benjii

It's luck as much as anything. We were better than Leicester are now two years ago and we finished 8th. They have shown any bunch of cloggers can do exceptionally well if extremely lucky. We could finish anywhere. I would expect Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and City as a minimum to finish above us jest season. Chelsea is hard to predict - not sure how Conte will do. I agree that City won't suddenly be amazing overnight but they should still finish high with the offensive players they have. Something like 7th to 10th is now "par". If we got a couple of great signings in we could go higher (West Ham absent Payet is not really very good) and if we have a bad run or mess up we could easily finish in the bottom half.

Huth could catch the ball and throw it up to Vardy who can dive on the edge of the oppo box for a penalty. Wouldn't be surprised at all!

I actually knew this the other day but I am not a blabbermouth so kept it to myself. #itk

The amount of fouls committed by Leicester in their own box which have gone unpunished this season is staggering. They couldn't really have had any more luck on the pitch or with injuries. And they get to play before Spurs pretty much every round between now and the end of the season which is very unfair IMO. Well worth a punt on relegation next season though, I reckon.

Dave has done nothing wrong, legally or morally, in relation to his tax. I think that much is now obvious to all but the most rabid, myopic and ignorant. Where he messed up was in giving "clever" answers when the story broke. That may have been partly an emotional response to his father being mentioned but it was a mistake nonetheless. I presume there are some far more interesting and substantive stories to come from this leak - the most interesting part of this story is the turning down of the taxpayer funded £20k allowance by the PM - so let's hope the press move on to one of those soon enough.

In all seriousness, Carroll should go to the Euros (if he's fit). A squad is about having a balance of attributes and he offers something that is different to our other strikers and a very useful "Plan B" if you need a goal urgently.

Well, would you like to explain what tax Cameron has avoided? The answer has nothing to do with right or left wing. It would just be nice if the people reporting this story, and by extension those reading it, actually knew what they were talking about. As the article says, the nebulous answers given to questions by Cameron were stupid because now he looks dodgy. When, in fact, nothing dodgy at all has gone in. This is nothing like a convoluted avoidance scheme. The isn't funneling UK income through various routes to keep it away from HMRC. This was a capital investment. Tax was paid on the income. Simple. So, exactly as the article says, bad spin. That's it.

Excellent article. My thoughts exactly.

In hindsight, and given how well things have gone in the last six years, that's ****ing funny.

I would suggest that pontificating over queues at airports and technological implementation of border control technologies is somewhat missing the bigger issues at stake.

I have a pair of Barkers which cost about £130. I've had them six years and still wear them regularly. They have been re-soled about three times, I think, which costs around £70 independently (ie. at somewhere like French and Sons). To be honest, if I buy a £50 pair of shoes from M&S or Samuel Windsor, I'm unlikely to pay for re-soling or the like and the leather is unlikely to wear as well - so you're looking at probably a year or so of use. I don't think the more expensive shoes are a false economy if you are prepared to look after them over time (based on my continued use of the Barkers). I'm not sure I would pay much more than the £100 mark though. Churches etc. are more like £300 I thought?

An interesting piece: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/05/yanis-varoufakis-why-we-must-save-the-eu The conclusion is somewhat baffling (I don't find that it follows at all from the, essentially, narratively drawn premises) and Mr Varoufakis may not be everyone's cup of Ouzo but there are some interesting (if taken at face value) insights into the attitude of the EU power brokers. In particular, this quote attributed to the German Finance Minister: “Elections cannot be allowed to change an economic programme of a member state!"

The freedom of movement thing is a nonsense. Complete non-issue in terms of travel convenience. That's down to the general attitude of the host country, not political/economic union. I went to Rwanda on a day's notice a few years ago. Got off the plane, went to passport control, gave the name of my hotel and reason for visit, contact number, passport stamped. No advance Visa, no hassle. Took two minutes. I'm sure people will be able to nip to Brussels or have a week in Majorca easily enough if we leave the EU. I've decided over the last couple of days that I will definitely vote out. The EU is an utter mess and will collapse in alarming fashion in coming years anyway, I expect. The argument that "stay" is a vote for continuity or stability is short-termist and cowardly. My main concern is that our politicians will botch the leaving process and sign lots of silly agreements and treaties which just curtail us. But they will also do that if we stay. Leave, please.

Leicester commit fouls in their box in nearly every match and they never get given. It's one of the reasons they are where they are. This is one of the weirdest seasons ever. Dross like Watford, Bournemouth and West Brom staying up comfortably; West Ham in with a chance of fifth purely because they've got someone who is good at free-kicks; and a team about as good as a team that would typically finish about eighth is going to win the league and has refereeing immunity. Bizarre. We've been crap on numerous occasions, far worse than last season IMO, and yet we should still have a good finishing position. The quality really is dreadful this season. Unfortunately, we didn't capitalise.

If Mane has a good game he could be the key player. You would think he could roast Huth and Morgan if we can get him running at them.

I thought you favoured Minford's free-market approach?

Patrick Minford! Christ, blast from the past. Some of his peers thought he was behind the times fifteen years ago when I dealt with him. That's not to say they were right and he was wrong but he has been staunchly anti-Europe for decades. Personally, I wouldn't listen to any macroeconomist on this subject. You'll be able to find one who agrees with you, whatever it is you think.

Yes. Drinkwater does a certain job but I think his technique is lacking for international level. First touch and passing not good enough. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Shelvey is going to be an international star but he does offer more in terms of passing ability from what I've seen of the two. I'm not a massive Henderson fan but if we want to play high-tempo, like against Germany, then he is useful - he covers a lot of ground (despite his suspicious gait).

So if I had to pick the 23 now I would go with: Hart Forster Butland/Heaton (depending on fitness) Clyne Walker Bertrand Shaw / Rose (if Shaw not fully fit) Smalling Cahil Stones Dier Carrick Henderson Wilshire (the Ox if he's not fit) Lallana Alli Sterling Barkley Rooney Welbeck Kane Vardy Carroll I wouldn't bother with Milner, Delph or Sturridge. Sturridge doesn't have the right temperament and if we're taking a third or fourth choice striker to come off the bench then sod it, let's take Carroll in case we want to go direct. If Carrick is too out-there then Shelvey instead. No point taking a fourth centre back either when: i) it won't be very good and ii) Dier or Bertrand could play there if need-be.

I was being slightly optimistic with the forwards, of course, and I assumed Jay Rod would be fit but we are on target for over 50 goals and a top 8 finish so I wasn't far wrong. In a way, I was absolutely correct.

He does make a lot of mistakes but the good aspects to his game generally make up for most of the mistakes when you look at the overall contribution.

It was a good performance but Germany looked pretty half-arsed and still should have been 3-0 up. Encouraging match but the usual over the top optimism is comical. We have the opportunity to develop a decent enough team but, as people have mentioned, when the tournament cones around various over-rated no-marks will be squeezed into the team and we won't have the bottle to execute a coherent game plan.

He's better than Vardy, much more reliable than Sturridge and has proven to be pretty effective for England. That's why. The Spurs lads are making the Liverpool ones look pretty average. If Henderson was half the player he thinks he is England would actually have a decent team.

What position? Sorry about the swearing, I know you're a delicate thing. I'm not defending anyone. I think all religious nutters are utter fools and violent ones are scum. It's just that what you just wrote is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.

No one is going to defend what sounds like a disgusting and inexcusable crime. It maybe a good idea to wait until someone is actually convicted and the motivation is known before suggesting it has any sort of relevance whatsoever to this thread though. That would also make you look like less of a thick ****.