stevegrant

I don't necessarily think that's a bad way of running a national team. Club teams are more prone to good and bad runs of form because they play more games, and it's that prolonged form that generally gets you recognised and picked for the national team. If you then continue to perform (or, at least, don't do anything to deserve being dropped) then you keep your place. That's why Chambers played ahead of Clyne last month and I expect the same to happen on Saturday. Baines is Hodgson's first choice at the moment, hasn't played particularly badly for England (and his club form has improved dramatically in the last 6 weeks), and Shaw was second choice in the summer. It's then a toss-up between Gibbs and Bertrand, and I guess you could make the case that Gibbs has been playing better over a longer period of time, as he was decent last season as well whereas Bertrand was pretty average on loan at Villa. All he has to do is maintain his current performance level and make himself impossible to ignore, although he's unfortunate that left-back is one of the few positions where we do have genuine strength in depth.

One of the few ties where the little team gets drawn at home to the big boys.

Genuinely no idea. A lot depends on squad fitness, we've been relatively lucky so far this season that it's only Ward-Prowse who's been in the team and then on the treatment table (I've not included Rodriguez there as we didn't have him to begin with in August), and he plays in the position where we undoubtedly have the most depth. I wouldn't be especially surprised if we levelled out a bit and finished 8th again, albeit almost certainly closer to the top 4 than we've ever been in the PL era. Continued progress in the Capital One Cup could be a factor as well - let's face it, we're not far off being safe from relegation already, so if we managed to get to the final, all eyes and minds would be focused on that, which would almost certainly result in a dip in league form. For whatever reason, it seems to affect almost every team who wins the League Cup (Man City last season being the exception). I would be very pleasantly surprised if we ended in the top 4, it seems completely unfathomable that Spurs, Liverpool, Man United, Everton and Arsenal will continue to make a complete pig's ear of things in the league over an entire season. I could see us finishing above Everton, especially if they continue to pick their strongest XI in the Europa League and progress. Spurs have a stronger squad with which to cope with it, although Poch is doing a fine job of messing it up at the moment.

Absolutely agree. While we've maintained a lot of the good traits of that system, I think we use our energy more intelligently under Koeman. If an opponent wants to pass the ball among their back 4 and goalkeeper when they're 1-0 down, they're welcome to do so as they're absolutely no threat to us 80 yards from our goal.

Much like it's ridiculous to want a player in the squad on the strength of one or two good performances, it's also ridiculous to want a player dropped on the strength of one bad performance. Arsenal's back 4 is in a similar situation to Liverpool's in that it gets absolutely no protection from the midfield in front of them. Based on the last couple of qualifiers, the right-back slot is probably Chambers' to lose at the moment, and Hodgson almost certainly won't take his performance at Swansea in isolation when making that decision. Clyne should be in there on merit, and I'm sure he will get his chance, but it'll probably be at Celtic Park next week rather than Wembley on Saturday.

This international break will be Lambert's swansong, I suspect. He'll get some game time at Celtic Park, and that'll be that. I'd imagine Chambers will probably play against Slovenia on Saturday, rightly or wrongly, but Clyne will play in Glasgow. It's a huge squad for two games, which suggests that there will be significant changes between the qualifier and the friendly.

Sickening

Bloody glory hunters

I don't think any of Pelle's 4 bookings this season have been for fouls, which will make it all the more frustrating if/when he eventually gets another one and has to miss the next game.

The lower tier holds 3000, and can't be segregated, so we should get at least that. In theory, they're supposed to offer us the upper tier for cup games as well, which would take it to 5000, but that's probably unrealistic given the time of year and location.

Not yet, but Sheffield United play midweek games on Tuesdays where possible, and even if they were being dictated to by the Football League in order to keep an even balance for Tuesday and Wednesday, the Spurs game will be on Wednesday as they play on the preceding Sunday. I've booked my train and hotel for the Tuesday already.

Judging by their fixture list this season, they play their home midweek games on a Tuesday where possible. They had to switch to Wednesday for the first round of this competition because Sheffield Wednesday were also at home, and despite their name they also tend to play on Tuesdays these days. As the higher-ranked club, I think they get priority.

TV games have been confirmed, Derby v Chelsea on the Tuesday and Bournemouth v Liverpool on the Wednesday. Pretty much nailed on that our game will be Tuesday with Spurs v Newcastle on Wednesday, as Spurs play on the preceding Sunday.

TV games confirmed, days and games as predicted

Our game is almost certain to be on the Tuesday, along with Derby v Chelsea. On the preceding Sunday, it's Man United v Liverpool and Swansea v Spurs, so both Liverpool and Spurs will probably be given the extra day. All the other 6 teams in the quarter-finals play on the Saturday. Tuesday 16th: Derby v Chelsea (TV) Sheffield United v Saints Wednesday 17th: Bournemouth v Liverpool (TV) Tottenham v Newcastle

The lower tier holds 3000, which I would imagine would be about right. First dibs to those with 3 or more aways (all competitions), but realistically anyone who wants a ticket will get one.

It's that age-old problem for a team making changes to give fringe players an opportunity to prove themselves capable of playing more regularly but each of them failing miserably. Both Bojan and Arnautovic have been terrible so far. Diouf looks a handful, wouldn't be surprised to see Crouch on straight away to give him a bit of support.

I can't believe there are people who genuinely want us to flog Rodriguez.

So many things with that article. Firstly, Levy won't pay us the going rate (see his pathetic Schneiderlin offers for evidence) so it's probably a non-starter anyway. Secondly, given the current climate, can anyone say with a degree of certainty that Pochettino will even still be in charge at Spurs come the January transfer window? Thirdly, as already mentioned, it would be a huge risk to spend big money on a player who may yet still not make a full recovery from a serious injury. Spurs aren't in a position to take that kind of risk at the moment, with every spare penny being directed towards the new stadium project.

What have you been smoking?

Sometimes the manager has to adapt his philosophy to fit the squad of players at his disposal, rather than attempt to shoehorn them into a system that doesn't suit the players' best attributes. He's only had experience of players who are willing to learn and are eager to improve themselves and to make it as top players. With Spurs, he's gone into a club where the majority of the first team squad think they've already made it and have nothing new to learn.

A good journalist would fact-check from someone other than a very obviously biased source. Blackmore's main gripe over the summer was that all of his sources were no longer connected to the club so he was losing his exclusives, it's why he's been banging the Jack Cork drum louder than anybody else.

Because the Stoke cup game hasn't been played yet, it won't count towards your aways for this season.

Chelsea to drop 5+ points in three games that include a home game against QPR?

Neither of our previous league trips to Arsenal have seen us take an "initial" allocation, it's just been "right, we've got 3,000, here's how we're selling them". A very strange decision to go with an initial allocation first considering the price.