jackbauer24

I keep hearing this idea of him going out on loan to the Championship... he's already had that with US! In 17/18 he played for 1500mins (best part of 17 full matches) in which he scored two goals in a team that was fighting for promotion. The following season, again in the Championship, he barely played despite being available for at least 17 matches (assuming unfit for all not in squad ones). So he wasn't trusted when we were in the Championship. Last season he actually had 538 minutes in the Premier League spread across 18 games... and no goals. He just doesn't score. He's not going to score at Championship level either! Davis scored a goal every 827mins in the Championship, who's going to want to loan that?! Davis is a type of player that doesn't exist anymore, the big target man is a position from a forgotten tactical age. But even when we had the Dublin (with Joachim) and Carew (with Young) they could finish themselves too. Even Heskey (with Gabby) scored a few for us. I have nothing personal against the lad and his work ethic seems fine etc but I just don't get this eternal optimism for clearly really poor players... Luke Moore is even ten times the player Davis is!!

Yeah I agree... I mean there was that game he scored 12 goals and ran the show... Actually there was that spell where he scored 8 goals in ten games...maybe I'm getting confused, there surely is evidence somewhere that he has this potential... Got it. Yep. It's lack of chances and playing at such a high level for a kid that has prevented him from showing us his very best; Premier League; 22 appearances no goals, no assists Championship; 40 appearances, 2 goals and one assist League Cup; 9 appearances, 2 goals and two assists (Burton Albion and Crewe Alexander) Total 71 appearances, 4 goals. Prolific. But he's only 22 (older than Luiz and much older than Ramsey). But he's one of us...except he's from Stevenage and we signed him from Biggleswade Town when Stevenage released him. Yeah I'm stuck.

My issue with Mings vs Hause isn't just that Mings has walked straight back in to the team despite how well Hause played (which would be quite harsh in itself) but that actually Mings is one of the few (only?) players having a worse season than he had las year. Forget anything like team morale, this actually makes us weaker.

As you named me... The guy I posted continues to post videos along much the same lines and continues to question the interpretation of data... This is his latest one from a quick check. Not watched any in ages as I've kind of switched off from it all. However, whilst I have no desire to get in to it too much, there is still this seemingly binary 'ideology' between armageddon and denial, there doesn't seem to be any scientific debate about actions and that is the main issue as far as I'm concerned. Covid response is being treated more like a religion than a science and that worries me. Rules of 6 based on? Rules on Tiers make no sense. Schools open makes no sense. Tiers being increased after a national lockdown makes no sense. Cases are largely irrelevant (asymptomatic or no lasting effects), admissions are and mortality certainly is. I acknowledge I don't know everything, enough, even a little... But what I don't like is the ever diminishing number of people who will be transparent, debate or explain without derision, pomposity or virtuousness. I did see an former Head of Pathology Dr John A Lee (writes for Spectator and Daily Fail) in which he maintains this is the wrong response. He is far more knowledgeable than me so it makes sense to question some aspects. It doesn't mean you think it is all a conspiracy or about tracking us or all that crap. But if he's wrong why aren't respectable names like his being challenged in mass media rather than being allowed to speak in small columns in national arenas and build up a following? Why is he not on Question Time being torn to shreds? Not allowing the dissenting voice, whether right or wrong, is not something I feel comfortable with. But that's enough of that. My resolution is not to think about the whole thing if at all possible, my voice/views are irrelevant and I will follow blindly to save myself the anguish and just keep going til it, one day, passes. Happy New Year all!

They will go level with Liverpool with a win after the same number of games. That could work for or against us!

Whilst not directly relevant to this game... Do you 'hint' to McGinn, Grealish and Targett that if they were to pick up a yellow card in this game then they'd be banned for the cup game they probably won't play in anyway rather than a league game... Innocently and completely coincidentally of course... Unless cards are competition specific which I'm never 100% sure on. Tough run of games come up and can see us losing all three at some point before the cut off.

Konsa has the ability to be a real top player; Cahill/JT quality. He's miles ahead of Mings already, England call ups can't be far away. I really think he has the potential to be as good a defender as we've had in decades. So impressed.

I've not been Hause's biggest fan but, for me, he stays in based on performances and the fact Mings hasn't done enough to earn his position back this season, too many mistakes, poor focus and no discipline. You have to reward performances and not live on past reputation and so far Hause is looking better than Mings this season.

I'll be watching the card count carefully in this game... We could go in to the Man Utd game without Grealish, McGinn and Targett on suspensions alone... never mind injuries or general exhaustion.

I think it's great everytime we have such a massive mess from VAR, more chance of people really pushing for a massive overhaul or, better still, it's complete abandonment. Just need it to happen in more high profile games than tonight. The more it happens to the Man City, Liverpool type games the quicker we'll see the issue resolved. Problem is, I think VAR people are aware of this so don't annoy the big boys if at all possible.

Maybe that's my confusion! But then based on the two other responses to my post - they are saying everyone should have it. The talk in the media is that there is a hierarchy and eventually everyone should have it basically. "Will you take the vaccine?" is being asked of mid 20s celebrities. They're being asked if they'd happily give it to their kids too. So are we thinking everyone should have it or not?

I'm confused (again). Why exactly does everyone need a vaccine? We don't all have a flu jab, just the people who are susceptible. I see the argument to "protect others" but surely if you're vaccinating in priority order, they no longer need that same protection. So once the people who are elderly, sick or have high risk factors have been vaccinated aren't you covered and you can go for the much talked about herd immunity in everyone else? A large amount of which will be asymptomatic anyway. If this is the case, you're back to 'normal' in a fraction of the time. Why do kids need vaccinating after granny has already been?

Get the feeling Liverpool might try and get a little revenge here... But rather they do it in the cup than in the league!

It's really simple for me, forget all the issues about consistency or application, if you can't celebrate a goal anymore then football is dead. Since it came in, when was the last time you really celebrated a goal?! We're waiting for it to be checked and that initial buzz of a goal has faded. I hate it. If it must stay, replays should be watched once at full speed and if it's not clear and obvious error from that then the game should be left uninterrupted. We'd go from 3 or 4 VAR checks a game to 3 or 4 in a game week. Personally I'd scrap it, football should be the same rules from grassroots to Premier League.

People may point to the early substitution or the absolutely mental decision to overturn the penalty (levelling up the sending off I suspect) but the truth is we just weren't at it. Again. At home. Against weak opposition. McGinn and Mings were awful. Targett, Watkins, Luiz all half asleep. Grealish off his standard and with no outlet Trezeguet had a million chances but was so concerned with smashing it every time that he was never going to score, absolutely no composure at all. Look at Welbeck's goal for an example of composure. Trez just put his laces through it every time like a Sunday league player. I'm not giving him MOTM for smashing it as hard as you can. Martinez only one who really played well, snuffing out multiple opportunities before they developed. I got a slap on the wrist for being so hard on them at half time but, despite a brief hope we'd start playing in the second half, it went exactly the way I feared. I have to strongly question the attitude of this squad when they continuously don't bother showing up against the more average teams. I'm far more annoyed at our attitude than I am at a questionable penalty call. We didn't deserve even a point.

Love to be wrong, don't worry!! I'm venting, shove the words down my throat!!

It won't be the first time... It'll be the third time in 8 matches. So the question is, are we more likely to be able to maintain remarkable results against top 6 teams or start showing a proper approach to these sorts of games? These games are far more important than the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool ones in the long run.

Brighton are awful but fortunately for them, the unprofessional showboaters have arrived this week. You have to questioning the attitude of players that lose to such poor teams reguarly when they have shown they are perfectly capable of playing at a much better standard. I don't care how 'close' it is or that we 'should' be winning, it's quite clear that Brighton have this in the bag today and will run away with it in second half on the counter. McGinn has been awful. Trezeguet is so intent of scoring on his 50th appearance that he's wasted countless opportunities smashing it in to row ZZ. Watkins has been asleep and committed to nothing. Luiz is standing off his player every time. Targett wants to take about twenty touches too many. Mings still thinks he's all that and his passing and basic positioning gets worse every week. MOTM is Martinez and nothing in the first half has suggested that's likely to change in the second. I'm genuinely fuming with that half, way too many players have shown such a poor attitude and it's only due to quality from the likes of Grealish and how defensive Brighton are that it's close at all. Analyse the chances and really it shoukd be 3 or 4 to Brighton. Fuming.

You write really well for a nine year old, but I think your teacher would be disappointed to see you swearing like that...

4-3 flatters us because, despite having ended the game with more shots, it was only after Saints took their foot off the gas that we got moving. A better team, maintaining their focus, would have strolled that with another few goals. They possibly underestimated our ability to do so but, based on the game, it was probably fair! Two late goals really makes it look closer than it was, they were seeing that out after the hour and being 4 up. The midfield, despite gaving effectively five in there, looked over run. I don't see that passion or fight from any of our players. No one really hassles. We're, once again, losing the fight before skill even comes in to it. Looking over all the games so far, I'd say we look like we'll probably be safe but I doubt we're really a top half team. Liverpool all came together but every other game hasn't exactly been impressive.

I will drop this in but with minimal comment... What exactly is incorrect about this? Why is it not allowed to be discussed? If it's wrong, I want to know it's wrong with evidence as to why it's wrong. We can go from 1 death to 10 deaths and the number of people dying has "increased 900%" when spun 'correctly' but it's still 'just' ten people. People do die unfortunately. There are some nuts who think it doesn't exist, but there are others, including well renowned scientists, who go "ok, it exists, we were worried to begin with but now we have more data and evidence we can continually reevaluate as all good scientists do and the actions being taken (and that have been taken) are completely disproportionate. Panic and fear of seeming heartless has replaced data, science and analysis from what I can see...

Whilst getting in to all the permutations of who Leicester may, or may not, have available, let's just pause to see how far we've come since last we played them. Losing 4-0 and resigned to relegation... Look at the squad from that day to the probable one for this fixture; Reina now MARTINEZ Guilbert now CASH Engels now KONSA MINGS TARGETT Nakamba now BARKLEY LUIZ Hourihane now MCGINN Elmo now TREZEGUET (with Traore waiting) GREALISH Samatta now WATKINS It's pretty incredible really. We may well lose and come back down to earth but it's hard to deny that we've not made huge strides.

Again, I'm thinking... So?! Positive cases mean NOTHING. 770 young adults... 10% have any symtoms. Of those 78, what are the symptoms? How serious are they? Have any needed medical intervention or even hospitalisation? Positive cases, in themself, are irrelevant. We could have 10 million positive cases tomorrow and it is irrelevant if no one is actually ill/ in need of medical intervention. We need to stop looking at cases (90% asymptomatic) as a barometer of our grasp on the virus and start looking at data a bit more analytically.

Martinez MOTM. Earnt us at least two points already (probably three as they'd have defended 1-0 even better). And furthermore, despite the brilliant penalty save, it was his coolness with the ball at his feet and his willingness to come for crosses that was most impressive. He'll have busier games though. And yet, despite playing against ten men for the best part of 80mins we're talking about OUR keeper! Ramsdale was rarely troubled and the goal was soft. McGinn, love him, but by far the worst player out there. Should have been off instead of the preset remove Hourihane for a striker/attacker move. Grealish very poor too, Luiz only one seemingly up to speed across midfield. Trez... Poor. Cash, well I had my reservations but he was outstanding. Really impressed and calm on the ball. Seemed to get more decent crosses in than anyone else. Konsa, even forgetting the goal, is fast becoming our best defender. That's partially due to his progress but also Mings' standards dropping. Targett wasn't good really either. Watkins was solid but got very little supply. So, overall, poor. Red card and Martinez saved us. But, like others have said, we'd have got less out of that last season. Only improvements to come too. Will take poor performance wins all season long if I have to!!

Well we start our campaign tomorrow night in what has been a mental start to the season. Loads of goals, no draws at all yet and a frantic start by all teams. So... 0-0 tomorrow yeah?!