benjii

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.

Fair play to the United fans. MUFC should get a points deduction for this.

Thinking about the 9-0, Bertrand shouldn't have been sent off. You can't play advantage and subsequently give a red card unless it was a clear goal scoring opportunity. Therefore, seeing as Leicester went on to score but it wasn't a clear goal scoring opportunity when Bertrand committed the foul, VAR shouldn't have got involved.

Anyone think it might be Redmond at left wing back and a 352? Still begs the question why Salisu isn't getting match time though.

500/1 on the 0-9 and Vardy and Iheanacho to score.

I'm not sure people are advocating a radically different starting XI anyway, just a willingness to switch up the style when things aren't working during a match. We are absolutely useless at building pressure late on in a game, evidenced by our goal stats. I know it's basic stuff but if we're getting nowhere, at least try going more direct or getting crosses in from deeper or something. We never do anything to unsettle the opposition other than the press, but that doesn't work when you have the ball and are chasing the game.

Who let Gordon Ramsey take over Derek's account?

Indeed. The only people who will be interested in buying us are chancers / charlatans / Walter Mitty types (Gao, those Yanks at Burnley etc.) or mega billionaires / state investment funds. Sadly, the former are more common than the latter. Clearly the Saudis were keen on a club but if they can get approval they'll just go back to Newcastle and, frankly, who wants to be owned by a country? Our best hope is Craig David doing a Dr Dre. There is no sensible business reason whatsoever for anyone to buy a middling Premier League football club.

Why don't the defending team do more to distract the attacking team? It's so prosaic. Have someone mincing around flamboyantly next to the wall, or flailing around like batshit hollering at the taker, or running up and down in front of the goal, doing burpees, or something. They could do a lot more. And it would be funny.

The absolute nerve of people to complain about the ESL then try to destroy Scottish football the next week.

There were clear signs that we were over-achieving before. It wasn't just "the system" that was responsible for our good form - we scored an unusual number of goals from outside the box (more than anyone else over the last couple of years, I think), Ings was on a ridiculous streak and JWP was sticking the ball on Vest's head from corners and into the back of the net from free kicks. All those things, with the possible exception of the goals from corners were likely to diminish rather than improve or remain constant. I agree with the point MLG is implying above - our squad is a bottom half squad with zero depth at full back and centre midfield. So, all in all, we are about par but the current run needs to be arrested. No goals in the last 25 minutes for 19 games is it? That's absolutely terrible. Ralph seems incapable of affecting a game positively, once it has kicked off.

Fuck! That's hard to get one's head around.

I feel like shit today. But it's probably not the vid, cos I've had two jabs. Still feel shit though.

I was right!

Chelsea about to withdraw apparently.

The issue is that these people have shown they don't care one jot for the game, only about their own financial success. So if a compromise is reached now, they'll be pushing for more in 5 years. They'll want fewer PL matches. They'll want to play in USA and China. And so on. Either way, when resources are concentrated in a few people, and those people are cultural terrorists with no concern for the rest of the pack, the writing is on the wall. The PL, FA and government need to bite the bullet now and do something for the long term. The current football business model is unsustainable. A 51% fan ownership law would be hilarious. Effectively nationalising half of the clubs from under the noses of these cunts. The tax payer would need to compensate them, or the country would be a banana republic, and that would stink but would hopefully preserve (or, more accurately, restore) some integrity in the game in the long run.

Maybe the Premier League, FA and government shouldn't have allowed the clubs to be sold off to oligarchs, leveraged buy outs and absolute monarchs. This is a case of the game reaping what it has sown. A bubble bursting. Any other such metaphor you like. This is cultural terrorism from a footballing Taliban that cares for nothing but power and money. And they were welcomed in.

No doubt. The financial impact on the other clubs will be disastrous, unless there are large handouts from the "Super" clubs. Clubs rely on a TV deal to survive and that deal will be massively diminished in value. Good chance of clubs folding on the back of this.

I'd be furious if I was Adams. He's been our best striker this season.

Get Adams on for Redmond.