The9

First match back if he doesn't leave Liverpool will be Newcastle away on 1st November (or 2nd November as it is now guaranteed to be on tv).

Pretty lenient when you consider he's already had two bans of 17 matches combined. Assuming the 9 matches is Uruguay games only. Also assuming it's not offset against the Prem season start date, he'll be back for October 26th and only actually miss around 2 months of Prem action as the first game is 16th August.

Mmm, all the kind of information I learned in the late 70s/early 80s and which has subsequently become defunct or outdated as I care less and less (hasn't happened with kits yet though)... though SP teams by stadium size is just WEIRD.

Actually it would have been midnight at the beginning of 12th May according to Premier League rules. You're right about the squad list.

Having not been able to work out why FIFA still had Lambert as a Saints player I checked the Premier League Handbook, which says V.2 "The first Transfer Window in any year shall commence at midnight on the last day of the Season and shall end on 31st August next if a Working Day or, if not, on the first Working Day thereafter, at a time to be determined by the Board." So Lambert is a Liverpool player, even if FIFA's documentation http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/02/36/33/44/fwc_2014_squadlists_neutral.pdf says he isn't: 16 Phil JONES JONES Philip Anthony JONES 21.02.1992 DF Manchester United FC (ENG) 185 10 0 17 James MILNER MILNER James Philip MILNER 04.01.1986 MF Manchester City FC (ENG) 175 47 1 18 Rickie LAMBERT LAMBERT Rickie Lee LAMBERT 16.02.1982 FW Southampton FC (ENG) 188 6 3 19 Raheem STERLING STERLING Raheem STERLING 08.12.1994 MF Liverpool FC (ENG) 170 4 0

Seems like a sound questionnaire - first answers only though. You may also want to try him on sponsors if he's enjoying himself.

Mayuka was definitely worth buying based on his 2012 African Cup of Nations winning performances for Zambia though, which is why the World Cup can be an absolute mug's game for making signings (and also why I've spent 6 months hoping Osvaldo and Gaston would play really well there).

If he can tell you their boots, I bet he can tell you kit "manufacturers". What's the question then? "Who made [Arsenal]'s kit last season?" - takes out the "changing brands" problem, as it's one thing knowing when a team is actually wearing it, it's another knowing (for instance) that Arsenal's Nike deal has ended and they've signed with Puma but the kit isn't launched yet, though it's been leaked numerous times. Or that Everton launched their new Umbro shirt yesterday, but he's only seen them in Nike for a couple of years.

Of course, some of us are just more wired to notice details like manufacturer/brand and details like that than others as well as whether they choose to regard it as important. Plus to my recollection kids are pretty bad at recalling and challenging the lies parents tell them - hence some of them proudly sporting 5 year old kits that they never worry about reconciling with the team actually wearing something else.

Cork is excellent at ball retention in tight situations when battling for the ball but not so much when he doesn't have an immediate instinctive threat and needs to concentrate on a simple pass, Cork's passing range is certainly less, and he's got no tangible finishing ability whilst Morgan's got a range of shooting techniques. Cork is worth a place in the current England set up because of the position he plays: Gerrard is no DM, Henderson is better further forward, and Phil Jones looks like the big kid in primary school who got all the trials and has now been overtaken by skilful players. Cork is at least worth a look in that company, but he still wouldn't be ahead of Schneiderlin if Morgan was English.

God yes, and by some distance.

I'm suggesting that they mostly don't care, though some of them will know. A lot of them seem happy wearing a previous season's, from experience some of them seem to have been happier with one that used to be a brother or uncle's too. You're suggesting he doesn't know adidas from "not adidas"? Give it a few weeks and some conversations with his mates... there might be some playground snobbery about to kick in.

Thing about Jaaskelainen was that he'd been doing that for a year at Bolton before they even sold him to West Ham...

I thought he looked rubbish, like a less mobile Mayuka. Though the one thing this World Cup is showing is that hardly any favoured sides know how to defend any more, only underdogs.

Clyne would have been far more effective given the amount of space C Ronaldo was affording him by not tracking back. Chambers might even have been too.

That one Japan centre back is garbage, whoever signs him must be right mugs.

No probs.

I'll give you 8 year olds, not 5 year olds though. And that doesn't mean they're making any judgement on the quality of the product. I would say having an "identifiable" shirt is as important - and actually kids will wear whatever you give them if you manage it well.

Let's put it this way, I played a match in the US once where the game clock ran 45 minutes and there was no added time - suffice to say we were 3-1 up quite early in the game and spent the last half hour just kicking the ball as far from the pitch as possible. 30 minute halves with a stopping clock is about right time-wise, the practicalities of a timekeeper are yet to be explored. One of the problems with timekeeping at the moment is the ridiculous decision to have fixed amounts of time to add on per stoppage, leading to MORE timewasting because teams know they kill time if they take longer than the allocated amount.

This is FIFA that has £1 BILLION in cash reserves and is a non-profit organisation you're talking about, right?

Oh, I think there are quite a few on this thread...

We don't want much, this would be fine. Though I doubt Admiral are producing "player weight" lined winter shirts (and I know adidas do because I've worn one), it wasn't a problem for 7 years last time around in the Prem. The main problem is the perception that we're "dropping down" from adidas. I doubt the players are massively bothered but it's all about perception and I bet they won't be getting freebie adidas training kit, trainers, etc this season...

Most of those "lesser brands" are using the exact same materials and manufacturing process though, it is literally just them slapping a "brand" badge on a load of equipment that is already in existence and can be sourced from the same place by loads of different brands. I've mentioned before that Fulham had the same training tops as Saints when they were wearing Airness and we had "Saints Apparel". As for those saying "own brand would be rubbish in the Prem", well we already did that from 1998-2005 and it was fine, and Palace did it just last season to no great debate (though Avec slapped a logo on some of it).

Not according to my "contact" (i.e. mate) who used to work in the fashion industry, bought in loads of clothing over a long time frame for a high street retailer and had a number of tours of the so-called sweatshops.

Anyway, we started all this not being wished a Happy Birthday thing with Agustín Delgado.