Lighthouse

Like it but a definite whiff of the 2003-05 kit. Probably quite apt.

Pretty sure it was at least 2 when we took him on loan, which was basically a transfer in all but name as we were guaranteed to sign him. In any case, we aren’t going to get £30m for him now.

I call this the inverse straw-man argument; when people try to argue against the polar opposite, as if it's a binary choice between those two options. Not only is Djenepo not consistent, he is inert and stationary at the other end of the scale, no closer to being a PL quality player than the day he arrived.

It’s not so much about age as it is his development and there just isn’t any. You could have written that post about any League 2 player the same age, you can’t just cling on to them and hope they improve, based on no actual evidence on the pitch.

This is a copy and paste of all the things we said about Boufal (minus the bit about it being four different managers’ fault for not playing him correctly). The fact is that in two years he just hasn’t shown any progression or development at all. He looks no better a player now than he did in 2019.

I’d take any reasonably good offer, just seems like the next Gaston/Boufal to me.

Your theory being that when a big club comes in and offers you a potential pay rise, the best strategy is to suddenly start putting in substandard performance and an unprofessional attitude?

No, we were briefly top of the League after the Newcastle game, which was Walcott's third appearance (and second win) for us. Half the reason we were top of the league then was three consecutive wins in games Walcott DIDN'T play any part in; Burnley, West Brom and Everton. We're no better with him in the team than without.

Every time I read about Theo being some great help to our younger players, I have to wonder just how dreadful our youth team coaching must be. If watching a player who runs head down into blind alleys and tackles and has no composure in front of goal is somehow an improvement, what on Earth were we teaching them before?

It still is a no brainier of a deal. If he’d stayed he wouldn’t be the player is now. He’d be a mediocre reserve LB, probably not a lot better than Valery and we wouldn’t have Che Adams’ goals. I don’t care if Targett wins next season’s Ballon D’Or, that deal will always be a good one for Saints.

Right, well when Ralph gets the chance to manage Antonio, Coufal, Soucek, Rice, Yarmolenko, Fornals, Bowen, Lanzini, Benramha and Lingard I’ll be inclined to agree with you.

There’re other sh*t clubs in this league and a lot can depend on recruitment. Look at how West Ham bounced back from last season’s relegation fight, you never know.

The thing is, there are plenty of questions about Palace and their squad/manager. Villa look hopeless without Maddison, so if he goes they could have issues. Wolves if Nuno leaves.... Brighton are nothing special, Burnley and Newcastle are equally short of investment. Every years people say something like this. We’ll almost certainly be down there but likely in good company.

That’s putting it mildly. He palmed the ball out harder than the initial shot came in.

Russia occupied most of Eastern Europe until 30 years ago, are awash with racist homophobes and they still get plenty of votes from the public. TBH it’s arrogant thinking that the rest of Europe actually gives a flying f**k about Brexit when voting for a bloody karaoke contest. Nobody hates us, we just don’t have any real friends. If the Isle of Wight had a separate vote, like Cyprus, we’d get 12 points straight off the bat. Likewise we don’t have half of France and Belgium made up of ‘ethnic Brits’ like most of the Balkan and East European countries. Amanda f**king Holden though, stood there looking like mutton, saying, "hey good evening in Dutch/French, I don’t have a clue which is which, lol" ... good grief.

Didn’t realise Liam Bridcutt was the Imps captain. He scored Sunderland’s second most hilarious own goal in the 8-0, although I’d still give it to Pellè personally.

It’s not semantics, they’re two completely different issues. The minimum wage is there to stop cowboy outfits from stuffing their warehouses and stores with Romanians and Bulgarians earning £1 per hour and to make sure you’re not just better off sat at home on the dole than actually doing a days work. You're conflating people on minimum wage (7% of the UK working population) with a pay rise for anyone who’s not the CEO (basically 99% of the population).

Minimum wages and ‘the’ minimum wage aren’t the same thing. Big companies in the US are increasing their minimum wages to counter a short term labour shortage and maintain their own profits.

None of my posts had anything to do with the minimum wage.

I hope not, I never take any loose change to St Mary’s these days.

No, you can do whatever you like. If you want to set up a company and pay your staff more than your competitors, whilst paying your key decision makers less than all your competitors, then be my guest.

Pay CEOs less so that the best ones p*ss off to another company, who will pay them more and in return make or lose billions of dollars. I’m sure shareholders will be queuing up to do that. Or would you prefer the government to set the wages of all workers?

If you just want to cherry pick results, Florin Gardos once kept clean sheets against Man Utd and Arsenal in the space of ten days. If you think Fonte would have somehow made that West Brom result better, well I most definitely disagree. Last time I saw Fonte in this League, Gabbiadini had him on toast. The intensity of the French league is far, far lower.

Come on Lincoln. Partly I want them up, partly I think Sunderland will be a bigger long term headache for the Skates.

I’m no economist but won’t this just mean inflation in the long run? Wages go up, small privateer companies have to match the larger companies to get staff in the door. The prices go up to pay for it, people just end up paying more for goods they always bought anyway and any pay rise is negated. Good for mortgage holders, bad for savers.