Wurzel

Slightly off track but does VVD *always* have his hair in that stumpy pony tail / bun thing? Assumed it was just pulled back whilst playing but even at the PFA awards the other day he had it . David Luiz and Mattéo Guendouzi manage to play whilst sporting enough hair for the entire team, what is VVD hiding?

Nope beats last year, I forgot Wanyama.

Won't it be same number as last time?;Liverhampton plus Bale a year ago. Could add MoPo to the players this time though. UEFA must be hating this right now.

That is sad news and a shock. Speaking to him only a month or so ago he seemed pleased how his general fitness was improving after his earlier health scare. Condolences to all family and friends

I'd have to see it again but my impression live was Valery played it to where Stephens was s second or so earlier but for some reason Stephens had decided to go 10 yards back towards his own goal.

I'd have to see it again but my impression live was Valery played it to where Stephens was s second or so earlier but for some reason Stephens had decided to go 10 yards back towards his own goal.

And that's all that matters. Wondered how old it was but Bournemouth on 150 games makes it easy to check it's completely up to date. Biggest surprise for me was Middlesbrough in 19th. Never would include them in a list of "sleeping giants", more of an "also ran" and their trophy count must be similar to ours yet they've been in the top division about half as long again as we have.

You've also only got 18 opponents in the list, but then again no-one wants to see Everton do they?

Steve, are you factoring in fees? Web sales is £1 a game, so an extra £19 Not sure of "over the phone" extras.

According to that he's cycling the marathon route, and running the marathon distance in the areas you mentioned. I'm surprised that the running is the last leg of the 3 events. Is swim/cycle/run the set order for iron-man?. I'd have thought leaving the cycling leg to last would be easiest* as it at least should offer opportunities for a bit of free-wheeling now and again when the tiredness really sets in. *I use the word "easiest" with tongue in cheek. Absolutely nothing easy about any of what he's doing.

Yep https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_netball

2-0 is enough for that (ours goes up 2, theirs go down 2), but 4-0 would be nicer. Much nicer:)

Request denied Well that has to be a first !

So this is an every day thing then, not just match days ? (application mentions 10 full time employees/5 part time, and used for showing live sports/entertainment non match days). Glad to see club trying new things but can't see any appeal for it there apart from match days.

Hmmm, is that figure correct or a guess? I had totally overlooked the the possibility of contingency payments in my desire for them to win bugger all.

For me, every season it's Arsenal that look like they have the ability to "implode" and have (by top 6 standards) a terrible season. And every year they have a few games to give me hope it's happening but always seem to recover and finish the season strongly. Maybe next year could be the year.

Well that makes a pleasant change

Fulham came close as well, L2>L1 with Man City same season but took an extra year to reach the PL. They went up both times as champions though (with 101 points both times)

Are draws becoming less frequent? Current last 5 match form table (i.e 50 games) only has 8 teams with a draw (i.e 4 drawn games), with no team having more than 1 in their last 5.

That's my point though. Why assume you've missed something (when you already had a clear enough view to wave play on) just because the linesman flags? Why not consider you might have got it right and the linesman saw it wrong. It would need a verbal "comparing of notes" to make the decision I could accept it if the ref hadn't seen it/had a clear view and was looking towards his assistant for help but that wasn't the case. He just seemed happy to accept the over-rule and stop us in mid-attack. Easy to think too happy to do so, although to be fair, if he wanted to show them any bias he could well have given a penalty against Yoshida. It wasn't one but a lot of refs might have fallen for that one. In my view - and be interested to hear a ref's view point - he should have waited another few seconds, the situation was there was either going to be a goal, corner or goal kick within seconds at which stage he could immediately clearly point to his linesman and go and discuss it, or we lose possession and Liverpool then have the advantage anyway.

When I saw him whistle I assumed VVD must have stayed down with a head injury, and was angry he couldn't have waited a couple more seconds as we were in a dangerous position. Couldn't believe it was for a free kick to them. He'd clearly waved an advantage, even if the linesman indicated free kick the other way why change his mind without a discussion? (or are lino/refs miked up to each other nowadays?) Has to smile at Charlie Austin's first (and only?) contribution - deliberately "accidentally" barging into VVD's chest as he went to position himself in their area for a free kick. To be fair VVD just laughed it off, some players would have gone down screaming to the ref.

That makes sense stood in the Itchen, as you are able to face the opposition, in the Northam you can hardly see the away fans unless you're at the end of a row nearest the segregation. It's noticeable that if away fans want to taunt the home fans 90% of them do so towards the Itchen for the same reason, they can see them and hear them. I've watched from most parts of the ground over the years and the acoustics are weird but if you are in the Chapel end on the Itchen side the away fans seem much louder than they ever do in the Northam (as they are directly facing you). By that very nature, if "the Northam" congregated in that corner the away fans would hear them more than they do now. It would probably make for an increase in "banter" noise, just less pathetic eyeballing across the safety net.

I won't shoot you down. that's always been my argument. How does, for example "black bastard" differ from ginger ****, fat ******, lanky git etc. The abuse is because he is an opposition player, picking on an individual characteristic identifies the player it's aimed at. If the suggestion was that the player is a bastard because he is black, then yes that is racist, but in a football context that is hardly ever the case, if at all. Having said that, if the opposition had a fat, lanky, ginger black player it would be interesting to see how his insults were singled out or if he got 4 times as many as his team mates. As for monkey chants, thrown bananas etc, that's a totally different kettle of fish and has no place in football, or indeed society in general.

A good 5 days. In the bottom half of the table 7 teams got no points at all ( including 3 who played twice). Even Palace who were one of the teams that managed to win one lose one so we gained a game in hand on them. Bearing in mind the start we had just staying up will be a huge relief, but on current form - both ours and others - I'd be disappointed now to finish anything below 12th. There's optimism for you.

Loving this bit To me that says as much about Hughes as it does about RH. Was the previous lack of sprints and less ground covered purely tactics, or did an element of "can't be arsed" creep in through disillusionment with MH's tactics? I can't think of one player who is not looking a better player on the pitch (and some who weren't on the pitch at all) now than they did 6 months ago. That doesn't come from tactics alone .