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I watched a blu-ray edition of The Third Man a few days ago. One of my favourite films. I must have seen it a dozen times, or so, over the years. Brilliant film--with terrific performances from Joseph Cotton, Trevor Howard, Orson Welles, and Valli. The cinematography is superb--one of the great B&W films. And wonderfully atmospheric zither music from Anton Karas.

Sorry to disagree. This is what saintant replied to: The problem he’s got is squad quality beyond the obvious starters is not great. And all those who you list would probably start for most Championship sides. Just because they are not frequent starters for us does not mean that they are poor (ie “not great”) quality. I’m posting at 11.00pm from a place in South Ontario near Brampton!

I mean, the reason Dobbin, Mubama, Edozie, Fellows, Roerslev, Abbott and Welington don't start is because the player ahead of them in their position is the obvious best choice. All of them would walk into over half the sides in the championship.

This one may never be beaten, great stat!

Seriously? Let’s explore this… Welington - he has enough quality to be a starter, but he’s literally not getting a start. Why? Wood - was not getting a start for ages, then suddenly he’s starting. Had struck up a decent partnership with Deven but then dropped for Pimpley. Will he be back for Norwich…possibly. Abbott - not started in a first team game - what makes you think he’s good enough now? Roeslev - when did he last start a game? Why now? Jander - will start ahead of Bragg and possibly even JWP - the one player you’d expect to start now. Matsuki - could be a starter if Tonda thought that suited the game plan…not happening much though. Fellows - not starting games presumably because Tonda doesn’t rate him enough to start. Not even getting off the bench much lately. Edozie - hardly ever gets a start, presumably because he offers so little and Tonda doesn’t trust him to deliver. Mubama - how many starts has he had? How many times off the bench? Not good enough, that’s why. Dobbin - how many starts has he had? How many times off the bench? Not good enough, that’s why? Sorry, but when you look at it closely, our squad beyond the obvious starters is not that strong. I reckon there will likely be no more than 3 players rotated on Wednesday…Wood, Jander…possibly Matsuki.

VAR would definitely have had a look. All the official needs to do is suggest that it was serious foul play. Which it could definitely have been interpreted as. Fair to say there’s every chance we got away with one. I’ve watched it back, it’s a silly challenge and his only mitigation is that he doesn’t full on whack the guy studs up, despite going through his legs with both feet. Fuck VAR anyway.

Virgil Van Dyke

Yeah yeah, try possession per game if you want to see a real gap between Russ and anyone else 😉

Bolton probably.

I always thought JWP under Koeman was played further forward and looked decent. He certainly wasn’t afraid to have a long ranger back then, scored a few from distance. Doesn’t mean he is a shoe in, but none of them should be, strong competition.

...but he does have a head wound - that "needs stitches". You can't 'put that aside'.

You’d think after ten+ years of evidence they’d realise. I suppose notable players that moved on to better things include Lallana, Bale, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Shaw, Mané, Tadic - they won trophies. Wanyama and Schneiderlin’s careers stuttered somewhat. Did Lovren and Clyde win anything at Liverpool?

I've got to say, for all the criticism the club has got in recent years (and rightly so), they got it spot on yesterday. Shithousery from early on, throughout and at the end which got the best out of the crowd and the players. Mark Dennis on the mic, 'The visitors', trying to rile up Ebou Adams every chance they got, the Liquidator, showing the table on the screen at the end. Off you fuck back down the road. When James Beattie is on the DJ decks at the end of it all you know you've had a good day.

Cards have been upgraded in matches I’m sure.

Central

Park

Talking of mentioning things: when we play the away fixture at Fratton Park, I wonder if Blackmore and the rest of the media will keep mentioning that Pompey haven't won a league game against us for 22 years?

I don't think it would be right to play all 3 of Downes, JWP, Jander regularly, agree you need the balance of another more natural wide player. There's enough games in the Championship though that all 3 will get plenty of game time if we just play 2 of them and this will also keep them fresher. That' s what we did last season with Downes/Jander/Charles so see no reason why we wouldn't do that this season now we have JWP instead of Charles.

Think it's possible some refs might have given red, but don't think the yellow he decided on would have caused VAR to intervene as a clear and obvious error if it was in use.

Nah, clear yellow.

Adam and Jo are great.

In fairness, he's been given a tough start. Lost most of their top level players (Gordon, Tonali, Guimaries) and quite a few others out injured at the start of the season (Burn, Joelinton, Livramento, Ramsey). They signed a bunch as well but that's a major upheaval to handle as s new manager.

Have we adopted Chelsea’s The Liquidator? Great song especially the ‘Fuck off Pompey’ mix?

I may be totally wrong but I can’t see Leo playing this game. At one point before he came off on Sunday, may even have been in the first half, he was stretching him hamstring. Although I’m sure the tactics necessitated it, he may well have come off anyway. He didn’t seem quite as explosive or dynamic after the stretching.

Yep, Coventry seem over their dodgy start now. It's early days but I fancy all 3 could stay up even if it was the usual 3 spots, they all seem to have a bit about them.