peterw

well let's just give them the Falklands then. favourable trade.

And as a business do you create a situation where two of your biggest and best assets could decide to walk away because of this issue? It may be nice for them to stay for a purely selfish reason but not if players want to improve themselves with regards to their careers.

Not sure what the problem is really. yes its annoying but Martinez is trying to establish himself as the number 1 for one of the world's best international teams, Buendia trying to break into it. Good luck to them and don't get injured.

*sigh* gay jokes? Really?

I'm not convinced we need a dcm. We have Douglas Luiz who in large parts of the last two seasons has played to a level that we hoped Man City wouldn't re-call him. Yes, he's been inconsistent and his levels have dropped but he is still in his early 20s and developing. i have no reason to think this won't be a proper breakthrough season for the Brazilian full international.

That diving ****? Who cares.

Brentford already gone. To that end if anyone has a spare or isn't going please let me know and I'll take it off your hands (Brentford not Newcastle).

Indeed, under Sharia banks are not allowed to charge interest. nor is it permissible to charge interest on a loan.

I genuinely do not understand what many labour supporters currently want with their rush to attack Starmer. In the last GE Labour were trounced and had the humiliation of losing many of their traditional seats in the north - the red wall - swing to Conservatives. Labour were being rejected by not only the country but also their traditional support. And yet, many are asking for Labour to go back to trying to appeal to their traditional support and not take the party back towards the centre. the very support that deserted them in 2019. Labour was borne out of the frustration of the working-classes not being able to field candidates for political elections, and so through the Trade Union movement made a party that allowed them to do so, and with it they worked from a socialist agenda. That is the roots. But if we look at today's Britain, or England/Wales, the political landscape and opportunities for working people has changed. There are more freedoms than at the turn of the 19th/20th century with almost universal suffrage guaranteed. The strength of the union has also diminished with around 6% of the current workforce in an affiliated union compared to 18% in 1918. The unions still have a strong grip on Labour especially when the Party lurches back to the left. However, the unions do not necessarily reflect the majority of the labour parliamentary party, the wider Labour membership, or the even larger Labour support. What was a 'working person' in 1900 is very different to a working person in 2021. Expenditure, expendable income, and possibilities and opportunities have all increased. yes, there have always been those that are lesser well off and at the bottom end of the income scale, but that demographic traditionally do not vote and have never been a traditional Labour vote to attract. However, it is part of the Labour doctrine to look after the less well of in society and I have seen nothing from Keir Starmer to suggest him retaking the centre-ground is moving Labour from that core tenet of looking after the worst off in society. There is also some in-fighting over how Starmer should be regarding Brexit and Johnson's shit show. Again, I'm confused as to why. 2019 and the loss of many seats in the north were as a direct result of the Tories running on the 'get brexit Done' ticket. Numerous reports done since from those voters were shown that they thought Labour weren't listening to them. Or that they didn't trust Corbyn. He certainly did go into bat for the Remain cause, but he was never totally convincing. However, that is nota criticism of him during the referendum campaign as the Labour vote generally held up. But there is currently no mileage in Starmer banging a rejon drum for now. Whilst Brexit is still get a long way to run, stating an aim to rejoin will alienate those lost voters, those middle of the political spectrum voters, and give Johnson and the Tories a free shot at Labour and Starmer and pointing out that only they (the Tories) are still listening to the people. in this moment of history doing nothing is better than doing something. The other problem for Starmer is that the media and population adore Johnson. The see his buffoonery act and take it that he is this lovable rogue or scamp who is actually quite a laugh and a dear chap. The more time he has to be exposed to the general running of the country on a day-to-day basis the more that mask will slip and Labour can pounce then. As it stands the government still have some of the vaccine bounce that is carrying through some tricky months. Throughout this period anything serious Starmer tries to say gets a schoolboy 'yah, boo sucks, you're just a poo poo' type response and everyone laughs. because its Boris. Dear Boris. So loved he gets just a first name, so pally are we. So, personalised have we become. So, again, Starmer has to sit this wave of popularity to wane and then the country will see Johnson for the ineptitude; bombast he is or doesn't even really want the job. he is about making money and has had to give up a lot of money making jobs and consultancies to this job. Which he is bored of. Its easy to forget hat until vaccinations that Starmer was constantly holding a higher approval rating than Johnson. I agree with the earlier comment that he may be the Kinnock to the next incumbents Blair, but that's what Labour need at the moment. Consolidation and rebuild. Not in-fighting and yearning for a time that all but the unions and left of the party believe in. The working person and the general Labour support has moved on. if it wants power it once again has to show 'middle-england' that it can represent them, and not just try and prove its always fighting the just cause of the poor.

may be worth pointing out that there is a slight confusion as to the term 'jihad'. Yes there is violent jihad, but the jihad mainly referred to is a personal struggle. that could be as something benign as not kicking the kids of a morning when they're not getting ready for school. The talibin jihad would be packaged as seeing their religion under threat - which as any good religion compels you to do, allows you to bear arms and kill. But let's not pretend this is and only ever unique to islam. 'Onward Christian Soldiers...' and all that.

Well, yes, moderate muslims do see islam as the answer. take their juxtaposition and uncertainty over Sharia. Sharia is still held to be the 'correct' form of law and order to all muslims; however, that does not mean that they all ahdere to or want to see the most strict or severe punishments meted out. So, whilst Islam is seen as the answer how it is interpreted and made to function in the real world is the difficulty, and more of a cognitive dissonance or doublethink, than Muslims not believing their answer is Quranic by nature.

Of course the feeling will be better with Villa; however like it or not we are not in a position to offer what man city can, which is what all the top players wants, and that's those big games. Of course we're not Southampton a la le Tissier but there's a huge difference between being very serious about challenging and actually doing it.

Not really. It's not about the trinkets but those big nights playing the big games, in front of thousands live, millions back home, and testing yourself at the very best. The trinkets come because of it, but players don't do it for that, its to win. Win the biggest games and your team involved in the biggest finals. I think although the piece is well intentioned and of course there may be players that want a medal rather than a game, but the article is wide of the mark. Every top player, every player, is in it for that feeling. that magical feeling of winning big games, scoring big goals, that last ditch tackle or Banks style save. That's what will turn Jack's head, and that's what will make him ask if he can play those games with Villa which is what he wants to do, which is what we want him to do, but which man city can guarantee now and we cannot.

I think that is pretty much a given but in this digital age of us all demanding information given to us when we demand it puts pressure on any news outlet to what the subscribers/readers want. The better journos have more/better placed sources, but we've we've seen consistently over the past few years is that no-one, including the better journalists have a scoobies until we do. that being when a player is at Villa having a medical or finalising details at which point the story is pretty much breaking everywhere. No-one knows what is happening with jack at the moment, maybe not even him. We'll know probably when the journo's do. If man City bid big then it's likely that they've been been given encouragement to do so. If nothing for a week or so then its likely a contract extension is being sorted but not one that makes it virtually impossible for him to get out of in a season's time if we don't push on as expected. In saying all of that there's no point preaching patience every bit as it's futile expecting a journalist to know anything as they are waiting to report on the story we are expecting to see form the club.

no room for him now. he had his chance and we've moved on. We have more pressing concerns than looking at a winger now that buendia is all but in the door.

At some point I'm guessing that if we are serious about pushing top 4 and for European trophies whereas you can see a case for Konsa, then its less so for mings. That said, his mistakes do get amplified and while he does have them in him so does Stones, Maguire et al. He has been brilliant for us all season and deserves his recognition.

That's neither here nor there, though, is it? Any slightest touch on a villa player anywhere on the pitch and i want a red card, a pen, and the opposition player to be executed and the 3 points to be defaulted to us.

The on;ly thing that you could say for the Mings's 'challenge' is that if you watch carefully Mings' feet don't actually move and the player runs into him. Yes, he played for it (he's a centre half and by trade they're dirty), but he didn't move towards the attacking player but waited for the contact. Then bojaxed the ****.

Funnily enough as soon as I saw that greenwood was out I feared for Watkins. Southgate seems to like his players that can cover different positions and with Saka covering everywhere, i thought it would mean we'd go with Kane, DCL, and Rashford. If we're chasing goals, given the shape we play under Southgate I just don't see where Watkins would ever get on. We're more likely to put Rashford in the middle and bring on someone who can deliver from attacking areas rather than take off a forward for a forward, or take off a central midfielder for Watkins.

whose quicker?

Its a shame that he didn't get picked...but.....and he got 10 goals.....but.......I find it hard to put my finger on what El Ghazi excels at other than penalties. Yet he's scored some pearlers, has played in the majority of games since Wolves away...and gives us decent balance. But he can't beat a player, his shooting is usually woeful, and doesnt' track back as much as he could and gets less stick for it than Traore. You'd think he's just a Championship plodder, but then het gets 10 goals in the prem (was it 10?) which is seriously good. I like El Ghazi as he is part of the team that came up and we all had the feel good factor together as a unit. But I think this is his ceiling. i wouldn't look to sell but if the right sized offer came in, I'd thank him and move him in.

He came with a big reputation in France, so getting him in seems to be a positive, and at a reduced rate. its difficult for any player to come in mid-season into a new team/country/culture and be expected to hit the ground running. Not many achieve it, so will be excited to see what he can do next season. I saw enough from him to expect more and once he gets confidence in himself and gets used to the higher intensity I think he'll be an upgrade on McGinn.

I don't read it that way at all and I think it's more or less what we all think. Yes, if we all sat down and looked for upgrades to the first 11 we could find them for the majority of positions - but that clearly isn't going to happen. The best teams are the more settled teams who only add 2 or 3 - maybe even less - upgrades per season. We've spoken on here in depth about where and who we'd like - mainly the where - and its noticeable that at most people suggest 3 AT MOST 4 positions. You can't go into every season looking for as many as 4 (or maybe even 3) upgrades as that could destabilise the team and suggests your previous recruitment wasn't good enough and so are wasting money, or your coaching wasn't good enough to get the best out of them. We don't need the wholesale approach of two summers ago, or even the numbers we added to the first team last season. So, Smith and Purslow are right. 2 or 3 upgrades this summer and we will be in far healthier position than we are now. Add to that the fillers and we'll be ready to push on. But its also true that the policy is that we will also have players in the club that will attract a sell-on fee in access of the outlay. That's just a sound business model to the point we become self-sufficient and is where most top clubs are in the UK.

wouldn't it be easier to not have threads about players until they're signed? until then just speak in the transfer speculation thread?

This means nothing to me. Err, Vienna?