ponsaelius

He has looked good for Italy. They've landed onto something now with him, Ricci and Barella when he's back as a three. Hope he can show similar for us.

Cities also have to adapt move with the times. It's easy to look at Eldon Square in hindsight as architectural vandalism (and I'm certainly sympathetic to this viewpoint) but it satiated the type of retail demand that existed at the time and for the next 40 or so years.

But beauty is not really definable as it will always be a point of subjectivity, despite what the currently in-vogue traditionalist think tanks would have you believe. It's why the attempts to enshrine it into planning legislation have been so ham fisted. I always think good placemaking comes more from building heights/street width, use and quality of the space in between the buildings, the quality of landscaping and the mix of uses - more than it does the type of material used to clad a building or any specific architectural detailing. This is has been the biggest failing in UK cities over last 70 years, moreso than you lot value engineering everything

Seems an almost certain car crash appointment to me. How often do these high profile, short term, foreign managers work for any national team? Throw in his track record as an abrasive character and I can see another Capello situation personally. Obviously we're limited with our coaching pool compared to other countries but I feel the one job where promotion from within the system generally works well is the international game.

Only Bolivia at home obviously but Messi highlights last night are ridiculous. Hattrick and 2 assists at 37

In Italy they'll do them in big batches so as long as you're going at the end of one of those batches you get certainty in advance. They just leave it very late to announce those batches as they'll often wait for things like European draws before doing them. I just keep picking the wrong weekends basically (although thankfully they've worked out exactly how I wanted them to in the end). You do also get a bit of a sixth sense for it as I know which games won't be evening slots, which games won't be on a Friday if there's Europe etc.

Trains are very affordable and very reliable, in the North at least anyway. I have done four games in 48 hours a few times now. Hotels are same as here I'd say tbh, maybe marginally less off season. But you can box clever a bit easier than here I think by booking outside of touristy areas and then relying on public transport.

It's shit but it could be worse. The last two Italian footy trips I've done it has been like 8-9 days beforehand when they've finally announced the kick off days and times.

Duplo is also fully compatible with Lego

It looks like an airport terminal Call me old fashioned but a stadium should look like a stadium.

He's only played a handful of games for Napoli so far, most of which off the bench I still think he'd have been a solid enough signing for us though - if a bit uninspiring. Gallagher on the other hand would have been an excellent signing.

Imagine taking a floating stadium in the north sea suggestion at face value and them having the cheek to call other people retards

Was at Swansea 0-0 Stoke earlier, then sat through that. What a day of soccer.

God that stadium is ugly mind, can't understand the love for it at all and would hope we don't end up with something like that on the skyline. Have at it with this https://joshuahhh.com/projects/same-scale/#16.49/51.492453/7.450687/54.978340/-1.626496/Satellite

Somebody feel free to map to scale Tottenham's stadium or Dortmund's into the same space, it'll fit there with some minimal overlap on LP even if you needed to flip it which way or another. Certainly far more obtainable there than to the north of the ground or in the existing location for various reasons.

It's a paint job I did in about 5 mins, it's not supposed to be to scale or extremely accurate. More trying to show the planning constraints. But that area with a bit of LP is absolutely achievable for a new stadium just as it would have been with the 90s plan. You should be able have a far more 'efficient' footprint with a complete new build than the current SJP - even with a bigger capacity.

For a different topic but a Tyne river boat isn't anywhere close to commercially viable because most of the riverside on both sides is industry, wasteland or the port. It isn't The Thames. You'd need tens of thousands more people living actually immediately on the river to maybe get it to a stage of being workable. And even then there's east-west metro lines on both sides that are always going to be quicker than a river which undulates north to south. I'm surprised nothing has ever really started up again as a tourist thing though. There did used to be riverboat tours once upon a time - I distinctly remember going on one for a school trip or something.

People seem to get transfixed on the bandstand, the steps, the bust etc as if it's only small elements/artifacts that are listed. Just incorporate them, move them etc. Put them behind a post and rail fence like a piece of Hadrian's Wall. In isolation these various elements in the park don't really have significant historic value - many have been replaced/repaired/rebuilt over the years anyway. The steps are just some old stones. It is the whole park that is listed for a reason. Its historical value comes from its contribution to the city as an entire laid out piece of Victorian civic recreation. This comes from the layout, form, function as a collective. The lake, the stone entrances and walls, the hundreds of mature trees throughout etc all contribute to this heritage value. This is why construction to the immediate north of the existing SJP is to me a total non-starter from a heritage point of view - because you'd be building across a huge and significant area of the park. The same point above though is also why a build primarily on Castle Leazes should absolutely be viable - because some changes to the park should not be a total non-starter. It has after all been expanded and altered over the years from its original form. Its value comes not from architectural and built elements being held in stasis like is often the case with a heritage building (which leads to things like facadism, as is being used on Carliol House) but largely its purpose and role for the city. If you can keep most of the historic layout, while extending it, restoring much that is currently decaying, and securing long term future and function for a changing city - this can in my opinion be to an actual heritage benefit.

I know I wasn't the only one to suggest this kind of thing but does feel like my suggestion has been used. Definitely a sensible move.

There's absolutely nothing whatsoever going on upstairs with Palmer. Not sure how you can dislike a genuine simpleton, feels wrong.

Tonali has touched the ball 8 times. Bruno 24, Joelinton 17. This is a trend that has been the same whether he has been nominally the deepest midfielder or as the 8 so it isn't down to the role. He doesn't get involved enough and looks physically weak in challenges off the ball. Good touches on the ball when he does eventually get it. I rate him, liked watching him in Italy, but don't think he's had a particularly good game for us since his debut. I'm convinced he's just not a great tactical fit to the way we play.

Don't want to judge Tonali too much as we've thrown him in against Man City but he just doesn't get involved enough in or out of possession. It was exactly the same in all his games last year. I still don't think he was the right fit for an Eddie team

You can see that he has a very similar profile to Isak. It's a shame we weren't able to get both.

Need to tick it off before they move