Dark Munster

Why would anyone want sleeping giants coming back into the PL? If they get established again in the top flight it makes clubs our size more vulnerable to relegation. The more minnows in the PL the better, I say. Except the Skates, of course.

They have a decent squad, and more importantly now have a world-class manager. We could finish ahead of them, but I wouldn't touch 150/1 on them getting relegated with a barge pole.

And the catalyst for all of this was perhaps the "blessing in disguise" 0-9.

Yes. As long as the one and only scoring striker never, ever, gets injured.

Yes we do. I'm getting a a sense of deja vu, all over again. A year ago the club loaned out Cedric and did not bring in a replacement. A gamble which fortunately paid off. Getting rid of Adam's, hoping Ings doesn't get injured and not bringing in a goalscorer, would be an even bigger and stupider gamble.

If I remember correctly wages alone are £80+ million per year. I stand to be corrected.

Especially if they go down with 40+ points. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't they the last team to do so?

And the current rule is fine if it were easy to implement in close calls. As we've seen, it isn't. We're suggesting a minor change in the rule. Ice hockey has an "offside" rule which is of course different from football's, but has similarities. Roughly speaking a player in hockey is offside if he enters the attacking zone before the puck. The way they define this is he's offside if both his skates enter the zone before the puck. Note they determine this only with his skates, not any other part of the body. And you can't score goals in hockey by kicking the puck into the net! So using feet only for offside in football isn't unreasonable. The difference between being offside/onside with the current rule and such a new one would only be inches.

If we can get 4 (or 6) from the next two then the Liverpool match would be the proverbial free hit.

Two words. Sheffield United.

Long's offside today that negated the penalty is a perfect example why using feet only makes it clearer. It looked like the defender's arm was in line with his foot. Certainly not a clear offside, and very hard to judge one way or the other. If feet only had been used he was clearly offside and no-one could complain. Dropping perpendicular lines down trailing body parts to determine who's in front in razor thin margins, as they did today, is just bollocks. As they say, Keep It Simple Stupid.

davieG:

Actually a bit stupid, firing up our players even more. We were all over them like a bulldog going after a pork chop, especially in the first half. Brilliant performance.

... if your bike is still there.

Why would it matter if he scores with his head, bum, knee or chest? As long as his feet are onside when the pass is made. The idea is to make the rule as simple as possible to judge, and minimize errors. It's not a drastic change, and keeps the spirit of the rule alive.

Doesn't it depends who we face? Maybe they are waiting to see if we're playing Spurs to move it for TV. Or is it too late now?

So no-one ****ing asked why the club takes such a ****ing low away ticket allocations?

In fairness, if Redmond was able emulate Henry I don't see why Obafemi can't emulate Bale.

Does a 2 card yellow sending off suspension apply to the next league match? I know a straight red does, but not sure if a 2 yellow does. Either way, a second yellow would be most welcome.

If we do bring someone in I hope the scouts who recommended the likes of Enouseless, Hoedt, Vest, etc. are not involved (and no longer work for the club, for that matter).

That was us until a couple of seasons ago. We had a consistently awful injury record, in stark contrast to Leicester who never seemed to have more than one or two injuries (especially during their miracle season). I think Pearson had a lot to do with that, and they have continued it to this day. Something seems to have changed at SMS, and credit to our current (new?) physios/sport science guys for turning it around. It's massive keeping the majority of players fit. Bournemouth and Newcastle being prime examples of what happens if you don't.

Yes, definitely. Not sure when though.

Exactly this. And the VAR is a professional referee, not some random bloke with a monitor. Plus having the on field ref going over to a monitor will slow the game down. As others have said, change the offside rule so only feet positions count, and give the VAR 30 seconds max to make a decision. If he's not 100% certain, the goal stands. Occasionally a goal will be scored by a player 1 cm offside. Tough luck, take it on the chin, and move on. If it happens to us I wouldn't get apoplectic about it (unlike that Wembley call, and the Watford basketball player's "goal").

Whitey Grandad's TV: