Chris_R

This was for a white person.

He stumbled upon a good front 3, which got us to 5th, but then ripped it up the following year when Ba insisted on playing centrally and he just let him, and the results were never the same. We also lucked out in loads of matches with moments of brilliance which is unsustainable long-term. As was again proven the following year. It was despite him, not because of him.

Odd people to think that using a wheelchair means you're declaring you cannot walk at all. My mum, who doesn't give 2 shits about football mind, has a wheelchair for when she's out and about because her mobility is pretty fucked. She can still walk round the house, even drive her car, do her gardening etc but just anything more than 50m and she'll be collapsed in a heap so she has the wheelchair, disabled badge etc for longer stints or when she's out and about. It's absolutely fine to be a legitimate wheelchair user without completely surrendering your right to walk. Fucking oddballs.

It's not even a sign of cowardice, it's just a sign of being a shit footballer.

They're just listing everyone who's ever played for them

You do realise that when they say "millions spent on X" they don't just put a big pile of money in a field and set fire to it, KLF-style? The millions spent on the funeral is going to people, mostly normal people. Overtime for police and security guards, money for people in the transport industry, money to people actually doing things for the funeral. Charles doesn't get any of it, nor does any of it just evaporate into thin air. It's government money (from taxpayers, sure) given back to the people in some way. If anything, spending millions on the funeral helps normal people eat. You know what doesn't help anyone though? Bank holidays. But that's the one thing everyone seems in favour of and I don't hear anyone (myself included, tbf) suggesting we shouldn't have one of those....

I know that's where he played, so I guess he was, but I never felt he was good in that position. I'd have loved to see him get extended time as a right back, or in the middle of the park, or as a right winger. He was a fantastic footballer but he just lost something playing left back from what I could tell. Anyway, wish him well for his retirement.

To be fair it is a fairly unique achievement. I've checked and they're right, I thought Edward VIII would catch them out but they won the league and Community Shield that year. The only other competition up for grabs that year was the FA Cup won by Arsenal, and they won fuck all before that, so Sunderland are the only team who can claim this. However as interesting it is as a fact, and it is interesting, it's just trivia; it's of no more significance than "only ginger astronaut" or "first midget bullfighter" or whatever odd fact anyone comes up with.

Yeah but it's not clear who is the biggest club. You're not factoring in that they got some pretty big gates back when WW1 was just ending. Football wasn't invented in 1964 you know.

Absolutely baffling that we've got a £60m striker who's just banged one in and had another fractionally chalked off away against Liverpool in what, 60 minutes of play time, and here we've got some people advocating sticking him on the wing so we can play Chris Wood up front? I want Wood to do well as much as anyone, but give your heads a wobble. When Wilson is back, there'll be enough for both of them to do. All good teams have more than one decent striker and they find a way to keep them happy.

I'm sure because I've seen the stills of when the ball was played, Isak was ahead of the defender. Doesn't matter that the linesman didn't have this footage, because he was correct. Yes it was marginal, but he was offside. We need to stop whinging about a tight but correct call that went against us, it's pathetic. Let's not become those kind of supporters.

He was offside like.

We've signed one of the best goalkeepers in the league, one of the best central defensive prospects in Europe, and one of the highest rated forwards in the world. I'd have loved a right winger, but fucking hell it's been a very good window. We had so much to do, doing it all at once would be impossible.

Still nearly 8 minutes, anything could yet happen!

Has anyone told him it's only a loan?

To be honest, I thought the offside call was correct - Isak was leaning forward and the defender was leaning back and it's "any part you can score with" which can be offside. Off is off, there should be no benefit of doubt because if you allow someone to be 5 inches offside then next week someone kicks off because they're pulled up for being 6 inches off. You have to have a line somewhere. I also thought the time added on, sickening as it was, was probably fair. We took the piss. We'd be livid if other sides did that against us. I'd have been delighted if we'd drawn (or better!) and I'm gutted we lost in the manner we did, but I can't complain at the officials even though it always feels unfair especially at Anfield in the last few seconds.

That's utterly infuriating, but delighted with how we played overall.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-62724535 Mags

But if you keep winning, you don't need to. I'm not saying Howe is right, or that he's wrong. Just that I'm fairly sure that this is how he's playing it, and that I at least understand his reasoning. And it seems to be working with all the players completely behind him from what I can tell.

Why though? If the team keeps winning, why do you NEED to change it? Just wait until they lose. Or if they never lose, guess that's OK too? It stops players thinking "Well why did I bother, we won and I still got dropped". Makes perfect sense to me. Don't get me wrong from a fan perspective and just looking at this match in isolation I'd love to see Isak start tonight. But I'm almost certain he won't, and I understand from a bigger picture why it could be the right way for Howe to approach it.

It's about the team, not the individual. If you're part of a successful team, you start the next game if you're fit. That's how he seems to play it. He only makes changes after defeats, or when forced to if the team won previously. Bruno was kept out of the team until after the Brighton match last year because we kept winning, and only got his first start vs Southampton because Joelinton was unavailable for selection - think he was suspended?

People seem obsessed with Howe not putting people in straight away, but I think it's more to do with not changing a winning team and keeping faith with those who have done well so far. It's about morale, letting people know that if they keep doing what's asked of them their place is safe. Like when we bought Bruno, we were in the middle of a great run so he kept keeping the faith with the same midfield and perhaps rightly so. I'm sure if we get horsed tonight with Isak on the bench, he'll start at the weekend. But if by some miracle we beat Liverpool with Wood starting, then Wood will start again V Palace. It has little to nothing to do with "easing people in".

And Exile...

If he hasn't got a work permit, can't Isak just play for free tonight?

He didn't think he was ready for such a step up, wants a few more years at Brighton before taking a job with a real giant.