Dr Gloom

💯 Europe needs to beef up security, forget about the yanks and stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine

The UK’s prime minister spoke to Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy following the pair’s fractious exchange on Friday. Keir Starmer “retains his unwavering support for Ukraine and is playing his part to find a path forward to a lasting peace, based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine”, a Number 10 spokesperson said in a public statement following the calls. “The Prime Minister looks forward to hosting international leaders on Sunday, including President Zelenskyy.”

I’m surprised he didn’t lamp Vance tbh. The cunt was asking for it

It was a scripted ambush. And Zelenskyy walked straight into it. He’s a courageous and inspiring wartime leader, not a diplomat. Trump reacts well to flattery but it’s hard to keep your cool in that environment. He must have felt like sticking one on that fucking moron Vance

starmer played that card way too soon. He’s got zero leverage with trump now

i think the lads will be up for this one. it won't be convincing but we'll win by the odd goal.

our takeover was only approved after the Premier League received “legally binding assurances” that PIF was separate from the Saudi government

i agree with the general point but i thought he was great last season when called upon and looked like another one of the ashley era players who benefitted from proper coaching.

Schar should have closed Luiz down and I don’t know what Tonali was doing but Pope went down in instalments trying to save it

I used to agree. Pope was much better than Dubs last season and his poor kicking was less of an issue because he was confidently charging off his line and sweeping up - our whole defence seemed to drop off when Dubs came back in because he was rooted to his line and this massive hole appeared between our midfield and back four. This season it has hasn’t been the case. We have played our best football with Dubs in goal partially because his much improved distribution helped us retain possession. His shot stopping has improved too. He didn’t do much wrong before he was dropped.

botman played what, two or three games before getting injured again? schar was excellent in the win against arsenal tbf to him

our defence looked more assured in part, i think, to the way dubs was spraying the ball about. i didn't know he had that in his game but the difference in how comfortable he was compared to pope with the ball at this feet was striking. the defence seemed happy to give him the ball to recycle, knowing he wouldn't slicing it into touch of fluff his lines like pope does. dubravka's shot-stopping and command of the box was also good enough during his run in the side. i thought he was done after last season when he came in and our form dropped away but it looks like the opposite is true based on what we have seen so far this season

above my paygrade i'm afraid

nice avatar

i was bigging up mbuemo back when gemmill was insisting he was too short

nostradamus and the nark

balls, soz. well that means 7-1 for Dubs should in fact be 8-0

i want to get a sense of who we think should start rather than who we expect eddie to pick. i'll edit the OP

I'm in the "Eddie we trust" camp most of the time but i think he's got this one wrong. Two performances from Pope since returning and both have been poor. I'd put Dubs back in against Brighton. He must be scratching his head after signing the new contract.

Feels like a poll is required for this one. Who do you think should start in goal for the rest of the season? I can't see why Pope has come straight back in. It looks like he remains Eddie's first choice when fit but I think it's harsh on Dubs, who was excellent when he had a run of games - much better than last season.

I didn’t realise you agreed we tried to sign olisse first

yes but if you think that will stop a group of middle aged blokes getting back into another round of “I was right, you were wrong”, think again

in your opinion. Plenty of people on here disagree. we’ll find out what the club think in the summer. I hope!