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Outside our own results I don't think it really matters who wins what games. If we get to 40 points we will be in with a shout. We really have to win against most/all of those bottom seven or eight teams to amass the points ourselves. Outside that it matters little what the others do.

Ridiculous Saha pushes a Southampton player in the face no red card ( apparently he didn’t do it very hard - didn’t think that mattered ) David Luiz genuine attempt to get ball, penalty given, double jeopardy rule should apply, but VAR decide they won’t bother with that rule and send him off. Henderson moves miles before Man City penalty, but VAR can’t look at that, yet they can look at a millimetre of somebodies toe encroaching. Tyrone Mings already booked and commits a deliberate handball. Would have been a second yellow but VAR not allowed to intervene unless it’s a straight red. What is the point.

Keep up at the back.

Doesn't there?

I expect somewhere there is a universe where will survive. Unfortunately its not the universe we are at present living in.

Unless we win 7 games it doesn't really matter what anyone else does.

This is why I want Timi Odusina to make it. The perfect song and dance for him. (I may have put this up before but I'm not apologising.)

Ondrej in a manger.

RTB, you are confusing R&D with commercial exploitation. As several have pointed out, yes the UK is good at the first one of those, but the political and financial systems have miserably failed to support those advances from growing into major industries. If this Tory government had any intention of changing that, It would be most welcome, but before celebrating we’d all like to see some concrete evidence for it. As for your ill informed rant about the West Coast it represents the most productive sector of the US economy, offers the best weather for both agriculture and recreation, and has supports most diverse culture and population, hence it also has the highest housing costs in the US outside New York - but not even close to UK housing costs. So return the Donald Trump talking points back to its sender, they are not worth the paper they were written on. Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego all top notch cities that also feature the uniquely US mix of wealth and poverty living side by side. That’s a feature of the US’s employerS and shareholders take all the benefits setup and why the UK needs to be very careful whom it aligns with.

He also works alongside Swindon's ex girlfriend.

In my humble experience innovation is the result of not having sufficient funds to go the direct simplest route. If you can't compete head-on you have to find a cunning way round the problem. The same thing drove radar, the jet engine and yes the silicon chip. Most have largely been commercialised elsewhere (apologies to RR and Marconi (now BAe) by those with very deep pockets in far larger markets (ring any bells - or perhaps not as the clapper is missing?).

As your talking about my industry I can definitely say you are overdue for a major software update - if not obsolescence. Try naming a few UK based Bn dollar wafer fabs? Yes we had ARM (not a fab) - we are good at innovations (we even invented LCDs) but absolutely crap at generally commercialising them - often due to lack of long term investment (that City of London).

An interesting article on the latest daaaaahling of the right (and he's not part of the hated, out-of-touch, metropolitan elite in any way), from the Daily Mash. 🤭🤣 Laurence Fox's guide to being an instant right-wing celebrity tw*t INTERESTED in trading C-list status for being an instant right-wing hero and truth-teller? I’ve done it, and so can you by following these tips: Invent your own definition of racism Some would say a realistic definition of racism is abuse and discrimination directed at ethnic minorities. I prefer to make it up in my head, as if people in the street have shouted ‘Oi, you, Laurence Fox, f**k off back to RADA until you do something better than Lewis.’ Jump on that anti-PC bandwagon Why not? My views are heartfelt. I’m not just joining the anti-PC, reactionary bandwagon that has raised so many people’s profiles and earned them so much money. I’m a top Hollywood actor who was in Gosford Park back in 2001, you know. Have zero awareness about privilege It’s wrong that people talk about ‘privilege’ when I am just a hardworking bloke who went to Harrow and the son of the very famous actor James Fox. Those improvisation classes were bloody tough, let me tell you. I had to pretend to eat an orange with no orange there. Slag off Lily Allen Lily Allen is the leader of the sinister ‘Woke’ movement, not just a slightly clueless pop singer. I don’t really follow politics or the news because they’re all lefties, but I’m confident she must be destroyed before she becomes the next Hitler. Talk to the Daily Mail frequently Get your views out there via that actor’s friend, the Daily Mail. They never turn against people so there’s no chance they’ll suddenly run an article headlined: ‘POSH LAURENCE says he hates ‘WOKE’ – so why is he at a party with TRAITOR MEGHAN in LA?’ Apples

Aye, it is terribly delusional stuff. On one hand we are isolationist and unwelcoming on the other we are open and attractive to inward investment and modern skill sets. We has some of the best and up to date manufacturers of cars, aircraft etc which they are now happy to throw away, for no reason, only to then claim we'll be well placed for modern and up to date industries. It's just a desperate scrabbling around trying to find evidence that they haven't royally ****ed it up. And it's not working.

You Sir are deluded... London is now more important than New York for finance you say, and Southern California is the focal point for advanced software industries? I see. I must mention that to my friends in San Fran and Seattle next time they come down to LA. Product and system design - what like Tesla electric cars, or renewable energy systems and smart electrical grids. Communications technologies, advanced medical devices, new materials - yes, yes all of those things would be great and none of them are assisted by Brexit. But let’s just throw manufacturing and it’s supporting infrastructure away because we can. And while we are at it, where are all the engineers coming from for your new age of product design - California seems to have scarfed up anyone willing to move. Is the UK going to train new ones, offer free tuition to students like Germany if you study a science related subject at their technical universities? And the incentive to come to Britain rather than the US if you want to write code is ....? Better weather? Higher pay? Stock options? Cost of living? Taxes? Lower property costs? I think you’d better have a real hard look at what makes Britain attractive to non-Brits and work on that before rushing off into major delusions.

If European business wish to finance their operations they know that London is the world centre for doing business. Hence all those new applications - and of course, the reason why the EU looks at our financial services longingly. Once we are free of EU regulation - and why we will negotiate for divergence and not alignment with the EU - is that we will be able to offer finance on terms that are best for UK, without worrying what might be best for Germany. The EU knows this and they're sh!tting themselves because of it. We are fantastically poised to challenge Silicon Valley for pre-eminence. We have already overtaken New York as the world's leading international finance centre, and there is no reason why we cannot replace Southern California as the go-to place for software development, especially as that part of the world is currently devouring itself in wokeism and progressive lunacy. You can forget about metal bashing industries such as car manufacturing which is now at peak output and will go into both absolute and relative decline from hereon. The real place to make money is in product/system design and software development. These are the industries of the 21st century and with Brexit and smart people now in government we have every chance of moving forward faster than our competitors. It's never been a better time to be alive and living in Britain.

It’s been going round in my head since I read this - “Duda, Timi Odusina” fits “Cuba” perfectly. Will be ever get to see them on the pitch together? If so, it’s got to be sung.

Let’s hope we get 3 points tomorrow at Spurs then.

A win at Spurs and it really does become a scrap. We will have a weakened team of course but the coaching team and players know what they have to do. If we get beaten by a better team, CL finalists, then so be it. There is no point them going there for a draw. And if Leicester overcome their attack of the hiccups then it will be a much bigger group fighting at the bottom. But our run in does look a bit tough.

That's true. At the end of the day it's better for us if 17th place is closer. Villa winning actually makes 17th place 23points. A draw would have made it 24 points..Just the small matter of us winning another 6-7 games with a draw or 2

Exactly the same style then. 😀

I don't disagree with that VW. Joe Swinson has a lot to answer for.

MUTV have already had to apologise for poor language of the Norwich fans chanting 'F**k VAR', even though VAR is not in operation tonight 🤣

Seems to be a new flag on display "A Home for everyone"

Surely it's just to give people something else to moan about-seems to be a lot of that at the moment

I'd be shocked if it wasn't Krul, Aarons, Zimmerman, Hanley, Byram Tettey*, McClean Cantwell, Duda, Hernandez Pukki * Assuming he's fit. If not, I'd go for Amadou / Rupp. I have a new found appreciation for Trybull, but he's not physical / mobile enough to be played as the 'main' defensive midfielder, as McClean is more forward thinking.

Ondrej in a manger No goals with his head The little Lord Duda Uses his feet instead

Shame as well. A good honest politician but maybe being too honest and not suffering fools isn't the help it used to be.

I am not going to enter a debased conversation with fantasist RTB. He gives himself away at the start by spouting hollow publicity material on Cambridge / Oxford corridor. I walk the walk. However as I speak, literally shall I sign a contract with Tower Jazz (and no it can't be done in the UK). Then again there's always the Belgians (yes the Belgians - I'm sure RTB knows who I'm talking about without doing any research 🙂 - it's small wafer fab world (but not really in the UK - arh the Welsh)!.

No he didn't, she owns a shipping yard !

Bollox have you 🤣 If you read back these threads for the last few years you must have had every job under the sun 🤣🤡🤡🤡

Sorry, you two, but we have had quite enough of experts.🤓

My industry too, and if it is @RTB's as well then he is as delusional about his industry as he has been about Brexit for the last 4 years. You are spot on that innovation is something we are still good at, unfortunately a huge proportion of UK innovations (and this doesn't just apply to software but many other areas of technology as well) end up being productised and ultimately taken to market by non-UK companies with greater vision and/or deeper pockets.

I've been working for the past five years in integration of AI technologies to commerce and I can tell you that we have world-class research facilities in Cambridge that rival anything MIT can produce. Although it is mainly under the radar because good news often doesn't make the news, right now the UK is developing an Oxford-Cambridge corridor of advanced computing excellence (some of us would like to see that extended to an Oxford-Cambridge-Norwich corridor) that tied in with all the 'garage startups' in East London and the Docklands and the easy access to venture capital puts the UK in a really great position in the most important 21st century industry. Why would the US hang on to their pre-eminence when place like Seattle, Portland and Southern Califonia are degenerating into woke hellholes, full of illegals, homeless, awash with drugs and gangs where accommodation is so expensive we see the rise of 'pod-living' for millennials. We are not without our own social problems in the UK but nothing like the US sanctuary cities. And today more evidence comes from the IMF as reported in the Telegraph saying that the UK's economic forecasts show growth outstripping that of the Eurozone in the first two years after Brexit. Now put that into context. Project Fear said there would be an immediate decline in the economy after the Brexit referendum and another fall after Brexit. The IMF is forecasting that we will do actually better than the Eurozone - not in some far-off future but straight after Brexit. An amazing turn around from the IMF and a thumbs up to the UK. Here is a quote from the Telegraph: The UK economy will outpace the struggling eurozone in the first two years after Brexit, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted for the first time. Britain also outpaced the monetary union in 2019, giving it three straight years of faster growth, according to the IMF's latest forecasts. The fund slashed growth across the eurozone, warning that a weaker German recovery and a slowdown in Spain will weigh on the region’s economy this year. It also cut global economic forecasts again for 2020, but pointed to tentative signs that a worldwide slowdown is coming to an end. Global growth will be 3.3pc this year and 3.4pc in 2021, the IMF said. This is down 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points respectively from its last forecast in October. UK growth will accelerate to 1.4pc and 1.5pc in 2020 and 2021, respectively, as Brexit uncertainty starts to lift and business investment returns. The IMF said investor appetite has been boosted by hopes a hard Brexit will be avoided.

I still want Amadou to be given a chance at cdm, he seems to have already been written off by most.

If we keep Spurs out for 30 minutes, their crowd will turn on the team, because Spurs crowds always do, Mourinho or not. This could be our not very secret weapon.

Learning processes don't end, they just keep going.....and aren't we seeing improvement on some things from earlier in the season?

Farke's talking about 6 more wins and 'a few' draws. Tomorrow is another free hit as far as I'm concerned; even though they're not in good form, they're still one of the top 6-8 in the division. This one, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester are the ones which I'm expecting us to lose, so if we pick up a point or even a win, that's a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

The team is pretty much the same - they were brilliant in many ways last season and they have been brilliant in many ways this season, at times playing sublime football, even given we have been losing matches, mostly only by the odd goal. The big thing in all this is the learning process - both for young players and older players who have not been at this level before - and also for the coach. Learning processes, by nature, mean that a team will develop and improve as time goes on - as long as it accepts it is a learning process and not thinking "we're not good enough". Once you think "we're not good enough" you might as well not bother turning up and stay at home and I assume the players don't think that - I would hope they accept the challenge for what it is, believe they can carry on learning and improving, enough to get over the line. As has been said many times, we are not a basket case propping up the league and it's been noted by everyone that we are playing good football, so if we keep improving and believe in ourselves, there is still a chance we can do something special.

Sounds to me like you're hugely underestimating Mahomes here. The Chiefs have been held to under 20 points just once this season. The Titans went into their game with KC with a similar game plan- run the ball, control time of possession and keep Mahomes off the field. It didn't work. The Niners have shown they can do shootouts too- the game against New Orleans being the obvious example- but I don't see how it isn't a close game.

Being a NCFC supporter is a life full of optimism. We CAN still retain our PL status this season. The loan signing of Duda could be as significant as signing Pukki when were in the Championship.

"Clear and obvious" would cover most of it, but for some reason, they have moved away from this in implementation. Anything that takes more than 2 or 3 angles and frame by frame break-down is not "clear and obvious." "Referees call" (similar to cricket) - Accept that the rules are there to prevent certain types of action and that at times open to interpretation, where the referees opinion should be given the benefit of any doubt - presumption that his decision is correct unless can be quickly overruled. No ridiculous lines being drawn for offside - the rule is there to prevent attackers from gaining unfair advantage and doesn't need to be measured in millimetres. VAR only implemented by decision review system (DRS). One review per half carried forwards if correct review - if wrong, it's lost and no more for the half. Instead of shouting from the sidelines, the manager would have to back his judgement or shut up.

Krul Aarons, Zimmerman, Byram, Lewis Trybull, Rupp Buendia, Cantwell, Duda Pukki - Fahrmann, Hanley, Idah, Hernandez, Leitner / Vrancic, McLean, Amadou / Tettey Don't think we can play Vrancic in midfield and especially not away from home. He's not getting to the pace of the game (Leitner similar) especially not for more than 45 mins anyway. We have to believe.... 0-3 to us. OTBC

My wife and I have just packed in long distance running, marathons particularly, and three years ago thought of doing the run. 10K was no more than a tea time training run and we knew Rose Lane and Castle Meadow but they are "nips" compared to the hills around Cornwall. And guess what. I pulled my left hamstring badly running DOWNHILL at St Stephens. So be careful Wolfie. Downhill is just as bad as running up. The old motto, no-one ever broke a leg falling upstairs is valid. Do some warmups to get the heart rate up by jogging up London Street beforehand. And drink plenty of water BEFORE not just during the run. But it is a great run and encompasses some of the great landmarks of England. None more than running around the football ground. And we finished up in the Trowel & Hammer which used to be one of our drinking holes in the 60s Good luck

It isn't a joke https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/wolverhampton-wanderers-fc/2020/01/20/former-wolves-man-ben-marshall-signs-for-12th-tier-side/ but all sorts of possibilities as to why. Perhaps he just wants to enjoy social football? Perhaps he hasn't been well mentally or physically? He might want to get a job outside of football? He might loath training. Good for him if it is what he wants. But a strange one certainly - given his age and undoubted quality which is far above the 12 tier. Unless of course, which seems likely, it is a publicity stunt...or a joke with his mates.

Agree completely Woody. Also I find that mentally , as you are running , you know those last hills are looming . Even the very last bend past M and S !

Whilst £7.00 is modest, every little helps! Well done Leeds 👍

It's for the benefit of all those folk who leave five or ten minutes before the end of the game. By finishing earlier, they will be able to stay until the end.

I can’t see the point in us keeping him if he’s now not even going to get on the bench - unless he was unwell or picked up a knock. We might as well cut our losses and bring someone in who we might actually play. Huge disappointment for me as I think he’s barely been given a chance but he’s played only one full game in the position we bought him for.

You're there or thereabouts for most of them, although I disagree on three or four. This would be mine, using 6 for average (which no doubt means everyone will moan that my marks are too low): Krul 7: One of our top performers and has kept a lot of scorelines respectable. Leads by example. Aarons 6: Has showed the promise that he has and looks dangerous going forward but has been caught out defensively a few times. Byram 6.5: Considering he was brought in as a backup, he has taken his chance well. Zimmermann 5.5: Phenomenal against Everton on his return from injury but hasn't yet fully convinced me that he can make it as a regular Premier League player. Hanley 5: Has had the odd good game, but is no more than a backup at this level. Godfrey 6: Similar to Aarons in that he has shown promise but has made a few errors through inexperience. Lewis 5.5: Started off OK but lost confidence and then his place in the team. I have faith that he'll come good though. Tettey 6: He's still the best defensive midfielder we have and has acquitted himself as well as he can. Trybull 5: A couple of good games but more bad than good. Isn't up to it at this level I fear. Not destructive enough out of possession and not creative enough with it. Leitner 5.5: He's neat and tidy and passes the ball well but lacks substance. Amadou 5.5: Jeckyl and Hyde. Has put in some fantastic performances but some shockers too. Needs to work on his consistency but hasn't been given a run in his natural position. Vrancic 6: Not a lot to go on but he's done OK. A slightly more useful version of Leitner. McLean 5.5: Looked better as a number ten and always works hard but like many others here, probably doesn't quite have enough to hold down a regular place in a Premier League team. Stiepermann 4.5: Simply hasn't made the step up. Buendia 7: Started off brightly, had a massive dip from mid-September until early December but has come back strongly and looks the part when on song. Cantwell 8: Probably the best of the bunch in terms of what he has produced relative to expectations. Stepped up in a way that nobody expected to and I'm absolutely chuffed for him. Hernandez 6: Has shown that he has a part to play with his direct running that worries opponents but hasn't been consistent enough. Pukki 7.5: Continued his form from last season into this. Excellent off the ball and a fantastic finisher. Drmic 5: Injured a lot but has offered precious little when called upon. Farke 5: His work developing players on the training pitch is his specialty, but his ability to organise a defence, his game management and poor use of substitutions has counted against him too often. I'm still a big fan but his stock has fallen slightly I feel.