The Fish

Churchill said Democracy is the worst form of government apart from all the others. I think democracy is brilliant if everyone is playing by the rules, but they aren't, so it's horseshit. Democracy works if the populous are voting after consideration and for the betterment of society and themselves, but they aren't. I love my better half and she's intelligent and all the rest of it, but she votes Tory because she always has. My sisters vote Labour because they always have and that's what my Dad votes. Drives me mad.

Churchill said it better than me, but yeah.

No, I'm not saying they consider something unfair and support it anyway, I'm saying they don't consider it. They frankly don't give a shit that the overwhelming majority of muslims are not bomb wielding lunatics, they couldn't give a shit that foreign aid can actually provide jobs and customers for domestic companies, they couldn't give a shit about a whole heap of stuff. Certainly not enough to learn more than what the commercial news station that pushes their political party's agenda is telling them. Generally the voting public are wilfully ignorant, reactionary arseholes and shouldn't decide what happens to a country any more than the weaselling dickheads they vote into power to represent them.

Absolutely, also I think his understanding of the game means he could be a decent coach/manager in the future. Mind you some cracking players who read the game well have utterly failed at management, so what the fuck do I know?

I dunno, I was told that the pizzas from Franco Manca are "class" and that means a lot to me.

I'm not sure people have voted in support f a sense of fairness or reason. They may claim that, but it's just not true. They've voted (on the whole) because the angry orange man, or the smug white woman said a thing that elicited a visceral reaction. There isn't reason applied to the vote, as you say it's identity politics. If you were to ask Jimbob Mcgraw of Wichita, Texas to explain the reasoning behind his vote he'd recite some phrase he heard on FOX News, or a soundbite from Trump, then after a little prodding the intolerance would come out. Same as if you asked some office worker from Maryland why they voted for Hillary. CNN/Clinton quote then intolerance of the right. The people who regularly post in this thread are significantly more invested and informed than the overwhelming majority and while that's laudable I don't think it's realistic to suggest people have voted for what is fair or reasonable in their eyes. I honestly don't believe they don't care what is fair and I don't believe they've considered it beyond a gut reaction.

These people aren't looking for a reasoned exchange of ideas man, they want to repeat soundbites, loudly and often, shouting down any attempts to have actual discourse. Trump is their standard bearer, is he really putting arguments forward? No, of course not, he's widening his maw so that more ill-conceived reactionary petulance can spew forth. I'd love to see actual debates, but that frankly just isn't going to happen, because those in power don't want it. They don't want the veil lifted, the puppets that are tossed in front of the camera lens are there to repeat the phrases they've been taught and need not back them up with anything because the public's attention has moved on already. Even if Spencer or Conway lose their job, they can pick one of a thousand others to do the exact same thing, Hell even if Trump is impeached, the right have so comprehensively embarrassed the left that Pence would be sworn in and wreak as much havoc as Trump, probably with more malice. You have to give the right credit, they've successfully neutered the media and the left by deciding not to play by the rules any more.

fwlim we won and are officially (not officially) the best fans in the country.

Especially if that 6th placed team is Sheffield Wednesday. Jesus, they were fuming on Twitter last night because of an internet poll, run by SoccerAM, on a wednesday night, imagine the fewm if they're robbed* of a promotion. *it'd have to have been a conspiracy as there's no chance the biggest club in the league could miss out on promotion if everything is equal.

What's a numbty?

Had a brilliant career for a man who's a bit shit. Seems to have fooled some cracking managers too.

Said it before, but he's a true utility player who can do a job for a top half team in most positions (right back, all across the midfield, in the hole, maybe as a false nine?), but obviously not as good as a top-half specialist in any one position. He's often praised for carrying out the manager's instructions to a tee, and that must be valuable. The knowledge that if you've planned for Milner to be a right sided midfielder, then the left winger gets crocked and you've not got a substitute, or the system you started with isn't working so you need to shift to 3 in midfield, etc. You know he can perform at a high standard in whatever position you ask of him. Also helps that he's a model professional and seems well respected by the other players too. Perhaps he seems over-rated because he's been under-rated for a lot of his career and now people are praising him its seems over-the-top?

Gayle didn't get games for Palace.

Yeah, I'd rather Sels went out on loan and we rotated Elliot and Darlow (never thought I'd say that). The former needs confidence that he just won't get here and the latter needs coaxing back to fitness.

didn't even read that.

Bow to the king

Have you seen their injury list?

Oh aye, I can genuinely load it and fuck around for hours before playing a competitive match. I can spend ages on staffing the coaching and medical teams too. Like, in the Championship, do I really give a fuck that my 'keeping coaches are only rated 3rd in the league? You bet your shiny ass I'm going to spend the next 30 minutes trying to find a coach that's better while arguing with the board to increase the spaces on the coaching team. Though quite what the point in the Sports Scientists and Data Analysts is, is a mystery. I'd like if you got feedback from your coaches about areas of the system that are perhaps letting you down, suggesting playing someone in a different role that maybe they're not perfect at, but works better in the formation/system. Instead, you have to rely on trial and error, until you find a couple of systems that work, which can come a cropper if your asymmetric 4-1-3-1-1 suddenly stops working. It's frustrating when a player demands gametime, gets it, then moans that you've dropped him because he's posted subpar performances. You have the option to say "Last time I played you, you were shit", but I've never had a response other than "Well I don't see what that's got to do with anything?!" With Newcastle in the Championship I play; At home against the best sides and away to good ones: 4-4-1-1 counter attack with attacking fullbacks. Atsu as an out and out Winger, Ritchie a Wide Midfielder. Perez as an Advanced Playmaker behind Mitrovic. Shelvey in the centre as a Deep Lying Playmaker (that he's being re-trained into) alongside Hayden who started as a Ball Winning Midfielder, but as the yellows started stacking up I changed him to a Central Midfielder with his individual instructions tweaked to close down much more, and dribbling, shooting less. So basically a Ball Winning midfielder that doesn't snap into tackles. Most of the others I play a Wide 4-2-3-1 controlling the play high up the pitch. Ritchie/Christie plays as an Inside Forward, Atsu/Lincoln as a high winger, Perez/Kuki as an Attacking Midfielder just behind Mitrovic. If I face a team that I'm heavily favoured to win I'll play the narrow version of the 4-2-3-1 and put the mucky little fuckers under the kosh.

Course they have

So if we don't sign anyone and Shelvey is out for the season, would I be as confident? no, obviously not, but that's a pretty unlikely set of circumstance. And I'd have faith in Benitez to shuffle the pack until he finds a good combination.

Where does it say that? I saw this in the Chronicle

You know the Chinese consortium that are looking at Boro? "They have also had a conversation with Sunderland but do not believe that to be an attractive proposition right now, despite owner Ellis Short looking to sell. "

And the ones that do join them may be enough to drag them across the line, but in 12 months they'll be in the same shit state they are now. Joleon Lescott has been out of contract for a while, hasn't he? Edit: On 29 August 2016, Lescott joined Superleague Greece side AEK Athens on a two-year contract.[41] The 34-year-old defender suffered a detached cartilage in his knee while cycling in his apartment. The injury ruled Lescott out for the remainder of the season. The player denied to get help from the team's doctors and insisted to complete his rehabilitation in the UK. AEK Athens did not agree to the player's wishes and additional demands, which resulted for his contract to be terminated on November 14, 2016 by mutual consent. If that doesn't scream "I don't much like this foreign place and I want to go home", I don't know what does.

Benkovic can play further forward and I'm assuming he'd be able to fill in across the back line? The £25m for the pair may well be split £18m for Coric and £7m for Benkovic to make sure Ante Coric has a football fwend.

If we sign some quality in the window, yeah. If Shelvey gets crocked but we pick up, say, Townsend, I'd fancy his quality to shine through sufficient games to drag us over the line. Other than Atsu, we don't really have a player that reliably gets past players, sign Townsend and defending teams can't smother the supply as easily.