benjii

We have won one of our first two away games against an established Premier League team. We murdered another established Premier League team at home and should have won but for wayward finishing (a problem we hope to have addressed by signing a current Italy international striker). We lost narrowly to an established Premier League team away. This all despite having injuries to our two best full-backs for large parts of those three matches. Whilst we have not been scoring enough, it's not for lack of chances. Encouragingly, we have conceded only twice in three matches, which is very good (especially given two of those were away). Yep, we're in all sorts of trouble. Yeah, we're going down. Yeah, we're going down f'sure.

Case in point.

In fairness, Pap, focussing on largely inconsequential semantic/syntactic points is your usual retreat when being shown up on here.

Not quite. Cranie Mills Blackstock Dyer Gillet Walcott K Jones

Depends what he means by "first teamer". If it includes, Yoshida, Cork, S Davis, Clyne, Fox, Guly etc... then that is what everyone expects anyway. Basically, the senior pros who haven't played much plus Isgrove, Rowe, Stephens... If it is, for example, Clyne - Hooiveld - Yoshi - Fox Cork - Davis Isgrove - Guly - Rowe Mayuka That should be good enough to dispatch Barnsley - the defence and midfield is largely Premier League quality players and we will have loads of pace upfront. Barnsely are one of the worst teams in that division and have been dicing with relegation for a few years.

I would pick: Borutch Clyne - Fonte - Lovren - Shaw -----Wanyama---Morgan---- JWP -----Ramirez------Osvaldo -----------Lambert--------- Subs: K Davis, Cork, Yoshida, Lallana, Rodriguez, S Davis, Guly

Whether he outperforms Rooney and Welbeck is irrelevant as Hodgson will pick them regardless. If Sturridge has been performing badly he will pick someone like Defoe. If he outperforms Carroll he will probably be picked in the squad (but won't start the matches, barring last-minute injuries to the others). Hodgson has clearly decided to go with one central, mobile player and two speedy, wide supporting players. Basically, there is one space in the squad, it seems, for a "different" type of forward (ie. not a nippy, mobile, player).

Yep, agree with all that. A great signing - exactly what we needed at the time and contributed some fantastic crosses. Two which immediately spring to mind are a long racking right-footed one that Guly headed home against M'boro (I think) and the left footed one to Lambert in the promotion clincher at Plymouth.

Pretty silly to treat this as a disciplinary matter. It is an unplanned absence and you acted reasonably. Unless they have reasonable grounds to think you are lying then it really shouldn't be seen as a disciplinary issue. They may want to dock your pay for unworked hours, which is fair enough in principle, but a lot of employers wouldn't do that. Is this an absence which, in light of previous absences, takes you over some sort of absence policy threshold triggering an investigation? There's not a lot you can "do". You will have to go along with the process and take advice if you think the outcome is unfair. As others have mentioned ACAS is an impartial service and if you have a union they may be worth speaking to. The "disciplinary meeting" may simply be to investigate the facts - the outcome should not be prejudged and if they have already stated or indicated that disciplinary action is to result then they have more or less rendered it unfair from the outset as they have prejudged the meeting.

I think we'll win but it looks like Sunderland will be about 5/1 so I'm quite tempted by a five quid hedge against us!

Moses would be a superb signing.

Is Buttner no good then?

"I took her to see India.... at the Oval!" Classic scene that would get the "swear" filter on here buzzing into action. Anyway, the Major was alright. 'Ampshire fan, mush.

I was actually wondering the other day if Palace would go for him, seeing as Holloway has had him before. I would be quite sad to see him leave. I think he was our most consistent attacking player last season and is a very useful player to have around.

Chelsea won because they retained the ball better. We played too many poor passes out of defence. That said, I thought Turnbull looked like a good defender and Targett also has promise. Rowe was very exciting. Sinclair is very quick and Isgrove looks like a good all round player. The midfielders were decent enough but got pulled around and caught out by Chelsea's better passing. Overall though, you can see maybe three or four of those players getting a chance in the first team at PL level.

Maybe we're getting Lamela!

He has a poor touch, can't pass, is not quick nor good in the air. He is a good finisher but clearly not an elite level player.

I hope Justin Lee Collins isn't trying to touch the Pope's botty.

I would not have bothered with it. In fact, I would almost certainly have been travelling at the time. Now, I will make an effort to delay my travelling. I am intrigued to see how he is deployed by Hodgson. To be honest, I am probably being a little naive. I suspect he will be poorly utilised and, unless he smashes one in from 25 yards, will probably be subject to dodgy press reviews afterwards. Hope I am wrong though!

Whether Turkish's act is obvious trolling, concealed trolling, sarcasm, wit, hilarious, morbibly unfunny... whatever... it is painfully apparent that everyone is thoroughly bored of it.

Yep. The Dell.

Bandying "natural" around as some sort of predicate is sloppy and simple-minded. You might as well say "evil" or "sinful". It's pre-enlightenment nonsense.

There was some ill feeling prior to the Lambert incident largely caused by Carlos Vela, who seems to be a bit of a bulb. If it was a competitive match he would've been booked at least three times. Our defending was poor but our attacking was very good. Kelvin needs to keep that sort of shot out. Harsh to blame Fox as the midfield had let Vela stroll through and pick his man out too easily. As someone else said, Chambers needed to put more pressure on Vela for the second as he had looked to have taken it too wide. There were about three players at fault for the first but goodness knows why Morgan didn't boot it up in the air.

Agree. The problem with Ramirez is not that he doesn't deliver moments of proper class it's that he mixes it with too many fairly simple errors. He needs to work on his concentration and consistency in terms of the simple things. The magic stuff will take care of itself. He will struggle to get in the team though if we sign a top quality striker as Rickie can play the creative role so well even if he isn't the "striker". I also agree about Puncheon. He has been consistently impressive since we made it back to the top flight and deserves plenty of game time.

Absolutely pivotal figure in our club's history. Will always have my thanks and respect. I too wish he was here to watch us now but I'm so glad he got to see us lift a trophy at Wembley. Thanks Markus.