Panto_Villan

I find it astonishing that people who know how to use the internet can deny climate change. I assumed it was confined to my grandparents (one recently told me Margaret Thatcher invented global warming) and to those who work for oil companies. The fact is that vastly, vastly more climate scientists believe that climate change is caused by humans than those who believe it is a natural occurrence. Without rehashing the arguments for / against, I find it remarkable than people seem willing to accept scientific consensus on almost anything but not on this simply because it clashes with prejudices they want to keep hold of. Nobody who understands the scientific method would deny that in the future global warming may be proved to be caused by humans - but, for instance, we may discover in the future that minor doses of radiation are beneficial rather than harmful. But does that mean we should stop protecting doctors and nurses from X-ray radiation, as there is a possibility we may be wrong? After all, we don't fully understand the effects and action of radiation on human cells. Or is that the evil radiation-shielding lobby at work, making billions from selling lead jackets? There's nothing wrong with questioning science, but not acting on what scientists believe is the case because it's just the most likely possibility (rather than 100% certain) is ridiculous. TL;DR - very little science is 100% certain and there will be some people who benefit financially from any major scientific theory. Stop using that as criticism of climate change science in particular if you're not willing to apply it to science as a whole.

Pauhino's goal was indeed a foul and I don't understand how the ref didn't give the penalty - but you can't really excuse losing by 4 goals. Not good. Let's hope the league form is better.

In what way can you class that as a shit goal?

I don't think it's relevant that nobody came in for Guzan or Benteke. I think most CL teams would still be very happy to have either if they were offered to them for free - but they don't have them at the moment and they probably know how much we value them. You're right that our midfield is a bit lightweight in the middle, but I think after a few more games with Okore back we might have a bit more presence in defence. I think our current batch of players are enough to get us in the top half of the table and I think we can build from there with a few more really good players that will take us to the level beyond that.

My above post was an attempt at irony that was either far too successful or nowhere near successful enough (probably the latter). It was a reference to the way some posters are always complaining that we don't spend enough money...though in hindsight it was probably a bit unnecessary and I shouldn't have made it. I just get a bit annoyed at people partially writing off our players because they're not expensive enough or because they don't immediately perform, which is why I quoted the post above my own which was making a similar point.

I've picked the above quote because it was the latest. It wasn't long ago people were saying "not good enough" "too many mistakes" "loses the ball in the wrong areas". Perhaps some people on here should consider this turnaround when commenting on some of our more recent signings who have the added difficulty of coming to a new country and having to settle in with and worry about their wives, girlfirends, children etc. Perspective, that's all i'm saying. We spent loads of money on Delph, though - that's how we know he's good. With hindsight, I only wish we'd paid more for him as he'd therefore be an even better player now.

Disappointing. How are they going to entertain their fans now?

I dunno, I'm not sure he gets a free ride if we do badly this year because he's brought in most of the squad himself now. However I think we have decent materials to work with and I think we'll do fine. The squad could be improved but my point was there's not many players in the team that you look at and think "well, they're terrible" any more - and if you do find one, we generally have competent cover for them.

That's a bit trite, as we arguably have world class players in goal and up front and you've identified every other area as in need of improvement. Yes, it'll cost us points not having world class players available in every position but very few teams do have world class players in all positions. The only players we have that actually makes me nervous when we play (as in I'd like reinforcement in January unless things improve in the coming months) is left back, because I'm not convinced by Luna nor Bennett defensively yet. EDIT - to clarify, the term "world class" in this instance used to mean "Champions-league class", so essentially a player most teams would covet.

Richard, I fully agreed with that post until you said "Tonev looking decent".

I'm glad he's doing well. It's quite refreshing to see players you'd formerly written off coming back and doing well - maybe the added competition has finally forced him to stand up and be counted?

It's also an interesting assumption that if we sold the club we'd end up selling to someone willing to spend more money than Lerner. We're hardly an attractive investment - lose £50 million a year in exchange for being told you're not subsidising the club enough.

Despite being drawn into the argument about whether the team is fundamentally awful or not further up the page, I do actually think Lambert got it wrong today. Is Sylla injured? I don't really understand why he isn't playing. Wiemann had another poor game, and I think he should have been subbed earlier. Also, I don't understand him bringing on Kozak for a midfielder when we were already struggling in the middle of the park. Some rather bizarre choices there.

I imagine his reign will be judged more on his results than whether he plays a style of football that is to your personal preference. I quite enjoy counter-attacking football when it is done well, but I somehow doubt that will be a big factor in whether Lambert has his contract terminated or not.

Come on there were no positives today. Guzan kept the score down - and one whistled past the post just before half time. You have to be incredibly niave to think we deserved anything from that game if anything 1-2 flattered Newcastle. I don't think we deserved a point today, as we were the worse team over the course of the game. That doesn't mean there were no positives, though (Guzan keeping the score down is itself a positive, or is Guzan not part of our team?). The fact that we didn't play particularly well today doesn't mean that this team is not capable of playing well or will not play well in the future. It's certainly a disappointing result but it's astonishing the amount of fuss that some people are kicking up about it. Let's give it a few more games before we get the pitchforks out, eh?

I find it amazing that people were incredibly happy with the team when we did well against Chelsea and Arsenal and now exactly the same team is the worst thing since sliced sh*te. Our team was never good enough for a top 6 finish, nor are we going to get relegated. We lost 2-1, scored a goal and I seem to recall us creating three other genuine chances that you'd expect us to score more often than not. People are writing off Kozak after seeing him play for 20 minutes when we scored immediately when he came on? Really?

Jesus christ...

I love Delph.

Good. Nice work Benteke.

We're playing with 4 strikers now. Interesting.

What's impressing me is we're actually doing pretty well this half and Benteke has done precisely jack all in that period. If Benteke actually turns up at some point this season we'll do really well.

Gah! At least we look interested though...

That was a terrible pun, I apologise. But what's happened to the lethal Austrian finisher we used to have?

Wiemann. Why, man?

They also allegedly have problems with scoring. I'm not sure the form book counts when playing us.