The9

I think it was a fairly expected level of improvement based on previous performances in the Championship and the amount of time it was expected to take a player to adjust to the Prem, both in terms of getting used to the speed of thought required and confidence to play the kind of game at that level, plus just the all-round experience the team as a whole had already built up, and probably the support of the new manager and knowing he was part of his plans and rated at that level by a highly rated former Argentinian international...

Pretty much any of the top 12 teams in the world could win the World Cup with the right amount of luck and timing - I think England's best chance of the past 40 years was 2002, and God only knows what Sven was doing against Brazil's 10 men.

As far as I remember (having not been to the Dell in the 80s), when it came out, Green Street was widely mocked from all quarters including the burgeoning hooli-lit community (ie. actual hardcore yobs) for being frankly a bit ridiculous.

Agreed, completely academic, but worth reiterating the actual rules, just so that people can stop talking about it. Even if he didn't get picked for France, ever, he'd have to actually take British nationality just to be eligible to qualify via residency, which is a lot more significant than just playing football for somewhere you happen to live.

It's an interesting thing that he was miles better as a striker than right midfielder even when he was with Saints. Much as he was "the next big thing", he was miles more effective up front, always offered a threat and often just looked wasted on the half way line, at least against Championship sides. Plus being up front removed a lot of the decision-making from his game and made him rely more on his instinct, which I think is still a problem he has even today.

I don't think they can afford any of them any more. They've already released worse.

At any level you're only as strong as the limitations of your worst player.

I'd hope we were able to play in more than one style, be less susceptible to counter-attacking and long ball sides, and generally have the flexibility to respond to whatever the opposition throws at us, rather than being a high-pitch pressing side that gets stiffed every time we play a side we're not compatible with. We also can't expect to be a surprise to anyone next season, as we seemed to be (both times) we played Man U and City last season.

Didn't take that long, did it ?

Much as I'd like this to be the case, and agree that he does play those kind of passes, and think it could well happen in the next few seasons for him, he really hasn't.

What happened (as with Walcott) was that the England manager noticed that someone else had decided he was good enough for a top 6 squad. Agreed re Cleverley too. And Henderson to a lesser extent. Leon Osman has done much more than either of them.

I think you need a system that suits the players you expect to be available, it's slightly different for major tournaments when you get about a month beforehand though as they're yours to retrain for that period. It does pose a problem with in-form players though doesn't it, especially when their abilities are supported by the players in their clubs but wouldn't be in the England squad ?

Can't disagree with that - though the media needs to take it's share of responsibility for making it SO difficult for an England manager to do anything even remotely unconventional.

He did basically say on Sky Sports that even Holt and Lambert would agree they were more of a Carroll type than a Defoe, Sturridge or Welbeck. He also managed to make it sound like they were inferior in doing so. As far as I'm concerned, if Sturridge is fit he should play, failing that I'd have Defoe, Darren Bent or Crouch in there with Rooney in the hole, Welbeck as a squad member until he categorically proves he's as useless as he seems to be. I wouldn't touch Carroll with a 50 foot pole unless they decide to play direct and forget the pretence of passing it in the final third, he's an utter donkey who lives off crosses and whilst he can kill a long ball, he's terrible facing the opposition goal with the ball at his feet. Crouch is MUCH better than Carroll at what Hodgson wants him to do as an alternative type of player.

That is all about systems, our system plays to different strengths to that required by England. It then comes down to a straight choice between Carroll and "another target man" and he chooses to pick the younger player on that basis, for better or worse. There's not much point him calling up a player he has no intention of using for the hell of it, when he'd have to change the team's system to incorporate him successfully and then change it again in the next year or two when that player most likely falls off the cliff physically.

First names on my Saints team sheet as it stands are Boruc, Clyne, Shaw, Schneiderlin, Cork, Rodriguez. Pretty much everyone else is an either/or, and I have greater expectations for us up front and a lot more flexibility next season.

To be fair, the "successful" clubs (in the terms of who constituted the top 6) in those days was also a lot more distributed, even though there was a "big 5" in the 80s they were the best-supported and biggest name clubs not necessarily the most successful, and they didn't always have all the best players. There were also far fewer foreigners so Robson also had a lot more English top tier players to pick from and a broader range of options, and the nature of the far lesser tv coverage also meant that the biggest sides were less likely to even know a player was doing well enough to feel he was worth signing (and the scout system was a lot less effective than watching hours of video like you can today). So he had to pick from more teams because the best players played for more teams - how often nowadays can a side come out of the Championship and win the top division like Forest did a couple of years before Robson took on the England job ? The likes of Villa were challenging for the Prem in the early 90s, but it just doesn't happen any more. As a sign of the times, Mark Wright joined Liverpool not long after the 1990 World Cup, having proven his ability at international level. Nowadays he'd probably already be with City or United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool long before he got to a World Cup.

Stadium sponsorship is allowed, shirt sponsorship is allowed. In-stadium sponsorship is at the discretion of the club within certain regulations, though the Prem also sells advertising on the rotating boards which has to be shown. Drinks bottles are provided by the Premier league (and sponsored by official PL sponsors), and there are regulations preventing additional advertising on bandages and wristbands (and any other superfluous kit pieces worn by players) under PL and FIFA sponsorship rules.

For me, looks like a decent player, offers us pace in behind that we don't have from many players, decent finisher, young and has potential (which is not the same as "guaranteed to improve") but at the moment I think he needs to be stronger on the ball and take responsibility for holding it up more rather than some of the flicks, miscontroles and spins he tries at the moment, and show closer control when he's dribbling. He's pretty one footed as well, but he's got plenty to offer and has obviously shown a lot more than, say Mayuka, albeit from a lot more opportunities.

Well, this thread has taught me something, the Savile/Paul Merton thing was a hoax.

MUTV by the looks of it "Red Heart United". I can't see it as I don't subscribe and it doesn't even give me the chance to select it on Virgin though it's on the planner.

Could be.

5 years ago. Now Noel Hunt, Nicky Shorey/Ian Harte, Jay Tabb, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Titus Bramble, Matt Kilgallon, Dave Jones, Simon Church, Carlton Cole, Jerome Thomas, Mark Gower, Simeon Jackson, Stephen McPhail, Stephen Hunt, Keith Fahey, Steve Simonsen... there's half a Championship team in that lot. Add Gonzalo Jara to that list.

We might have offered them short term contracts matching their existing deals.

I don't mind the home shirt, it's in line with some of their previous. I wouldn't even like the away as a compromise Saints kit, it looks a bit silly.