benjii

Well most of the booers are at least intelligent enough to realise that they have to tread very carefully. As with most things, the reality is that there will be a few people who think this is great and needs to be rapturously supported (to the point of "reporting" anyone visibly disagreeing - fucking hell!), a few people who get wound up by complicated thoughts but know they can't just say "I've had enough of these blacks" so need to try various sub-GCSE attempts at rationalising their own impotent anger, and the vast majority who probably think the spirit is laudable but the execution has become somewhat ineffective but really aren't going to get worked up one way or the other.

It was reported in press articles that he was on 150k at Everton and agreed to accept 75k here. That's 7.8m wages and transfer fee in total over the two years so much cheaper than signing someone for a fee of, say, 12 million and paying them 50k a week, but clearly there's no potential resale upside.

Otherwise he'd have to get bummed by a priest.

Cheers mush.

Still, good news now that a cup of bleach a day is starting to get the situation under control.

Like there's some sort of intrigue.... They reasoned they could spend, what, 30 quid a seat (?) as a one-off capital cost and then sell each one for 300 quid more multiple times. It's not complicated. Quite whether the market exists is another thing, and they may have over estimated the inertia of the current incumbents, but it's really not complicated to understand.

He's the oldest of our 4 centre backs, at 28 (Bednarek 25, Stephens 27, Salisu 22). Whilst he has some very good games and has improved a lot, we're not exactly watertight at the back. That's not his fault exclusively but, as others have said, he's certainly not indispensable and although his passing is great, we probably rely on it too much. If we get a good offer we should let him go and look to bring in someone with experience and leadership qualities to play with Salisu - surely there's someone knocking around Serie A or Bundesliga who can do a job and is obtainable. Teams will probably be happy to sell a 30 year old CB for a price we can afford. Obviously there will be limited resale value but it should be viewed as part of the investment in Salisu. Bednarek and Stephens as squad options are fine. The defence should be the priority this summer, even if Ings leaves. By my quick count we kept 9 clean sheets in the league this season just finished. So that's 29 matches where we needed to score 2 goals to have any chance of winning. Unless you've got an abundance of attacking talents you've got to be tighter than that. New CB leader. New left back. New right or left back for competition. Settled goal keeper. After that, it's a case of replacing any other leavers and, ideally, adding a physical central midfielder.

"Hissy fit"? I posed a question. He responded. I gave a response. No one was unpleasant or dramatic. Sorry if this is a bit much for you.

"Poor end". We've lost 15 of the last 21 league matches. That's one of the worst runs in PL history. We had a few dodgy decisions (Villa at home) but, still, we seem incapable of grinding out results. The good run we had at the start involved largely outperforming our XG. In other words, there is evidence that this run is our level and the early run was a purple patch. We scored lots of goals from set pieces and from outside the box. You can't rely on that. And for Villa at home there is Brighton away, where a ridiculous decision earned us 2 points. Could happen again, but I doubt it. We have stayed up because we've beaten the other bad teams enough this season but if the promoted three are better next season it will be very tough. It'll be a surprise if Ings is here next season. Maybe not Vest either. Bertrand is gone. So three signings, potentially, just to stand still. What happens if someone comes in for JWP? Reckon we'll fend them off? Plus still hamstrung in the goalkeeping department and an owner with zero drive, interest or motivation other than getting some cash back. I think we're a good bet for the drop.

Can anyone think of any?

No idea if that is Will's actual jab or a staged pic before or after. It wouldn't surprise me at all if some of the press photos of celebs / leaders etc getting jabbed were occasionally staged and not the actual injection as it occurs. There are numerous reasons why you just want to stage something for PR purposes without the risks inherent in an actual procedure. Similarly, it is not at all surprising if the press uses stock images to illustrate a story. Particularly when the press in question is shite like the Mail. Quite a big leap from there to "it's all a hoax" though.

Here's all the material you will ever need:

Yeah, crap defending and shit from McCarthy but that looked like one where the shoulder would be a cm offside. So where were the lines?!

Peephole Pringle?

I bet he'd like to block her passage. Eh? Eh?!

Armstrong has been doing so well in the centre but we wouldn't get away with him and Prowsey there on their own very often against the better sides. Next season perhaps we can go 4222 for the games we think we should win but 352 for the others with Romeu holding and JWP and Armstrong pushing forwards (with Diallo available as needed). None of our "10s", other than Armstrong have contributed much this season in goals and assists so I don't think we lose much by leaving one of them out. Of course, I'm assuming we don't sign someone amazing to play off the forwards.

Apart from the massive handball before their goal which for some reason the referees in our country have decided to interpret as not handball.

Oh, absolutely!

In fairness, it went up in the first place because Tesla bought a big chunk. Clearly the market is being manipulated here and I wouldn't be surprised if Musk does buy up again on the sly if the price drops further. I've invested about 400 pounds and my portfolio is currently worth 1,200 pounds, largely in Ethereum. If I lose the 400 it's no big deal to me but if Ethereum balloons in the way Bitcoin did then that 400 quid will cover the deposit on an investment property. Obviously people shouldn't be spaffing their life savings here but as an affordable gamble it seems stupid not to get involved, IMO.

The Tremendous Warfare Against Thickos Party. The Correcting Unfit National Tendencies Party.

USD35? Jog on, mush.

I believe the phrase is, "who the fuck is laughing now?"

Obafemi has a lot of potential, for sure, but Ralph never really seemed to trust him. Let's hope Obafemi can push on next year because I don't think he's done enough to persuade another PL team to sign him so he will end up sliding down the divisions if he's not careful. Adams, Obafemi plus Ings / good Ings replacement is a decent bunch of options, then you've got Tella as well, but you know the Ings replacement will be a young player with no PL experience so it would also be good if we could sign someone who's been around a bit to take some if the pressure up top. But I doubt we will.

On the basis you need more than one striker in your squad then clearly he is a useful player for us and his all round game can be very good. He was unlucky to get dropped at the time he was on a good run and had just scored his first international goal. People saying "move him on" are, unfortunately, pretty stupid. Ings will likely move on and we aren't going to be spending 50m on a pair of strikers so let's worry about replacing Ings before we start on Adams. In addition, we need two full backs, probably a centre back, and a central midfielder as bigger priorities. Adams really isn't a problem.

It's not quite that simple. There are lots of contentious calls in rugby union over scrums, for instance, and they can have a big impact on the match but: i) dissent is not tolerated; ii) for the big calls, they use video review properly and transparently. The thing that always gets me about football, is that it would be very easy to improve the respect and standing of referees and stamp out a lot of the basic cheating that goes on. Shout at a ref / lino - yellow card, no questions. Swear at ref / lino - yellow card, no question. Pick up or move the ball when your team has conceded a free kick or throw in before it has been taken - yellow card, no question. Delay a free kick or throw in being taken - yellow card, no question. Have a match clock on scoreboard to stop "he's played too much / not enough" controversy. Simple steps to improve discipline and create a culture of respect. It does my head in that players are allowed to concede a free kick then pick the ball up and run ten or twenty yards before lobbing it back. That's cheating and should be a yellow. Same as closing down a free kick. Yellow every time. The refs could actually implement these rules and they would find their lives would be getting easier.