glengarryleads

politics much? sheesh. you sure you're not already in America and voting for Donald Trump?

I think the doubters are looking at the trees and not the forest here; the optics of the situation would be very, very good for the club. 1) it reinforces the reality that not every move up is a successful move — a particularly useful wedge against future players thinking about “forcing” a move. Particularly if Morgan is around to tell them how **** it went for him. 2) if he comes back and plays well, it contributes to a “upstart picks ManU’s pockets” narrative that casual fans would hang onto and identify with SFC for a long, long time. There are a ton of plusses here: Puel would undoubtedly like to have francophone players around; despite his generally great play to open the season, Romeu still seems like a weak-ish link at a thin position. Absolutely would take him back in a second if he was eager to play here; think the wages could be asterisked off as just part of the 12m or so we “fleeced” MUFC for… having said that, i doubt it will happen; Everton it is...

Just to echo others -- was delighted by the Davis -> Reed switch even though PEH had been our most conspicuously poor player in the first half. Right tactics, right man management -- to trust Hojberg to get his head back on right in the changed role. Puel's attention to fitness levels is such a delightful change from Koeman; i agree that general freshness and energy was just as much a factor in the win as the fact that, well, we have the better squad. Big thumbs up for Bournemouth's season but the better team, and coach, won today. And -- Davis deserves a lot of praise for the second, but the return backheel from Sofiane made the goal. In general i think he deserves a lot of credit for tormenting them and keeping Bournemouth on the back foot for the middle third of the game. Great stint from Rodriguez -- thought he's been better than the awful goalmouth misses of the last couple weeks and he's earned his spot in the rotation, but the injury history for me means that we still need a new forward in the window.

Eh, he's done pretty well the first 6 minutes, eh? That chest pass to Tadic was something else. Oh and he won the pen. Good work!

I don't care that we've got the international break coming up, I still think Martina needs to be rested. major credit to him for how hard he's played in the congested run, and there have been good spells to be sure, but i don't think he's any more of a plus than putting Yoshida out there for a game, or Stephens or Valery -- who is probably not ready but what do i know. For what it's worth: Curacao have a friendly in the Netherlands over the break (against a soft eredivisie club side) so hopefully he'll have a restful break, compared with playing two matches on hellish CONCACAF pitches. all the same, I still hope he's on the bench for Hull. expect he's right back into the side when we come back and Cedric is still a doubt.

Gallagher looks useful.

good work lads, really thought this would have evolved into a spat about club priorities by now. CNON rules.

You know that some distances are far and some are not, right? Yes, a EU-based international has to travel to Moscow or worse maybe every other year, even those are nothing compared to what Yoshida and Martina have to cope with for every single international. I am in no way part of, or even sympathetic with, the slag-a-player brigade on here. I think Clasie has had fine performances... but when he's done poorly, it has often felt like a confidence / composure issues (reversion to sideways passes in good position, that penalty) or his small stature in 50/50s. i very much want him to get on track but i'm not confident about it happening here. I would love to play our 'strongest eleven' every match without repercussions but you're just crazy if you think there aren't going to be changes from the West Ham side.

I watched a decent chunk of Hapoel v Inter and was not tremendously impressed with them, even if it was an incredible result; terrible defending for one goal and a very well-taken free kick for the other... they created chances but seemed disorganized at the back and were lucky to keep a clean sheet. I tend to agree with the "Puel is keenly attuned to the players' energy levels" and I suspect we'll not be looking to beat them down the flanks. Personally I wouldn't mind Puel looking to slow the game and taking our chances from dead balls and corners won by Shane. We have exactly two players "used" to long-distance fixtures and I'm pretty sure we'll see both. purely with Leicester in mind, my preference would be: Forster Martina Yoshida VanDijk Bertrand Romeu Reed JWP Hesketh Davis Long bench: McCarthy Stephens Targett Hojberg Clasie Redmond Austin. Targett in at 60 unless we trail by a goal. I seriously doubt Clasie sits though. I have worries about his composure and the whole "intimidating away ground" angle. I would rather see him play at Leicester in place of Oriol. If we stick to the 4-4-2 i am hoping it will be with Long + Olomola behind Hesketh. Would be delighted to see Shane run himself into the ground here if it meant Austin and Redmond were fresh for Leicester.

Who made you dudge, dury and dexecutioner?

we're on a run of seven games in 21 days. two of which are arguably among the most important of the past decade. can you concede that the management know a bit more about the fitness of the players than you do? I'd much rather see Puel be proactive about these things and rotate players than to run a guy into the ground and see him turn in a lethargic 60 and/or cost the team a goal over the course of the next two weeks.

you know how squad rotation works, right?

are you pompey?

fantastic!

I wish *we* were in for Slimani. He's something special. Probably too old for the Saints' "way" but we made an exception for Pelle and that worked out well. I didn't see very many players in Europe last year that impressed me more.

I'm pretty sure ART's going for "single worst comment of the year" award here. So sad, like, Donald Trump-supporter sad.

One thing i feel hasn’t been said much is that just because we are training heavily and featuring the 4-4-2 diamond, does not mean we will play it exclusively from here on out; it seems wise that when a team implements a new formation it goes through a period of immersion / intense training. God knows that’s what Football Manager thinks — but it does make sense. Anyhow, It does seem to me like Puel may want a roster that can switch between our formation of last season and a diamond shape, depending on game needs. Then there’s the matter of weekly roster management needs, given our Europa league slate. If we have some personnel who don’t click in a 4-3-3, having a very distinct formation as an alternative seems like a good long-term plan, to rotate players and keep them fresh. My two cents. Sorry to drag FM into it.

aww, and i was so hoping you'd whipped up some bad Eurodisco/techno, done freeze-and-highlight spots and the like.

pretty sure it was club legend Maya Yoshida picking up the ninth-minute winner in the 1-0 over West Ham, .50 years ago today. even today, I can still remember the goal...

Just to be clear, we need an upset of one of the 17 teams above us. An upset of any of West Ham, Panathinaikos, Midtjylland, Sassuolo or Qarabağ do us no good.

Get real. The conversion rate is around 75-80 percent across pro leagues, depending on where exactly you draw the floor. (19 of 20, in case you need help with the math, is 95 percent.) SFC has just been incredibly blessed with two generational talents. If watching RL and MLT didn't prove to you that penalty-taking is a widely varying skill, one that should be rewarded with recognition, there's no hope for you.

the club should operate their own luxury yacht for players to share time upon. i know it's supremely silly, but truly its something other teams could not offer and could help build identity. also it would be boss as **** to send the team to matches in Amsterdam / Nantes etc overnight by sea. free press! anyhow, I am sure the Liebherrs have one they barely use. silly, yes, but it seems so obvious to me that I don't know why the club haven't done it. (feel free to mock me for wearing my Florida / caribbean person goggles. yes i know the weather's better here.)

Seeing as how Claude has just come to us from four years in Nice, I hope the club finds something to do more than the token moment of silence for the victims. OGC Nice seem like a class club and there’s a fair bit of kinship between us and them, even before Claude. Heart goes out to him, and everyone in Nice. Do yourself a favor and don’t watch the videos.

hot damn!

the -rg is silent?