icouldtelltheworld

Don't worry, they won't

Philips looks hopelessly out of place in midfield for this City team. Hes a devent enough player, but miles off the standard of the rest of them

Unfortunately Brigada's explicitly anti-racist stance caused them some issues with the neanderthal element in our support, which is sadly much larger, angrier and more organised than most people probably realise

Yeah, Targett was dreadful for us last season - not sure what relevance that has to my post? He was very good both offensively and defensively in 2020/21, and Digne has never looked close to reaching that kind of form for us

Right enough, but then the full back on the opposite side of the pitch was easily our most consistent performer (and eventual player of the year) last season despite Gerrard's ineptitude and ridiculous tactics.

My point isn't that Targett was a world beater, or someone who should've been kept on as our first choice left back. It is that Digne, for all his experience, high profile, ability and the expenditure to get him in/pay his wages, has not once looked an upgrade or managed to replicate the form that (the incredibly limited) Targett managed at times while he was with us

There was a period where we had quite a few songs for players which would be sang regularly - Mings, El Ghazi, Hourihane, Hutton, McGinn and obviously Jack all had songs (not particularly imaginative ones on the whole admittedly). For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to have happened for our newer players - combination of us winning fewer games and some of the new players being less likeable would be my guess

Yes. My original point was that despite Targett being pretty limited, Digne has not once come close to performing as well as Targett during that season, or during some of our better spells in our first PL season for that matter. Given the expenditure to get Digne in, his profile as a player and obviously superior abilities, it's pretty damning

Think you make some excellent points in your post and I largely agree with your analysis. However, think you've been massively optimistic here - thinking Konsa's transfer fee was rumoured to be about £12m, I doubt we'd get more than £15m - £20m were he to move on. Still been a decent signing though!

Tickets for the Leicester game went on sale to members today, I was planning to go to the game. I doubt I will now, as the club have listed it as a category A game (presumably due to Leicester being a 'local derby' - it isnt). Cheapest tickets £41, some parts of the ground £58. Ridiculous money for what is essentially a game between two unspectacular lower-half teams as it stands. I think a lot of the good will built up between the club and fans from 2018 - 2020 has evaporated. Losing Grealish and then Smith was a factor, Gerrard was a disaster, some of our newer players are less likeable than those they've replaced, and there's a feeling of being ripped off when you consider the prices we pay for football which is often not great. Building that good will and positive atmosphere around the club will be key to improving things at VP IMO. I think Emery probably understands this and is capable of playing his part. I also think there's an element of us being back in midtable now. We aren't fighting for promotion, trying to avoid relegation or threatening the European places. Being a midtable team in the PL is pretty dull a lot of the time.

Was mugged in Sutton for my Sony Ericcson K800i circa 2007. Other than that, I've been lucky to avoid it. Did get jumped in town once, completely unprovoked and needed stitches in my lip. Nothing stolen though

Going forward, yeah fair enough. But Targett was incredibly consistent and reliable defensively in 2020/21, leading to him winning our player of the season award (granted he wouldn't have won it had Grealish not been injured for a third of the season).

The thing is, while Targett is certainly no world beater, Digne has never produced anything close to the form that he produced for us in 2020/21 and for parts of our first season back in the PL

Sorry to hear about your situation mate. I read this book a few years ago and found it really interesting - you might find it to be useful if this is your first time inside. It was originally written as a practical guide to getting through a prison sentence by someone who had spent time in UK prisons.

Looked close to tears on the bench after he went off. Utterly dogshit today, unfortunately I think he's finished at the top level

I disagree with this based on my assessment of the games he's played for us, essentially

Might have been one of our better performers today, but I really didn't see anything to suggest that he would make a difference to our midfield in the PL. It's a small sample size, but have never seen him put in anything other than an average performance. Some Villa fans seem to have a lot of confidence that he'd add something to our starting eleven, personally I don't, and I'm certain he'll be off in January or the summer

Yeah that's exactly it - they make the point that none of it is weighted etc. I might be wrong but I'm fairly certain that the daily email polls are separate from their actual polling tbh

I take part in these daily polls as well and find them interesting, but I'm not sure that we can deduce all that much from them tbh. There's a fairly clear left wing bias amongst those of us who take part - I've just done the one about Sunak's speech and around 60% of respondents have said its wrong to make the stopping of small boat Channel crossings a political priority. That simply doesn't reflect the majority view within the country at large

We're quite jealous of you lot winning the league and FA cup I think you'll be alright, although it's odd that Rodgers is still there as it definitely seems to have run its course. There was rumours that the club couldn't afford to pay him off- any truth in that you reckon or just Twitter bollocks?

Southampton and Everton both resembling us before our eventual relegation, wouldn't be surprised if both of them went down. I think Wolves will be OK. Also reckon Forest will get their reward for sticking with Cooper and stay up

If this is the main offence, then it seems like a pretty solid argument for opening up safe and legal routes for people to claim asylum before they travel here

Exactly this. I find all the moralising from two incredibly privileged individuals to be pretty nauseating too if I'm honest

While I tend to agree, there's something particularly egregious about the way Harry and Meghan are carrying on. They seem completely oblivious to how they are coming across, and I am certain they will end up losing the sympathy of people who were previously on 'their side'