RicoS321

Thank goodness, as a top red, I got in early.

It's not the pentagon though, is it? Dick Cheney wasn't the pentagon, neither the rest of the vulture capitalists. The guys who actually make money from these things, and buy guys like Trump and the absolute weirdo Hegseth. What's their angle?

What's the latest vibe in the US @OrlandoDon? I'm assuming they're in full computer game mode in the media? Treating it like a sports event and giving you the run down on all the different types of planes and bombs being used? Any word on what the actual plan is? It's a strange one, I have to say. I'm struggling to find any angle at all that makes sense of the attack. I don't mean from Trump, who's clearly an imbecile, but those that control him. What are their motives? Venezuela was a very good strategic move from a US perspective, and almost seamless in its execution. Iran just seems like a massive error, to an unbelievable degree (in other words, I'm clearly missing something). Iraq was held up as a catastrophe and an error, but it wasn't. In terms of power in the region, it made complete sense. In terms of sustaining high oil prices, it made sense. In terms of transfer of government funds (the US taxpayer) to the wealthy in military, clean-up and oil contracts (in Iraq) it made sense. It was a win for so few people at the expense of American soldiers. Iran is totally different. The only similarity I can see is that oil prices will remain high. The US have gone full in on regime change, whilst in negotiations, so the Iranians aren't going to come back to the table. That means the strait of Hormuz being shut in for months if not years. The US can't defend that across the entire Iranian coast. They also can't indefinitely defend the Saudis oil refineries from drones etc (probably only for a couple of weeks). They can't defend Israel from the multiple attacks they'll sustain either, and they're infrastructure is exceptionally volatile due to location and the fact that they're a highly developed westernised country. From the perspective of war being a racket, it makes little sense either. This is an aerial bombardment and the defence is also aerial (missiles against drones). The US doesn't have the capacity to replace its (the US and Israel) defence systems as quickly as they run dry. They needed a much more drawn out affair in order to keep the money flowing. Power wise, it just leaves a mess, but with Israel and Saudi significantly weaker. I don't get it. Again, not Trump, but those behind him.

It is worth arguing over. You're wrong. Very clearly.

Word of a DonsTalk XI being invited.

You're arguing against points I'm not making. I'm asking a fairly straightforward question of who in our team would get into theirs? I'm asking from the perspective of our own side.

Hearts have a better best starting eleven than us as a whole, and in every single position. I think. I'd like to hear who you think would get into their side from ours?

Agreed, we'll see where he is at the end of the season. It's almost always a case of better the devil you know, which is why managers tend to stick with known quantities, and I don't blame them. Imagine we'd kept McGrath for example? Shinnie has to be worth a new deal on those grounds alone. If Cameron does anything between now and the end of the season then he would also be worth a punt (at present, I'd not break the bank for him, he flatters to deceive a bit despite a lot of effort).

I think it would be a big risk to keep Geiger on existing showings. I think we could do a lot better. Motherwell have about 4 better midfielders than him already! I'm not writing him off, because there is the possibility that he's just getting up to speed, but it looks to me like he's just not quite good enough in several areas. Players like that can be quite deceptive, I usually describe them as Milsom types, they look good because they have good balance, a nice touch etc, but they just turn out to be nothing players. However, if he can work on his athleticism, the average parts could turn into real attributes, if he's first to second balls and does the coverage and work required of a top midfielder. I think he has to do it this season though, or else we'll end up making the Palaversa error with him.

I am. Huge Dandy. Well dressed, and great hair.

I've never understood the expectation, and constant call - mainly by pundits and idiot managers - for consistency. It makes no sense. Ironically, it's likely the cause of most of the issues we see. It's created this ridiculous scenario where we strip incidents of all context, all deliberateness, and package them all neatly into a particular "type" of foul or punishable crime. No incident is the same, and the motivations and actions of the players involved are very often different, and can most often be interpreted best by a referee in real time and at real speed. Asking for consistency across multiple games, at different times, involving different referees and different players is the height of stupidity. It's like asking for consistency between Nisbet firing one in from ten yards, and Olusanya kicking it with his standing foot first from exactly the same spot.

Bollocks. The Judas cunt should never have left us.

It's not much of a problem though is it? The ref had already given a pen in the Dundee incident. The two incidents are similar-ish, but not exactly the same. Armstrong is already falling over and receives little to no contact. Most importantly, that we got a penalty given against us that our manager doesn't believe was a penalty doesn't mean we should get one that is also never a penalty.

I don't think @TheDonbytheDee meant that you were trolling.

They've clearly not been listening to the oil lads' orders. Didn't these cunts learn anything from Iraq? You dinna kill the bad guy straight away. You need to milk it for a few months or years. Then take the oil when the populace is fed up.

Meh, he brushed past the guy. Geiger was shite yesterday, and he started tanking around hacking at folk. He's lucky he didn't get a second yellow after the game and needs to sort his shit out.

Ah well. Never looked like getting anything from the game. Outplayed for the entire match and didn't have a shot on goal. We defended a bit better with the three in the second half, but the midfield and front two didn't get on it enough or create anything. I thought Nilsen was fine in the second. I'm not at all convinced by Geiger yet, hopefully he has more to give. Expect another easy defeat midweek before the important cup game. We've just not got a great team at the moment, I wouldn't single out anyone as being particularly terrible (okay, Morrison, but he's a young lad!), just that we don't sum up to a good side.

Devlin's been red carded before for doing what the Hearts player did there.

Back three now perhaps?

Some wild subs their. I'm guessing Shinnie on the yellow is the issue, and the games upcoming. A real concern that the other two did nothing in the first half though.

I'd rather blame those that signed him to be honest. He's a young lad that will make mistakes, and we're playing him on his wrong side, despite it being very fucking obvious that he couldn't play on his left (look at the shape of his body diving in). I've no idea who suggested he'd be getting into Clarke's world cup plans, but they clearly hadn't watched him! A bit like our scouts.

Looks to me like Geiger and Cameron are doing nothing to come and collect the ball. Especially Geiger. Be interested to hear the opinions of someone at the game, as it's difficult to tell on the telly.

We haven't been bad, we've just been below average all over the park. We've been a nothing team for 45 minutes. Have we had a shot on target yet? Our midfield aren't good enough to get us a goal or cover the defence.

He's an inexperienced young lad playing on his wrong foot. Ifil and Stewart were "seasoned pros". It's not Morrison's fault he was signed, or is being picked. It was fairly clear that we needed an experienced player to play alongside Milne, and we got that in McIntyre I suppose, and Morrison shouldn't have been signed. Nilsen would have been fine in any of the games where we've played Morrison, and then Molloy for the period until McIntyre returned. To be honest, we still have a real issue when Knoester is fit. I like him, but I'm still not convinced he really suits the league. He's good on the ball, and good positionally, but he's not brilliant in the air and often lets his man run away from him. Not the sort of guy we really need alongside a young player that we want to see improve. For this game, we should have opted for a back three in my opinion.

Our midfield are getting totally overrun. It appears to be Shinnie on his own.