coalman

With less guns, nudity or crime.

I guess that means he'll only last 20 minutes rather than 45 for his next team.

As with any power structure. Who watches the watchers? Then who watches the watchers watching the watchers?

Not to mention Everton are clearly in breach of FFP and will want him for nothing now to avoid digging a deeper hole.

I remember when we signed Ings and there were huge concerns about fitness. He turned out alright. Ross Stewart looks like the kind of player who is going to have a party off the amount of possession and crosses we're making right now. If we can keep him fit. If it's not a huge sum then I'd say it's worth the risk.

Given the lack of faith we showed in him last season I'm not surprised. If you're a young player you want to be getting minutes on the pitch. His commitment to Saints is going to mirror our commitment to him.

I'd say we do have more opportunity to give him a chance. One advantage of the big clearout we're undergoing is that players will get more minutes. More minutes together will improve the team work between those who play. We looked better on Saturday when he came on and Armstrong dropped deeper. We brought in a lot of players last season and didn't give them a chance to settle in the team - possibly because we were trying to settle so many at once. Possibly because we were buying with an eye to the future - but then we didn't give them a chance to develop. If our strategy is to get young players and develop them for a profit then we have to do better. Otherwise we're working on the assumption that all 18 year olds are a Lavia or a Livramento.

You should use your moderator powers to keep things on track.

I still think there's a player in Mara. Last season we recruited lots of players and then kept rotating them. Nobody got a chance to settle into the team which was reflected in performances on the pitch. Having a smaller squad and giving those players a run will give us an opportunity to see what they're really about. Writing someone off based on a few minutes here and there seems premature.

His best role is sitting between the attack and midfield receiving the ball between the and releasing other players or taking a shot. We'll get the best out of him with Downes/Charles behind him. There's a good argument that he and AArmstrong and SArmstrong are all competing for that position. I really hope Charles at CB is just a stopgap rather than a regular occurrence. Though CB is still one of our weakest positions. Need one more in an Holgate to be like Fraser looked in his first outing.

I thought it was called that because the generals kept breaking the law.

That might represent our best chance for this weekends game

Was hoping this was a more permanent solution.

Because I like my bacon to sparkle.

If you throw a diamond into a pigsty it's still going to get rolled about by pigs and covered in shit.

If only he was half as good at defending as making pantomime joining videos.

I was particularly impressed by the Spanish FA releasing a statement saying the player said it was consensual. Only to be contradicted by the player. Then his defiant victim speech was a work of art. Either of which demonstrate a degree of unprofessionalism and tone deafness that should preclude him from any leadership position. All it would have taken would have been "I got over excited in the moment and behaved poorly. I'm sorry for taking things too far.". He may still have wound up having to resign but at least his mum wouldn't be live streaming herself refusing to eat.

He's only signed Manning so far and he's slotted in ok. Not sure how real the link to Piroe ever was except in our heads. Wood fits the profile of the kind of centre back we should be looking at. I don't care where we sign the players from as long as they improve the team.

We still have a team capable of killing the championship. We've got 10 out of 12 points despite learning a new system and first team uncertainty. Our loan signings seem smart. We've got talented kids ready for their chance. We're creating chances. Given the dross we saw the last couple of seasons then having a big reset is not a bad thing.

Schneiderlin agreed to stay for one more season and he was a pro about it. He's a rare example of this. Van Dijk was not a pro about it. His performance dropped after we turned Liverpool down initially because they didn't meet our valuation then they came back three months later. Martin said some players decided to stay (eg Charly) which is great. If the player doesn't believe in what we're doing we can't force them. If they're not committed then they won't perform. If we keep them it has to be their choice as well. Even Le Tissier came close to leaving but it was his choice to stay - not ours to keep him.

In any profession someone who wants to change jobs can change jobs. People are not chattel. As a manager you can choose to part on good terms or not. The way you handle it has a knock on effect beyond the person leaving. I also doubt the club would do something in the player's interest that wasn't in its own interest and vice versa. Everyone takes care of their own interests and those are hopefully aligned while a player is at a club. I get it's frustrating that so many players are leaving but our squad was (is) too big and it's better to have players committed to the cause than whose hearts are elsewhere. This is as true for Man City as it is for us. The only difference is they can throw money at the problem but even then if a player wants to move on they will - for example Gundogan this summer.

There has to be a sane way of him resigning or getting fired without the whole country going up in flames.

Rubiales mum has gone on hunger strike over the treatment of her boy as well.

I'd be interested in seeing how Mara fared with a run in the side. And giving AdamA a run in the role behind the striker. For all his faults that finish on Saturday was clinical for all that I think everyone was confused as to where his first touch was going

I'd be ok with that - it would mean ABK and Sulemana staying which could be huge.