shurlock

He is rarely beaten on the floor, has excellent pace and recovery skills and gets up and down the pitch, even if it's a case of quantity over quality. He's easily one of our best players, though that probably says more about the mediocrity of our squad.

Good lads

The EU dislikes the Swiss arrangement because it’s horribly complicated -the EU and Switzerland have over 120 bilateral agreements. These are invariably fragmented and piecemeal and often need to be updated with new agreements once market and regulatory conditions change. As if not more important, there is no enforcement mechanism for these agreements. The Swiss have long resisted the rule of foreign judges. This has been a huge matter of concern for the EU, though there are signs that the Swiss are softening their opposition - they have not totally rejected a recent EU proposal for a three-person arbitration panel that would see issues relating to EU law referred to the ECJ. https://www.ft.com/content/17d840b6-209b-11e8-a895-1ba1f72c2c11

Don’t really begrudge him a move - he’s kept his head down and worked hard when the 2016 Euros could have gone to his head. That said, doubt anyone’s come in with a serious offer.

What about those letterboxes and bank robbers then. Oh wrong thread - that thread doesn’t exist

Well, well, well, John and Ringo singing from a different songsheet.

Not really the point. Getting a striker who can score 10 league goals a season and create chances for others would be a massive upgrade on what we currently have.

Sounds pretty serious. ST is usually the last thing to go, especially after you’ve bought it.

How big is a ‘very substantial minority’? The success of Avi Gabbay says everything about the current state of the country and the left. Anecdotal as it is, I don’t know one Jewish friend or acquaintance over here who is critical of the Israeli government. I hear expressions that the situation is unfortunate (though often because the optics aren’t good) but that usually is the prologue to a far longer and more impassioned justification of the government’s actions. I even have friends who have swallowed every trope about Iran as the bogeyman -and these are otherwise educated and politically moderate people.

Good lad. Man U x2, City x1, Arsenal x1 and Spurs x1 were all decent performances.

Yes performances improved - there certainly was a step up in intensity and aggression. How far the change in formation mattered and whether any of this is sustainable, by contrast, are open questions. N.B. However bad Pellegrino was, he did manage to grind out decent performances against the bigger sides.

You realise that Hughes ppg haul was virtually indistinguishable from that of Pellegrino?

Gao's probably more concerned about his leveraged-to-the-eyeballs real estate empire.

So you don't have a view on the subject.

Clueless.

Why don't you think he's an antisemite?

Ralph made a big song and dance about learning from last season's mistakes - would like to know what concretely they are doing different this time around.

Les will pull a sickie?

Didn’t you get infracted for wetting your sammie saints underwear and calling our new CB a goggly pile of sh*te pal? That was even before seeing him kick a ball in anger

The big three. Box office.

But that’s much more difficult when the striker is incapable of holding and linking up play and/or creating space for others. Gabbi isn’t strong enough on the ball; Austin is immobile and technically limited. Your point is that there’s much of a muchness about strikers below the top 6. My point is that a decent striker offers much more than goals scored and there is still substantial variation in quality between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ strikers even among ones who aren’t banging in 15 goals a season. As a result, there’s still real scope to upgrade the position.

7th and 17th pal. You wouldn’t want to think Eurosport is sitting on the fence...

It’s not just about the goals - we don’t have a striker who can lead the line and bring others into play. Austin and Gabbi are too one-dimensional. Ironically Long probably does it best - despite being a woeful finisher. We might not find a 15 goals a season striker but surely we can find a player who can be a focal point for the attack while chipping in with a few goals. That’s not an unrealistic expectation.

Half-witted collectivism, innit.

Morning JJ, so you’re happy with free movement, ECJ jurisdiction, no regulatory autonomy, paying a substantial financial contribution - all things that Norway, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Iceland have variously signed up to. Good lad.