ScepticalStan

I don't disagree with this. The number of times that Ramirez was said to have been 'given his chance' when he was subbed on with 10 minute to go, to play out of position whilst we were defending a one-goal lead away from home (or some such scenario) was frustrating. And of course, when he was given his chance in cup matches (Bristol City, Barnsley etc.) he was absolutely superb, but of course fell victim to the fact that he was up against weak opposition. I don't remember Ramirez ever being given three or four matches on the trot to see what he could do. The only difference between my opinion and yours Adrian is that I'm kind of resigned to the fact that neither Pochettino nor Koeman have had him in their plans...like...at all. So, I guess I have to shrug and defer to their opinions given that they've see him in training week in week out. Weird that he hasn't shown more fight though. Uruguay are a very, very competent international side and Ramirez had 34 caps for them aged 23/24 or so, yet I don't think he's even kicked a ball for the national team in getting on for two years now and you would have thought that would/should be a massive disappointment for him. If you're good enough to earn 34 caps for your (decent enough) national team you should surely be good enough for your international career to not come to such an abrupt halt just as you're getting into your mid-twenties.

No, but I'm going to pretend to be just to wind up some of the people on here who are so easily infuriated I think it was Saint Lej (could be wrong) who exploded a while back saying something along the lines of "He came for 12 million, he did OK, then he failed in his next season, then he went out on loan, then he came back to sit on the bench before being loaned out again during the end of his contract... AND NOW THERES A TWENTY-SOMETHING PAGE THREAD COMMEMORATING THE GREAT MAN!!!" ..,or something along those lines at least. (Angry though he was, he has a fair point!)

If its a cruise ship with a few thousand passengers who all need to pass through immigration, I don't think the host country can be held hugely responsible for the fact it took you two hours. US immigration staff are miserly and unfriendly, but at the end of the day all they do is take fingerprints and ask you questions about where you're going. Hardly too much of an inconvenience.

The trouble is, the alternative is to legislate against Uber in a completely cynical attempt to force taxi customers to pay more purely to keep taxi drivers in their jobs. That's essentially what happens with the London Underground. Drivers take home £50k p/a with literally around 50 days per year of holiday purely because the unions have prevented external recruitment, meaning that whenever they go on strike, they can bring the city to a standstill with no-one waiting in the wings to replace them. We could easily, easily, easily find a bunch of recent migrants to drive the tube on £25k p/a, and the unions know this full well - hence the deliberate restrictions on the flexibility of labour to prevent it. The net effect is that Joe London pays way more than he should have to for his Oystercard, but naturally, the public mostly hate the tube drivers. So when rival taxi companies almost certainly want to do precisely the same thing with Uber, its hard to have much sympathy. Why should the public be effectively forced to pay a little extra just to sustain the lives of taxi drivers who are only doing a job that anyone who can drive a car can do? Satellite navigation has killed the value of 'the knowledge' in the same way the car killed the value of the horse and cart. Tough truth, but truth nonetheless.

Righty. So its confirmed then that of of every combination of Labour/Tory and In/Out of EU, the only chance for tariffs on steel imports is for a Labour government outside of the EU. Tory/In - No tariffs, EU blocks it and the Tories support it. Tory/Out - No tariffs, Tory against them as incumbent government of UK Labour/In - No tariffs, Labour against them but overruled by EU Labour/Out - Tariffs active as sovereign, protectionist, left-wing government has the authority to do so. And yet still these people will vote remain.

5-3-2. Strong team. Cedric back in, midfield three of Clasie, Davis and Wanyama with Pelle and Mane up front.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/02/eu-referendum-young-voters-brexit-leave#comments As a 25-year-old who's voting leave, but has absolutely no hope of it actually winning, this seems pretty exciting.

I was one of the last dinosaurs going into the tar pit with Ramirez and defended him constantly. Still don't dislike the guy but he's simply not in our future plans.

God knows why anyone would choose to bring their kids up in Portugal rather than the UK. The place is an economic basket case.

Sharp actually ballooned one over the bar when totally clean through one-on-one under no pressure whatsoever. Decent-ish player but never anything special. Bit of a testament to how much our fans love a trier that some were calling for him to play up front in the Premiership in the beginning of our first season (although admittedly this was at the stage where we lost something like 8 games out of 10 and were pretty desperate).

Where have you heard this? Can you provide a source or link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LY6QifIHH8&feature=youtu.be A Muslim guy ended up stomping all over the memorial in Brussels shouting 'Palestine Palestine!'

Nope. Racist = discrimination on the basis of race. Islam isn't a race any more than supporting Manchester United is a race. You can no more be racist against Muslims than you can be against Manchester United fans. Sorry old boy, but words have meanings, and when the best definition you can dig up to try and disprove that fact doesn't even contradict it in the slightest, then you're fighting a losing battle. What about disliking Islam rather than Muslims? Islam is openly homophobic and the Qu'ran calls for the stoning to death of homosexuals. Can you answer me (hard mode: without whataboutery regarding other religions) whether a gay man ought to be convicted of prejudice or a hate crime for disliking a belief system that argues he should be killed for who he is? Hatred against Muslims is wrong and unjust. Hatred of Islam is completely reasonable. Just as with Germans/Naziism.

Well, yes, that's the counterargument and it's impossible to disprove the idea that none of them would have become the players they did without Adkins' influence. Nevertheless, I find it hard to imagine any neutral supporters would expect less than promotion from any team that included those five players. Take nothing away from Adkins though. He met his targets successfully and I for one have nothing bad to say about the guy. Sad that he's languishing in League one.

There are oriental Uighur Muslims in China There are Arab Muslims There are Muslims from the Indian subcontinent There are white caucasian Muslims in Bosnia Islam isn't a race. Criticising it is not racist. This isn't up for debate I'm afraid.

Do people think that the Labour party will ever recover? You can't win elections when the public will never trust you on 1) The Economy 2) National Security 3) Your actual leader 3 is recoverable, but I honestly can't see Labour ever overtaking the Conservatives on 1 and 2.

I feel sorry for the way Adkins career nosedived but when you consider the fact that he got his double promotion with a team that included a spine comprised of players who 2-3 years later were a Portuguese, French and England international, and had two wingers who would eventually be valued at £40Mn for the pair, it's actually not all that special an achievement. Still, mission accomplished and I'll remember him fondly for sure.

Nah, the new line is "If we fight back we're only doing what the terrorists want".

So the fact that our £12 million man couldn't pass the ball 20 yards to Pelle fifteen minutes into the match despite the fact that he was in acres of space and unchallenged in a 2-on-1 situation was because he was tired? What about early in the second half at 0-2 when he picked the ball up (again, unchallenged) on the left wing and (again) couldn't kick the ball with his left foot, so instead, flicked it harmlessly straight to Sakho (the ball, barely getting off the ground, actually bouncing twice before it reached him) with the outside of his right boot? I still remember earlier this season when Mane was berated for missing a 'sitter' after ghosting past three players and putting it narrowly wide against Newcastle away. I compare that to the many times Long has miscontrolled the ball, tackled an opposition player in an attempt to recover it and conceded a throw in or free kick, and received nothing but praise and applause for his heart and commitment. I dread to think how we're going to hold on to the likes of Shane Long in the summer when United, Spurs and City slam bids of £20Mn+ on the table for our star man.

Pelle and Mane, as was proved today and earlier in the season against Chelsea (and to a large extent, United, despite the defeat), are still our best option up front when both are on top of their game.

Hopeless today. Couldn't control the ball and as per usual, struggled to so much as kick it with his left foot when a 20-yard pass to a man in space was all that was needed. Its good that our try-hard British/Irish cloggers have cultured, talented continentals and athletic Africans to bail them out when serious talent and ability is needed. Great win and hopefully a chance for our fanbase to realise why it won't be Shane Long or Steven Davis that clubs in the Champions League are willing to bid £25 million for come the summer.

The bitterness and rage on some of the forums of the 'Big Six' is delicious. Utterly delicious. Arsenal fans calling them boring, Spurs fans insisting that they're better (despite the clearest imaginable metric of Leicester having beaten them on H2H & being above them in the league), Chelsea and United scoffing at how bad the league must be etc. Really hope they do it. Will laugh like a drain if they manage it.

Good stuff re. the Pelle piece (especially the conclusion). Easy to forget that if you discount the penalties, Lambert scored (including free-kicks) 12 PL goals in his first PL season and 8 in his second. That's precisely the same as Pelle even if he doesn't score again. Granted Lambert occupied a creative role in the side as well and set plenty up too, but long story short; 15-20 PL goal per season strikers are hard to find and cost £20Mn at least if they're proven.

Agree with both.

Beyond pathetic. Do you seriously think that he ought to have turned down Champions League football and the chance to triple his salary?