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Or people are presenting horribly simplistic solutions as self-certified pub wisdom. We can attract young, unproven, technical talent because we play such players. We don’t have a lot of money. Quality technical and big physical players are very expensive and everyone chases them. We have no money so we go after players with chequered careers, injury risks or those who have travelled without settling or - excellently - quality young players starved of opportunity (that de-facto others have rejected or not opened the door to). Whatever we choose we want players who can play a fluid, expansive, possession-oriented game. To bring in physical players therefore either means the binary of bringing in players who are big and physical (and perhaps not so technical, thus undermining the model) or bringing in players who are big and physical and technical (which every half-baked analyst from a 3rd tier side can identify. They cost a fortune and everybody chases them, thus undermining the model - again). We are on a model on the Auxerre-Ajax-Barcelona spectrum of long term methodology and philosophy. We will prefer players we have bred and talent we have schooled. If we can have all the assets plus physicality of course we will welcome it with open arms. Of course equal brilliant and superior physical beats just equal brilliant most times. To change means so much more than trite pub landlord solutions and simplicities. We were incredible last year. It was a wonderful unexpected miracle. We didn’t then spend any money. Other Premier teams already had lots of money and lots of great players. Our methodology is refreshing and will maximise our chances and improve our players based on our available parameters. Repeatedly upsetting the odds against teams and players that are better is unlikely however. You must believe it and you will sometimes achieve it, though let us not stake our houses on rainbows and unicorns, rather let us enjoy victories against Man City and the wonderful memories of a beautiful and - let’s not forget - the already against the odds and unexpected success of last year. We are pocketing the cash to develop the model. A pragmatic choice and one that has momentum behind it, though is borne as much out of necessity as choice. We either go into a gunfight with a knife or we try some innovative guerilla tactics that may not work, though which do not see Steven Naismith in the reserves, but rather see Godfrey, Aarons, Lewis, Cantwell et al receive an unbuyable education, likely enhancing their values (perhaps exponentially) and ‘proving’ to the world that we meant it when we said ‘come here (excellent young, underused player) and you’ll be given a fair chance and a great education. This way the next Maddison comes to us too. And slightly better young players are attracted than even before. And so it continues. Or you could spend a load of cash on big lads that are a bit worse than everybody else’s big lads, with money we don’t have and putting off all the young gifted players that we haven’t yet signed that are crucial to our sustainability under the current model. Parma

Changing usernames is very sad I agree. Ever done it?

What Barca lack in physical attributes they make up with pace, experience, and players with an outstanding ability to read the game and position themselves accordingly to provide effective defensive structure. Busquets is a player that springs to mind. That's what we lack, players who read the game and put themselves in the right place at the right time. I guess this is understandable, when you consider we have midfielders playing in defence, a deeplying playmaker in the number 10 position, and a squad that generally lacks experience - especially at this level. Not to mention the spate of injuries disrupting any sort of rhythm or consistency. We do lack physicality - but there's more to it.

I have to say - much as I support the vote being extended to 16 and 17 year olds, I don't think this bill was an appropriate place to lobby for that. Should definitely happen next parliament though.

What we are seeing now is this year's episode of a yearly event. Last autumn wazza had a his annual on rant at me. It wasn't that I was too little ol Norwich to see us established in the PL. My crime last season was putting up with Delia keeping us in the bottom half of the champs whilst watching dire and turgid football. I was apparently happy to lap this up while fans like him wanted a successful football club. Move forward a couple of months and we were challenging for promotion. A few months more and we weren't just promoted but we were champions. I had a little smile about that earlier rant during the celebrations. Now move forward a few months more and we're off again. 12 months after Delia had us chained to the bottom half of the champs it's little ol Norwich not to see us established in the premier league.

There are places in between the polar opposites voiced so often on this forum, Parma, I'm sure was just pointing out that size is not everything... if you have the skills, tactics and cohesion. Now, we have a long long way to go before we're barca but this is the path we have chosen and I'm fine with it, as time goes by we will be able to pick up either bigger faster players with skills equal to or better than our current squad, we will build slowly as its the only way we can afford to improve,. This may not be quick enough for some. Two years ago, no one, especially DF and SW, thought we'd be in the premier league already so I for one am taking a daily chill pill and watching with interest to see how we adapt in the REMAINING TWENTY EIGHT GAMES.....with 84 points up for grabs.

Indeed, a party that will implement it or a party that will scrap it, there's no half pregnant eh 😉

Just think that something as important as tampering with the electoral demographic should have proper debate and be part of wider measures to improve our voting system. Trying to force it through today would have resulted in the government pulling the bill and running away (again). Needs to be done but needs to be done properly, with due process and scrutiny.

I suspect that’s more to do with his bike

Triggered.

I think we should give all tourists a vote. Great for the tourist industry👍

I think Leitner is considerably better than David Fox and his career kind of shows that too.

They're young and they're playing in a struggling team. It also doesn't help that they're playing in a very inexperienced backline- I can't help but get the impression that if you were to put any one of Lewis, Aarons or Godfrey in an experienced defence they'd look more assured. As individuals, they've got lots of quality and the potential to play at the top, which is why big clubs will pay a lot of money for them. But as a unit, they're lacking a leader.

We did bring Amadou in to be a potential ‘mid-field enforcer’ , unfortunately circumstances dictate that he’s playing in a role that he doesn’t prefer. We’d look stronger/‘bigger’ with Zim or Klose back with Amadou in midfield.

Barcelona. Parma

Unfortunately it clashed with a huge ferret racing event at Cannon Hall Farm, and naturally Yorkshire’s biggest sport won the day

Leitner is the perfect foil for a midfielder destroyer. Put him next to Amadou and he'll be more effective. As much as I trust Farke, I do find his decision to push Leitner into an advanced role slightly odd. He's clearly so much more comfortable with the play in front of him, and therefore suits the deeper role. Providing he's got a ball winner next to him.

Yep who gets downbeat after shipping 8 goals at home... weirdos

Barcelona would struggle week in week out with the relentless, physical nature of the Premier League

Still, 438-20 was just Remain surrender. Those boys hung out the white flag tonight.

I’ve played in Italy, coached in Italy and been coached in the Ajax system and took my badges under an International Manager. As WCorkCanary notes from his experiences with the Auxerre Coach, other countries just don’t have the obsession with size. They will of course embrace high physicality gratefully if it comes as part of the tactical-intelligence-technical-speed package, but those things will always be the primary drivers. I have literally never met a quality player that thought ‘oh my God, I’ve got no chance today, he’s taller than me’. Parma

I've quoted you Mouldyo rather than just reply in case anyone who doesn't get what you are saying,can read it again so that they might get it second time around. I couldn't agree more. What we are doing will take time and may, for many factors,not propel us to regular champions League appearances, but it should improve our club in more ways than just league position. You mention Auxerre, our local (age 8-18)Club was lucky enough to somehow get a Volunteer Head Coach who'd earned his coaching badges through Auxerre's and the French FA System. . His whole approach has been a revelation here.

To be fair that might get me there, but not in December 😁

Nice top though, I bet that cost a few quid. Needs to fill it out a bit better mind.

Youve done a great job of missing Parmas point(s) here.

😳

As do 14 and 15 year olds. You giving them the vote? How about 12 and 13 year olds?

I understand that there are some 16 year olds more intelligent than I was at that age, but how much are they really aware of what’s going on in the world and the country ? Will they think about what could happen to interest rates? The economy ? All you want at that age , and I know I’m generalising, is some money to go out and have a laugh with your mates. Those that are thinking about university will think it’s great that Jeremy is telling them they won’t have to pay for it without thinking about the consequences. Too many just aren’t mature enough in my opinion, and yes, I know there are plenty of immature adults 😁

Reports circulating that the government have caved on the date and will go for the 9th. Quelle surprise that Boris can't even beat the Lib Dems and SNP in a negotiation.

I don’t think he worry’s too much

Then Hoyle will rule it out. Changing the franchise is quite clearly beyond the scope of the bill. It's a wrecking amendment.

Christ on a bike now is head feels the need for a woolly hat before the end of October but at least no gloves and don't get me started on lack of manners wearing a hat indoors !

It's great to see you don't need to rely on dis-ingenuity to make an argument against EU migrants, the vast majority of whom work, getting the vote. Didn't someone clever once say something about taxation without representation being tyranny?

The only way Labour can take the focus away from Brexit is to vote through the WA before the GE. Not a great day for the remoaners.

You're trying to find stuff that isn't there fella. A previous post jokingly questioned my ambition if I didn't want us to be a footballing giant. As a passing comment I happened to mention that I'm just old enough to remember the time that we could have possibly be considered that. Nothing more/less than that in the intention. I happen to think that we shouldn't be making comparisons with our perceived place in a footballing hierarchy but instead be making comparisons with our potential. I think we have the potential to establish ourselves in the PL if only for a few years and it's my opinion that the lack of spending for whatever reason this summer will be a massive inexcusable factor should we go down. Should you feel that you sit in the group of people who might think "well that's ok that we went down, what about all the teams that want to be in our place", then you will fall in the group of people who in my opinion have a "little ole Norwich" mentality. If you disagree or feel triggered by that, I'm sorry but I dont really care.

No, I think VW has it right. Those who want to vote Remain will vote Libdems, those who vote Leave will vote Tory. There will be some nibbling from Brexit Party and Greens but there is no reason at all to vote Labour as they stand for nothing and will suffer wipeout.

I think, shockingly, you've either mis-read something or not read it in context. Webber didn't think promotion was a realistic option in Farke's first season in charge.

If we have Stieperman in the Number 10, Godfrey and Zimmerman at CB and Amadou in CDM we suddenly look a lot bigger without compromising the style or imagining players that we don't actually own. Injuries are playing a factor as by now, especially at places like Burnley away, Amadou would have been earmarked to start in the centre to act as a physical screen.

Lewis Goodall‏Verified account @lewis_goodall 2m2 minutes ago More For anyone who tells you how this election is going to end up, tell them this. According to the British Election Study around 35-45% of *all* voters switched parties at each of the past two elections. Those elections have been the most volatile ever.

Happened twice in 3.5 years so not that rare. The last time, there were a lot more of them though

Rare to see a turkey voting for Christmas

Labour now backing an "early election" https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50221856

Todd would obviously realise that he should have done better with the shot but everyone misses the target sometimes. Look at all the penalties we missed last season. I'm surprised at Farke's comments, what is important is to get in the right place to do the right thing. I was also surprised at Tettey's comments. It is daft to write off two of our most skilful players(Cantwell and Leitner) after 45 minutes play. We know how well they can play and we know how well we can do as a team, let's get behind them to get the best out of the team and stop blaming individuals.

Here we go... Two more weeks and itll be "Farke hasnt got a clue " Anyway our main midfield signing was Amadou.

Poor Bill.

So Chris Wilder can sharpen his blunts

Leaving aside the fact that one could pick any number of supposedly similarly-sized club (and bigger) that would kill for our record over the last two decades (not such much case studies as basket-case studies), Palace are owned by billionaires, which gives them a financial safety net if things go wrong. And that applies to pretty much every club we are in competition with not just in the Premier Leaguer but in the Championship as well. We cannot take what I have frequently seen here wrongly described as the 'calculated risks' - actually pure gambles - that other clubs can - risks that those posters would never dream of taking with their personal finances. Nor can we cope so easily with the player acquisition mistakes that all clubs make. Is this an argument for having richer owners? Probably (to be put alongside the argument against). Providing posters understand the risks of a corporate-culture ownership. From which it would be hard to switch back if it didn't work out.

Tettey has also put the cat amongst the pigeons with his post-match comments. We've had a lot of praise in the last year. Perhaps we also need some harsh criticism

You know why we’re all so ****ed off with VAR? It was lauded as the answer to getting those crucial human errors correct in our beautiful game, to give the referee a helping hand, and even out any bias between the big club and the small. It looked pretty foolproof in the trials. We saw the trials where the ref watched at the side of the pitch, and made his decision. Fair enough, it was open, it was transparent. But how very very conveniently, the Premier League changed the goalposts from the initial roll out, and the ref doesn’t get to make the final decision now, it’s just sent down through the refs earpiece by mysterious people who could be anywhere. For all we know the VAR officials today were Sir Alex Ferguson, Mick Hucknell, and Rory McIlroy. Nothing’s changed, the Premier League is still corrupt as f***, what a surprise.