Whitey Grandad

I don't think it's a question of Yoshi not being good enough, although that can be debated separately, more that he wasn't playing in a familiar and well-drilled formation which meant that he wasn't making his movement and passing instinctively and this led directly to Mata getting between into the gap between him and the central defenders for their first and him playing the ball back into space.

Nothing beats a settled team, especially a settled defence.

That's like saying 'Apart from that Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?'

Did I miss Fellaini? Perhaps he's had a haircut or something. Whichever, his choice didn't work out too well yesterday.

His performance at Watford had nothing to do with his performance yesterday.

I think that's going too far, our defence was dreaming at the time. Mata was ambling back towards the midldle of the pitch and so were our defenders. If Mata had been one step further on he would still have been picked out and the result would have been the same. The problem was that our back four were not used to playing together in that formation and there were a lot of misunderstandings.

Likewise. I was thinking of going but then I had a word with myself and wiser counsel prevailed.

He wasn't knocked, he slipped whilst trying to turn because he was off balance having been caught in the wrong position.

A couple more thoughts on yesterday: I thought our game perked up a lot when Long came on and his first time pass out to our right wing set up our second goal. The papers today are full of Martial, even calling him a '£36million bargain', perhaps ironically, yet Graziano also scored two goals without the benefit of a gift. I wouldn't make too much of the lack of an offside decision. It was close and the sort of thing that only gets picked up on the tele and during the game nobody even noticed it, none of our players appealed at the time. What was more significant was our slowness in getting back upfield which would have made Mata's position more obvious. He was ambling back in a great big gap between Maya and José and one of them at least should have been more aware of him. He was obviously going to be a target as soon as we lost the ball again (yes JWP, this means you).

Exactly. At the moment it seems that we don't have a first-choice right-back, someone whose name is one of the first on the team sheet.

What annoys me the most is that this game was there for the taking and we just didn't seem to want it.

I thought so too. There were a couple of occasions when I forgot Tadic was playing.

There were a few occasions in the first half when Maya chose to turn and pass backwards instead of going forwards. It caught up with him eventually.

Thanks. About what time? I was at the game and have just got home and am going through the recording.

When was this? I can't remember anything obvious.

He was playing for Man Utd. There were several fouls today that should have been yellowed and that might have given us a few more opportunities later in the game. We lost because we backed off them in fear after the first 30 minutes and tried to fall back to ten yards outside the penalty area. That and another serious case of passbackitus blindus. The supposed offside was marginal enough for most to miss it. It worked in our favour when Pellè scored against Norwich.

Why would anybody need to leak this information? Any contract discussions would normally be kept private. I suspect ulterior motives.

Now you're being silly.

I meant to imply nothing of the sort and I'm surprised that you should have taken it that way. 'Everything that has happened since'? It would take an extreme leap of belief to lay the blame/credit for the creation of the state of Israel at the doors of the Conservative Party.

Not all clubs pay for insurance. The premiums are so high that they bear the risk themselves. I don't know if that's the case in this instance.

The 12th is s an estimate.

Different calendar of course. There wasn't a July or August when Julius was born.

I haven't used any of these words. Are you really, seriously, blaming the Conservative Party for the state of politics today in Israel/Palestine? I don't think you'll find one person on either side who would even think of that.

I would. They are much better able to cope than a window cleaner.

You are letting your prejudices run away with your arguments. The rise of Zionism and anti-Jewish Arab feelings pre-date the First World War and any British influence was very minor. The rise of the Nazi party was a far greater factor in causing the surge in Jewish emigration to Palestine than any letter from a Conservative Foreign Secretary operating in a coalition government with a Liberal Prime Minister.