Chewy

Simple answer right now is no. They are at risk of being relegated and have won nothing. We are at no risk of being relegated and have also won nothing. Added to which, if they reach the final and play arsenal, they will be in the Europa league whatever the result of the final and that is a poisoned challice. But ... Two trips to wembley and a potential cup win is rather tempting. On balance the answer is no for me, but I can understand why the question is asked and why some would rather the glory of the cup than league position. But the fa have made the league far more lucrative than the cup, and with that in mind I think the league is more important; right now we are safe and they're not so I'd far rather be where we are than where hull are.

Btw, can I be the first to predict hull will get relegated next season? Will get to the fa cup final so will be in Europe and won't be able to cope.

My preference for going up would be Leicester, forest and Leeds, but burnley look like they're going up and Leeds haven't got a hope. As for going down, based on style of football I'd say palace, stoke and west ham.

Disappointed and confused. There must be something wrong with our tactics if, week after week, we dominate possession and don't get the result. Too many long balls, lambert and j rod poor ... But what I really don't understand is what we did tactically with lallana and Ramirez. Lallana was superb in the number 10 role first half, so we moved him to left wing second. Why? And gaston was very effective for 5-10 mins after half time in the number 10 role than spent the rest of the game on the right wing, why? Lovren looked rusty, but playing against the best 2 strikers in the league was never going to be an easy return. Chambers looked class, shaw ok, but elsewhere we just weren't quite at it. But how did we lose 3-0? Simple answer is that we are not good enough in front of goal. For all his good play, lallana can't finish, and we need to improve on j rod and lambert if we really hope to move up the league.

People talking about wanyama, cork & schneiderlin, and gaston & Davis, point is they all have abilities and positives, but also negatives. I think it's just about choosing the right people for the right game, and mopo got it wrong today (though can understand gaston being sub after his injury). Cork is better for possession, but victor is for physicality. If you're playing against long ball merchants then losing the ball occasionally in midfield is less of an issue than being able to defend the high ball, so play victor. Similarly, Davis is better at pressing and ball retention, gaston will create more but will lose the ball more while trying to create. Against a team that use the ball well rather than just hoofing you'd chose Davis, but against a defensive side with no creativity, losing the ball is less of a concern so play gaston. As for lambert ... A legend, a talisman, but on his way out, sadly. He is still class (his pass against Fulham just 3 weeks ago!) but his legs appear to be gone. He either needs a special (Lesley king, Paul McGrath) training regime, or replacing ASAP.

Post 32 and only 2 people have agreed, those being alpine and Glasgow. That's not a third, and ones a wum and the other is a manic depressive. Face it, every normal fan recognises that he's done a great job and would miss him.

I am extremely disappointed, but amongst all this can't help thinking that the fa need to address the slump in the meaning of the cup. It's prestige mean us fans who grew up with cup final day being the biggest tv day of the year still think it's something magical. Truth is it gets you a Europa cup spot, the same as the league cup, and not a lot else. And with its tea time kick off on a weekend with league games, it's just another game on TV. I would love to see it allocated a champions league spot, and give all clubs a real reason to prioritise it again. That said, I'm still very disappointed at the selection and lack of passion yesterday. Our league position is sorted, and we have very little to play for, so to not give it our best shot is very poor IMO.

I am pretty level headed so won't say I'm fuming exactly, but otherwise I agree. We will finish 7th - 9th this season, so have very little to play for in the league. Our best bet of qualifying for Europe was the cup, plus the chance of glory, prestige, a trophy, and possibly two days out to wembley for the fans. With no game until next weekend what on earth was the point of resting players? I just don't get it. Ok, if they've got a knock, but guly ahead of Jrod? No Morgan? Bonkers. I am disappointed. I can accept losing, have had lots of practice over the years, but to diminish our chances before we've kicked off is pretty galling, especially when there's no obvious benefit. I

Many of his very best were in the dreadful pony kit, possibly my least favourite ever. And our best period in the league was not in stripes (though it was read and white ... With black shorts).

Would anyone here object to a return to the xerox kit? Not stripes, but red with white, and unique to us in the premier league. Ajax (kit made by Adidas btw) in reverse. With black shorts, of course.

Perhaps mopo, like us, is waiting to see what kls intentions are before deciding whether to stay. Judging by recent threads most of us think we need to spend @40 million on a keeper, centre back, attacking midfielder and centre forward, plus keep our existing players to make significant progress. If he sees signs of that happening in the summer he will stay, if he doesn't, however, maybe he won't. Either way, he won't be off to Madrid this summer, maybe in the future if he has further success, but his record is not yet at a level where he would be able to take over the biggest club in the world who expect to win both the league and champions league every season. IMHO of course.

On a wider level, I remember when I was younger thinking how strange these foreign clubs were for changing managers so frequently - italian clubs would change their head coach almost annually, and in Spain and Portugal it was worse; they would (shock, horror) change managers mid season too! I used to think it was nuts. Compared to today's premier league, however ... Just seems bonkers to me.

You really need to ask that question? Read this site as much as you must do, and see how many people haven't at some stage rated lambert, Ramirez, wanyama, cork, maya, Jrod, lallana, schneiderlin, Davis (Steven) ... There are a lot of clueless people on here. Carroll is a very good target man with certain skills for a certain way of playing, but is limited to just that. An effective weapon with the right, painful to watch tactics in place. He and Nolan fit and playing would have seen them safe, and this jeopardises their survival IMHO.

Very, very strange on the face of it. There have been whispers of discontent, and changing the back room staff today (while laudrop was away in Paris I believe ... For what reason?) made things look ominous, but I didn't see this coming, at least not now. Why not wait until the end of the season and / or you have a proper replacement lined up? Reading between the lines I guess Swansea felt laudrop wasn't likely to stay past this season, but it looks a bit like cutting their own nose off to me. They could very well regret this decision big time come May.

Done. Have some links to Coventry fans, and while I understand it's not black and white that SISU are 100 per cent to blame for the stadium fiasco, they are still a bunch of chancers unfit to run a football club. Similar sized city and football club to us, with not too dissimilar level of success over the years, it could so easily have been us. Hope your club gets back home soon, and good luck on making the play offs (bit of a long shot, I know).

Pretty much as has been said before, we need to keep what we've got most importantly. We then need a striker, an attacking midfielder, a centre back and a keeper. That would cost about 40 million plus wages. We will hopefully recoup about 15 million from osvaldo, so need a net spend of 25 million. If that happens, we can reach about 6th I'd guess, possibly higher. We've only been outplayed once this season as far as I can recall (home to Chelsea) so are good enough, but we don't have the depth or level of options to be close to the top 4. And I can't imagine united or spurs being so poor next season.

Still, jack cork came from there so if they want to continue preparing players for us, that's fine by me

I agree, he has to start. Actually think in a couple of years we may have decent side. Centre backs concern me, but with Clyne, shaw, walker, chambers, Gibbs, Henderson, wilshire, cork, oxlade, Morrison, Barkley, sterling, januzaj, lallana, Walcott, Sturridge, wellbeck, Jrod and Rooney there's enough talent available to forge a competitive team. Plus there will be players we don't even know about yet, and the possibles (depending on development) of Townsend, jwp, zaha, berahino ... I can't wait to get the World Cup out of the way and clear the deadwood. After Brazil, there should be no place for cole, gerrard, lampard, Barry or Milner.

I know what he's getting at and it's fair enough. He was poor in the first half ... But won them the game in the second.

Lol

Good half from palace, but if they lose one goal and have to attack I think they'll get stuffed. Puncheon having a mare so far, and oxlades been poor.

After that bore fest I'm looking forward to seeing arsenal in full flow putting an end to palaces mini revival.

I did indeed, and with the bottom of the league as it is I could still be right. Virtually impossible to call. I'd now say we're more likely to be 8th, but with our run in I haven't given up on 7th yet. The only prediction from our two combined worthy of one of your beloved face palms is united top 3. Most amusing.

It's pretty much impossible to call. Fulham look the most likely ATM but both palace and Sunderland have looked beyond hope at some stage this season. You could make a case for any of the bottom 11 but if I had to choose right now I'd say Fulham, west brom and Swansea.

It was 110persaint that said it. Remember now? My top 3 were citeh, Chelsea and arsenal. Some of us just have a knack for this sort of thing ...