Verbal Kint

He grew into the game at Liverpool and was very good today in the first half. Second half everyone apart from Cedric was poor I thought so I'm not going to single him out. Clear potential but he may take a while to fully get there

I don't mind creative players giving the ball away in the final third, as it means they're actually trying to create something. We have enough midfielders obsessed with the pass completion percentage and if there is one area we've struggled in the last couple of years it's been creativity. I'm far from convinced by Gaston and he certainly hasn't been worth the money we've paid for him, but if we're going to give him a chance then give him a proper chance and play him behind the striker and not out wide

That run to set up Pelle's air shot was everything you want in a number 10. Held the ball up, turned his man, drove at the defence and played a great through ball weighted perfectly. But it came late in the game when the game was more open and stretched. Let's see if he can do it in the 20th minute rather than the 90th

To produce decent players who, although not good enough for City as the majority will not be, they can sell on for decent money and put the profits towards their next big money purchase, ensuring they have a better chance of keeping within FFP rules. If they bring one through who ends up being good enough for them then brilliant, if not then it doesn't really matter The same as Chelsea basically

It simply made no sense whatsoever to have the highest earner at the club sitting on the bench. Hull came in and offered to pay his wages for a year and we probably thought that was too good to say no to. He's here now though until January and we're paying him a fortune, so I hope he plays well tomorrow and starts to become a useful player to have on the bench/pushing Tadic for a start

If he was earning 25k a week I guess he would have been here and on the bench

He should be ahead of Juanmi anyway who looked incredibly lightweight. You can see why the club are talking about him as a long term signing as he looks like he needs a year in the gym. Gaston coming off the bench when the game has opened up and there is more space would be a good sub to have. We're paying him his 60k a week until January anyway, we might as well get something out of him

I don't think we've been fully aware of everything behind the scenes. He's seemed to be constantly carrying injuries etc that have prevented him from playing and there have just been too many of them. But even if fit, can you see him playing well behind Pelle? I just don't see it. Maybe with Jay or Long up front who are willing to run in behind he could be useful but we know that isn't going to happen. His wages can't be ignored. What's the likelihood he's prepared to sign a one year extension for half the money he's currently on? Just isn't going to happen

Going slightly off topic I'm completely bemused at what Liverpool have done in the transfer market. They've bought a 32 million pound centre forward who is only effective if you get the ball wide and cross it into him yet they have 3 number 10s behind him who all want to cut inside, and bought a right back who is hopeless at crossing. They only have Moreno who might be able to regularly give him some service. Bizarre really The rat was his usual self. Lots of nice turns and **** all end product

Disagree about Clyne who is pretty consistent I think. solid defensively and nothing in the final third as his final ball has always been awful. Cedric has a lot more potential going forward and I think he'll become a better player eventually as his defending continues to improve

Clearly not in the boardroom judging by the 'article' announcing his departure. The ****ing rat

2 reasons. Firstly because Forster has a long term injury, but probably more importantly because Davis is still at the club on a playing contract. He's a good bloke to have around the club and I can understand why the club were very keen to keep him here as long as possible, but he shouldn't have been given a 3 year deal 2 years ago. They should have allowed his previous contract to run down to this summer just gone and offered him a non playing role at the club. That would have allowed us this summer to bring in another keeper. Despite the comical post of CB Fry it is not 'easy' to 'move on' a player like Davis nearing the end of his contract when no club interested in him could afford him and he would have no interest in uprooting his family having been here for so long

If we hadn't signed Caulker fans would whinge we only had 3 centre backs with the long term injury to Gardos and if we hadn't had signed Martina everyone would have moaned about having no back up to Soares. Alex McCarthy has been dropped by Palace because he isn't good enough and Lindegaard will be earning probably more than any of our keepers, despite being third choice. The mistake was not made this summer, it was made 2 years ago when for some reason Kelvin was given a 3 year deal when he already had 2 years remaining on his contract, and he quite clearly wasn't up to it. He was given it for non-footballing reasons and it was a mistake

I'm saying it's to do with numbers. We have, this season, 4 senior goalkeepers on the books who we are paying a wage to and I'm suggesting we probably can't stretch the budget to having a fifth. Why KD was given a 3 year contract 2 years ago when he had 2 years remaining anyway is a better question, because if we hadn't have done that he wouldn't still be at the club on a playing contract and we would have freed up room on the wage bill to bring another keeper in permanently. Why PG was given a 4 years contract a few weeks ago when he isn't considered better than KD is also a mystery to me. But for this season specifically it's perfectly understandable why we didn't sign a fifth senior goalkeeper as it's most likely to do with finances At the end of the season Stekelenburg returns and KD's contract is up, so hopefully we will be in a position to sign a solid and reliable keeper to compete with FF with Gazzaniga as number 3. If the club don't do that then I will find it ridiculous just like everyone else

That isn't the point though is it? We still have to pay Forster his 30-40k a week. We are paying Stekelenburg a healthy wage as well and we have a budget to stick to. We can't just continuously sign players every time we get an injury and we have 4 senior goalkeepers on the books. The fact two of them are nowhere near good enough doesn't mean we get to stop paying them their wages

I find it pretty remarkable that we could hand Gazzaniga a new long term deal and yet he still is not deemed better than Kelvin at 39 and clearly past it. I think it's unrealistic to expect us to have a fifth senior keeper on the books (we do have a wage budget to stick to) but the decision to play Davis instead of PG is hard to understand if the management feel PG has enough ability to justify a new deal

It's perfectly clear to everyone why Mourinho was fined and charged and Wenger not. Mourinho was quite clearly accusing referees of bias and casting doubts over their integrity, whereas Wenger was clearly right in saying that Costa was conning the referee in order to get a player sent off. There's a clear difference and however **** the referees have been it has not been because they're biased or crooked. I hope the FA ban him every time he opens his mouth frankly. The man is an embarrassment and it would be nice if the FA just forced him out of the league so he can go and talk his ******** somewhere else.

? I think that's true

The problem is that he's a diver and has had his card marked by referees, so now when he does get legitimately fouled refs are not going to give it. He only has himself to blame for that

That's probably because he made quite a few outstanding saves against them, which isn't surprising as that is his strength. He's an excellent shot stopper but there is more to being a great goalkeeper than just being a good shot stopper. He's 6ft7 and a massive unit and yet is terrified to come off his line decisively. I doubt Barcelona were swinging balls in under his nose in the six yard box, and if they had done they might have had more success against him. Stekelenburg looks a very good, solid (and better IMO) all round keeper but FF has greater potential if he becomes more confident and commanding

He was a good signing for 8 million and is playing really well at the moment. Won everything in the air yesterday. But he's 31 next summer so I hope the club are looking and thinking about a succession plan, even if you are not

That first half display was abysmal. An absolute homer

Those Lallana stats are not from his final season with us. They're from his first season at Liverpool

Completely agree about Clasie. People are trying to make him out to be something he isn't in the hope he'll balance the team out. He's been a holding midfielder his whole career, not a number 10, and I fear we're going to have a midfield 3 of Clasie, Wanyama and Romeu when fit, which he will dress up as being 1 holding and 2 more box to box, but will actually in practice be 3 holding midfielders. If so there is a good chance we will become the dullest team in the league to watch, but a very solid one that will undoubtedly nick a few games 1 nil to see us finish mid-table.

Liverpool, Villa, Everton, WBA, West Ham, Spurs, United, Newcastle, S'land etc. They're all the same really. Ok to start, silent when behind, pretty loud when they're winning. You wouldn't expect them to be much different. We all live in the same country with the same footballing culture. Just because they sing with a northern accent doesn't make them any better. The only supporters you could say are different are Palace, and it's taken a very co-ordianted effort over a prolonged period of time to achieve it