The9

It's easier to defend than to attack. But also once we got past the first few games we've also been able to call on Bertrand, Van Dijk and Fonte almost all of the time - makes a massive difference having your best team on the pitch (see Leicester).

Cedric has not lived up to my lofty expectations of him. I suspect that's more my fault than his.

I'm still not over his breakfast obsession from the 2002 World Cup, when the signs of his shark-jumpery were clearly evident.

Still an improvement on a couple of weeks previous when he had Troy Deeney there.

I still think Sims has got a chance.

From posts #10 and #12 from the thread linked above... 2016 Maarten Stekelenburg (loan expires) Kelvin Davis Will Britt Joshua Debayo Jake Flannigan Gastón Ramírez Marcus Barnes 2nd year scholars 2015-16 Jake Hallett Richard Bakary Kyle Clinton Ollie Cook Alfie Jones Joe Lea Stuart Wilkin Olufela Olomola Carel Kayembe Personally I think we'll release Kelvin, sign Stekelenburg on a permanent deal, release Gaston, and because I haven't watched the U21s for ages I don't really care what we do with the rest of them at this stage - I hope we keep the good ones.

Didn't see much of Saturday's match but I'm assuming Tadic is getting a lot of votes in lieu of being able to vote for him in the Everton game when he was comfortably the best player, but for which there was inexplicably no poll.

Still our best squad, worst starting XI since 2012/13. What we've lost in just not being good enough we've gained back in not having to play too many matches with obvious weak links in the side - though we wasted too many points against the likes of Newcastle and Everton before Van Dijk came in and obviously having Wanyama enforce his own absence for about a quarter of the season didn't help.

Agree with you on the last point, he tends to play the ball earlier rather than bringing it out in the way Ward-Prowse can do, suppose I meant a slightly more pass-capable linking player who starts in a defensive position, rather than a running with the ball type. That is why we have all of them, they're not exactly the same kind of players.

He's Ronald Koeman's man, He's better than Jaap Stam... We've decided to repeat the first line.

He was ahead of the ball and the last defender, how was it not offside?

Surely that decision is more about tactical choices than specific personnel, Clasie is more box to box and similar to Ward-Prowse, Romeu more defensive, like Wanyama. It's more about whether we go with 2 DM or 1 DM and (at least) one CM. Last season it was more like 2 DMs (though Schneiderlin had his moments going forward too), this season we've not had his all-round ability in the position so we've had to pick a style, and usually gone with the less defensive option. I can only assume yesterday the absence of Pellè meant Long wasn't asked to defend and as a result we shored it up with two defensively minded midfielders in the middle. I've only seen highlights but when I saw we'd conceded first half against Villa I wasn't surprised to see Wanyama go off given his tendency not to give his all against teams he doesn't want to sign for and our likely need to find a way to get results without him next season. Yesterday was the best chance to experiment in a competitive game we'll get unless we're 3 points away from everyone by the time we play Palace.

The new ball is hideous too, lots of fluorescent colours. Should think they'll be changing the shirt name and numbers as well, to match the new font and branding.

Plymouth have clearly worked out that if they're not getting automatic they're best off playing Portsmouth in the playoffs.

There's also been this NY Cosmos shirt, but it's on old design (same as the 2015/16 templates for other clubs) so I haven't bothered sharing it until now.

Also, new sleeve patches for the Prem rebrand next season for those of you who like to badge up:

Finally, an Under Armour 2016/17 shirt leak. Ok it's Spurs, but at least it'll give us an idea... http://www.footyheadlines.com/2016/04/tottenham-16-17-home-kit.html?m=1

We are a better side with him trying. We're not when he isn't.

It really isn't. He gets decent percentage stats for multiple 5 yard passes but anything more tricky often goes awry. The only quality they'll have is another warm body for defensive midfield with more strength than any of their current players - I can't see him being particularly likely to be selected when an ability to link the defence to the attacking players with a good out ball is a key part of the ability to counterattack in numbers quickly, just as much as the ability he clearly does have - to press - which almost all of Spurs' players need.

Already posted the UEFA "clarification" in full previously, and that text says "OR", but we're talking about "AND". What if they haven't qualified through domestic performance - that implies the extra place remains, again giving the possibility of a 5+3 for 8 places... ...However, seeing as even if that 5+3 situation it's 3 CL+3 EL (+City CL +Liverpool CL both outside the top 6), that still only goes to 6 League places plus one for Man U winning the FA Cup and finishing in a CL place (which would have to be minimum 3rd in the Prem), still only takes the Prem places to 7th. I think that's probably answered it. Maybe.

There will still be FFP caps, the point is that the rules allow for the extra income for everyone, but (even though the top sides still have a higher upside) the difference between bottom and top is reduced overall, and also the likelihood of only those few top sides being able to sign the best players on massive wages is reduced - the bar has been lowered and unless the likes of City start signing players they literally don't even name in their eligible squads, other Prem sides will be able to afford more of the best of the rest rather than them necessarily playing for the likes of Dortmund, the Milan clubs, Juventus, Atletico, Athletic etc. You'll be left with only Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and probably PSG with the money to compete for players with middling Prem clubs. Looking at how Leicester have done this season, you can also see that the gap from bottom to top is already closing where sides have taken a competitive advantage in recruiting untapped potential as opposed to just buying the most expensive players, and also where some name players are in unfashionable places (Shaqiri most obviously). Yes they've had a run of good fortune in having their limited squad of players available, but they've still got eleven players proving they are as effective at winning matches as anything City or Chelsea have bought.

Until the ambiguity about two teams winning european competitions but not making the EL slots in the league is addressed, they don't have all the logic rules to base the model on.

To be fair, none of the examples that you've given prove what they've said is wrong. The 4th place one is just the exact same situation described differently, they've said how you get into the Europa League from 4th and you've described how you don't get into the Champions League despite finishing 4th, which is the same thing. The only hair-splitting is about the CL Play Off, which you introduced and Talksh11te don't mention at any point. The 5th place description is saying that City winning the CL will mean 5th is a CL place not an EL one, so that's accurate too. Haven't worked through the permutations for City finishing 6th rather than 5th, but I assume that's about them having the League Cup win for Europa qualification and that only passing to someone else if City finish above a league spot which would get them into the EL anyway. Whether that's 5th or 6th... dunno. Re: Eighth - it's still about how you interpret UEFA's wording. It says the exception when an additional place is added is for only one additional team that doesn't qualify via the league but IS in an EL spot, and it says an EL or CL winning team outside the CL qualifying positions will gain an extra place at the expense of the 4th CL league slot if they finish in an EL qualifying spot, but it doesn't clarify what happens if two teams do that in the same season, or if one of the qualifiers is outside the EL spots as well, which is where the ambiguity is. I'm fairly sure there's the possibility of a paradox too, where Liverpool come 7th and win the EL, meaning 5 CL qualifiers: the top 3 PL positions +City as CL winners +Liverpool EL winners, +2 EL. But in doing so, that 5+2 moves Liverpool out of an EL qualification slot in the League, which means that the 5+3 kicks in, which means they're in an EL slot again, which means they lose the extra EL qualifying slot in the league, etc. I guess that depends where City come and if they're top 4 as well as CL winners.

Suarez was a good hard-working pest, Vardy is a good hard-working pest. In the sense of being reliable to deliver what you'd expect of them and up-front about what they offer, they're both "honest" as well. I'm sure there are plenty of others. I don't think Long is that far different from Vardy over most of their careers, but Suarez is a far better finisher than both. Point remains that good honest hard-working strikers have a place in top 6 teams. And what's Harry Kane, then?

We're already safe, could be worse. Obviously if we want to maximise chances of Europe and not leave it up to Liverpool and Man City's cup exploits we need to win as many as possible, and with Spurs and City upcoming we have to win the 2 other games just to have an outside chance. Personally I don't see us getting into the top 7 and I don't see 8th getting into Europe.