only going one way. One year would have been more like it. That all said, he can offer something on the field, and seemingly a lot off it.

This keeps coming up. He has one.

So are you saying that only a defender can coach a defender, and only a winger can coach a winger? It's nonsense. Coaches can coach anyone. Goalkeepers spend their game watching the whole game and can offer loads as a coach. Indeed, on your Che Adams point, a keeper would have had the likes of Adams trying to finish past them which kind of helps when coaching the striker. Our coaches may or not be shit, but their playing position ain't the issue. Regardless, there's too many excuses given to Ralph. The other day it was the lack of investment, then the squad, now the coaches. It'll be the food in the canteen next. The buck stops with him.

First question. No. Just people from areas where the Indian variant was/is rife. We got there eventually, just too late albeit the Turkish corridor wasn't blocked, and the quarantine was/is a joke - people aren't bothering. Second question. Nobody has said the vaccines aren't working. They offer 80% efficacy, so they won't do the job for 1 in 5 people. Less cases = less chance of those people getting infected.

Yep, and it seems that the government are just keeping an eye on it which is fair enough. It'd be wrong to over react, and equally wrong to dismiss it as insignificant.

The number of unvaccinated people is going down, thus any increase in case numbers suggests a greater spread. If people choose not to get the vaccine and become infected, they won't get much sympathy from me, but if we're looking at 80% efficacy then more cases in circulation exposes more of the vaccinated people. That then exposes all of us to more restrictions which we need to see the back of for good. Had we been tighter on the borders, and properly enforced the quarantine, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

It'll be double that. Those 3 will be costing us £200k PW, or £10m a year in other words. Although the Forster contract extension was mental, the purchase of Gunn was really silly with the others on the payroll. I can't see who'd buy any of them.

Yep, he's decent.

Decent half. Neat and tidy everywhere. Good shift from Walcott, but we don't look threatening from out wide. Not sure why Ings has been benched, hard to see that it's a footballing decision unless he's carrying a knock.

That I do. I've been at work for months, seeing clients face to face, mixing with family and friends. Life's very much back to normal for me. On the rest of it, the numbers you posted showed an increase week on week. Subsequent lockdown easing is irrelevant to that - that increase happened during a period when rules hadn't changed. Sure, the tickle upwards may have been due to increased testing, but it's an indisputable fact that in a week when more people were vaccinated, more people tested positive. It's obvious why that would concern the government.

Weston's post referred to a week on week increase...no idea if he's right, but that's what he wrote. Assuming he's right, it ain't going in the right direction - it's pretty obvious that increased vaccinations should equate to reduced cases.

There's the issue Weston. With the vaccinations we've done, there shouldn't be a week on week rise, cases should be going down. If people want to limit this, they'll argue that it's just down to more testing, but if you look at raw stats, it's an increase that shouldn't be happening. People can be as flippant as they want, but the trend ain't going the right way. The jab isn't 100% effective and the more cases in circulation, we'll see more vaccinated people coming a cropper. They'll also be less confidence amongst some of those vaccinated. Those are the issues. Aintforever is saying what people don't want to hear. He ain't wrong though.

Decent, but Leeds form over the last 8 games is more impressive. Gonna be a decent game tonight, loads of goals - I fancy us 3-2

Manic

JWP just ahead of Armstrong for me. His consistency just nudges it.

Spot on. Minamino and Redmond help our midfield big time. One or both of them tucking inside is even more important with Armstrong making runs forward from deep, and KWP pushing so high up.

I'd go with that starting 11. Interesting to see if we go with the tweaked formation like last time. If so, Armstrong on the right will be vital and I'd imagine very well suited to the role.

Nobody is advocating hand outs to stay here...but nobody's life is gonna be adversely impacted if they holiday in Cornwall rather than Benidorm...the cultural education may do them the world of good.

But what's the motivation for doing that? On the main part, I'm with you and Weston. If the vaccine is resistant to this strain, and the new strain not particularly harmful to the age groups who haven't been vaccinated, then there's no issue. No way should we have any restrictions to protect the divs who refuse the vaccine. It's on them if they get fucked up through their choice.

Yep, there's a reason life is normal in Australia and NZ, but not so here. We went to the Isle of Wight last year and will go again this year. I'd prefer Italy, but it isn't the end of the world and I'd rather focus on what we can do, than what we can't.

And why might the government welcome that "coincidence"? Do you think Boris gets all excited about the prospect of another round of furlough, grants, loans, and lost tax revenues? It's obvious to anyone sensible that he wants this shit over as much as the rest of us.

Are you actually saying you believe that there's no covid? I'm still waiting on your theory on the towers...you at least accept they ain't there anymore I hope.

Booby