benjii

Even if you have an "out" up the pitch, the chances of a clearance falling to them are slim. The exception would be where the GK gathers the ball and can distribute it accurately - in that scenario, I expect we instruct our quicker players, Mane included, to get up the pitch quickly. Mane does not go deep to make headed clearances, he stays by the edge of the box to pick up second balls and pressure the clearance; if Stek catches it then it's not going to take him long to get to the half-way line. We do a mixture of man-marking and zonal. We tend to man-mark the other team's biggest threats but also zonally mark the post and the six yard box in front of the keeper. Worth noting that our team is not the biggest, which means it is probably sensible to concentrate first-and-foremost on defending corners. I can well imagine the reaction on here when a corner bounces in our six yard box or gets headed home by the opposition having had a free run at the ball whilst three of our players hang about on the half-way line. Having Mane back allows us to make our box a difficult place to get a decent contact at goal away. If we had a back four of, for example, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Azpillicueta and we also had Matic and Costa in our team we might think it worth leaving a few more players upfield. But we don't have six players like that. We had, at the weekend, two full-backs unlikely to win a contested header and no really big midfielder. Basically, we were relying on Yoshi, Fonte and Pelle to stick something on it or block their runners, with the zonal players as back-up (I remember JWP doing a headed clearance from the mid-six-yard box zonal position). Given last season's goal difference it seems a bit baseless to criticise a tactical set-up unless anyone is going to bring any persuasive argument or analysis that suggests an alternative would be better. So far, the counterargument seems to be a vague hope that Mane might dribble past two players and finish.

Don't think we can afford to let him go now. If things get really sour with Vic we're going to need him from time to time.

I'd say the problem was partly that but also that we showed no appetite for actually passing the ball around. Midtjylland are not very good so heaven knows why we decided to play leveller long-ball rubbish against them. They got knocked out of the Champions League by a team from Cyprus, for goodness sake. If we had just tried to pass the ball a bit then we probably would have won quite easily.

Disappointed with this. They've done little of note since 1986 (although "It's Hip to be Square" is a classic).

That's the really frustrating thing. We lost to a team that would struggle to get out of the Championship, largely due to weird tactics and selection.

£30 mill at least. He's the best forward we've had since Pahars.

That's what I would do, save for swapping Rodriguez for JWP or Juanmi. He was off the pace on Thursday and I doubt he's ready to start two games in four days.

Some cheeky **** has done a Branfoot brain transplant on him.

Pelle murdered them in the second half of the first leg; he won everything. It would be stupid to leave him out.

I'm pretty sure someone posted on here that he was in hospital before there was any publicity about the stomach illness. I'm therefore inclined to believe that the most likely explanation is that he is indeed ill.

I had a lovely fillet steak in an odd mediaeval themed restaurant there. Cost about five quid. Bargain. Don't know where it was or what it was called, I'm afraid.

It's hard to know what the long-term consequences would be. Presumably this is something that would not have promotion/relegation but would be a closed shop? The only way to have a sensible promotion system would be to have pan-European promotion qualifications so you would end up with a European wide league or playoff competition at "lower" levels as well. It would be hard for anyone not included to vote for a closed shop that excludes themselves. Can't see it happening on a consensual basis. That said, I would be quite happy playing in a league where Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and Man City are replaced by Derby, Forest, Sheff Wednesday, Leeds, Charlton, Bristol City, etc... But what would the consequences for lower league clubs be? Would Liebherr have bought us if the tv revenues predicated on competing with the likes of Man U were't the light at the end of the tunnel? Would Bristol City have a new investor? Would Pompey have been able to raise funds for a fence and portakabin? I think it would make things more interesting in the short term but would lead to long-term decay. A much better solution for the problem of financial disparity is regulation of wage structures (not revenue-based FFP-style nonsense); a flat wage limit accross Premier League clubs set at a level which most can realistically afford to pay. Obviously the Man U's, Man City's, Chelsea's etc will never agree to that, and neither will the FA, but it's the only sensible way to ensure a fairer and more interesting competition IMO.

Based purely on what is observed from the outside, the problem with Ramirez seems to be one or more of: fitness; commitment; attitude. There were a few occasions under Adkins and Pochettino when he had managed a couple of decent performances and looked set for a run of starts. He then invariably got injured and by the time he was fit was reduced to cameo appearances again. He then went to Hull and couldn't hold down a first team place. This season, he was clearly welcomed into training but, by the looks of it, is not fit enough. Whether it's a cultural thing, an inherent personality thing, an inherent fitness issue or anything else, I think it's apparent that the issue is not whether his footballing skills are up to the task or not. Tadic, on the other hand, I think has shown application and determination but seems to be suffering from something or other. Let's hope he gets fit again because the squad is lacking without him.

BT's customer service is beyond pathetic and their TV digi-boxes are utter turd; nowhere near as good as Sky or Tivo. So I would resent ever paying a subscription to BT. I think for general broadband, landline and TV, Sky is still the best but Sports is overpriced for what would amount to watching the odd midweek game which I can watch in the pub or online if I want to see it badly enough.

We really should win this. They were sort of mid-ish Championship standard, I reckon and actually we should have scored more than once in the home game. We badly need a bit more composure on the ball though so I would bring in JWP and Juanmi (he looks very neat and composed to me). I think I'd go with Yoshida at left back for extra aerial presence and Caulker looked very threatening from our set pieces in the first leg. Tempted to throw Martina in as well for physicality at right back but I think Cedric could do with run in the side - 50/50 on that call. -------------------------------------Stek-------------------------------- Martina/Cedric----------Fonte---------------Caulker----------Yoshida ---------------------------Wanyama-----Romeu----------------------- Juanmi-----------------------------JWP-----------------------Mane/Rodriguez -------------------------------------Pelle--------------------------------- Sub: Gazza, Martina/Cedric, Targett, Davis, Long, Mane/Rod, Reed/Tadic (if fit)

I don't know how anyone can profess to be a "historian" of the game and be so ignorant. I suppose you don't need much in the way of comprehension to make glorified scrap books though.

I like that. Should be more solid and no more of the rubbish 424 variant of late. Caulker to score.

Whilst I agree that our Prem refs are pretty useless, I would like to give credit to the ref on Thursday. I thought he was very good and used the advantage rule much better than most refs. People will moan about the "time wasting" but that was largely feigning injury and the rules don't really allow the referees to do anything to stop that so I don't blame him for that. He can't book someone for maybe not being actually that badly hurt. Rules should change so treatment can occur on pitch whilst the game continues. That would disincentivise feigning injury as there would be no benefit in doing so.

Morecambe players are playing the match of their lives and the ref can't cope with the pressure. If anything, Pompey have been too good. This is a timely reminder of how much harder it is for Pompey than everyone else. Or something like that.

I would go for a more solid team for this one. ----------------------------------Stek------------------------------- Cedric---------------Fonte--------Caulker-----------Yoshi --------------------Vic--------------Romeu------------------ Davis---------------------JWP-----------------------Mane ------------------------------Pelle------------------------- If Fonte and Pelle are injured then swap Targett in and move Yoshida and start with Long or Juanmi up front. A draw won't be a bad result if we beat Norwich next weekend but that team still has a goal or two in it.

I disagree. We are playing with a much more overtly central support man for Pele. Last season, the more advanced of the central midfield three would be a midfielder (typically JWP or Davis) who would push forwards when the ball was played long. This season we have played with someone in a more advanced central position and two wider midfielders also in advanced positions - sometimes it's been like a 4-2-4. It's had an impact on our passing and our defensive shape. Last night was like this: ------------Wanyama-----------Romeu---------- Mane--------------------------JWP--------------- -----------Pelle---Rodriguez------------------- JWP was too narrow to help Targett much, either offensively or defensively and Rodriguez was reduced to looking for knock-downs from Pelle. Last season would have been more like this: ---------------Wanyama-----Romeu(Morgan)------- Mane-------------------JWP----------------------Rodriguez --------------------------Pelle---------------------------- Rodriguez and Mane would have had a lot of licence to roam nearer Pelle but JWP would have been a link man in possession and pushed on to support long balls. This season, we are missing that and sacrificing build-up.

This season we seem determined to have a more overtly central support man for Pelle. Tonight it was Jay Rod, sometimes it has been Mane. This is nice in theory, as Mane is often more effective coming centrally from the left than stuck on the wing and Jay Rod has attributes to be a great striker. Unfortunately, it is screwing our midfield right up in terms of defensive shape and ball possession. JWP was playing as a sort of inside-left today and Targett was far too isolated. I think it's also confusing the two deeper midfielders, as evidenced by the lack of challenge on Sparv tonight. I want to see Romeu/Classie and Wanyama with a more creative midfielder in front of them and two players playing from wide positions. The current mutant 442 variation is not effective and encourages too much hoof. I applaud Ron in theory trying to get more attackers into the team but it's not working. Let's get back to the shape that worked well for most of last season.

Not sure why you think we're weaker at GK? I would say we're stronger, if anything.

Anyone got one? Do you like it? I was considering a Jaguar XE, which is a cracking drive, but am now considering the Mazda 6 SE-L as a more economically sensible option (it's about 30% cheaper). I've driven the diesel engined one and I thought it was good fun with a proper bite to it so am increasingly tempted as Mazda currently offer 0% finance (Jag around 4%) and the guy in the showroom seemed pretty desperate to do the deal so I could hopefully get a decent discount on top. Any thoughts on the car gratefully received!

Wanyama goes to church so I'm sure he'll be nice