hypochondriac

I'm not panicking. Are we streets ahead of them? I'm not convinced we are in defence although obviously Ramsdale is a big upgrade. Midfield is arguable as Lavia and Armstrong would walk into this team and probably JWP as well. Remains to be seen if Fernandes and Archer are better than Alcaraz and Adams. I'd say they have the potential to be but not quite yet and Sulemana is a better option that BBD for me if we are basing it just on the games so far which admittedly is just a handful. We also had a lot of dross in backup positions last time we were up here which we no longer have so you could say our squad is stronger with more potential. There's certainly an argument to be made that we have a stronger team than the last time we got relegated but I would contest that its quality is much higher than what we had previously.

I knew it would be difficult but I did think we would present slightly more of a threat and look a bit less pathetic against some of the lesser teams.

I think that maybe the step up from championship to prem was bigger than many expected and I'd say that applies to both players and manager. Whether they can adapt remains to be seen.

I bet there's loads of potential recruits who will now think twice about associating with Hezbollah. You'll never know what piece of electronic equipment is liable to explode and destroy your bollocks.

Sure. Not sure why you expected a different outcome. Israel will get a temporary reprieve with their recent actions against Hezbollah which was probably the goal.

Indeed. I expect they've hobbled serious Hezbollah offensive capabilities for a good while. Maybe they will think twice before continuing to bomb Israel.

Labour stood on a platform of being better than what has gone before. In the eyes of the average member of the public, this sort of thing makes them look the same and encourages those who say that y are all the same. I don't think they are identical but I do think that when it comes down to it many politicians are self serving or at best try to help people but also want something to be in it for them in the process. Very rarely do you get truly selfless individuals who are in the game primarily to help others (in my experience selfless politicians are much more likely in local government which is why I'm much more likely to vote for individuals regardless of party affiliation on a local level.) The absolute worst thing about politics is having to play the game of politics with the rehearsed party lines that everyone trots out, the predictable opposition lines and the creation of narratives that are tested out in focus groups in advance. The older you get the more inauthentic it all becomes and the more weary you get of the same old tactics from all sides.

Why should Israel back down when they are getting bombed constantly?

And thank fuck for that. If he does go soon then although it's shit news, it could all have been very different if he'd decided to stay at Chelsea and we've have essentially nothing to show for developing him. It's gutting to lose him so early but the piles of dough will soften the blow somewhat.

I didn't say it was? Simply saying that although we are a small fish in the prem we are comparatively a rather large football league fish who is vastly bigger than the majority of the other teams In the pyramid.

I don't think you should be campaigning to end cronyism and then accept 70k for clothes for your wife. That's pretty obscene to me. There's probably a debate to be had about what level of donations are acceptable. I'd say that morally and given what labour have said in the past, they really should be looking to avoid the vast majority of handouts because of what it will inevitably be perceived as and the real risk of people buying undue influence.

Selling Dibling for 40-50 million in the summer if we got relegated would probably mean we wouldn't have to sell anyone else we didn't want to. From the club's perspective that's a bit of a no brainer.

I was in full agreement with the speech. I also want the return of the sausages. I'm hopeful of a fry up tomorrow morning.

Although I'd hate to argue with the COT, I was actually the first person to mention signing Ramsdale.

I think that giving freebies is done to buy influence and potentially makes changes to policy. You don't believe that to be the case?

All a confected story with none of these freebies influencing government policy?

Could be worse. We could be someone shit like Peterborough. Saints took their best player for peanuts and he can't even get on our bench.

Hard to disagree with that. They also need to look to deal with immigration too if they want to be successful. Remains to be seen if they will manage that.

I'm not a tory. Not sure how many times I have to criticise them. Boris did nothing whilst in chance and utterly wasted the chance he had to achieve something. They were nothing but a total disappointment in power.

Why are you still writing in such a sanctimonious manner after your frankly disgusting downplaying of Huw Edwards crimes? You'd have thought you would have at least had a few days off due to the shame.

I'm not sure your continued attempts to suggest this isn't newsworthy is working particularly well.

My only exposure to anything misslebrook related was when Oaklands school was a thing in Southampton decades ago and he had a plaque with his name on it there for whatever reason. What's the whole community centre thing about?

I'll be honest that did make me laugh.

If bbd was the Delap replacement then it makes it even more bizarre that we continue to play him on the wing.

I'm not saying I wanted Liam Delap for 20 million. What I'm saying is the striker we got as his replacement is the total opposite profile.