desensitized43

A lot didn't last Christmas either as the rules changed so much on a daily basis that pretty much everyone I know decided to just do what they would normally, within reason.

Ideally yes you wait until half time for that kind of major surgery but when you’re already losing and the opposition look like scoring every time they come forward you have to judge whether you have that kind of time.

I really don’t have to reel off a list of names to satisfy you do I? You know who I’m talking about. Would you have picked that team yesterday? A top manager recognises when he’s got something wrong at the start and changes it before the situation becomes irredeemable. That’s not to say he shouldn’t make mistakes in selection or system, every manager does, but when you see him with his assistants in full blown discussion on what to do for more than 10 mins while we get overrun isn’t good. I’m not saying he needs to go.

I’ve been a supporter of smiths all along but playing that terrible 352 formation last night and making no personnel changes at all was just totally unacceptable. Think he’s falling into the trap a lot of managers do around this time of being too loyal to your favourite players and being too stubborn when it’s obvious your favourite tactics just don’t work. fair enough he changed it at half time and we were much better but it was too late by that point. Should have changed it way earlier than he did. Top managers wouldn’t have tried to limp on until half time at 1-0. Fully deserved to lose and fully deserves to have to answer some very tough questions from the owners and fans.

Interesting you had such a different take on those. I had such high hopes for Prometheus but I found it far too complicated and it seemed to get lost in an attempt to flesh out "the alien universe" to explain why we're here, where the aliens came from, what's the deal with the "engineers". Questions no fan of the Alien franchise was actually asking. Convenent I felt was better as an "Alien" film, but only really functioned to "fix" alot that was wrong with Prometheus.

It wouldn't hurt but (and you can call me an idealist!) I'm not convinced that money will be the main/only factor in a decision like that.

That's some Dan Brown-level nonsense!

100% agree about the Martian. I couldn't put that book down. As good as that film is though, it's still not as good as the source material. Cuts out key plot points, like him shorting out the pathfinder rover and the journey he takes to the second launch site took about 3 minutes of screentime glossing over just how arduous that was in the book (including him rolling the rover in a crater). He's a director where his peaks (Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner, The Martian etc) are magnificent but his lows (Prometheus, Covenent, Kingdom of Heaven etc) are equally as spectacular in their crappiness.

The Last Duel looks like being one of the years biggest flops. Forecasted to absolutely tank at the box office. Ridley Scott is such a hit and miss director but he's definitely become more miss than hit these days.

Definitely agree dyche could be the short term option. He’d suit the players they have right now to get them out of it. Whether he’d want to risk his career on such a short term thinking is the question. im not sure what the fans think should come into it at all. These are the people who’ve just attended games in mock Saudi clothes fashioned from bed sheets and tea towels after all!

Do you think they'll jump straight in and try and get a Conte or someone of that ilk? I feel like that might be the risky thing to do as those big name guys haven't ever really faced a situation like Newcastle are in right now. A very short term Allardyce-like appointment (obviously not him because of his Newcastle history) to get them to 17th at the end of the season might be the way to go.

That's the tragedy of all of this. One side managed to convince quite a lot of people that taking a bat to your country and household finances was somehow "patriotic" and that those people telling you it was dumb were doing so because they "didn't love or believe in their country enough".

I don't know about the particulars around 1 war criminal's security arrangements. I would think that a family as wealthy as the Blairs could afford to pay for a lot of that themselves. Regardless, I'd wager that protection for 3 residences is much less than for ~650 people.

What all 650-odd of them? Not sure that's going to be practical. We might see reduced access to MPs rather than actual security measures (body guards etc) which is a terrible state for our democracy to be in but if we're going to see 2 MP's murdered every 5 years it's hard to argue against.

When you play an obviously unfinished game that’s playable and the little bugs just make it better. Thinking of DayZ when running from a zombie into a house, close the door, and the mofo literally runs through the wall. Nearly had a heart attack

The first one was stable but lacking in content. I don't think you could say it was broken. The second one wasn't "broken" either from a technical point of view....but it was basically one of those "free" mobile games where you have to pay for all the best gear.

Cross platform multiplayer in FPS games. Every time a dev allows PC gamers to compete with console gamers there's a massive increase in cheating. It's ruined Warzone and my heart sank when they announced it for BF6.

A massive rail electrification should be a start. It's embarrassing the country is still running on these crappy old diesel trains when I can go to Germany/Holland etc and get on these swanky double decker electric trains.

I don't agree that people are "laying into him" or "shooting him down". If anything people are trying to help the guy. He's not going to get first team football, he's arguably now behind even Cameron Archer in the pecking order. He's at an age where he should be a regular for somebody and isn't. Those things aren't being crual to him, they're just reality. He has some good attributes, but he hasn't justified a starting place and won't given the opportunities he' likely to get here. Nobody on here has come on and laid into him. He'll be a great asset for a mid to lower Championship club, if he decides he wants to play and take a wage reduction that will allow a club of that level to sign him. At the moment it's down to him, the club can't make that decision for him. The alternative is he becomes the new Micah Richards, taking wages he isn't justifying because no one else would pay him at that kind of level until at some point his contract expires and the decision will be made for him, and he'll need to make his way in the world like everyone else.

Yep totally agree. It's not his fault, it's the clubs fault for putting him on those wages that (I would argue) he hasn't earned. He's just signed a pay rise that was put infront of him, which of us wouldn't want to do the same thing for more money? It's made him impossible to shift though and stunted his development as a footballer. It's a difficult one because I wouldn't want to speak ill of him as he's done nothing to warrant it but for all his good attitude on the pitch it does make you question whether he really wants to play football or is just living the easy life. I think if I were him I would have been actively trying to get a move (loan or perm) even if I had to take a wage drop to do it. At the end of the day I think even if he had to drop to say 20k (a 20% reduction) I think he's still be living pretty comfortably. For context, Google tells me he's on 25k that puts him on a level with the following players (last seasons figures) John Swift £25,000 £1,300,000 Reading England 25 M/AM (C) Jonny Howson £25,000 £1,300,000 Middlesbrough England 32 D (RC), WB (R), DM, M (C) Jack Stacey £25,000 £1,300,000 AFC Bournemouth England 24 D/WB (R) Joe Ralls £25,000 £1,300,000 Cardiff City England 26 M (LC) Jack Clarke £25,000 £1,300,000 Stoke City England 19 M (R), AM (RL) Junior Hoilett £25,000 £1,300,000 Cardiff City Canada 30 M/AM (RL) Lewis Grabban £25,000 £1,300,000 Nottingham Forest England 32 ST (C) Craig Cathcart £25,000 £1,300,000 Watford N.Ireland 31 D (RC) Josh Murphy £25,000 £1,300,000 Cardiff City England 25 AM (RL), ST (C Source - https://salarysport.com/football/sky-bet-championship/highest-paid/ Ahead of some other players who have a much higher profile than Keinan.

I had this exact conversation with a colleague earlier. Even when Keinan is fit I'd rather see Archer get the games now. Keinan has had opportunities and I like his attitude and work rate but at some point the club need to make the decision. He's definitely not at premier league level and at his age he really needs to be playing regular football.

Christ, these are the people running the country

Yeah I think that's part of it. It's also a really young team still. When you play young players, even good ones like we have, you get inconsistency. I don't think this is necessarily a massive issue. I expect we'll be comfortably mid table, hopefully with a decent FA cup run and I'll take that all day long having lost Jack in the summer. When seen in context, a finish between 8-12 should be seen as a decent season for us. People always blow the previous result out of proportion. We beat Man Utd and played exceptionally well so they expect us to do the same the next week vs Spurs. Football doesn't work that way, especially when you have a young squad. It's important not to be too giddy when we play well and too downcast when we don't. It's all part of where we are as a squad and a club.

Likewise Watford tbh...I think 3-2 flattered us massively that day.

Bringing someone on for 2 minutes is something you do when you don’t trust them.