benjii

Not too fussed, would rather give a few youngsters a go and keep others fresh for Wednesday. Obviously we should try to get something but I look at it as an opportunity to try a few things. I would maybe pick: ------------------------------------------------Stek-------------------------------------------- Martina------------------Van Dijk----------------------Yoshida-------------------------Targett -------------------------------Romeu---------------Clasie-------------------------------------- -McQueen-------------------------------Juanmi-----------------------------------Hesketh-- ------------------------------------------Long-------------------------------------------------- Bench: Gazza, Cedric, Caulker, Davis, Mane, Seager, JWP

I was sad to hear of his passing too. Such a weird accident! What are the chances?

Exactly, and these are the sorts of fouls that referees should recognise and sanction accordingly. Mason didn't have a clue.

I reckon he will shaft us, to be honest!

Mason's use of, or failure to use, yellow cards was just downright suspicious. No reall explanation at all other than favouring Stoke. And we had a clear penalty refused.

No it isn't. What does that even mean? Pretty **** effort if killing 120 people is supposed to bring the downfall of western civilisation. It is part of a recruitment drive perpetrated by brainwashed morons but orchestrated by people concerned with their power bases in the middle east. It is supposed to provoke a reaction. Every right thinking person knows it is wrong and sympathises with all victims of this sort of thing. What is certainly not needed is a festival of grief that actually smacks more of fear than anything else IMO.

Ian Holloway just said we tried to sign him for £5million when Holloway managed him. He said he wished, for Phillips I think, they had let him go but the chairman wasn't interested in selling. Not sure if a concrete bid has been reported before.

What a badly written letter. It smacks of someone promoted beyond their capabilities. The kind of thing some ex-military dunce like that bloke on The Apprentice would come out with.

So what's the criteria? It smacks to me of a mawkish desire to be seen to do something coupled with, frankly, fear. As you correctly say, we are only doing this because it was relatively close to home - so we are acknowledging its impact. The best message is to just carry on without this pompous grandstanding. And your point about childbirth, despite it being made fatuously, is a very good one. That is something the world could do a lot about fairly easily. Stopping a handful of nutters with guns is virtually impossible. So despite couching your post in block-headed and obnoxious tones you are quite right. And if we absolutely must indulge in some sort of tokenism pre-match then let's do something sensible. Not play a song that no one understand and is, itself, a bloodthirsty call to arms of which ISIS would be proud.

Exactly. This shows we (or at least an idiotic institution) are(is) affected. It shows that people will behave weirdly and without any obvious application of rationality as a result of the attacks. Frankly, it makes them look rattled. It will hardly be a show of defiance - it will be people shuffling around uncomfortably waiting for it to finish so we can get on with the match. There might be a few "hon he hons" hummed along, as it's quite a nice tune. I am also livid that my beret, stripy jumper and onions-round-the-neck tribute will be overlooked.

Absolutely ridiculous and not something I want to be a part of at all. Let's play the Yemeni anthem, the Russian anthem, the Nigerian anthem, the Malian anthem, the Kenyan anthem, the Chinese anthem, the Somali anthem, the Ukrainian anthem, the Indian anthem, the US anthem, the Australian anthem, the Central African Republic anthem, the DRC anthem etc....

A Chinese Burn can be tremendously funny.

#prayforstpetersburg

Twitter?

Obviously what happened in Paris was awful (although more people died in the Russian plane bombing and I didn't see swathes of Russian flags adorning Facebook photos and people falling over themselves to be silent or post trite quotes from Mandela or Ghandi or whatever then, but anyway, that's another topic....) but it is quite easy to fall into the trap of ego-centralising this whole issue. The "west" is largely untouched by ISIS. You see phrases like, "they hate us - they want to destroy our way of lives etc..". Do people honestly believe the ISIS commanders view the annihilation of western civilisation as remotely possible or plausible? ISIS have persecuted far greater (in volume) crimes against Muslims who they think are "bad Muslims" and minorities in the middle east. The genocide of the Yazidi, for example. This is not, "them against us"; we are collateral damage. France and Russia appear to have been targeted due to their recent activities in the region. These were tactical attacks. They are not premised on abstract dogma - at least not amongst the commanders (you obviously need a supply of indoctrinated foot soldiers willing to die to perpetrate these things). The portentous and, frankly, ridiculous language of a great war, of a clash of civilizations between east and west is moronic. That doesn't mean some tactical military intervention is not justified but we should be quite clear: if we go into Syria and Iraq our objective has to be for the people of that region. It is not for our own ends because if we protect ourselves the problems will not go away. We are not the real target and, although it is horrible and my heart aches for those affected, a few hundred civilian deaths every now and then is hardly going to bring down the west or western values. What might, is if enough Westerners start behaving like stupid children. We can negotiate? Not really. It is not within our gift to ensure that "deviant" sects of Islam adhere to the Salafist Sunni creed. That's what they (ISIS) want first of all. They would probably be quite happy if there was a global caliphate but the true power-holders in these organisations are not stupid enough to believe that can possibly happen any time soon (if ever). What's the answer? I don't know but I know we have more chance of getting there eventually if reason defeats hyperbole.

They have a good keeper and a solid back four but they are not very cohesive as an attacking unit and rely on their support players to pull something out of the bag. Against Chelsea their midfield and attack lined up like this: ------------------Whelan-------------Adam---------------------- Shaqiri------------------Bojan---------------Arnautovic ----------------------------Walters------------------------------ It was quite easy for Chelsea to play through them and get space between the lines. That support three aren't the most combative and intense without the ball and Adam is fat and slow (and hopefully the ref doesn't let him get away with having anything within five yards all match). As long as we close them down around the box I can see us having a lot of joy against them. 4-1 Saints.

They will just be going, "der der, der de der der de derr, de de derr de derr". Obviously.

On the plus side, it's good to know that most people don't support mass murder of random citizens. I was in doubt but thank goodness for Facebook and Twitter so people can be quite emphatic about their posititons on this. I'm off to change my profile to the Nigeria flag in solidarity against Boko Haram.

I'm not a massive fan of Hodgson but the players available simply aren't very good. The likes of Milner, Delph, Jones, Walker, Dier wouldn't get anywhere near the Spain squad. Our only chance in the tournament is to go very defensive and try to hit teams on the break because one thing the squad does have in abundance when everyone is fit is pacy attackers. Having a **** easy qualifying group doesn't really lend itself to developing a tactical plan because we can just turn up and muddle through.

Even at his peak, Lambert never really caused the better teams any problems, other than occasionally with set pieces. He was simply too imobile and lacking in agility. He was very easy for good defenders to marshall. That's not to say he wasn't brilliant, overall for us - of course he was. But he was never, by any stretch, an elite player.

Rumours he slipped her a couple of digits likely to be ill-founded.

Whatever people think of Cortese, he delievered on the brief pretty emphatically. One thing he seems to have been particularly good at was making the right appointments. Pardew, Reed, Adkins, Pochettino..... They all did well and they all delivered. This is an area his predecessor failed pretty miserably in, with one exception. Now, he had good resources but it still took drive, ambition and ability to turn the club round. He did it. It seems as though he wanted unfettered executive authority and clearly that isn't going to be acceptable to most shareholders so he made his own position untenable. He may also have been a bit of an arse but that hardly makes him unique in football. I don't understand why anyone would have a polarised opinion on him. He did an excellent job but had a limited shelf-life and, unless you wanted new owners, it is right that he has now moved on. I don't understand vitriol, unless you have been personally wronged by him. Even then, it doesn't detract from the job he did in general.

I would hardly say it is straightforward to count back to a league cup match four years ago. It makes much more sense to look at recent away matches rather than competition-specific trips like that. If Saints allocated tickets in that way it would draw a lot of comment on here. And you are correct about the Brighton point but I wanted to illustrate, in bombastic fashion, the (in my opinion) surprisingly anachronistic criteria. I should have picked the Exeter match though because they are more ****e and small than Brighton and it was also a long time ago.

The Liverpool criteria for buying tickets to this match is quite interesting! http://www.liverpoolfc.com/tickets/tickets-availability Didn't go to Brighton away on 21 September 2011? Forget it!!! * * * 1 Season Ticket Holders, Members and Fan Card Holders who recorded Bournemouth (17.12.14) AND Chelsea (27.01.15)Buy online or at the Ticket Office from 8.15am Wednesday 11 November. Supporters who purchase during this sale are guaranteed a ticket. On Sale Soon [h=5] 2 Season Ticket Holders, Members and Fan Card Holders who recorded 7 or more of the following games: Exeter (24.08.11), Brighton (21.09.11), Stoke (26.10.11), Chelsea (29.11.11), Manchester City (11.01.12), WBA (26.09.12), Manchester United (25.09.13), Bournemouth (17.12.14), and Chelsea (27.01.15)[/h]Buy online or at the Ticket Office from 8.15am Thursday 12 November. Supporters who purchase during this sale are guaranteed a ticket. On Sale Soon [h=5]3. Season Ticket Holders, Members and Fan Card Holders who recorded 6 or more of the following games: Exeter (24.08.11), Brighton (21.09.11), Stoke (26.10.11), Chelsea (29.11.11), Manchester City (11.01.12), WBA (26.09.12), Manchester United (25.09.13), Bournemouth (17.12.14), and Chelsea (27.01.15)[/h]Buy online or at the Ticket Office from 8.15am Friday 13 November. Tickets purchased during this sale are subject to availability.

Martin O'Neill is buying his house. Paul Hart as live-in caretaker.