deep blue

Easy to forget we have a representative democracy, having allowed such a weighty issue to have been dictated by a flawed referendum.

She wasn't handed anything. She grasped her only opportunity to be PM.

I was hugely impressed with her, too. A breath of fresh air as compared with the dross of many of our current UK politicians.

I was joking too. Don't think you got it so I guess it wasn't funny after all. Who cares. All that's important is the game tonight and we'll all be singing from the same songsheet there. Up the City!!

Are you that much ITK?

I have doubts about his personality, from a fly-on-the-wall documentary when he was at Liverpool, but otherwise his record is pretty good. He will be well motivated to move us up into contention for Europe (though unrealistic this season) as that is what he's had to forfeit, so hopefully he sees us as having good potential for making that step up. What gets me excited is the sheer speed and decisiveness of the move, surprising when we've been in a torpor of late, and the fact that he's bringing his whole management team - we'3rd not doing things by halves.

He has a 100% record managing us! Knowing the club, staff and players very well is a big plus when coming in for a short term stint. Gives the best possibility of a quick start (no settling-in period). We don't need a super-star manager for a short-term appointment, just someone who can keep things ticking over fairly seamlessly. Appleton seems ideal in that respect, is available, and could be easily tempted as it would put him in the shop window.

He's been disappointingly ineffective at our corners too, but that could be partly due to poor delivery. To be fair to Maguire, I do get the impression that he cares, and gets frustrated, watching our fruitless attack and gets caught out sometimes because he overtries to make a useful pass or indulges in a risky foray up the field. I feel that Puel hasn't instilled good enough teamwork and discipline into the squad such that other players are aware of the danger and drop to cover.

I remember this incident very well. I railed inside at Maddison who was in ideal position to run forward in anticipation of the cross but stood as if disinterested. The situation must be so frustrating for Vardy.

This stat has been quoted already and it worries me. We all know how that ended up.

Maguire needs to play in a 3 and we have the CBs to do that. We have 2 excellent wing backs. We need to play some combination of 3 midfielders to keep a strong connection between defence and attack. We need to play 2 strikers (one possibly withdrawn). It is crying out for 3-5-2 and our squad is perfect for it.

Appleton makes sense - if he would come. Knows the club and players, did ok for the short period he stepped in before, available, might see it as an ideal shop window for himself.

But you could argue that by the time we get to the summer our results might have slumped so much that our better players will want to leave and we will be unattractive to transfer targets - the whole club on a downward path.

Puel sets up his team as if it's a chess game. When in possession it's slow, predictable and pedantic moves, side to side and backwards rather than forwards. When defending it's as if the opposition are expected to attack in the same way, but they are fast, direct and clinical, and we can't cope. For me, Puel hasn't "got" the Prem, hasn't adapted to it and doesn't know how to tackle it. Who's to blame - him or the players? For me, we have a squad of very promising young players, admittedly with more development needed, but who are not performing as a team that are anywhere near the sum of their parts. My definition of a good manager has to include the ability to get the team performances to be greater than the sum of their parts.

I've also been an admirer of Brentford from afar. Without knowing much at all about the club, I have noticed that for several seasons now they seem to bring through a number of coveted young players. I hope we are taking notice of such clubs and look to learn from their methods/personnel.