The9

He hasn't scored at all yet.

Grealish 8 matches 2 assists, JWP 18 matches 1 penalty 8 assists, which puts him 16th of all midfielders in the Prem last season for assists according to fantasyleague.com (though they're quite generous with their assists and Ward-Prowse is basically now on all set pieces when he's on the pitch which must help). Have to say I haven't registered him having that kind of impact, it would be interesting to see which goals he assisted: http://www.fantasyleague.com/Classic/Stats/Player/james-ward-prowse.aspx West Ham (A) [i assume that was the quick corner to Schneiderlin, it was the second goal of the game anyway] Newcastle (H) last minute Schneiderlin goal to make it 4-0 Everton (H) assisted Lukaku's own goal 2 v Palace (A) on Boxing Day, Mane's opener and Alderweireld's in the second half (another corner?) Arsenal (H) NYD Mane's opener Newcastle (A) the first of Elia's goals Palace (H) FA Cup Pelle's opener on 9 mins Palace (H) League Mane for the only goal of the game. and his penalty against Hull. 1 assist and 1 penalty since we beat Newcastle up there on 17th January, which at least explains why people don't think he's been involved much, he hasn't really for the past 5 months, though he was better before that. FWIW Grealish only started his first league match on April 7th and has 3 assists since then (one in the FA Cup SF) which is why he looks to be a hot prospect at this exact moment in time. He's got 4 assists in the timeframe JWP has his assist and goal despite being unused or a sub for the first 3 months of that time.

Yeah, it feels mostly like polyester.

Can't really disagree with that. The predominant whiteness and overall design reminds me of the Umbro kit from the Championship promotion season and the black accents should always be there on a Saints kit. I like ours too, but this would make a nicer Saints kit than the one we're getting.

He isn't ignoring the shinpad rules. There's nothing in the shinpad rules that says how large the pad has to be, only this: Shinguards are covered entirely by the stockings are made of rubber, plastic or a similar suitable material provide a reasonable degree of protection Read more at http://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/laws/football-11-11/law-4---the-players-equipment#eQ6xwPiACFKorReA.99 So as long as his teeny tiny pads are covered by his socks and no-one decides he's not protected, he's fine. In my experience shinpads are mostly useful for sliding on, and the ankle protectors for stopping you taking a chunk out of your own ankle when selling dummies at full speed. Their usefulness in stopping leg-on-leg impacts is pretty difficult to ascertain, and I've seen enough broken legs with pads on to suggest they don't make much difference to the really dangerous ones - though who knows how many they prevent, it's basically impossible to tell unless the pad snaps and the leg doesn't.

If it's by contributions to team and performances it's neither of them.

Time will tell.

And look - left chest adidas logo, not central.

Tch, looks like Stoke/Southampton. Etc. I hate it when people say stuff like that, but with the black trim that actually does look more like a Saints kit than the Saints kit does.

I can't see Schneiderlin staying under any circumstances with him wanting to get a run of games at a bigger club and ensure he's in with a shout of starting at Euro 2016 in France, tbh.

Most of the people slagging him off last year because he used non-conventional terminology were imbeciles or at best luddites. Same sort of thinking that decided Clive Woodward couldn't bring anything to the club, or that sports science was mumbo jumbo... that kind of nonsense.

We'd have had a shedload more money guaranteed to cope with the additional matches from the CL, and don't forget unless you come bottom of the CL group you still get knockout matches (Europa League for 3rd), whilst EL gives you one shot and out other than the group stage.

We go straight into the League Cup third round. Due to all the Prem teams in Europe next season all the relegated Prem sides are in the Lge Cup first round next season when often one or more get byes into R2.So that's Hull offset for last season's European League Cup bye immediately.

Let's face it, even being highly touted at the age of 14 there's still probably a 95% chance he never plays more than 10 professional League matches.

I don't think either of them have pulled up any trees yet tbf. Grealish has at least got an FA Cup Semi win and Final appearance under his belt already.

Oh, and I see this has now been updated to show the 3QR seeds and unseeded teams, and yes, we're seeded as we knew we would be. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015%E2%80%9316_UEFA_Europa_League

And yeah, my balancing act is with annual leave, got all the Thurs/Fri qualifier and group dates currently booked, which as half of those will be home games, will leave me with 10 days back to cover the remaining rounds of the competition. However, I also have to factor Christmas and birthdays into my 28ish days, plus 4 days for the two preseason trips, and the odd day here and there for other stuff already booked, so if we get to the Final (in Base, let's not forget) it could be the leave not the travel or tickets which are the problem...

I'm flying to Munich and flying to Amsterdam, getting trains to Salzburg and Rotterdam, and staying a couple of nights in Salzburg/Munich and Amsterdam respectively. The former is to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary because I'm such a hopeless romantic.

FWIW I think Grealish would be a far bigger miss for Villa next season than Ward-Prowse would be for us if they were both unavailable all season.

Nope, though actually I suppose his high profile matches were FA Cup ties so you could argue "impact on the Prem" isn't accurate. But he certainly has a bigger degree of media coverage than Ward-Prowse irrespective of actual performances, and he's a regular starter whilst JWP is still in and out of the side, albeit far higher up the League.

Interesting 3rd kit news. Any more about that? Other than the home shirt striped back not being suitable for Europe I can't see our red/white and green clashing with anyone... Btw if anyone's wondering about the detail on the away shirt I'd be surprised if it wasn't this design, Adidas seem to have the v neck mesh mostly as an away shirt this season.

On reflection the pre-season trips we're taking to Munich/Salzburg and Amsterdam/Rotterdam could be miles better than whatever happens in the early Europa games so done a bit of early bolt shooting.

So far Grealish has had a lot more impact on the Premier League but anyone can look good over a short period as an unknown, it's how he responds to tactics dedicated to exploiting his weaknesses that will define his career.

It'll be a million billion quid too. Possibly. As I've now committed to travelling to Rotterdam on the day of the Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round 2nd Legs I'm really hoping we get an unseeded "straight to 3rd Q Round" team on 17th. That is assuming they're played on a Thursday, they used to have qualifying games on a Wednesday instead with only the Group Stages on Thursdays, but I noticed Hull's 4 matches in qualification last season were all Thursday.