KentVillan

If he’s really bad, Suso was tracking him

Interestingly was just looking at the test bowling records, and didn’t realise Anderson had a similar strike rate to Murali and Warne. Obviously just doesn’t bowl as many overs in a test as a spinner so has taken him longer to match Warne’s haul (he’s only 20ish wickets behind now).

Yeah and also the media just seize on anything involving attractive middle class white people.

The Mackenzie Crook sister in law story perhaps explains why the police are so exasperated with the Nicola Bulley case, and released the info about her. Nicola Bulley’s family publicly gave the impression to anyone who would listen that this is completely out of character and a complete mystery. Whereas Mackenzie Crook has said they are worried about his sister in law because she is going through chemo etc. I imagine the police in the Nicola Bulley case think f’kin hell it’s not that surprising that someone who’s having a life crisis has gone missing, why are the family making this look like an abduction and stirring the conspiracy pot?

Not expecting results from him in the short term... he's only 19. But he looks a great signing to me.

Newcastle will finish mid table. It's hilarious how all these half season and one season wonders get lauded on here whenever we're pissed off with our own players. Seen it all before with Wilder's Sheffield Utd, Moyes's West Ham, etc etc. It's just the usual grass is greener nonsense. Eddie Howe's opinion on Mings means **** all. Mings has been one of our best signings of recent years.

Oh yeah Sir Eddie Howe who's got one decent half-season in the Premier League under his belt with Saudi oil money, now about to fall apart. Mings has been one of our best players for 4 seasons now. Howe was wrong.

Try and enjoy life haha

The reaction on here would be completely different if that shot had gone in, which it very, very nearly did. Bailey is a very frustrating player, but he's dangerous. I imagine Emery looks at him and thinks, if only I could get him to use those skills effectively, he would be one of my key players. I think top coaches would rather have a raw player who has those attributes and can be coached into something special, than a workhorse who has already hit his ceiling. Whether we'll see that at Villa, I'm not sure. He seems a bit too head down and off-the-cuff to ever succeed here tbh, but give him credit where it's due, he's a genuine goal threat against any defence.

I think there are a handful of players who Emery clearly sees as part of his long-term plans, and Watkins is one of them.

Yeah I think the key thing Emery will be looking for is decision making. Odegaard is a great decision maker. Our midfielders still look a bit naive at times.

I'm not worried about Emery at all. Think it will just take him some time to get his ideas across. Don't even think it's the player quality either. I'm sure a few of these players who are frustrating him at the moment will end up being key players for him. Will just take longer with some of them to get them playing his way.

Mings would have international caps for pretty much any country in the world. The defensive qualities of CBs have dropped in recent years because of the way the game has evolved. You still get the odd Rolls Royce type like Ramos, but most CBs are pretty flawed in one way or another. Look at the starting CBs in the WC22 final... Romero, Otamendi, Upamecano, Varane. Ok Varane is (or at least has been) world class, but the other 3 are very mistake prone. I think we give Mings too much of a hard time when he's clearly one of our best players.

It definitely was the wrong place to head the ball. But the cross was smashed in from inside the area, and he didn't have much option but to get a firm head on it. I think a lot of decent CBs would have made the same mistake in that situation. Other players should be reacting quicker to the second ball there. Not saying Mings is the best CB in the world, but I don't think our defensive problems are going to be fixed by having better CBs. It's more the way the whole team defends as a unit, and tbh our full backs are a bigger concern than our CBs at the moment.

They do, big smelly flecks of faeces. Everything gets based on the one thing they remember drunk and whatever they already thought about the player

Yeah has there ever been a decent day / night test? The few I can think of were basically won on the toss

I do think nowadays people and communities are a lot more prepared for the reality that you probably can’t work in the same career your entire working life. The workforce is more mobile, many more people are educated to 18 or beyond, and remote work / internet / etc make it somewhat easier to retrain and find work. Obviously it will be very disruptive and some people will struggle, and govt should mitigate that as much as possible rather than just telling them to get on their bikes.

Yep fair enough. Lack of consistency and lack of clear explanations during / immediately after the game are frustrating

I’m not his biggest fan, but he was great today

Don’t think Martinez did a lot wrong today. Time wasting was annoying but wasn’t the reason we lost. His kicking was mostly decent bar a couple into touch. Couldn’t have done much about any of the first 3 goals, and the last goal you’re always going to gamble on the equaliser. Don’t understand why all the hate.

I personally don’t think the 3rd goal was an obvious offside. Could have been given, but Martinez didn’t complain about it, and IMO it would have gone in anyway

Got no issues with him going up for that corner. So we concede another goal, so what? I agree on the time wasting though. It was pointless.

Fair enough although 3rd was only partly luck, and bear in mind Odegaard has missed an absolute sitter.

Lots of good things in this game, but was very much one for the neutrals. I thought Kamara was superb and my MOTM. But shipping 4 goals against an Arsenal side that have looked a bit toothless in recent weeks is a big disappointment

Good half, game plan working. Looking forward to seeing Duran cause them some problems off the bench