benjii

How on earth can anyone not think Mane was man of the match? Yes, Big Vic bullied some Chelsea reserves but Mane was on a different level to the rest of the players.

Nice to be back at SMS and up against a very accommodating opponent. My ratings: Stek - 7 - only called upon once but made a good save. Excellent kicking. Potentially at least as good as Forster IMO Soares - 7 - some excellent forward runs. Don't know if he can defend but if he can he will be excellent. Yoshida - 6 - poor ball out led to their only chance in the second half but other than that, solid. Fonte - 6 - as per Yoshida but his poor ball in the first half didn't lead to anything. Targett - 6 - very solid and got clobbered a couple of times. Ref didn't seem to like him much! Wanyama - 8 - dominant. Won loads of duels. Typical display. Classie - 5 - pretty poor in possession to be honest but he has been through a whirlwind week or so and could probably do with a bit of time to acclimitise without too much pressure. If it's a minor injury it could be a blessing in disguise. Davis - 6 - lots of good endeavour and did a job in a number of roles. Tadic - 7 - looks sharper and fitter. Good game. Mane - 9 - too good for them but, probably, too good for us. A £30million player. Pelle - 4 - absolutely awful for 90 minutes of the match but stuck it away when it counted. Long - 7 - such a nuisance to play against. Effective. Juanmi - 7 - looks technically very good and great composure to set Long up. Looks an absolute bargain. Reed n/a - not on long enough.

Isaiah Brown is a good player. Could be a handful. That said, we should make sure they don't get in too many decent offensive positions.

"It's" Dumbass.

DickCochius I know I shouldn't but....

No, I think they feel they are well stocked in midfield or they would have pursued Schneiderlin more vigorously. I agree that both Benzema and Lewandowski would do very well in the Premier League. The top of the league should be a lot more interesting this coming year any way.

Agreed. Dividends were never intended to be subsitutes for salaries/payments for work performed and there are lots of wholly unimpressive contractors throughout the land taking home far more than their talent commands through use of "service company" tax avoidance structures.

She's tainted by the whiff of Balls though.

No doubt that statistically a clean sheet is worth more than a goal. But I am starting from the assumption that we will score a lot of goals, not that everything is equal and we will score and concede an average number of goals. Teams that score 60 goals rarely finish lower than 6th. On the assumption that we will score 60 goals the value of a clean sheet is reduced. Score once in a match and a clean sheet is important. Score twice and not conceding more than once is important. If we score the number of goals I have posited I reckon we'll finish fifth or sixth, unless we have a complete calamity at the back.

Did you pay the £1 booking fee mate? DISGRACE! This wasn't charged when we were in the 1969/70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. They're having you for a MUG! I bet they plan to charge any prestigious and lucrative European home matches as Category A - just you watch - and this didn't happen last year. Scandalous.

I was in Portsmouth today. Historic dockyards and then Gunwharf briefly. I saw as many Chelsea shirts (one) as Skate shirts.

Chelsea Arsenal Man U Man City Saints Liverpool Everton Spurs Swansea Crystal Palace West Brom Stoke Newcastle West Ham Leicester Sunderland Norwich Villa Watford Bournemouth

Me too. I tweeted them to check if there are still some which haven't been sent yet but I haven't heard back yet.

Not based on Groningen match at all. Based on realistic goal-scoring aspirations. Who do you think I have set too high a target for? I think only Jay Rod, maybe, given there is still some fitness uncertainty. If Mane or Pelle got less than 12 goals that would be hugely disappointing. In fact, Mane should be aiming for at least 15. If Long, Tadic and Juanmi don't get five each that would also be pretty poor. It depends largely how Ronald sets us up but I reckon he will be pretty ****ed off at the lack of goals from Davis and JWP last season and we could well see four of those top six offensive players I listed in a lot of matches.

Mane, Pelle, Jay Rod Should each get at least 12 goals. 36+ Long, Tadic, Juanmi Should each get at least 5 goals. 15+ JWP, Davis, Wanyama, Classie Should get at least 4 between them! 4+ Soares, Bertrand, Targett, Martina Should get at least 2 between them. 2+ Fonte, Yoshida, New centre back, Gardos Should get at least 3 between them. 3+ That's 60 goals. If we manage that then it would need a very poor season defensively for us to drop down the league. Based on the amount of flair and depth we have upfront, I reckon we are going to finish 5th or 6th next season. You heard it here.

Yes, the system should be geared towards people who want to do what they want whenever they want. That shouldn't be too hard. Fecking joke.

I'm hearing this is likely to be wrapped up soon.

Ouch!!!

How many defensive midfielders do you want? Lose your third mystery man and stick Juanmi or Tadic in there!

Away from home, I would one to see this given a go: Mane------------Juanmi-------------Tadic --------------------Jay Rod-------------------- Or Long for Tadic, if he's not in form. If Clasie signs then our offensive passing from central midfield should improve. That front four could be lethal.

Yes, clearly. Bad touches, sluggish, poor passing. He's been rubbish

Pelle's been dreadful but i suppose it's his first game. Martina doesn't exactly look great defensively. Gassaarrniga has been solid enough. I like Juanmi.

Cool! Make sure you get absolutely plastered. I look forward to reading about how ****e our support was.

More like a £10m defender and a £15m midfielder, I would hope. I don't think we will be signing another striker. If we are going to play 4-3-3 then we have: Pelle Rodriguez Long Mane Juanmi Tadic Ramirez Gallagher competing for 3 spots. That's 3 from 8. Even if you say that Tadic, Ramirez or Juanmi might play more as a supporting forward as one of the midfield 3 that still leaves Pelle, Rodriguez, Long and Mane competing for three places with Gallagher and other academy prospects on stand-by. I don't think we can really justify spending £15million on another striker unless they are a clear upgrade on Pelle or unless Pelle is keen to leave for some reason. The current personnel are capable of covering Pelle's absence (whether enforced or tactical) without weakening the team signifcantly - and in fact, away from home in particular, a front three of Mane, Rodriguez and Juanmi/Long could be pretty useful. We would be better placed spending that money on a midfielder because if Morgan goes then we are a Big Vic injury or suspension away from looking pretty vulnerable in midfield.

I think Osborne is one of the stars of the Commons currently. Accomplished, clear and well on top of his brief. Will be interesting to see whether he or Boris is the next PM.