S-Clarke

Disgusting effort from us, they should all go and look at themselves in the mirror after this.

This 2nd half has been a disgrace to be honest. Feel for all those who went out there. Never looked like scoring.

What an absolute load of **** this is. This is on par with Midjiland away last year.

I thought Jansen was an odd striker signing for them, they should have gone for someone small and nippy as an alternative to Kane. They don't have a great record of signing strikers really. They really do miss Toby at the back, i think most teams would to be honest. It seems as if signing Wanyama has totally nullified them in an attacking sense, did they really need him? They played with Dembele as the deepest midfielder last year, but now they're playing Dembele and Wanyama in most games....so they seem to play a lot more cautiously in the middle.

Yeah I can totally understand the resting thing, but to not even travel? If you're resting them you at least have them in the squad...just in case VVD, Stephens and Yoshida fall ill. There's something a little odd about the fact that he simply hasn't traveled or is even an option to play in any of the European matches. weird.

From how I understand it, it basically stops someone coming in and creating a Man City or a Chelsea overnight through mega investment. But the clubs who were already up there, will stay up there, and the clubs who aspire to be up there will get left behind as they won't be allowed to compete. I don't think there's anything fair about it personally.

Dortmund, Atleti and to an even greater extent the Portuguese clubs do it (notably Porto). In recent years they've turned over the likes of Falcao, Mangala, Fernando, Pepe, Jackson Martinez, James Rodriguez, Hulk. **** loads of talent has gone through there, more than most European clubs. Next on the line for them will be the likes of Barhami, Oliver, Neves (who is a top, top midfielder). They turn it around pretty well, they have some close links with South American clubs and they bring over some awesome talent at times. It's part of the game really, the transfer merry-go-round. As other's have pointed out, if clubs didn't want our players then we're doing something wrong. The fact clubs keep coming back to us for our players is because we recruit well, we know what we're doing and we know how to execute it. Our scouting and recruitment is the envy of most. And that's why none of what we do is down to luck or is what i'd call a gamble. It's good planning and a sustainable model for clubs below the elite to operate on.

It's not even worth discussing the McQueen articles in any of the papers, they're fake. He is contracted until 2018.

Well that article is flawed from the moment they talk about him being a free agent. His deal expires in 2018.

arrrrgh, stop engaging with him. You're giving him what he wants.

Forgot all about him!

Get it right, he was non-league standard.....!

Sorry, i over loaded on the fairs there, to be honest.

Don't see the point to be honest. Grateful with what he gave us for the last 2 years, some great days, some frustrating days, but mainly some of our best days in the PL. He was very much a case of right man, right time. Exactly who we needed to steady the ship when all was seemingly sinking around us. Everton will be a struggle for him, expectations are higher, more money to spend etc etc. I don't think Everton fans are even that keen on him, as their ambitions are totally skewed - seeing as they thought they could get Pep or Jose in the summer. So if that's the way Everton fans are thinking, he's not got a chance of success there.

His most frustrating game was at home to Inter, he gave the ball away constantly. You could tell he was even getting ****ed off with himself. I think he struggles a bit physically at the moment, but that's not because he's a 'small' player - get him beefed up a bit and he'll be the next one in demand. He's destined for big things in the future, but we're seemingly the best place to nurture his talent.

Sparta are seemingly a totally different animal to the one we faced at SMS. New manager, their bigger players back in the side and they have real momentum. This will be tough.

Think we're close to a fully fit squad now aren't we? Only Targett seems to be dragging, the rest are all back or will be back within the next week. If you count Gardos as well, he's not injured now and is just building fitness.

To be fair, we're facing them at a very good time to be honest.

Interesting article, cheers SS. I wonder how much more Lille we trying to grab...?

At least he didn't specifically say he needed to leave to achieve his ambitions. I wonder which former manager said that about one of his current players? Oh, yeah. If we keep unearthing these players who turn out to be in such demand by ''bigger teams'', then we'll still be doing pretty well. Same was said about Lovren, Toby, etc etc. People will sure fly out the ''it's just luck'' line, but i think it's pretty clear that it's nothing to do with luck and it's all to do with excellent scouting and recruitment.

Let's play a weakened team in Europe so we can concentrate on finishing high in the league and qualifying for Europe next year. That's pretty much the logic.

If he stops 'tinkering' then every player will be knackered, and that will be another thing for a few to moan about.

It was a point many of us would have taken before the game, defensively we were superb - great return from the two full backs who were on the money most of the game. Fonte and Virgil both gave a masterclass in reading of the game and positional play. Our midfield didn't get into the game and lost two many 2nd balls in the middle. Romeu couldn't do it all on his own. That meant that we never really got out and into attacking situations, Austin was horribly isolated and struggled to make any telling impact. From an attacking point of view, it was a trash watch, but defensively superb - a proper backs to the wall display. This Liverpool side will score loads this season and I think Matip has also improved them defensively, so they're a decent shout for doing something.

Jay is a player who thrives on confidence, you can tell he's unsure as he seems to want to take an extra touch etc. I remember when he first joined us and it took him until the Spurs home game to notch his first goal, he grew from that and gained confidence. He's a streaky player, can go on runs of 6 games with a goal and then back that up with 6 without.

Why the hell do people keep quoting him for god sake. Some people have him on ignore because it's obvious he is on a total wind up.