reynard

Anything interesting or just their usual rubbish?

It depends what you like really. Remains of the Day is a great novel but the pace of it is quite slow and some readers struggle with that. Others have suggested Ben Myers, who is a very good writer. However, he is quite hard to categorise. For eg The Offing is one of his best but if you like that you probably wouldn't want to read Jesus Christ Kinski and vice versa. If big sweeping novels are for you then I would definitely try Pachinko. For sci-fi you could try Three Body Problem for something a bit different or for mare classic stuff I'd suggest Day of the Triffids. For a different type of spy novel I'd say Restless by William Boyd is a good read. If you have not read a lot and want to try getting into literary fiction I'd advise starting with the more accessible authors rather than diving straight into the likes of Salman Rushdie for eg. If you want good modern female writers the list is endless. Anne Patchett, Elizabeth Strout, Anne Tyler etc etc. Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood is another excellent book. All her books are pretty decent though I'm less keen on her recent novels. Then there's crime fiction. Agatha Christie is a good entry point.

First time I've really watched a match for any length of time. Absolutely woeful quality from both teams. Lucky to get the win in the end. Is it usually this bad?

Really worrying result. Not sure things can improve playing this way. We are in big trouble if this continues.

Inexperienced young players are going to have good and bad days. They need some experienced players to stand up and be counted. Hard to say that Burns. Souttar or Thomas have been shining lights today.

Trouble is do we have the players to turn this round? Can we be physical enough to compete in this league?

Why is there anyone left in the ground? Surely everyone should have walked out.

I'd agree but I can't see it. it isn't just the score the whole performance has been worse than awful.

He won't be sacked even if it is 6 or 7.

I'd say this is pretty close to correct.

4-0 disgraceful. No other words required.

There is a lot of debate regarding this but I'm not sure the evidence really backs up this claim. Though I believe recent studies have suggested that women footballers may well be greater impacted re ACLs in regard to artificial pitches. A quick google search on this subject comes up with many articles on the matter. For eg. A study published by the lancet in 2022 concluded "The overall incidence of football injuries is lower on artificial turf than on grass. Based on these findings, the risk of injury can't be used as an argument against artificial turf when considering the optimal playing surface for football." The full text is available here Incidence of football injuries sustained on artificial turf compared to grass and other playing surfaces: a systematic review and meta-analysis - eClinicalMedicine Table 2 in this link is interesting if you are looking a the comparison between ACL injuries on artificial turf and natural grass. Increased Risk of ACL Injury for Female but Not Male Soccer Players on Artificial Turf Versus Natural Grass: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - PMC

Apart from Turkey where else in Europe is left open after 11pm tonight?

As it looks as if Faes, Soutter and Okoli aren't going anywhere do we really need this signing? Is he really any better than developing our young players to play in that position?

What are these strange words?

Absolutely he did and what a difference it made. We suddenly looked like we might be able to create more rather than trying 20 passes to go through the middle. Suspect the manager won't like this as much as the 20 passes though.

Remember we used to have outside toilets, gas lights and no anti-biotics and people died before they were 50. Players used to get the same bus as the fans, women basically couldn't attend matches. But hey-ho the world's moved on and so has football.

Terrible miss in front of goal I'm afraid. Hard to see what he offers.

You can see why he's been sent out on loan. He does some good things but seems to lack awareness of the overall situation. I don't recall him once going outside to get to the byline to pull back a cross. Maybe I missed it?

Too early to say for me. There are some good signs but he needs to get up to the speed of the game in England. I'm not sure how instinctive he is either. There was a good nock down in the second half but he didn't really show any signs of reading it or trying to get to it. A good number 9 would have at least been in the right place even if he didn't score. Sometimes he looks to have a decent first touch but other times he doesn't seem to have much control of the ball at all.

It isn't all bad. There have been some good moments but on the whole everything is too slow. When there's a forward pass on we delay for a couple of seconds and then pass it backwards. We do look toothless up front though. There just aren't enough forward options for players to pass too. We really need a midfield player who can break the line a few times. Burns has been poor so far. They don't look great but if they get a goal it is hard to see us getting two.

Just a general question. Do you believe that a Director of Football, at any club, should be held responsible for the football side of said football club? Please answer yes or no only. If no, who should ultimately be held responsible?

I'd actually say the cobbled together defence actually looked better than any of the so-called proper defences we've put out this season. He may be the best but the goalkeeper position is one of our weak points.

The result was disappointing but on a positive note it was good to see players in our shirt who actually looked like they wanted to play for us. I get why people are saying last season we beat Ipswich etc but last season and the ones before have gone. Our fall is disgusting and down to terrible management but I'm not going to berate the players that played last night for this. What I saw last night was at least a team that tried, actually played some decent football at times and didn't look like they gave up. My take from the game is that there are some positive signs but also a few worrying ones. I'd like to see Aluko given an extended run at CB. Though he looked quite decent there. But he needs pairing with a decent player. McFarlane looked promising at left back. Howell looked a very decent prospect on the right. Page was one of the best players on the pitch until he tired in the last few minutes. Need to build our midfield around him. Chaplin looks like he will be an asset when he's fully fit. On the flip side None of our keepers look good enough. Certainly not to play the way we are trying to now. We look very lightweight up top. Not convinced we have the strikers good enough to score the goals we will need and we create too few chances. The subs offered virtually nothing. Reid and Cullen look pointless right now and I'm not really sure what Burns will offer either. This trying to pass out from the back will lead to us conceding every game with the players we have at the moment.

What's Okoli injured/ His pride? Glad Souttar needs a rest after his great amount of exertion in the last couple of weeks.