benjii

I think he has missed two matches due to "head issues" and, in my opinion, he hasn't give his all in a number of matches. It started around the time of the league cup match against Villa. There were numerous occasions in the second half when he just strolled back instead of tracking their midfield runners. On his day he is good but he's not worth pandering to excessively. The only worry I have is that we don't get any decent offers for him this summer and we have to watch him being even less bothered next season as his contract runs down.

There is something quite sinister about the "stay" argument that if we leave we are going to get screwed over by the remaining members. We're not trying to screw anyone, just potentially to reflect the result of a plebiscite. But apparently if we vote "out", our lives will be made miserable by a group of 27 countries pursuing vindictive policies. It's a strange sort of club that is akin to the mafia or a drug cartel when it comes to leaving it. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave....

Trump is an utter buffoon, but Cruz is a nasty man. I am Sanders, then Stein, then Clinton, then Bloomberg but I'm more Trump than Cruz!

I think the question is fundamentally quite simple and boils down to a choice between economic stability (relative) in the short/medium term and the fundamental principles that you want the country governed by (which is a much longer term argument). I think the economic question clearly favours remaining and those that argue it does not have not come up with any convincing empirical or deductive argument that I can see. I think the argument from principles clearly favours leaving. The European Union is not a good organisation, open borders is a stupid idea when there are large wealth disparities between the countries, rules are frequently flouted on political whim (see Greece's admission to the Euro, for example), sovereignty is ceded, "ever closer unity" seems to have irreversible momentum etc... So, to me, it's a question of conviction largely, not economics. If the leave campaign can convince me the economic pain will not be so material as to render miserable a vast swathe of my life and other people's lives then I think it makes sense to lean towards "leave".

It is quite interesting. Italia 90, Euro 92, Euro 96, France 98 and even Jap/Korea 02, I had proper passion for England. But, in the last ten years or so, it really has wilted. On the whole, the players are not likeable. The managers are uninspiring. There is no identity to the team. I'm not sure exactly why that has happened. I think it's partly the management determination to stick with proven failures, the triumph of celebrity over team, the refusal to acknowledge that poor players aren't very good and plan accordingly. I think, on the whole, it is that. It's obstinacy. It's failure to recognise that a vast swathe of the squad is completely ill-equipped for international tournament football and we have been persistently lucky with easy qualifying groups. We need to recognise this and do something about it. Obviously there's FA chance of the FA doing anything useful though.

No, **** Leicester. Skanky, undeserving fluke merchants

Let's see how many Vardy scores over several seasons. Beattie got 23 league goals in 02/03 but either side of that he got 12 and 14. I suspect Vardy will end up in similar territory. PS. Leicester to go down next season.

Plus a red card - good chance we might have done. We had three penalty shouts in that match (handball by Lovren as well as the two fouls on Djuricic) and the first two ought to have been a red card as well. Plus a possible red for Mignolet's handball that wasn't given. Friend did as much as he possibly could to ensure we got a worse result than we might otherwise have done.

It's an ego thing with Clattenberg. He referees the match 99% of the time better than any other of the current referees IMO but he can't resist making "big" decisions for the attention. Jon Moss is the complete opposite. He referees most of the match badly, getting loads of minor decisions wrong and issuing cards seemingly at random. The three worst challenges in our match at the weekend were by Swansea players yet they got no yellow cards. What he doesn't do is give "big" decisions unless he is absolutely clear on them (whereas Clattenberg wants to show what a visionary he is). On the Yoshida incident: it was clumsy and could have been given however Moss should have given us a free kick for the foul on Fonte immediately before so it would have been a travesty if they had got the pen.

They have the worst pass accuracy in the league, the second lowest possession and the second lowest passes per game. They get 10 men behind the ball then whack it up to Vardy. For some reason they get away with numerous fouls in their own box. They've been very lucky and very skanky and have been fortunate to combine that with a striker on a huge hot streak. The reason they are where they are is down to a high shot conversion rate. Basically, the Prem is so weak that an in-form striker can carry a team to top 4. We saw that with 'pool and Suarez before. http://goal91.com/soccer-zone/leicester-have-the-lowest-passing-accuracy-in-the-league-and-are-19th-in-terms-of-average-possession-and-passes-per-game-plus-other-stats---5495.html Good for them but a rank indictment on English football if they achieve anything.

Glad Arsenal won. Leicester seem to have immunity from penalty decisions. They commit a blatant one pretty much every time I watch them and get away with it. Their dour anti-football has no place near the top of the league. Spurs to win, Arsenal second. The funny thing being that Spurs were probably better when they finished fourth under Redknapp than they are now but Poch will end up looking like a genius.

Is he on that Index? Buy, buy, buy!

And now he books Classie for the exact same foul he ignored a minute ago! ****ing joke!

How the **** can Moss book Romeu for nothing and then not book Ayew or Cork. Useless ****.

Disgusting attacking display. Absolutely rank. Not sure what Koeman is thinking with this selection. Pelle is a complete waste of a shirt and Davis is not a wing-back; he can't tackle, he can't win 50/50s and he can't go on the over/under lap. Get Pelle off and get Mane on. Get Cedric on for Davis or Romeu (yellow card!).

I don't eat a meal between 15:00 and 17:00 so I couldn't care less what food options there are.

A few things: 1) Men's tennis is interesting. Women's tennis is dire but sometimes worth watching for aesthetic reasons. 2) I generally think Clattenberg is one of the better refs (Mason and Friend, for example, are habitually worse), however on occasions he can't keep his ego in control and this results in decisions made for the purpose of attracting attention. This inevitably leads to inconsistencies. I didn't think their penalty appeal in the first half was a pen at all and it didn't even make the MotD highlights but that is precisely the sort of decision he might occasionally give to prove what a visionary he is so, in a way, we were lucky. 3) Payet's spastic-attack was embarrassing. 4) I don't know why the governing bodies don't issue a strict edict at the start of the season that dissent (which includes hounding and shouting at the ref, even if not the accused party oneself - ie. what Noble et al were up to) will be a yellow card every time. It is quite within the authorities to stop intimidation and abusive language within the existing rules so goodness knows why they don't. They must think the players are just too uncouth and matches will end up 8-a-side all the time. 5) West Ham is a nasty little club which has won precisely zero major trophies since 1980 so goodness knows why its fans seem to have such a big opinion of themselves, particularly when there are clearly much bigger clubs in the capital.

Indeed. If you want a sausage in a long roll in Brazil you must ask for a "hodgy dodge".

Easy win really, even if we did sit off them. West Ham had one meaningful attack all match and that was from a soft Clattenberg-special free-kick. It never felt like they would score. Our 5-2-3 should have been changed to a 5-3-2 sooner, I thought. In a way, the league positions of us as and them are pretty clear indictments of the ****-poor premier league. Both teams have glaring weaknesses but on balance we should be above them.

That's a good way of showing it up to be rubbish. It predicts that Liverpool will do SIGNIFICANTLY better than Leicester and Spurs in the remaining matches. That is palpable nonsense. It thinks Bournemouth will get only 3 more points, whilst Villa will get 11. Mental. Even more mental, it thinks Villa will perform at the same level as Saints in the remaining games. In fact, Bournemouth are the only team that it thinks will do worse than us. As others have said, no system is perfect, but whatever was used to generate this will obviously be shown to be wildly deficient.

Was it like this? [video=youtube_share;_f4XZOmvTsY]http://youtu.be/_f4XZOmvTsY

"Being without Adam Hammill was like Real Madrid being without Ronaldo". Re Isgrove, glad he's getting matches and doing OK. He should have a fair career in League One and maybe the odd season in the Champ.

I've been saying for weeks that Spurs will win the league. An injury to Kane would ruin that but they are more consistent and solid than City or Arsenal.

Sorry, item 3 should say 6th or 7th will qualify, depending on whether item 2 has happened.

Isn't it this: 1) 5th qualifies for Europa. 2) If one of the top 5 wins the League Cup then 6th will qualify for Europa. 3) If one of the top 5, or top 6 if item two happens, win the FA Cup then 7th will qualify for the Europa. You would have to think there is a pretty good chance of 2) happening given City have to beat Liverpool in the final and City will certainly finish in the top 5. You would also have to think there is a pretty good chance of item 3 happening although Chelsea's league position counts against that as, on their day, they are still one of the top two teams. Hopefully City can knock them out in the next round. Obviously there are outliers but, in the last 10 years, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City have won the FA Cup 7 times. Liverpool won it in 05/06 and they finished third in the league then. When the Skates won it they finished 8th which is a relative outlier. Wigan won it the other time, which was a genuine exception. So, in summary, I reckon 6th is very likely to get a team into Europa and 7th is also pretty likely. We should be targeting 6th place now - this Saturday's match is a real big one for the club. West Ham have Norwich then Sunderland after this weekend so you would think anything other than a win will make it very hard for us to finish higher than we are now. Having said that, another injury to Payet and they become a very ordinary side again.