Paul33

Although I can't find the link at the mo, there's a Spanish reporter who stated that Barcelona and Coutinho both wanted to sign but Villa said no ..... they wanted the loan first as a means to check both his fitness (from recent injury) and his ability to fit back in at this level given that his form hasn't been great. The loan is in effect a trial and if he makes it then Villa WILL sign him but if he falls well short, the deal is off and he'll head home ...... or to Hartlepool or similar !

Playing "lower % passes" ? Do you mean gifting the ball to the opposition repeatedly and leaving us horribly exposed and outnumbered on the breakaway ? I'll settle for "low % passes" but I'd prefer those passes to be to Villa players !

Loved the signing based on what I saw at Narch but been very disappointed with him from the start. Yes he has improved but only from "OMG - what is that" to "he was less awful today" ..... and we have to have better players if we are to progress. He looks like a Championship player to me !

Mings had a player in front of him ..... that was HIS man, not the runner who had been abandoned by our lazy midfielders. Once you have unmarked runners into the box then the CHs have no chance !

I'd happily trade some of that "flair" in favour of stopping the suicide passes every game and some strength on the ball ...... not to mention a a real lack of pace. As for "tenacity" ..... I'll take it you offered that with a wry smile on your face. Seen more tenacity from a 12 year old !

I think Ings and Watkins are both good strikers but both feed off early passes and we just don't do that. Buendia is touted as the feed but if we were honest with ourselves, he really isn't very good and starves our strikers of the service needed. Buendia is too slow and too lightweight for this level and is letting us down both up front and defensively where he contributes very little ...... and don't start me on the incredible number of suicide passes he makes in every game he plays. I think Gerrard knows where our main weakness as a team is and I fully expect at least two of last night's midfield will be squaddies rather than starters by February and then you will see the best of our strikers. Ings and Watkins failing to work together is not the problem ..... their failings are just the symptom of the real problem which is our weak midfield.

Not sure I would blame TM for the goal if that is what you are referring to. The scorer came in from deep and passed two static Villa players, especially Luiz who just opted out and let him run untouched .... he should have gone with him or blocked the run because once he was through, neither of our CHs were going to stand a chance.

Please no ..... we want to go forward, not backward. Jack's best days are over ..... he's a spent force !

Buendia is the real issue IMHO ...... in terms of vision and making killer through passes, he was the new Grealish off whom both Watkins and Ings would feed. Buendia has been very ineffective and has only shown rare glimpses of the sort of support needed.

Just from observation of body language and interaction on the pitch, I would be completely confident in saying that Ollie is not happy sharing attacking duties with Ings. He clearly prefers the freedom to play anywhere across the front and without the need to have to consider where Ings is. I don't blame Ings for that but if we want the best out of Ollie then we need to make sure we limit his need to make the sort of decisions required to make an effective double act and leave him to be a selfish, greedy, single minded striker which most effective strikers are.

What on earth was said at half time ? Never seen such a transition as that ..... we normally kick on in the second half, not switch off ! I think we beat ourselves with some poor individual errors (Mings and Cash) and some inexplicable spells of just becoming inexplicably passive ! Ings and Watkins have surely now proven that they don't work together. Ollie has to play as the lone central striker ..... we get 50% Watkins playing him anywhere else. JJ never showed, Buendia gave us about 30 minutes before running out of gas, Sanson maybe 40 mins and a pretty lifeless midfield in the second half gave the game away. We are better than that and need to get it back together at Brentford.

I heard she still hasn't recovered from her groin strain but Charlie, the guy who sells pork scratchings outside the Holte, is definitely in the squad !

Bottom left ...... real fan !!!!

Then again, had there been the required goal-line technology then it finished 2-2 which would have been a decent result !

Sounds like half the Man Ure team are testing positive for Covid having tested negative before the Norwich game ...... this one could be off !!!

Not sure I agree with that. If I resolve my health issue via a 5 minute over the counter chat at the local Pharmacy then surely that has to cost the NHS less that a visit to A&E and taking up their time and skillsets. Maybe I'm missing something there. If the answer really is to throw more money at the NHS then let us raise income tax significantly and pay for it. Too many of those who complain about not enough money going into the NHS are the first to protest if anybody suggests that we create that funding via a very long overdue increase in income tax. I'm ready to pay for it !

"since the war" ..... or did you miss that ?!!!

Is that the best you can do ? Really ?

Well documented by the NHS who show "psychiatric" issues in 19th place on their 2019/20 list of top 20 reasons for A&E attendance. https://www.statista.com/statistics/823462/number-of-accident-and-emergency-attendances-by-diagnosis-in-england/ Anyway, I am off (again) now ...... going round in circles ! Thanks for the debate and banter ..... you argue your points well !

You know that ?

Also on the FullFact.Org page .......... "For all but one of the six periods when Labour governed on its own, the unemployment rate was higher at the end of its office than at the beginning. But during Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald’s term in 1924, the limited data available shows that the unemployment rate fell. "

I don't have the magic answer but moving the use of Pharmacists, Walk In Centres, GPs, #111 from advisory towards compulsory would be a massive move. I heard on Newsnight last week something about 95% of A&E walk-ins came from a crazy small number (can't recall exactly) of the same people. I make use of Pharmacy diagnosis and in more worrying cases I phone 111 and act on their advice ..... I haven't walked into A&E (other than with my daughter) since my footballing days !

Peddling nonsense presumably being anything you disagree with ? The unemployment record may be something you dislike because it challenges your own bias but it is fact not nonsense and a five minute Google session will back that ! At the end of the day, I'm sitting here smiling with beer in hand ..... I don't get you pseudo-politicians taking it all so seriously. Whatever party is in power will always do some things well and screw up with others so making a big issue of the failings and seeing that as justifying a vote for the others is plain madness ..... unless you believe the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and it never is !

Applause for your stubborn loyalty ! As I said above, party loyalists will never back down ...... which is why these debates can never end and are pointless !

Okay ...... the question is why did more vote Tory than Labour ? What did they see that you didn't ? Have you ever voted Tory (out of curiosity) ?