happy clapper

I always like to see a few players with a bit of height but it's not essential. two good away performances last season at Watford and WBA (two off the most physically imposing sides in the league) showed that keeping the ball on the deck and playing football can also work. both wins without VVD as well! but yeah, I will be happy with an imposing central defender signing.

A day ticket on the metro will take you quite a long way for very little money - for example the seaside resort of Ostia. a bit further inland Ostia Antica - is the metro stop for the excavated old roman port of Ostia, which is great if you like roman ruins. The city centre sights are walkable, but bear in mind it can get very hot in Rome if you are going in early September. I never had a problem, but Rome does have a bad reputation (especially the buses between the main station and the Vatican) for pick pocketing gangs, so be vigilant.

It seems that Donald Trump can see into the future!! last night there was actually some unrest - 10 burnt out cars/minor injuries (source: https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article162280025/So-reagieren-die-Amerikaner-auf-Unruhen-in-Schweden.html) in a largely migrant area of Stockholm in Sweden. I doubt whether the BBC or the Swedish embassy will comment.

A mandatory civil registration ceremony as a legal requirement for all regardless of sexual orientation might be a good idea (especially if the paperwork was used to prove any entitlements to benefits/child benefits). A pledge to British values could be made at the same time and both parties could be informed of their rights under UK law in the event of divorce or separation. Of course this would never happen in the UK, as it is easier to blame Europe for the lack of administration and systems that result in the tax payer being taken to the cleaners on a regular basis. I don't post very often, so I would also like to add how much I enjoy reading the threads on the EU and Trump and the various arguments.

After watching the full 90 on the OS you can see good reasons for the club to have bought Jordy Clasie and not just because in Koeman's time anyone Dutch or with Dutch connections was high on the radar. If you were to analyse the good things Jordy does against the not so good, I'm sure you'd come out on the positive side but the not so good moments stick in your mind after a game. Some of his play against Man City was exceptionally good but every now and then he makes an error or fails to capitalise on an opportunity which leaves you feeling disappointed. It seems to me that Jordy is an exceptionally talented player but one who could do better. I wonder to what extent there is one-to-one coaching of first team players because it seems to me that any player will sometimes benefit from advice given privately, outside the group.

This is so true. Having watched the game at the Etihad I remembered his booking, a few sloppy passes and 2 wild shots. Then watching the 90 minutes on the website I realized how hard he worked and that he had a solid game.

Going to shops and stuff takes money, and a lot of my compatriots have very little of that. What they have they like to keep as well. Even people with enough money spend their time in those tacky hard discount places like Netto and Dia.

What's the average salary in the UK £30,000 a year or so ? That's the income here of probably the upper echelons of the middle class, I think a recent survey showed that 14% of the populace have about 700 or 800 £ a month or less. Minimum wage which many get is about 800£ a month after charges.

There is no student loan system to speak of, parents who encourage higher studies pay for it , we have a doctorate and a masters degree from the US for ours, it must have cost us somewhere in the region of 100000 £ I suppose.

So even the well off aren't well off if the kids go on to higher education. Tax relief on all of that was just laughable really.

In the unlikely event of a referendum on Frexit, do you think there is a disconnect between inhabitants of Paris and the rest of the country (such as exists between the elite in London and the rest of England)?

Like those August fixtures, so hope its true. We only got 1 point from those 4 games last year so room for improvement!

not the quickest, but possibly the most under rated debut goal by Steven Davis at Manchester City in our 1st game back in the Prem.

Steven Caulker now that he plays for Liverpool, with the bonus that Roy could also play him out of position up front!

Have photo displays (or murals) of former players in the home areas (a bit like the museum idea), for old farts like myself to reflect over the 'good old days'.

Give the blocks names of former players as well as a number. There could be a poll to determine the 48 names to be commemorated.

Have bigger TV sets for those interested in watching the TV's.

Agree with post from adriansfc about having statues.

There was a time when I dreaded seeing that Mark Clattenburg was going to be our ref. Now he seems to be one of the better ones! I'd settle for a point.

Good job that Ron Vlaar is not English otherwise Roy Hodgson would play him at right back.

It will be interesting to see who gets the LB spot against Chelsea next month! It would certainly be a baptism of fire for Matt Targett with so very little premier league experience. I suspect Clyne will switch from RB, Toby will play RB and Gardos will come in.

Poor Steven Davis! missed the Villa game that Robbie saw on TV and becomes one of the players that was replaced so well! (by Shane Long, who has a fraction of the game time enjoyed by SD this season)

As evidenced by their stubborn resistance against w.ham don't think it is straightforward. Glad benteke is absent though.

You would expect Villa to be more attack minded at home, so expect Paul Lambert to start with just the one attacker!

I'm not sure how you can dispute that Mark Lawrenson is the BBC 'football expert' when you compare him with other BBC 'pundits' such as Robbie Savage, Garth Crooks and Phil Neville, who all tipped us to be in a relegation fight. He's still the best of a very poor bunch.

I appreciate Steven Davis very much but I hope he's not worrying that he needs to score more goals himself as that could affect his contribution to team effort. I hope he's had a talking to this week after the last minute of the Hull game when he could have set up Jack Cork for a better scoring chance but instead of a simple pass, he blasted over from further out. I doubt that Tadic would have done that. Its goals that count, not who scores them.

Isn't it great, how we all now consider Jack Cork to be a goal scoring midfielder!

Remember Fonte getting called up for it at the Emirates - the decision was technically correct but ludicrously inconsistent.

The ref who booked Fonte was our old friend Mark Clattenberg

5 things I like about Stoke:

They play in red and white stripes

Mark Hughes has got them playing far more attractive football than 'pulisball'

They have loyal players like Shawcross and Begovic, who have so far resisted the overtures of bigger clubs.

The atmosphere in their ground is better than most of the so called bigger teams.

Charlie Adam may 'dish it out' but he can also take it.

Sadly Robbie Savage is just a very poor pundit and clearly does very little research (just like his BBC colleagues Garth Crooks and Phil Neville).

We lost a few good players last pre-season and if we have a good season then that is very likely to be repeated. That's just football and I'm sure the board will have potential replacements lined up. I suspect the majority of Saints fans (excluding the obvious bed wetters) thought we'd be in 10th - 14th place when the transfer window closed.

Ian Rush