rubberman

Just now, rjw63 said:

Doesn’t sound too exciting on the radio 

It isn't any better on the telly. 

Didn't Cash used to cross the ball a bit? 

Game needs a moment of magic (tm) 

29 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

Makes me wonder if we’ve either lost our ambition

Brilliant! This on the 5th Jan, when we're second in the league.

Is it just because someone posted a bizarre list of knackered oldtimers in response to a question about players with 6 months left on their contracts? Because I'm pretty sure that's not the list Monchi and Unai are using.  

2 hours ago, Lichfield Dean said:

Oh no.... I just suddenly had a horrible image of a claret strip with a blue sash.

[whispers] I like kits with a sash (but ok for away, not home).

4 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

its like an episode of the Apprentice where the contestants bicker away and the poor designer has to deliver what they give him 

100% accurate.

I don't like the crest shape - the curved out top is weird. And the yellow lion is crap. But I'm not that fussed about it in the long run - just want us to be good at football.

My thoughts from the weekend. My daughter bought us a pair of tickets (ridiculously generously) for Christmas as the only options for a new buyer. 

First off (and this is largely down to her not really reading the detail in the email), we ended up going into the ground proper before realising the Lower Grounds is the other end of the stadium. The stewards were super helpful and let us back out, and looked out for us coming back in later.

Lower Grounds is fine, but not a lot more than that. Food was really basic - Burgers are pretty rank, chips OK. Hot dogs, nachos, ice creams are other options - certainly stretching the definition of street food to the limit. Would have preferred a pie. Benches were all full so a bit of standing around. No queues for bar - that's really efficient. Had just the one beer as I was driving - there were lads settling well into a session to get the most value, but all pretty civilised. The bit of chat from former players was even less informative and bland than talksport commentary - all pretty amateur 'banter' stuff.

Sat in Upper Trinity it became very clear who it is for. There were a few American visitors behind us at their first match. A family group next to us who'd lost their Dad who had been a big fan and were coming in his memory. And us as daytrippers (I'm a former ST holder but don't get up more than occasionally now). As an opportunity for one-off visits, it's good that there is a route to do that, but it is very overpriced for the add-on experience, but I guess when we are flying high and there is limited opportunity to get tickets elsewhere that is the price to pay. Loved it for the day out with her (and a last-minute penalty winner obviously helped), but I've asked her to get me a book next year.

It is so good to see the general optimism about the club these days. Thought I'd see how the average on these has moved over the last year or so.

Orange line is our average optimism/pessimism against right axis (1 would be all very optimistic, 5 all very pessimistic)

Blue blocks are forecast finishing position against left axis, from 16th in Sept 22 to 4th now.

1 hour ago, HeyAnty said:

I actually want Newcastle beat.  We aren’t competing with Liverpool, they will be top 4/5.  Newcastle could buy in Jan and push on, especially with a win tonight.  Kill them off as soon as we can is my thinking 

But we clearly are competing with Liverpool. This season, all of 2023, we are as good as them. And Arsenal. And Man City. 

10 minutes ago, beasley14 said:

I'd be happier if they lost one more game and kept them way out of reach.  If we beat them at home following that then I'd agree they're done.  Never write off teams, win 4/5 games in a row and you make up good ground.

They'll lose plenty more games. They are 13 behind us. I'd much rather keep us in touch with the top. Its crazy to give up now. We deserve to be at the top, not only on this season's form, but pretty much since Unai came in. I want to keep that belief going. 

I love this thread. Everyone"s reasons for choosing whichever player are absolutely justified. I'd like the poll to close with them all level. 

2 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Yep that's a nice position now. Even if Man. United win they'll still be miles off us but will stop Spurs getting too close to us.

Bit like Liverpool-Newcastle tomorrow. Few weeks ago you really wouldn't have known what result was needed but now I'm all for a draw or even shock Newcastle win as they're miles off us.

Definitely a Newcastle win, but unlikely at Anfield. Funny old season though, so who knows. 

Will be very interesting to see who the players' player of the season goes to. Could really pick pretty much any of those, but Ezri gets my vote for consistency and adaptability in playing 2 roles so we'll. 

4 hours ago, GlobalVillan said:

That would be a bad result for us. 

To get top 5, we will need to finish above 2 of Newcastle, Man United and Spurs. We need those 3 to lose their games whenever possible.

Man City are alllowed to play in our league with their own financial doping rules and will win the league comfortably. Easily 5 to 10 points clear.

And again next year. And the year after that. They are playing with a fixed deck and that will be the difference when the business end of the season comes around and they can play 2 sets of billion pound starting 11's whilst everyone else has to follow the rules and suffer injuries, fatigue and suspensions.

Its disgusting but thats the way it is.

After that, Liverpool and Arsenal are likely to battle it out for 2nd and 3rd.

We are only ever a Luiz, Kamara, McGinn injury away from looking very fragile as the last 3 games have shown.

I hope that we can fix that one day, but it wont be this season.

After the top 3, its wide open but Spurs and Villa could complete the top 5.

We need to keep Newcastle and Man United as far back as possible as they are teams we could finish above. 

 

And yet here we are, joint top going into the new year, having had a couple of disappointing results and hit by injuries & suspensions. 

I'm still on the believe train. 

Well, quite the game to enjoy with my daughter. Was explaining why SJM is called Bravearse and after about 10 minutes she was like, yeah I get it.

A sending off, a pen, goals, winning in the last minute. Its why football is great, even if not good for the heart. Certainly ran through the full gamut of emotions. 

It is the first time I've been to a live game with var. Flipping heck it ruins the experience. No communication what's being checked or why. Bad enough on the telly but that was shambolic. 

Liking Lenglet. 

That's still a really strong side even with everyone missing. Looking forward to some attacking excitement from the off. 

2 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

If we win big and Liverpool also win we can be top by GD too. I don’t know how many goals behind we are though.

They are 5 ahead on GD, so if they won 1-0, we'd need to win 7-0 to go above them. Good target to have I guess.

47 minutes ago, RicRic said:

Excellent player for us but hes not at the level we need him to be right now….may take 5 or 6 games more for him to get fully up to speed and play at that intensity he was last season, i feel like its good competition also 

Well, we've got 3 more of those before the window opens!

And with suspensions and injuries he's going to get plenty of playimg time. Really is an extraordinary take to want to replace him. 

41 minutes ago, Pongo Waring said:

Are we invited to the new Super League now?

Still not going to happen. After the last aborted launch, all the PL clubs signed up to a clause saying they would be ejected from English football if they take part. Nothing to see here...

I expect Lenglet to get a run if Pau's out, particularly given the speculation about him being off. Hopefully Tim gets some minutes as well.

Just to feed the chat, fella here's got AI to mock up a 'new' VP:

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

I think bubbling away in the back ground is a thought that no one wants to face.....These decisions take courage and an awful lot of consideration to all factors.

Many of those factors affecting this decision, is not of our direct making such as outside infrastructure and transport facilities.

The prospect of taking a on a huge undertaking such as this, was always a big ask, while still fulfilling fixtures....the logistics is way above my head.

Arsenal, Spurs, Everton, West Ham and Man City......had a much easier transition, in to their expansion plans.....I do fear, it may come down to us doing much the same.

I believe this has been announced as a "Pause" to let the dust settle, the penny to drop, before the practical and sensible options get aired.

Ther will be a lot of debate on this.

See Chelsea for details. They have had new stadium plans for years and are no closer to realising them. Latest cost was something like £2bn and will take 7 years - including having to ground share with eg Fulham for a while. Can't see us agreeing to ground share with anyone nearby!

Well, I don't expect us to win the league, but equally don't see why we can't and expect us to put up a good challenge. The consistency is there and no other sides look any better at this stage - all the other competition have their weaknesses. Long way to go still but why not believe? If, as is likely, it's going to be a mid-80s points total this season, we can do that.