verlaine1979

After the start of the premier league, the only clubs to win the title without having a minimum of 8 league titles already in the bag were Blackburn, Chelsea & Man City, and I don't really need to labour the point about what those three clubs had in common at the time of their rise to dominance. Anyway, I'm not disagreeing with you, looking back at league winners and runners up you have to go back to the late 60s and early 70s to find names that aren't still there or there-abouts at the top of the league. All I'm saying is that it's become even more expensive to break into the clique, to the point where in a couple of years you'll probably need to be backed by a sovereign wealth fund from an oil-rich state to compete in the CL.

We can't compete, no one can these days without the assistance of an owner prepared to sink hundreds of millions into the playing squad. Then again, that's been the case pretty much since the advent of the Premier League - when was the last time a club won the premier league (or equivalent) without either being an historically huge club (i.e. previously being a Champion of Europe) or the sudden appearance of an owner prepared to radically outspend everyone else?

Is there a more self-evidently idiotic statistic than this one? If the words themselves only made up 7% of the content of communication, they'd be largely arbitrary, and complex ideas could be communicated primarily through shrugs and grimaces.

Our midfield is just a bit too indecisive. Same story all season, not quite got the balance between retaining possession at all costs, and moving the ball forward. And on a day like today when we seem physically outmatched, the hesitation results in losing cheap possession too close to our own goal. Conservatism isn't always the most secure approach.

Indecisive defending sure, but both of those challenges on Lovren would've been given as fouls on Kaboul or Vertonghen.

Maybe it's just the TV not showing enough of the pitch, but quite often when we play the ball across the back, there is a player in midfield under no more pressure than the CB or FB. Surely even if the pressure is equal on both players, you should always play the more progressive ball, simply because it's better to lose the ball further from your own goal?

Gaston according to the BBC

I hate to break it to you, but £50m over 2 years is peanuts in the modern game, especially when the purchase price of the squad prior to that was pretty much nothing. If you thought we were buying anything other than mid-table security with that level of investment, you were simply mistaken.

Lambert's touch and short passing has been woeful so far. I hope after committing to this opinion, he'll now get an assist.

The article actually makes a point that JRod's 'chance conversion' is pretty rubbish, at only 17%.

It's not the manager's fault that Lallana and JRod are weak finishers.

Don't agree with you at all. Effort dropped to zero after the second goal went in, which was the result not of ineffective pressing, but a basic error by Lovren. Ramirez was wasteful in the last 20 minutes, but he made plenty of challenges throughout the second half and seemed to contribute as much to the fabled press as David did in the first half, with the major difference being that while Ramirez performance was a combination of good and bad (I wont bother to articulate the proportions) David was just bad.

Difference in class unfortunately pretty obvious. Liverpool key players superior in pace, technique & decision-making compared to our key players.

Davis pretty wasteful so far.

I agree about Cork - he wouldn't be in my England squad. superb player for us, but as you say, to win the WC these days you need 'complete' midfielders rather than the water-carriers of old.

I've not seen Mavuba, so I cede to your knowledge there, but my point was mostly that whoever is 4th choice for CM in France is going to be so far behind Cabaye/Pogba/Matuidi that the only way they'll get any game time is if France end up in the third place play-off.

Morgan is an excellent player (though his defensive stats look less impressive now we spend more time with the ball and less time trying to get it back) but if France start the World Cup with a midfield two from Cabaye, Pogba & Matuidi, I think you'd be very hard pressed to argue that he warrants a place above any of those. That leaves one spare, with the remaining squad CM probably just along for the scenery.

Yup, lovely bit of composure and skill to start the move.

Our attack has been profligate all season - Lambert doesn't get into scoring positions as much as he used to, and both Lallana & JRod are average finishers at best.. Against lower half of the table crap (Hull, Fulham etc) our stranglehold on possession means that we get to keep trying until we score, while they struggle to get near our goal. Against anyone with even a whiff of mid-table about them, even if we dominate possession, the game becomes a finishing contest, which we have to be having a very good day to win.

Jesus, the quality of crossing has been atrocious. Maybe time to give up on that and try something else? Bring on Gaston & Clyne, and maybe Gallagher too.

Movement up front has been really poor. Midfield eventually get impatient with no one creating an angle ahead of them and obligingly pop up a straight chipped pass for WH CBs to head away, setting up the counter.

I think they're fine things to have if the club is successful enough to be able to sustain them, but they certainly aren't what I'd have the CEO spend his time worrying about, no.

Modern football clubs acquire new fans and retain old ones by producing successful teams that play attractive football. Team does well and is fun to watch, more people want tickets; team does poorly and plays hoofball, fewer people want tickets. Loyalty aside (which the CEO can't do much to alter, since loyalty that only exists while the club are pandering isn't really loyalty at all) the contribution of other intangibles such as fan outreach and community spirit to the long-term future of the club is pretty much a rounding error.

As a fan, the only thing I care about is whether the team do well during the 90+ minutes of each game. Everything else is vanity.

I fully expect the new man to come in claiming that too much time has been spent establishing a coherent playing style for all levels of the club and professionalising the first team's various support structures, and that his energies will be directed more towards meet-and-greets with grumbling fans and loud-mouth local businesses.