benjii

They have a good keeper and a solid back four but they are not very cohesive as an attacking unit and rely on their support players to pull something out of the bag. Against Chelsea their midfield and attack lined up like this: ------------------Whelan-------------Adam---------------------- Shaqiri------------------Bojan---------------Arnautovic ----------------------------Walters------------------------------ It was quite easy for Chelsea to play through them and get space between the lines. That support three aren't the most combative and intense without the ball and Adam is fat and slow (and hopefully the ref doesn't let him get away with having anything within five yards all match). As long as we close them down around the box I can see us having a lot of joy against them. 4-1 Saints.

They will just be going, "der der, der de der der de derr, de de derr de derr". Obviously.

On the plus side, it's good to know that most people don't support mass murder of random citizens. I was in doubt but thank goodness for Facebook and Twitter so people can be quite emphatic about their posititons on this. I'm off to change my profile to the Nigeria flag in solidarity against Boko Haram.

I'm not a massive fan of Hodgson but the players available simply aren't very good. The likes of Milner, Delph, Jones, Walker, Dier wouldn't get anywhere near the Spain squad. Our only chance in the tournament is to go very defensive and try to hit teams on the break because one thing the squad does have in abundance when everyone is fit is pacy attackers. Having a **** easy qualifying group doesn't really lend itself to developing a tactical plan because we can just turn up and muddle through.

Even at his peak, Lambert never really caused the better teams any problems, other than occasionally with set pieces. He was simply too imobile and lacking in agility. He was very easy for good defenders to marshall. That's not to say he wasn't brilliant, overall for us - of course he was. But he was never, by any stretch, an elite player.

Rumours he slipped her a couple of digits likely to be ill-founded.

Whatever people think of Cortese, he delievered on the brief pretty emphatically. One thing he seems to have been particularly good at was making the right appointments. Pardew, Reed, Adkins, Pochettino..... They all did well and they all delivered. This is an area his predecessor failed pretty miserably in, with one exception. Now, he had good resources but it still took drive, ambition and ability to turn the club round. He did it. It seems as though he wanted unfettered executive authority and clearly that isn't going to be acceptable to most shareholders so he made his own position untenable. He may also have been a bit of an arse but that hardly makes him unique in football. I don't understand why anyone would have a polarised opinion on him. He did an excellent job but had a limited shelf-life and, unless you wanted new owners, it is right that he has now moved on. I don't understand vitriol, unless you have been personally wronged by him. Even then, it doesn't detract from the job he did in general.

I would hardly say it is straightforward to count back to a league cup match four years ago. It makes much more sense to look at recent away matches rather than competition-specific trips like that. If Saints allocated tickets in that way it would draw a lot of comment on here. And you are correct about the Brighton point but I wanted to illustrate, in bombastic fashion, the (in my opinion) surprisingly anachronistic criteria. I should have picked the Exeter match though because they are more ****e and small than Brighton and it was also a long time ago.

The Liverpool criteria for buying tickets to this match is quite interesting! http://www.liverpoolfc.com/tickets/tickets-availability Didn't go to Brighton away on 21 September 2011? Forget it!!! * * * 1 Season Ticket Holders, Members and Fan Card Holders who recorded Bournemouth (17.12.14) AND Chelsea (27.01.15)Buy online or at the Ticket Office from 8.15am Wednesday 11 November. Supporters who purchase during this sale are guaranteed a ticket. On Sale Soon [h=5] 2 Season Ticket Holders, Members and Fan Card Holders who recorded 7 or more of the following games: Exeter (24.08.11), Brighton (21.09.11), Stoke (26.10.11), Chelsea (29.11.11), Manchester City (11.01.12), WBA (26.09.12), Manchester United (25.09.13), Bournemouth (17.12.14), and Chelsea (27.01.15)[/h]Buy online or at the Ticket Office from 8.15am Thursday 12 November. Supporters who purchase during this sale are guaranteed a ticket. On Sale Soon [h=5]3. Season Ticket Holders, Members and Fan Card Holders who recorded 6 or more of the following games: Exeter (24.08.11), Brighton (21.09.11), Stoke (26.10.11), Chelsea (29.11.11), Manchester City (11.01.12), WBA (26.09.12), Manchester United (25.09.13), Bournemouth (17.12.14), and Chelsea (27.01.15)[/h]Buy online or at the Ticket Office from 8.15am Friday 13 November. Tickets purchased during this sale are subject to availability.

Martin O'Neill is buying his house. Paul Hart as live-in caretaker.

We might go 352 when Pelle is out. Long and Mane front two could be dangerous. Anyhoo, this "next 6" is, of course, league only. Our next 6 matches includes the scousers in the league cup, after the Man City game. That is the game I want to win most in the next six.

I think we should be capable of nine or ten points there. More than that would be a very good return. It would be helpful if Man City still have no centre forward when we play them.

Forster is ok but I prefer Stekelenburg. I don't think there is a single aspect of the game that Forster is better at, apart from being a little bigger.

Yeeeeeeessssss! Aha, Dusan!

In hindsight, we should have signed Wijnaldum.

So, Yoshida in for Cedric and JWP in for Wanyama. Three defenders on the bench but no Reed or Ramirez. A bit odd, if you ask me (assuming not injury enforced).

Gardos is similar, I think. He likes travelling around and assimilating information. He's not a "Fifa, Nandos and perma-tanned slag" baller.

Whites are ****e at sprinting and blacks are ****e at swimming. Them's the facts.

This is terrible. I hope Ron shows some solidarity on Saturday and blacks up.

"An accusation that a top [sic - it's a Bournemouth player, FFS] football player's shirt was stolen from a young Cherries fan has been withdrawn by the boy's father. The shirt was thrown into the crowd after Sunday's match with Saints....." Not particularly hard to make it a much better and easier piece of English.

No worries, I'll get a few (donation innit, nice and cheap) and stick them on eBay.

Good if Long is available. If Fat Sam does decide they need to do something different (which they clearly do need to do!) then defending deeper to stop their rank centre backs being turned seems like a likely strategy. If that is the case and he does manage to make them solid between last weekend and this one then having an extra physical presence in the box could be useful if we are chasing a goal. Although even better if we are 5-0 up and can bring Pelle off!

8 pages in and I haven't seen hide nor hair of a bumder. Poor.

or :lo:

We really won't know for a good few months longer. Last season we were excellent until January but threw away loads of points in the final months of the season, in particular losing away games against poor side. This season we have looked very dangerous as an attacking team but have had less of a stranglehold on games (our recent second half home performances being the case in point) however we might now be able to go on a bit of a winning run (City away, probably, aside). If Forster becomes available to play at any point then we are clearly much stronger in GK depth this season. In any event, I think Stekelenburg is better so even if he doesn't we are no worse off. Cedric is doing well now and Van Dijk and Fonte look to have hit it off. Although Toby is excellent we still have an excellent defensive shape and tend to restrict the opposition to very few genuine changes. As someone else noted, it looks likely we will score more goals from defence with Virgil over the season (if we haven't already). Up front, Pelle, Tadic and Mane are all playing better than their average form last season, I would say. The area where we are not as strong looks to be midfield. Not surprising because Morgan was the best deeper-lying central midfielder in the league. However iof Classie grows into it and Wanyama pulls his finger out again we are still pretty strong there with the likes of Romeu and JWP giving good depth. Then add Juanmi and (hopefully Rodriguez) who we didn't have last year. We should be aiming for more than 55 points again and to do better in the cups.