The9

Liverpool last game of last season: S Mignolet, D Agger, M Skrtel, G Johnson, J Flanagan, R Sterling, S Gerrard, J Allen, J Henderson, L Suarez, D Sturridge v Saints S Mignolet, Javi Manquillo, M Skrtel, D Lovren, G Johnson, R Sterling, S Gerrard, Lucas, J Henderson, P Coutinho, D Sturridge 4 changes (2 of which were tactical for players who've been with them over a year already, they could have picked Agger or Allen if they'd wanted). Saints last game of last season A Boruc, L Shaw, D Lovren, J Fonte, N Clyne, J Cork, M Schneiderlin, V Wanyama, R Lambert, S Davis, A Lallana v Liverpool F Forster, J Fonte, R Bertrand, N Clyne, M Yoshida, S Davis, M Schneiderlin, V Wanyama, J Ward-Prowse, G Pelle, D Tadic 6 changes, again with 2 players who were at the club last season and could have played. So no, it didn't have "as many changes as ours", in fact we had 20% more changes than Liverpool compared to the final game of last season.

I don't know how you draw that conclusion from the enormous body of text you quoted.

Probably doesn't have much to do with relationships between players and the board, more like admin stuff to ensure the players are happy with the day to day stuff. The stuff he's said he's done at Indy Eleven include a lot of Club Secretary tasks like player registration and contracts, he won't get near that at Saints. Here's Palace's PLO job description: http://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/article/vacancy-player-liaison-officer-944148.aspx Assisting with relocation requirements for new players including trialists, in terms of hotel bookings, travel arrangements, housing, schooling, banking arrangements, setting up NI numbers, showing them around the local area and helping them to settle. Liaising with player agents regarding player requirements before and after player trials and/or signing of contracts. Assisting players with housing issues, arranging viewing, negotiation of rental contracts, assisting with mortgage requirements and paperwork, co-ordinating meeting with financial parties. Assisting players with managing all aspects of their personal life such as utility bills, mortgage payments, travel documents, banking etc. Arrange vehicle hire or purchases when required. Arranging English lessons for non- English speaking players. Assisting with player family and helping where required. Assist the Media, Marketing and Commercial department with all player appearance requests, making sure that players understand what is required of them, where they need to be and what they need to be doing. Management of team schedules and calendar working closely with First Team Management and Club Secretary regarding training times, ensuring that players, staff and all concerned are aware of schedules. Co-ordinate home and away match day arrangements for players in respect of arrival/departure times, coach times, dress codes etc, liaising with the management Team & Club Secretary. Co-ordinate player merchandise signing sessions as required.

Not the one on the left, obv.

Also, without a Gail Porter on the Houses of Parliament shot (preferably without Parliament), this thread is invalid. You could chuck a Rebekah Elmaloglou in for me too if you like, she was Sophie off Home and Away circa 1990.

Oh, and not Rachel Stevens either. Shoddy.

Not creative enough without Davis for me. And when he's your central creativity... that's still not enough creativity.

I have got The Fear about the idea of Yoshida against West Hoof, even if they have been apparently trying to play proper football so far. Long should start as he was industrious and creative on Tuesday, and Pelle's not getting dropped unless we sign another striker, so Tadic on the other wing and Davis in the hole in front of the Wanyama/Schneiderlin pairing which we didn't need last week but definitely will this. Keeper and defence pick themselves unless Gardos is preferred to Yoshida. Gaston on the bench to come on if we're not creating enough, we can always chuck Taider on as well for Wanyama if we're too defensive, he at least worked hard, looked confident and shifted the ball quickly to teammates in the 15 minutes I have seen. Though I dare say others will want to see Cork for similar reasons, and I guess it does make sense to use our more "industrial" players with some English football experience for this particular match. I can see Bertrand getting sent off for some reason, and pretty sure we're going to lose to them again, but it'll be another couple of years before I'd trade it for the point we got in the Championship.

Is NOBODY going to point out that one of those "Kelly Le Brock" pics is Kelly Brook, or that one of those Kim Basinger pics isn't her either, it's Katherine Heigl?

Good, that means we know he won't get another one for about 6 months now, we can wait.

Pigbag.

Nope, from 6 months before expiry, i.e. in January. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_transfer_(association_football)

Depends if you think he's worth losing the amount we'd get for selling him now in order to secure his services for the rest of the season. Or to look at it another way, would you pay, say, £5m (or however much) to buy Cork for a season?

Any clubs, provided they're over 23. Both to freely negotiate and sign a pre-contract.

Seemed pretty clear to me that he was saying whilst at St Mary's there were audible sarcastic cheers and groans from numerous morons scattered around various parts of the ground, a similar first half performance from Pelle at Millwall led to encouragement and support, and that none of the morons from Saturday were present. Quite how you've flipped that to imply that all home supporters are morons I'd have to ask you. All Away Fans Are Not Morons =/= All Home Fans Are Morons.

There were reasonable expectations of at least a QF in 2006, and they were outright being raved about as potential winners in 2004.

Just denied CORK will leave, I'm guessing. It is the Jack Cork thread...

Well yeah, which is why I'm asking where the creative options would be on the edge of the box in that formation. We've been predictable already, crosses are easy to defend (and have been), and without a viable alternative they will become the only thing a team has to defend against. Steven Davis at least gives an outlet for a relative amount of creativity as he shifts the ball quickly in advanced positions, without losing the closing down and defensive ability from the Cork/Wanyama/Schneiderlin defensive midfield unit. It's not like Pelle has looked like a cross magnet so far either - in fact his relative successes in the air on Tuesday show that maybe that approach is better suited to exploiting a lower standard of defending.

With Johnson out I should think he's back up behind Stones at right back (Stones has at least played there this season) and being considered for international experience at centre back.

Clyne's problem remains that the last time he wore an England (U21) shirt he was utter toilet, and had an absolute nightmare of a tournament personally, being outstandingly poor when England as a whole were terrible. Penalty conceded, caught out of position, dropped before the group stages were over.

I look at that formation and think "if Ramirez or Tadic have it out wide, who are they going to pass to on the edge of the box who can open up the back line?". It's none of those midfield 3.

It is an essential part of modern football for most positions, it's just more obvious in wide roles due to the linear nature of the sprints, I think.

Glen Johnson isn't in this squad, so there's one place he's moved up immediately. Smalling was crap, hasn't been selected either. Two slots available. Stones played right back for Everton first match, and is as likely to start there as Chambers is, both of them give CB/FB cover. Plus all the stuff I just said about the start of a cycle and freshening up the squad with the chance to get 2 years' experience before Euro 2016.