sydney_saint

Every season when the clocks start changing it means that most matches are on at the wee hours. Most years I get frustrated at this, as do my workplace who have caught on when my sick days are taken. This season it will be an absolute relief to have the perfect excuse to avoid watching this **** and go to bed instead Sent from my CPH1835 using Tapatalk

No good will come out of sitting back and letting Hazard et al run at us. Remember the days when we pressed high up the pitch with intelligent and tactical movement. Thought at the time why dont more clubs do it. Probably because they were all managed by Hughes at some point Sent from my CPH1835 using Tapatalk

One of the difficulties in determining which are the best sides that should go to the world cup, particularly relevant for Asia, is that you can be successful on the back of having strong home form, but that doesn't mean you are the best equipped side to travel the world cup. The Saudi side, who everyone knew were a bit ****, had a strong home record and to be honest it is a genuinely difficult place to travel to. Often involving particularly long flights for the away side and most of the Saudi team plays within their own country, so they are incredibly used to their own conditions and it is an intimidating place for an away side. Their own away form was more of a true reflection on them, they lost away to the bloody UAE in the group stage so it was inevitable they would travel poorly. They just have no experience of playing in front of intimidating away crowds and all the players have one way of playing, so can not adapt to different styles as shown last night. Asia would be far stronger if it was set up similar to Africa where only the top team in a group of 4 qualifies, which would force a stronger away record. Though they bottled it for this tournament with a poor campaign, a side like Uzbekistan (yes really!) would have been far more equipped to go to a World Cup. Hopefully Korea and Japan showcase that Asia is worthy of a few places at the World Cup, because there is certainly decent talent

I think many here have strongly tinted glasses about the standard of league 1 and the championship. The A-League in its early years was a poorer quality, a characteristic that many still associate it with. However if you look at the Australia side that just drew to Germany (a very young side who are still very inconsistent but clearly talented) most of them came through the A-League. In fact there are many who came through the league playing the game at a decent level across Europe such as Jedinak, Kruse, Ryan (who we really should be bringing as our goalkeeper), Langerak, Oar and a handful of others. Now these players may not be quite at the level we require, however you must also remember the A-League is only a decade old and so it takes time to be producing both quality and quantity. Given that we managed to produce a number of good quality of footballers without a strong domestic league structure, surely now we have one it is worth watching and keeping an eye on. Football in Australia has rapidly grown, particularly since the success of our World Cup 2006 campaign, and we are no longer losing athletes to the other 'footballing' codes like we have done previously. With Australia's true golden generation beginning to emerge, it would be foolish not to be taking the A-league seriously.

My worry about tadic is that he's not giving the ball away when orchestrating an attack with a particularly challenging pass, but more the basic passes and crosses.

The issue with FF is that he hasn't actually won us any points yet. It wasn't his fault against arsenal for the late goal, but despite his performance we ended with nothing. We need him to pull off the great saves when we really need them.

Well there goes about half of Lampard's goals using that criteria

That kit....mmmmmm delicious.

I think they would, yes of course. I'm more against the idea of the constant framing of the argument that footballers need to set themselves up for life in a short period of time, as though the idea of any other career can not be contemplated and they will be left homeless and penniless. Because they do not 'need' to, and trying to screw as many people over while they try to do this should not be so easily tolerated.

This is the bit I disagree with. What gives a footballer the right to retire in their mid 30s, when most of us, who are doing jobs far more productive to society, well into their 70s? They can re-train, take up a youth coaching job, punditry, media work. There is an endless list of things to do after they retire, and many of those jobs still within football. So to use this as an excuse for players moving I find wildly inaccurate. Even then, earning 50k a week should be more than enough to set yourself up for life. And for what it's worth, for the elite such as Messi, Ronaldo etc. I don't disagree that they have earned the right to retire at such a young age. What i think is most interesting is that for first time in football history, there will be a generation of mediocre footballers retiring as millionaires who, objectively, achieved very little in the game. Players such as Keiran Richardson. Yes there have been mediocre footballer retiring at young ages for decades, but never with this level of wealth at their disposal. My prediction is that there will be a serious rise in mental health problems for retired footballers who, despite having wads of cash, will be looking at the meaningless of their achievements and realising they still have another 50 years on this planet. At least with the rest of us when we realise how little we have achieved post retirement, we only have a few years till we are dead.

I'm one of the big defenders of refs on here....but christ on a bike this is terrible

As a lifetime fan, for the first time in my life after the defeat today I feel....nothing.... Not anger, or upset or that it was a missed opportunity. Yes like everyone else I felt pride during the game watching the players exceed expectations, push Liverpool close and ultimately we deserved the three points. But after the game that quickly evaporated, much to the point that I am now here typing, perplexed at the lack of emotion. The dog, which would normally be cowering, has ventured out and looks as confused as me. I feel this is very much linked to the feeling I've had all pre season that many others have commented on, which is the 'what's the point' feeling. Even if we had won today, we would still end up mid table. If Liverpool had dropped points, they would still be near the top come the end of the season. The game today, no matter the result, is just a footnote in the predictable story that is the premier league and hence why I no longer really care. But football has been one of the biggest, or at least most consistent, thing in my life. And I very much want to regain that emotional aspect, however I don't think I can while the game is built on its current foundations. Some form or radical change is needed for this. I don't know how many others feel this, but from those that I have spoken, particularly fans from other similar sized clubs who don't believe the ridiculous hype, we want the game to change. I understand many of the reasons why we go to games, many relating to identity, belonging and sense of place, and while I have been priced out (the cups will probably be my only games this season) most of us still continue to go to games. Despite this, it is important that eventually the fans organise themselves to change the game we used to love. However we still turn up every other week. So my question is, what would it take for you to stop going to St Marys? Where is that tipping point? Is it simply a financial one, or is there an emotional one as well?

As a lifetime fan, for the first time in my life after the defeat today I feel....nothing.... Not anger, or upset or that it was a missed opportunity. Yes like everyone else I felt pride during the game watching the players exceed expectations, push Liverpool close and ultimately we deserved the three points. But after the game that quickly evaporated, much to the point that I am now here typing, perplexed at the lack of emotion. The dog, which would normally be cowering, has ventured out and looks as confused as me. I feel this is very much linked to the feeling I've had all pre season that many others have commented on, which is the 'what's the point' feeling. Even if we had won today, we would still end up mid table. If Liverpool had dropped points, they would still be near the top come the end of the season. The game today, no matter the result, is just a footnote in the predictable story that is the premier league and hence why I no longer really care. But football has been one of the biggest, or at least most consistent, thing in my life. And I very much want to regain that emotional aspect, however I don't think I can while the game is built on its current foundations. Some form or radical change is needed for this. I don't know how many others feel this, but from those that I have spoken, particularly fans from other similar sized clubs who don't believe the ridiculous hype, we want the game to change. I understand many of the reasons why we go to games, many relating to identity, belonging and sense of place, and while I have been priced out (the cups will probably be my only games this season) most of us still continue to go to games. Despite this, it is important that eventually the fans organise themselves to change the game we used to love. However we still turn up every other week. So my question is, what would it take for you to stop going to St Marys? Where is that tipping point? Is it simply a financial one, or is there an emotional one as well?

Wondering whether we'll go for Ben Davies to replace Shaw. Apparently his deal to Spurs has fallen through with the inevitability of an elephant on a trampoline as Levy refused to budge on an extra 500k.

Without wishing to turn this into a left/right debate, but the NFL is based on a more socialist model (even if the Yanks would be loathe to admit it) and it seems to do them just fine. It's just a big pot of money that they split between all the commie teams. Six different winners in six different years seems pretty fair to me. The top teams still dominate, but the smaller teams have got a chance of chasing the dream, albeit without the fear of relegation which is where the EPL spectacle really is.

It feels like that critical climax* when you finally uncover that your spouse is cheating on you. You've heard the rumours, the sudden late nights, the failing sex drive, the photos on facebook with her clubbing with a handsome man, the scores of friends telling you she is having an affair. Slowly these rumours mount up and you start to suspect that maybe is not all well with them and they will soon be moving on. And this is upsetting, tearing you apart and thinking the worse. However, it is not till the moment that they are actually gone to their new partner that you realise that in fact, you didn't care quite as much as you initially thought, and it doesn't quite hurt as much. I was fearing the worse when the rumours about Lallana started spreading just before the world cup, thinking that they would be the last straw for me and football. But in truth, he hasn't felt like our player for over a month now, and, as I've just discovered today, I don't really care. He's the past now, and someone else equally great will take his place, whether that be this transfer window or in 2 years time. *of the worst kind

I understand what you mean. But many, what I can only call 'tier 2' clubs in the European football hierarchy that can not afford/attract the glittery managerial name would be after a name like that. A manager which they will feel can be their 'Klopp' or their 'Simeone', that can push them even temporary into the elite. Clubs a similar size to Shalke, Valencia, Roma (not suggesting for a second that any of those clubs are looking for a new manager). Added to the fact that he is out of contract he is quite an attractive manager, and has a reputation as a tactical genius. Although one could argue that we could also break into the elite similar to Athletico or Dortmund, there would need to be assurances from our board that that is the ambition. So Tuchel in himself is probably not beyond our level, I could feasibly see much bigger clubs interested in taking a punt imho, and therefore would be an incredible signing

Exactly, especially when there are decent managers currently available. Tuchel would seem to be a manager very much in our mould, although would be an incredible signing and probably out of our league. However I don't quite see why Spurs still want MP. I understand they have a decent crop of youngsters, but if they wanted a manager to integrate the youth into their set up, wouldn't the logical thing to keep Sherwood on seeing as he was familiar with their youth set up and still delivering results? Most of the names they have been linked with (Van Gal, Rafa, heck even Ancelotti recently) are all known for their short termism and MP really breaks that mould so it isn't really clear what will be expected of the new manager.

Not looking good. There is a spurs itk (genuine one 100% record apparently) who has pretty much said on spurs community that this deal is done. The poster is Jjetset, it's in the spurs daily transfers thread. Although in our favour he hasn't expressly said he will be spurs manager, but was asked how he would feel if MP became spurs manager and he said the meeting definitely took place and after he hinted that he could be a great manager for them...

I hate to go all MLG on MLG, but a quick glance at the world cup squads would show that Club America and Spurs both have 7....I know this still means that there are 17 more, but shows that it's hardly accurate.

None, but they are the bestest none ever selected

Dembele, Lloris, Vertonghen, Paulinho, Chadli, Bentaleb, Assou-Ekotto?

Ricky Lambert?

From when I refereed, when it came to things like 'how much content' I also worked it out by whether the defender gained an unfair advantage by the challenge. Think of it like scales, you need to balance out when someone gains an unfair advantage. In the case of the penalty, did Fonte gain an advantage by sticking out his leg? The striker was already past and through on goal, and the contact was not enough to bring him down. So it was the wrong decision, as City gained an advantage (a penalty) when we had not tipped the scales in our advantage through the challenge