benjii

I'm not sure the squad is stronger than last year (Mane or Redmond, Wanyama or Hojbjerg etc.?), it's just that we have a manager willing to rotate it a bit more. Having said that, if we had made the Europa group stages last season then perhaps Koeman would have also had to give Reed, McQueen etc some more minutes.

And Matip.

Forster, Cedric, Fonte, Van Dijk, Bertrand, Romeu and Austin all shoe-ins, obviously. Redmond will probably play after being rested so that leaves one space for one of Long, Boufal or Sims. I suspect Boufal might get the nod but you'd be pretty happy with any of those starting. It shows the options we have now that it's one from those three as well as Tadic being unavailable. Personally, I think I'd start Sims instead of Redmond but I expect Puel to show faith in Redmond. So then it's two from Davis, JWP, Hojbjerg and Classie. Very hard to choose. As JWP and Hojbjerg started on the bench I expect it will be those two but, again, what great options to have Davis and Clasie as well. Hopefully Clasie's goal spurs him on. Four clear days before the HBS match so that game shouldn't even be a consideration for Saturday's selection IMO.

I don't think we've played "atrociously" often at all. We were not atrocious against Hull; we played them off the pitch for 80 minutes. "Atrocious" is the sort of crap we dished up regularly back in the day, or last season at Bournemouth, for example. Sparta away was bad - probably the worst performance this season. On the whole I would say we are showing good progress. Our league position is likely to be lower this season simply because the league is generally of a much higher standard. If we can get the right result against HBS then it's a great season so far: mid-table league cup semi final through the Europa Group stages. Only a right weirdo would say that isn't good! If that comes to pass it will be better than I expected.

So, if someone had Kodi, what might be their best way of getting sports for free on it?

No, it would just seriously **** off Virgil I expect and mean that if Barca or Real are interested they are likely to offer a much smaller amount.

If I was him, I would want to leave at the end of the season. He is clearly one of the best defenders in the league and good enough to play for a club that regularly challenges for top honours. Whilst we do great, that isn't us, and isn't likely to be us. It will just be a case of whether a club he wants to join makes an enquiry, I imagine, and what his long-term plans are (ie. stay in England, go to another country etc.). I would hope that some of our "big clubs" aren't in the market for him. Man U will probably sign a CB in Jan and City have just signed Stones (although could arguably do with a fitter version of Kompany). I don't think Arsenal or Spurs would offer enough money for him. Liverpool - maybe (but are they good enough - time will tell this season?). Chelsea - maybe. There's no point in him joining any other Premier League team.

What's striking on watching the highlights back is the fact we had four people in the box and within 10 yards of the goal when Cedric crossed it for the winner. Sims had drifted in following his shot, Redmond was at the far post, Austin was in there (of course!) and Hojbjerg had made a forward run when Sims had the ball previously. That's what we tend to miss when we look impotent. Our midfielders aren't exactly prolific but teams can't afford to ignore them. Get more people in there and it opens space for Austin.

Shaw came off the bench against Milwall in the FA Cup and looked like a lost boy. He made his first start against Stevenage in the League Cup and looked like a lost boy. The game was, however, notable for Danny Butterfield at centre back, an excellent Jason Puncheon long-range strike and a hilarious Tadanari Lee goal from a wrongly given free-kick for a back-pass taken miles away from the "offence" by Chaplow whilst their keeper was out of the goal. Ben Reeves also scored. Adkins was the manager. Then, when Shaw got his Prem debut about three months later he suddenly looked solid and physically impressive.

Well, I guess Sims and McQueen can't exactly afford Ferraris so maybe he saw them leaving but Fonte, Van Dijk, Forster, Bertrand, Austin etc. aren't going to be driving Dacia Dusters around!

Exactly. Rotation is about managing cumulative fatigue. We don't need to rotate just because there is a Sun / Weds pair of matches. Out of the next three games, Palace should be the one where anyone is rested.

Yep, thought he was good.

I'm in Kingsland / Northam corner and it was fine.

I was saying what I would do. I would like us to win.

If everyone's fit I'd make two changes. Tadic for Redmond and Davis for JWP. Boufal on the bench instead of Rodriguez.

He's the player Redmond needs to aspire to be.

I actually agree with this. 7th or 8th in Puel's first season would be really good. 9th - 13th : not bad if we progress in Europe, decent cup run etc. Below that would be a bit disappointing unless we actually won a cup! We're trying to instill a different style of play and we've got loads of matches.

Just walk, it's all pretty close.

Probably because all our stuff looks utter ****e.

If I had to guess: "Facebook"; "reader comments under Mail Online article", or some such.

Well, Wilson repeats what the club feeds him so if the club wants to rewrite history he will too. I don't know when we knew Pelle was leaving but relying on only having Austin and Long as proper front men and an unreliable Rodriguez was always going to be a risk. I think we're doing OK this season but it's perfectly fair to question why we didn't boost the forward line a bit more. We are completely reliant on Austin for any sort of consistency in front of goal and it's not good to be completely reliant on one person.

You're so macho.

The clue is in the word "equity" (if that is what it is).

This is the wurst idea.

Grab 'em by the pussy, baby. Yeeeeehah!