The9

Well they haven't looked at the fixtures, have they... though I can't argue with the appraisal of Lambert/Holt.

Yeah, but the difference is that Drogba (let's say Drogba 2009 rather than 2012) had the pace and mobility to get into the box from that deep position, and the dribbling skills and pure power to get past his marker and threaten the goal from deep even when isolated. Not quite sure what you mean about things getting bunched up in the middle, btw ?

That's a completely fair point about the supporting players - where I disagree is the idea that Drogba wouldn't still be a threat to the opposition in the same isolated position. And no, I'm not expecting Lambert to be Drogba - that's kind of the point.

Can't be for any other reason, they're only losing out on shirt printing revenue by not doing it.

Has to be announced by 3pm on Saturday, as the Prem rules are "by the commencement of the season". The Premier League website club stats page is likely to be the first place (other than the OS) which has the numbers confirmed. At the moment our players are alphabetical. Suspect we're waiting on a couple of possible signings and don't want to give it away to the players with their preferred squad numbers unless we actually sign them.

He said PM, if you can't follow simple instructions I'm not sure you're up to the task.

It's not just you, Kelv's previous lone season in the Prem (Sunderland, bottom, lowest points total ever) is thumping away in the back of my head.

Heh, bizarrely as I lived in South Wales at the time and my then-girlfriend was a Wolves fan (from Gosport, weird) I was actually there. Best half-time entertainment ever. The pigs were plugging a local double glazing company IIRC.

I hope so, my priorities are Arsenal (basically already sorted by going to City), Sunderland, Newcastle, Wigan and Man U. In no particular order.

And Everton. Fortunately for me I'm not planning on going to any of those anyway. They could also just start randomly offering more loyalty points for all of those as well, of course...

They had squad numbers consecutively up to 70 pre-season - and the 25 man squad limit doesn't have to be named until 2 weeks after we play them. So maybe another 50 injuries ?

Um, it's pretty clear that song's aimed at Man U... I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or what here.

I'd say about 20 more, they do have some strength in depth.

Absolute nonsense. I've only said he's not mobile enough to play effectively as a lone striker in the Prem because he can't get past people on his own, and that's something you need to be able to do or you're limited to being a hold up player who's never a goal threat because you're never in the box. Otherwise the team's attack is dependent on the other striker(s) pushing on beyond the "target man" to get in behind the defence. It seems to be an argument that's a bit too complex for some though.

Even though the 5 additional loyalty points have no impact whatsoever on priority for the next away match at Arsenal !

They do, and they have. The reason we're paying more is precisely because City fans are being charged more for the opener. It's something Man UNITED fans have been moaning about for years, as they're a "draw" for crowds, their away fans always end up paying through the nose because they're effectively "Cat A" for every match and never get to pay cheaper prices even against the smaller clubs because they put up the prices and the away tickets have to be the same price as comparable seats for home fans.

He hasn't scored any goals full stop, but I wouldn't be expecting him to get many far post headers in the Prem anyway, defenders are just better at dealing with the simple stuff. I think the idea of our 4-3-3/4-5-1 is that the wide men in the 3 or 5 get forward with him - I've been saying they could play Lambert as a false nine and push Rodriguez/Sharp on beyond him, which suits Lambert's style (though maybe not Sharp's, who always strikes me as a lone striker or one of a pair on the shoulder of the last defender, rather than someone who'd have defensive responsibilities). The long and short of it, Lambert can't do "lone striker" without support, but he's also less cut out to do it than a more creative player who can work his own openings. I think what Sharp loses in his ball-killing and holding up, he gains in movement, rolling and beating people. Rodriguez has it all and seems a natural replacement for Lambert, but needs more experience in that lone role, holding up the ball and linking play at the moment.

If you actually check back through all of my posts on Lambert you'll see I've always said exactly that, my point was that you can't really complain about Lambert being asked to play in what people have been saying for 3 years is his best position and blame the system. My supposed "irrational dislike" is actually a considered critique of his lack of mobility and ability to provide BOTH that linking play and a presence in front of goal, which surprise surprise is now manifesting itself in us having no cutting edge because Lambert is isolated and having to wait for the rest of the team to get forward precisely because he can't beat people on his own. He's good in the box IF he's in the box (but he won't have been part of the build up) and he's good outside the box (but don't expect him to be on the end of crosses as well unless we faff about with it first).

I think the point that you're missing with our pre-season is that it's perfectly possible to dominate possession and not score (awestruck by 45 minutes of still not actually beating Bristol City?), and things like "we'd have won if it wasn't for one of our defenders making a mistake" are precisely the difference between being in the Championship and the Premier League (and Champions League).

What's Lambert meant to be good at if it's not playing as a central target man then ?

Leeds City were expelled in 1919 but that's probably not relevant, Aldershot "resigned" in March 1992, Maidstone folded that summer and also resigned from the league. Teams have to resign on their liquidation, the FL expunged Aldershot's 8 months' worth of fixtures.

From two players given a ton of time and space.

Have you read any of this thread ? We know it's the same as a load of others...

I didn't go, I might like to check for myself whether we just weren't trying because no-one wanted to get injured, or whether we just weren't any good.

And to let everyone know to stop asking...