verlaine1979

Hardly, the idiot plays with wingers.

Considering there's been very little entertainment on offer in the first four games, a 0-0 doesn't sound particularly enjoyable. However, as a good away point it's probably not to be sniffed at. Without the drama of either trying to get promoted or avoid relegation, I find myself far more impatient when the games are of mediocre quality as they have been recently. Is this what mid-table comfort is like? If you could temporarily suspend the partisan emotion of the average Everton or Fulham fan mid-game, would most up and go home at half time out of boredom?

Should probably switch JWP for Wanyama & Gaston for either JRod or Lallana.

Cork is a very solid player who did a brilliant job last season shoring up our defence at a time when we were incredibly frail, however, we don't have that problem at the moment. As solid as Cork is, he adds almost nothing in an attacking sense as his passing is generally (understandably) tentative and focused on retention rather than chance creation. Bringing Cork back into the team is not the answer to the last two stuttering performances (Clyne and Shaw being fit and in the team is the answer, if you were wondering).

To be fair, a central pairing of Kondogbia & Pogba would be pretty immense.

Surely we don't really need to debate whether it is better for players to have pace than not? I'm trying, but can't really think of a great club side in the last 20 years or so where the main element of their attacking threat hasn't been the ability of one or more of their key forwards to run with the ball at speed. I've seen a few people say over the past few days that it isn't about the pace of the players, but the pace at which you move the ball. Unfortunately that isn't true - pretty much the entire Barcelona outfield are very good at quick passing and creating space, but when they don't have Messi running at the defence with the ball, committing opponents and creating opportunities for the overload, they can actually be quite dull and ineffective going forward.

What you're describing is basically Schroedinger's transfer window - until a player has proven himself he is simultaneously both the best player in a club's history and its worst (and all possible gradations inbetween).

If we had some eggs we could have ham and eggs, if we had some ham.

Absolutely, it's much easier to teach someone with natural pace when they should cut in than it is to teach someone who is slow how to run faster. Don't get me wrong, I think we look a decent, solid side (reminiscent of Everton during Moyes' early days) but solidity + slow build up rarely equals goals.

As the 'we don't play with wingers' dullards chorus every time we are linked with someone who plays from midfield with a modicum of pace, our game plan apparently relies on Shaw and Clyne using their undoubted speed to created overlaps and stretch the play. When neither of those players is on the pitch it would be nice to have someone (perhaps left or right of the AM three) with a bit of pace. We don't currently have anyone who fits that description (not even Puncheon was really that quick).

Cork is not the answer when the question is 'why is our build up play so ponderous?'

Yup, midfield definitely performed better second half. That's not to disparage Schneiderlin nor any other part of the midfield, but Wanyama & JWP did a great job. Seen a few people suggesting Cork used to carry the ball forward more than Wanyama is doing, but I don't see it myself. If Cork had one weakness last season it was his tentativeness in passing or driving forward.

Really encouraging performance from JWP. Not just the set pieces, but very good retention and seemed to look for (and more often than not complete) a forward pass before looking for a sideways ball.

Is it just me, is has JWP looked like the best player on the pitch by some distance all game?

If you play without wingers the fullbacks have to get forward a little more rapidly than they have done today.

I hear this a lot. Man City don't play with wingers either, but they bought Navas because having an intelligent, quick player in your formation who knows when to go inside but is still capable of beating his fullback to the byline when that is the better option is pretty useful, as demonstrated quite aptly against Newcastle.

Terrific strike rate in the Thai league...32 goals in 52 games - better ratio than Osvaldo ffs.

Totally agree - Fox isn't anywhere near the player Shaw is, but it's ludicrous to expect that he should be. If Shaw's injury is going to keep him out for a couple of months, then by all means bring in a replacement, but to expect the club to shell out several million just to keep Fox out of the team for a fortnight or so is idiotic. (Also no one bothers to mention that Fox is probably the best striker of a corner/indirect free kick we have, so we might actually score a couple more with him in the team to off-set the ones we'll apparently inevitably concede).

His strike rate is comparable to Neymar's during his time in Brazil (83 in 149 games for LD vs 136 in 225 games for N). Neymar is clearly a far superior player, but that's reflected in the asking price. Brazil is no longer a struggling economy and there's now plenty of money swilling around the league unlike a decade ago when Kaka went to Milan for about 6m. Moura went to PSG for about 39m with only 33 career goals to his name; Bernard is being linked with a 20m+ move to Europe with only 36 career goals. The price quoted for LD is entirely in line with the market.

It's the Campeonato Gaucho (regional league) that is the crap Brazilian league he plays in, and in which his scoring record is 40 goals in 52 appearances. The Brasileirao is the national league, and is of a standard equivalent in many ways to the Premier League - it is this league in which he has scored 29 goals in 74 games. Frankly, neither record should be sniffed at, particularly when you add 11 in 19 in the Copa Libertadores.

Aside from smacking one in from 20 yards, how did Mayuka actually do?

No idea how good Hooper will prove to be, but scoring more than 15 in a season would generally make you one of the league's top handful of strikers (over previous seasons 16+ would generally place you somewhere between 4th and 7th best in the league). Outside players from the top four clubs, those who get into that sort of territory usually seem more the unexpected purple patch type, than ones you'd put your house on.

Possible combination of club's desire to get rid and lack of interest from top-level wealthy clubs?

Piazon available on loan from Chelsea.

Ah ha! But the first one cost twice as much, so obviously he should've had 66 appearances and 12 goals!