trousers

Indeed. Nutshell etc. You and I are wasted on here. I know of a good rocket science forum we could sign up to though

Fair point. I'm just suggesting that having 3 mainstays in defence is probably better than having none at all. Neither is ideal of course but perhaps we don't live in an ideal world, as the song goes...

These kinda things are never as black and white as that. All humans are different and all sorts of factors come into play when deciding the best balance for the team as a whole. It may well be that VvD and Romeu have a metabolism that means their bodies don't need as much recovery time between games as other players. Or it may just be that Puel's rotation philosophy requires a stable defensive spine (i.e. Forster, VvD and Romeu) which others then rotate around. The thinking being that the overall rotation of the rest of the team is enough to absorb a few regulars into the mix. I'm no sports scientist so can't comment one way or the other on the perceived benefits of such a hybrid selection policy. For what its worth, my gut feel is that we've possibly over-baked the rotation philosophy at times but I think its a sound policy in principle.

Jamie Oliver closing some restaurants, citing Brexit as a catalyst: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/06/jamie-oliver-close-restaurants-brexit-jamies-italian-barbecoa Seems somewhat at odds with yesterday's report that the service sector is in good health? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38515971

Today's U23s line up possibly holds some clues to tomorrow's line-up... Good to see Seager back in the squad

Adam Blackmore tweeted about an hour ago to say the full interview would be published "later" today

Something to bear in mind is that, on average, we've had 24 hours less recovery time between games this season compared to last. I'm no expert (at anything... does it show?) but one assumes that the loss of that extra day can make a significant difference to each player's recovery cycle.

And ended up in hospital on day 4 due to over exerting his body. Great analogy though

I would venture that certain posters who post this mantra do so in the knowledge that it's BS but get a kick out of posting bait for the unsuspecting to bite upon...

Don't tempt me...

"owner" Timeless humour

Yeah, but at an average of 10 seconds a post that's at least 0.14% of my life frittered away on this pesky forum. Takes over ones life, so it does. Perhaps it would make my life easier if I started posting stock photos every time I visit a hotel. Think of all that time and effort I would save versus just posting my own photos

Flushing out the trolls is sadly a 24x7 business. It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.

I wonder if he's had lunch with any Chinese consortiums recently...? Or perhaps he's too busy with the day to day running of AC Milan...

Chomp chomp chomp

Did you not see this clip from one of the previous 'Matchday Uncovered' videos?

Audio recording of the Les Reed interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04ng8fn

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38523114

Fancy starting a sweepstake on how many will bear this in mind at 14 hundred hours on Saturday when the squad is announced? I'll take 17 (being the wildly optimistic chap that I am).

Does AR-10 work for the Echo now?

They probably couldn't have 'sacked' him as technically he was found to have done nothing wrong, but pushing him to the background (aka gardening leave) would have been an option that didn't flout employment law, one would have thought. That said, and as you say, probably a lot more we don't know about (if indeed there's any truth in rumours at all)

It's a tad bonkers, isn't it? He makes a few u23 appearances and then nothing. You'd have thought VvD's recent suspension would have been the perfect opportunity to reintroduce him to the first team squad. Bit of an odd one, that's for sure.

What's not quite adding up for me is that if Black is the problem then why didn't the club play their 'get out of jail free' card a couple of months ago when the 'cash for favours' story broke? Whilst it transpires there wasn't sufficient (any?) evidence to incriminate Black, surely the situation could have been exploited/engineered such that Black ended up on gardening leave indefinitely? As I say, if the disharmony stories are true and Black is a catalyst, something doesn't quite add up.

Thanks, but got any news that we don't already know or couldn't piece together from all the other posts ourselves? Cheers

Because he keeps getting bites?