Alanh

I see that we have drifted away from the concept of constructive suggestions as requested in the OP!

The loss of Morgan has been the biggest issue we have faced in the last two seasons. He allowed us to control midfield and with it retain possession, build attacks at the pace we wanted and recover possession when we lost it. Hi influence helped protect the defence and gave attackers the freedom to be creative given our confidence in getting the ball back if they lost it. Clasie might become the replacement for Morgan in time, Romeu won't as he is there to replace / stand in for Wanyama (who incidentally looks a shadow of the player he was last season precisely because he isn't playing next to Morgan). One of the consequences of us not controlling possession in midfield is the long lump forward to Pelle which we have seen about twice as much this season as last. As far a constructive solutions goes - look around for another player who might be close to a straight Morgan replacement. I don't know who that is so it might have to be a case of giving Clasie time to develop into that player and in the meantime play a different system.

Why don't you take a shirt that currently fits him along to one of the stores and measure it against a shirt off the shelf?

I haven't read through the whole thread so apologise if this has already been mentioned but the key thing that we learnt from last night is that RK hasn't realised yet that Pelle can't get the better of Skrtel. We would arguably have been better off with a small fast front three who may have provided more movement. The downside to that is that we would have had to keep the ball away from Caulker as his two default passes last night were back to the keeper or a long hoof to Pelle.

Thanks, like I said I've blanked out some of it.

First goal was out of his reach - very slight chance Second was at point blank range - I'd be amazed at any prem keeper saving that Third - coming through a crowd of players with a deflection just ahead of him - no chance Fourth - Ibe fires in low and hard - difficult for a big keeper to get down that quickly, but more chance than with the first three Fifth - point blank header - no chance just like the second Sixth - can't remember as I've blanked it out All in all he shouldn't be taking more than his share of the blame after that game. I would prefer to criticize how exposed he was by our defensive performance and by RK's tactics (3 at the back, taking off Cedric).

I missed our fourth against Newcastle last season - Morgan finishing a 40 odd pass move. Saw it on MOTD later though.

If I can time it so that I exit the stadium bowl on the final whistle, from my seat in the middle of a Kingsland block, then I will save 30 minutes on my journey home compared to waiting in my seat until the final whistle. After just about every game that's a time saving worth making.

My thoughts are that you've looked at the situation through red and white striped glasses. I don't think you have given Lallana, Shaw, Schneiderlin and Clyne (from your list) enough time to demonstrate either progression or regression. We obviously had the best years from Lambert and Lovren looks like he just had an excellent season with us and has now reverted to type. I think Oxo and Walcott are better players now for Arsenal than they were for us, but that's mainly down to the first team experience that they have had in the several years since they left.

We have to get through the 3Q round at the end of July / beginning of August before we know for certain that we will have a play off round match to play ahead of the Watford game.

Away for the first game please, for entirely personal holiday related reasons! Don't care against whom as will be able to watch on TV from sunnier climes.

Fair point, and every transfer is a gamble to some extent, but CA is much less of a gamble that Ramirez or Osvaldo as he's got experience in the Prem. He's also worked his way up through the leagues and proved he can score at every level. I'm pretty sure that if it goes through the fee will end up being undisclosed anyway so we'll just have to trust that the club know what they are doing with their budgets.

Unlikely we'll go there with only one holding midfielder. I'm pretty sure we'll see Vic and a partner in the middle, ideally Morgan but if not Reed or Toby, then Davis or JWP ahead of them. Back 5 and front 3 pick themselves after Saturday (Yoshida in for Toby of he is moved forward to holding mid and we know that Kelvin is getting a game).

Superb. Hope they carry the style of communication on into the real kit reveal rather than having a collection of players all looking moodily into the middle distance.

I was advised to do Highway 1 from south to north - you get better views that way. Swingers is a cool diner in Santa Monica. The sushi in Chinatown in San Francisco is excellent. Don't spend too much time at Fisherman's Wharf in SF, but do spend time in the Haight-Ashbury district - loads of good independent shops and restaurants.

I don't think we ever had a realistic chance of top 4. We don't have the quality of player or size of squad to relentlessly grind out wins throughout the season or cope with injuries without a dip in form. As I have said before 7th would feel a bit disappointing to me given that we made 8th last year and Everton have effectively given up their spot in the top 7 with their relatively poor season. 6th would be a really good season as we would finish above Liverpool or Spurs. 5th would be amazing and a tremendous achievement for everyone at the club. I think we'll win four more games, lose two and draw two. Not sure which position 65 points will get us to - it probably depends on what the result against Spurs is, but it will be a great season nonetheless.

If you've got a budget of circa £8K you can have pretty much the choice of the current hatchbacks. On some brands you'll have to settle for older or higher mileage examples, but you should be able to find something fairly easily. I've recently been looking at Alfa Guiliettas, Golf Mk6s and Leons. You can easily get one of them for less that £8K, you then need to decide whether you want petrol or diesel and how many miles you are happy for it to have done.

you could make an argument that Man U could use all of Schneiderlin, Clyne and Toby as mentioned above as the most likely departees this summer. They could end up writing a cheque almost as big as Liverpool did last summer

I thought that the playing advantage decisions were correct and that it was us who squandered the opportunity. It's a judgement call so everyone is going to have a different opinion but I wouldn't criticize the ref for that one. On the 'handing the ball back' incident, I also thought that we should have been given possession, either by taking it back to Forster, or by giving it to Palace, who then were instructed to pass it to us.

I'd feel disappointed for two reasons. Firstly, 1.6 points per game over the remaining 16 matches would be a slip from the current average of 1.9 points per game. Given that we have played everyone once I'd like to think we can keep up the current average. Secondly because of the 7 teams that finished above us last season 4 are currently below us, with Everton 19 points and 9 places adrift. For me finishing 7th would only represent an improvement based on Everton's relative failure. I'd like to think, after last summer, that we can give Arsenal, Utd, Spurs or Liverpool a run for their money in a fight for 5th place. I don't think we'll finish top 4 but would be delighted with 5th.

Last season we got 14 points from the corresponding fixtures (taking out QPR, Leicester and Burnley) We won 4, lost 7 and drew 2 of them. Matching that would give us 56 points from 35 games (average 1.6 points per game). If we match that against the three promotes sides (5 points near enough)that brings the total to 61 points. Almost certainly not enough for top 4 but means we beat our record and probably get 6th or 7th. For me that would still feel disappointing after getting this far.

+1 on the E-Myth book. Well worth a read. Best advice is, understand the costs associated with your business and work out how the money that comes in will cover them. If you are selling your time as a consultant, or on a £ per hour basis make sure you factor in the fact that you won't be paid when you are not working i.e. on holiday.

I'm not expecting us to finish top four as that would mean we would have to beat too many of the established top sides over the course of the season. I think we've got the squad to give everyone apart from perhaps City and Chelsea a real scare so I'm hoping for 6th place. that wold mean finishing above two of the teams who finished in the top seven last year. Based on current form none of Everton, Liverpool and Spurs look as strong as they were last season and United still look to be in transition from when SAF retired. If we can maintain the form we showed last season against the mid and lower table teams (including improving against the likes of Stoke and Sunderland) and pick up 8 - 10 more points in the 8 games against Utd, Spurs, Liverpool and Everton than last year, then we are in with a chance of moving up a couple of places. That could mean Europa League if the big clubs win the cups and we don't.

I started with a Brupak which was a completely self contained kit and very easy to use. I soon progressed to 25 litre kits and that's big enough for me. Tips as above and have patience. I only brew for bottling and the beer tastes better the longer you leave it. If you get sediment in the bottle don't pour it into the glass when you drink it.

It seems that we are getting adidas next year, but I wouldn't infer that from the advertising. They have got new "improved" boots to sell and that's what all of their advertising is based on at the moment at every ground, regardless of who supplies the home team shirts.