clangers

Perhaps they don't actually want us to qualify for the CL? That might actually raise expectations and force their hand. They might have to seriously spend? Much nicer to have us bumbling along just outside the European places, nearly successful wannabees who find it so difficult to attract those top class (expensive) players because we're not in the CL. The TV money is actually looking pretty good now and as for those new sponsorship deals. Still we've all got that warm glow to look forward over the next week or two when John H takes the time to write that open letter to the fans assuring us we're a franchise on the up, we can compete with any club for any player.

We're past the high point of the season and will fall away to 7th ending up behind the mancs. Suarez performances along with Sturridge will continue to allow us to delude ourselves into believing we're a much better team than we actually are. Defensively we're appalling and we've only played well on a handful of occasions this season. Coutinho isn't half as good as we think he is and flatters to deceive. Gerrard needs to be played a lot less. Rafa will be caught up in Operation Yewtree, the beard being the give away.

15 players available for training at the moment, two of them are loans?

Still an improvement, perhaps he's finally adjusting to the Premiership? It'll be interesting to see how he does for the rest of the season. Potentially good news for us as even if we don't want him back it should be easy to sell him on if he continues to improve.

The thing that concerns me most with the neverending commercialism is what's next? I assume we're staring at renaming ourselves the 'Liverpool Liverbirds' further down the line?

Cook just follows the rigid gameplan laid down by Flower. We've seen this time and again. Warnes jibes about Cook receiving instructions from Flower by smartphone or looking to the pavillion for field positions are much closer to the truth than we care to admit. Cook is effectively the head prefect rather than captain. Flower has implemented a far too rigid structure, if you don't fit in with that or try offer an opinion you're out. The only strategy that Cook implements in any situation is his default run saving mode.

Me too and even broadcasters still refer to Newcastles stadium as St James Park irrespective of whatever Ashley calls it. There are some stadiums in the country that are just too well established for a new name to ever take hold. If we're going for a new name I'm going to suggest the 'Dunkin Doughnuts Arena'.

The DLT case, "evil wizard" Abanazar, just reading the events in court today is enough to leave you opened mouthed.

Yeah very harsh decision that, thought Newcastle deserved a point. Still the afternoon is not a complete loss as it's seriously fucked off Pardew.

Ballance, Jordan, Stokes and Buttler look worthwhile. Jordan the pick of the bowlers, could easily have had three or four wickets. Don't quite see the point of playing Bresnan or Rankin now? Cook as poor as ever.

The question of Duggen's character is not actually the issue here for me, he may have been one of the 48 most violent criminals in Europe as the police suggest or nothing more than a petty criminal as his family contend. The concern here is that this is another example of a defacto shoot to kill policy enforced by met, what exactly is a 'hard' stop? There are legitimate situations where you could conclude an officer has every right to shoot without first challenging but perhaps they should be discussed and agreed within a democracy first? I don't know enough about the case to offer an informed opinion. I thought the jury would come back with an open verdict, clearly they've seen enough evidence to believe that whatever the circumstances this shooting was legitimate.

Yeah they're not going to enforce it simply because the wicket is now showing clear signs of deteriorating. Aussies get in on the better wicket smash as many as they can manage and then we have the joy of another England's innings with the wicket worst for batting.

Couldn't agree more, there's too much of a clique about England, if your face doesn't fit you're screwed.

The whole tour has been the worst I've ever seen and I've seen a few terrible ones. The management, preparation, team selection, squad selection, Cook's captaincy, individual performance levels, a complete shambles. Surely Cook and Flower can't survive this?

Harris has been superb as well. Precise bowling complementing Johnson, really applying pressure. Concern for Australia would be the top order batting, despite England being in complete collapse they've been able to reduce Australia to a difficult position on numerous occasions now only for Haddin, one of the middle order and the tail wagging to dig them out. I'd say the top order has got poorer over the course of the series, 143-6, 97-5 etc. Against SA that's something Australia cannot do as often.

We can't really expect Cook and Flower to be focussed on the cricket at the moment they're too busy justifying their positions and establishing themselves to carry on despite this complete thunderfucking shambles.

I don't think England will get to 326 in two innings.

Cook gone straight away, what the hell was that? Plumb LBW, just leave it Captain.

Swann was not referring to the Australians with his comments, far too personal, he was taking a swipe at Piertersen and others irrespective of the following denials. He has little to do with the Australian side and the worst you can say from an English perspective is that they've been behaving as a bunch of classless wankers. KP's recent 'I'm KP and I'll do what I want' interview only confirms Swann's comments. It's damage limitation. Pretty poor from Swann, abandoning your team mid-series because you're losing and likely to be dropped and then choosing to take a a swipe at unnamed individuals as you go through the door. Now he's upset by the reaction? Pathetic.

Anyone recommend a decent clearo or tank? I'm finding it very frustrating at the moment, I've tried iClear 16 and 30, Kanger pro tank and TS3. It's usually a mixture of poor design and manufacturing but having bought several of them they all leak and gurgle far too often. Bottom coils seem to be the one's to avoid.

Really good performance again, key role in all the goals, his vision and passing are simply superb at the moment.

They've improved a lot over the last 18 months as they come to terms with the business. For me they're the best of a potential minefield of foreign owners. Stadium is obviously key, I'd far rather they be open with us, if the financial model doesn't support it at the moment then fine just let us know rather than bullshitting.

He'll be sacked by the game tomorrow, if he hasn't been already. Their supporters will be understandably furious, the game will actually be a bit of a sideshow for them and we'll thump them. If Tan had any sense he'd have pulled the trigger after the game to draw a performance out of the side.

Getting their sh1t sorted out before the Jan transfer window I would assume? He's worth the figures involved and the buy out seems pretty reasonable.

Sorry about that. England are still a top side just as long as the opposition don't use pace or spin and stick to medium paced seamers, oh and as long as the opposition aren't too aggressive and are not South Africa. It's the lack of preparation that really separates the two sides, questions were raised about Englands lack of games prior to the test series especially when they knew they had untested or out of form players. Did they really have time to aclimatise especially when they knew they really needed at least one effective fast bowler? It appears that only one side actually analysed last summers series and devised distinct tactics to cope with every English batsmen and bowlers. The situation with Trott raised questions of how well managed the tour has been, should he ever have been allowed to tour in the first place? Cook's ineffectual management.