DJ Barry Hammond

It depends what is ultimately agreed with all parties doesn’t it. British and French troops will not be going into an active war zone - it would have to be under a ceasefire. And so if you have a ceasefire, twinned with Ukraine elections, American companies setting up mining facilities and European troops stationed in and around Ukraine - can and will Russia be willing to take the chance of going in again over the next 4-5 years? Additionally, a lot is being made on how Ukraine can’t hold out for much longer… but I suspect the same can be said for Russia - can their military and economy continue on a war footing for another 12-18 months?

The problem is, Trump and his circles reaction makes it really difficult to row back towards a deal and sell it to his base with any credibility. And it’s this factor that gives credence to the suggestion the scenes in the Oval Office across the entire week was pure theatre aimed at the American public. The fact that the attack lines had been trailed and tested well before and all key talking heads and media were instantly on point with The White House’s party line further fuels this theory. All the top officials knew that security guarantees were the sticking point for Zelenskyy before he travelled to The White House - his points were not new ones and would have been said in the various meetings they had on the deal before - and I think that had Trump and Vance shown at least a supportive attitude at this supposed signing, he would have signed there and then without a cast iron guarantee as the least bad option for his country. Hell, he may have even had a suit in his luggage ready to put on at the signing to signify the ending of the war. But they weren’t supportive in the slightest, the scenario smelt off from the get go; and the fact Trump has been so quick to take the deal of the table suggests he was never really interested in the partnership in the first place.

Summary from this morning’s developments about a UK / France peace plan. Have to say, I think Starmer is playing some exemplary cricket with all of this.

Interesting you post this at the very same moment this popped up via a news alert; “Starmer said that after discussions with Zelenskyy and Macron that there has been an agreement made that the UK, along with France, and “possibly one or two others” will work with Kyiv to stop the war. He said this agreed peace plan will be presented to the US.” I assume this was said on Laura K?

Trump’s going to be seething when Starmer gets the Nobel Peace Prize 😂

Hmmmm. Someone inside the club is quite deliberately leaking information to the press. Could it be… Rebecca Vardy!?! 😂

I think an assassination is likely given the sheer number of people he’s pissing off. Mean, firing a load of FBI agents isn’t the smartest move if you’ve already had an attempt against your life.

That won’t be the case for a significant portion of the US audience though. I can’t help feeling this whole week has been a setup; with the end goal of forcing Zelenskyy to resign so that the US / Russia can install a puppet leader in Ukraine that grants the US their minerals and Russia further control over Ukraine. The much more moderate press conferences with Macron and Starmer were a prelude to “look how unreasonable Zelenskyy is.” Note Trump’s comment on liking Starmer’s suit for example!

Yeah, this is just a standard Trump Presidency, it was the same the last time. The good news is there’s only around 4 years left of this… assuming Trump actually leaves The White House at the end of his term.

What a surprise. You put some runners on and press higher and we suddenly look a lot better.

I was amazed Ruud didn’t resign last week. He surely will tonight, unless an unbelievable miracle happens in the second half.

There’s not much point in playing a low block if you haven’t coached how you plan to get out of it when you win the ball. It doesn’t help that the side contains a lot of ‘negative’ passers of the ball. At least when you have Winks in midfield, there’s someone looking to make progressive passes.

At this rate it might be better if we just forfeit the rest of our games 3-0.

Been saving that one up all week haven’t you - only to waste it in the first 10 minutes.

Game plan is to sit in then!

That’s exactly what I was saying post Brentford. If we’re running ourselves into the ground, I can take defeats. But to just passively do not a lot in both phases of the game - what’s the point. But what’s more, the team needs a spark and hard running, combative players can provide that.

😂😂😂

I’d say there’s two big reasons why Dyche wouldn’t happen at this stage (if Ruud departs). 1.) We would be wary of appointing a manager that’s only just been relieved from his job for poor performances. 2.) Dyche would be wary of immediately jumping into a job where the teams performed horribly for some time. Having a break and reassessing in the summer unless something exceptional comes up would surely be his plan - we’re not an exceptional opportunity at present.

There’s no way you would have been saying this at the time. He wasn’t getting past Christmas even had we decided to stick by him. It needs to be remembered that under Cooper we had one of the worst pre-seasons I can remember.

I agree with all you have said and was making similar points last night. There’s been no evidence of game plans against opponents threats or perceived weaknesses, it’s always been here’s our formation, here’s our players and here’s a loose idea for pattern of play that requires one of our full backs to be 50 yards further forward than the rest of the defence. I also don’t get why Cooper and Ruud were at pains to state how poor the squad was; you have to be building the players up, challenging them to meet this level. I also think Ruud missed a trick with Monga - he could have chucked him a debut with a message to the other 10 “let’s make sure this is a special day for him to remember” sort of thing. Mean, yes, from the clips I’ve seen of him and Evans, I do question whether they’re physically ready for the step to this level - but to be frank, the squad needs a positive catalyst towards change. There’s also an argument this could have been done with Alves prior to his loan.

How did I miss that 😂 That has to be the headline on the back of the Merc tomorrow!

It’s ridiculous, because I wouldn’t say these players are exactly working hard either. The Spurs game at the start of the season - they worked their socks off to stay in the game and got the reward for that - but I can’t imagine our high intensity sprints over the season are anywhere near where they need to be if we’re to overcome a skill deficit. And our setup - it’s all about how “we want to play” even though that’s not exactly successful in itself. I’ve yet to see Ruud or Cooper deploy a system that’s targeted a key aspect from the opposition’s attacking play in order to combat that threat OR on the flip side, target an area of weakness in the opposition’s defence. And using formation ‘rotations’ the way we are, when you’re defensively suspect and don’t command the ball for long periods - is suicide. We end up altering our shape and wonder why we’re all over the shop on turnovers. For me, getting a tune out of this squad requires two obvious things - a basic shape and defensive / attacking plans and picking players that will run hard.

He’s got to go hasn’t he, it’s completely rudderless. Mean, how you could start that same 11 minus one enforced change in the same bloody awful shape that we’ve been doing all season long under both managers. I can’t comprehend how people who have lived professional football for 30-40 years can’t see obvious problems in front of them and not even try to change something to correct them.

What was the second half like for those that bothered? Any sign of improvement?

I’m kind of disappointed that 4th didn’t stand because it was a perfect encapsulation of our season.