Chez

Like this against the top sides that may retain the ball against us. Works well for saints. Not sure Clyne quite has enough on the ball to play wing back. So one footed.

Delph offers energy, but instead who, Dier? Shelves won't go unless we get a host of injuries. For me he's a liability if played in a deep role. Touch not good enough and gets caught in possession. He has play further forward and in Barkley, Ali and Rooney we have better options.

It would surprise me. Who would be dropped to fit him in? There would need to be some injuries...

Hart/Butland/Forster Clyne/Walker, Bertrand/Baines, Stones/Smalling/Jagielka/Cahill AOC/Walcott, Henderson/Dier, Barkley/Alli, Townsend/Sterling Kane/Rooney/Vardy/Sturridge Having said that, is Roy actually going to leave out Delph and Milner (he is very loyal) in favour of Ali and Dier? LOLana/Townsend is an interesting choice. Very different players, but both played a fair bit under Roy. I have to say our centre backs still worry me. We should have taken Stones to the World Cup. Jangielka is never international class. Also, forget the recent errors by Stones (and of course putting to one side how good he is on the ball), IMO his positional play leaves a lot to be desired. The number of times he (like Jagielka) gets stuck under a crossed ball is scary. But who else is there?

oh thank **** for that, I was getting concerned we might never see them go up, but now I can rest assured that they will be back in the big time third division come September 2017.

whatever becomes of JWP it's always good to know that the skates won't benefit.

a headline £20 price reduction in season ticket prices is not exactly staggering, but Sunderland's ticket prices were decent to start with. http://www.safc.com/news/club-news/2016/february/season-card-prices-cut

Anyone else notice the Mirror included an article linking Kante with Arsenal just before the Arsenal Leicester game? Perfect timing to perhaps unsettle the player (which didnt work at all I might add) which seems to happen a lot.

From what I've seen Chelsea have got their mojo back. Much more fluent and confident. It will be a far tougher game this time round, although both CBs getting injured might help us.

Liverpool with and without Sturridge are like chalk and cheese. He is a very good player. Greedy, but that's what you want of a striker. Kane is greedy at times too, shoots form anywhere, but they are both full of confidence and you want them shooting not passing.

when we came up against Man Utd on the last day of the season it mattered.

Being negative after a win? You should know that's not allowed on here. But IMO its exactly the right time to question and focus on what is not `quite' right, as you can have a clear head and not be accused of being a bed wetting or whatever. In terms of selection, it does seem a little random, although if you win then RK must have got it right, right? Well he dropped Soares on Saturday and we offered nothing down the right side. He brought him on and we looked a far better balanced side. Perhaps RK intended to keep it solid initially and then open up in the second half, and if he did he was spot on, but maybe he just got it wrong and then corrected his error. His team selections were questionable when we lost games. They can be when we win too, but you must have all the information. Knocks, illness, tiredness, counteracting opponents...etc. With regards to the Pelle selection I am not sure I can complain too much. Austin doesn't look fully fit and Mane has given the ball away so much in the last few weeks, so as needing to be dropped. However, with a high press, high work rate attack seeing us well recently (Mane and Long really do both put a shift in) it feels a step back to go with a big man that needs ball to feet and doesn't hurry any defenders when they have the ball. Attacking wise we aren't firing on all cylinders, but five at the back is always going to limit you. The Swansea game is always a stalemate. Both sides pass it square all day and then wonder why there are not a hat full of chances and goals. But we have created some decent chances in games rather lots of half chances.

working his way back to full fitness? Not sure.

Hope England can play like Leicester. Patient and strong in defence, tenacious but talented in midfield and absolutely breathtaking on the break. They are far more enjoyable to watch than all the square passing stuff between centre backs.

You are right. Three centre backs and two fullbacks, which you might call wingbacks, but by and large they are more defensive than offensive. Lots of defensively minded midfielders in this game too. We really are going for a pack the defence, fill every available space and suffocate opponents type system. Boy is it working.

Absolutely this. Like many other Brits I was sceptical of this formation as usually it's resorted to through desperation as the players are poor. And because they are poor they do a bad job in it. That certainly isn't the case here. So much so I'm desperately trying to think of how,England could use it. The Forster wall stuff is fun, but putting in several of the games Forster hasn't had a manning full save to make.

Always a boring game away at Swansea and this is no different. We have just parked the bus with the odd foray forward. Romeu looks like the only midfielder likely to get up and support the two up front. Maybe keep it tight and press second half is the plan. I bloody hope so, as we are not exactly going all out for a win so far. Everyone says you can't question Koemans selections because of the recent form, but he got a lot of decisions wrong when we weren't winning IMO, so why can't you question him now? Mine would be. Why isn't Soares playing? He offers far more in attack down the wing than any of our centre midfielders. Still at 0-0 the game is there for the taking and maybe today will be when Mane finds his form again...

Very good point and seeing as the skates are joint top Cook was probably right to ignore the old bat.

Football Manager laughs at old women that correctly points out that professional athletes he is responsible for should eat the right foods. You just could not make that up.

what will happen if the junior doctors start working to rule? The example on page one is a guy working 12 hours (25%) unpaid. Is that typical? Because if you get rid of the good will that seems to hold the NHS together, and perhaps the junior doctoers work to rule, then there could be a huge gap in man hours and no finances to plug that gap.

"if 1 doctor works just 1 hour over the maximum shift length it can trigger a 66% pay rise for all doctors on that rota." is this true? If so I don't understand how something so strange finds its way into a national pay structure.

can you remind me what position Toby plays?

is it possible that you could provide us with a wage bill to league position graph type thing?

I assume the kids are supplied with periscopes to watch the game from the South stand lower or is that the point, put them down there `below sea level', so they don't actually get sight of the **** football on display?

won't there be more total patient in hospital bed hours in the long run if more people are kept alive by the better staffing at the weekends?