egg

Different opinions etc.

It's not conjecture though. Mayuka is a striker and Yoshida was having a mare. He needed a minder, not Mayuka.

Er, my post was in reply to one that started with a moan about taking off our best players! I said that they weren't our best players You said you didn't agree with me.

Mayuka drifts into the inside right position. How would that have offered protection to Yoshida? I have no doubt that we would be screaming at NA for tactical suicide ir he put Mayuka out there today. Damned if you do or don't! Chappers has played many, many times for us out wide in a Marsden esque role.

Yep, he's a forward. We needed a right sided midfielder with the discipline to hold his position. Yoshida, on a yellow, with Riise and another running at him = goals and/or a red card.

You said that you couldn't agree with a post in which I took issue with someone saying that we took off our best players.

Mayuka on the right would have been a square peg in a round hole and left Yoshida horribly exposed. He needed protection more than we needed ab attacking outlet down that side. The tactic of shoring up that side was a given imo.

So you think that Punch and Ricky were our best players? I agree that AL left Fox exposed but at the time Punch went off he thought he was marginally worse than AL. On the last point, the subs didn't lead to us going 2-1 down. Chappers tightened up the right and Guly helped us in the middle and up front leading to us getting back into the game.

I agree about lallana. The goals today were partly attributable to lallana. He isn't a natural winger so tends to drift infield. I thought he was marginally better than punch today (up to the point he went off). The problem is who would you have replaced him with?

The voice of reason

So players only contribute if they score? How about being available to receive the ball? Keeping the ball? Running at defenders, earning free kicks, adding energy and something different? Would you be moaning about RL going off if Gulys 20 yarder snuck in the corner?

But Punch and Ricky weren't our best players. Morgan, Fonte, Gazza, Davis were. He took off two underperforming players, one of who was tiring. He bought on two players who helped the team more than the players they replaced and ultimately those players helped salvage a point.

Mayuka and Yoshida as our right side? Not for me. JR wasn't great but had more energy than RL so stayed on by default really. We needed height and power on the pitch for set pieces at both ends so Guly was an obvious choice over Mayuka for whichever of the strikers came off.

This is down to the discipline of players, and a lack of on pitch leadership. Guly had a link role so that didn't affect the general shape. Chappers was a like for like positional change. AL isn't a leader or organizer and it doesn't help that for all his qualities, he gets into awful positions.

Guly was more involved than RL had been in the 2nd half and solidified the middle whilst offering something going forward. People moaning about RL going off are judging him on his goalscoring ability rather than his 2nd half performance. The team benefited from Guly being on the pitch. I can't believe anyone honestly believes that Puncheon should have stayed on. He left Yoshida exposed and offered no threat going forward. Chappers tightened up the right side. Does anyone really feel that Chappers for Punch hindered the team? Was RL really more effective 2nd half than Guly was? None of the moaners have said what subs they feel should have been made. I'm as frustrated as anyone that we didn't win but I don't think that was down to NA.

Absolutely. Obvious change. Mayuka was the only other choice but we needed someone to track Riise, and support the middle. Chaplow was the only option.

Disagree. Chaplow for Punch was the right move at the right time. JR was much more involved so had to stay on, and Guly was very effective in influencing the comeback. What changes should have been made instead?

What does that prove? Injuries can happen after interviews.

I wouldn't start him. If Ramirez is out I'd like to see RL played a little deeper and JR up top. Like you I would like to see him used as an impact sub.

Absolutely. This point also extends to the victims who didn't speak out at the time. How anyone can try to defend this bloke is beyond me. It's true that he can't defend himself, but there's no reason why anyone should want to do it for him.

Thinking about this, there may be an angle but I'm no accountant so could be way off beam. If our tv money goes in this years income pot but we somehow defer payments of transfer fees into the following year then we could, on paper, make a profit. If we have a loan could that reduce the profit and thus our tax liability. Interest on a loan is at a lesser rate than tax.

Possible. Anyhow, stay up and all should be cool. This has made an interesting season even more interesting .

Possibly. Maybe that the tv money alone gave insufficient security for the amount borrowed.

That's one interpretation. But, why the need to borrow? Why give security over more than the tv revenue?

I echo that. The added concern is the additional security floating over all assets. It suggests tv revenue may be insufficient.