shurlock

Lloyd James and Jake Thomson #rightsidesewnup

Take the goals against Sunderland and Villa out of the picture and things look very different. Who cares that we stramrolled a couple of teams, did those extra goals translate into more points? Did they help us in other games when we failed conspicuously to break down the opposition?

Did i say otherwise? Nope. Good.

It is, though we've never really did that with Victor and Morgan (Morgan broke into the box sporadically). Saying that, we didn't have to as Victor and Morgan's presence ensured we could grind out wins without being too expansive. Now, we're in a bit of a no man's land- our midfield isn't strong enough to win by not conceding; nor is it strong enough to win by opening up opposition defenses. Of course, our lack of movement isn't limited to the midfield. The players up top hardly interchange, with Tadic and Mané often clinging rigidly to the touchline. The result is that there aren't options "between the lines" for the midfield, even if it looks up (so responsibility runs in both directions). Its not surprising we attempt more crosses per game than any other team in the league, though it quickly becomes easy to neutralise if your only threat is Pelle and nobody else is attacking the box.

Just as moronic as those who talk up our new signings and dismiss the transfer business of other clubs, right, pal?

Frankly Soares would make a better right-sided midfielder than a fullback.

Clearly it's an aggravating factor; but it's not the root cause. We've played sloppily this season, even when on a good run of results; and our creativity/scoring problems date back to last season, when nobody was talking about team confidence. Quite the opposite.

We were told by the brains trust on here that it is not (always) necessary to turn a profit or even recoup some of the transfer fee for a player - simply having their services for the entire duration of the contract is good value in itself.

The story of this calendar year.

Agree - thought he had a decent game when hunting for the ball further up the pitch, opportunistically catching people in possession; but fell short when asked to provide a disciplined screen, with attackers running at him or required to win a 50/50 or a second ball, ultimately the bread and butter of a DM. Perhaps he can play the Davis role; we might lose something offensively (or perhaps not); but, at least, it might ensure we're more compact further up the pitch.

Agree. The fallacy, repeated in the past on here, is that the MP's system is susceptible to the long ball that bypasses the press. That's never been a huge problem; a bigger Achilles heel, as you say, is the quick switch from one flank to the other. MPs teams do get quite lopsided as wide players are aggressive to join in and pin the opposition to the touch line where the probability of regaining possession is statistically highest. Remember Swansea doing it to us at SMS in 2013/14 to very good effect, though we somehow won the game with a Jrod bundle. That day, they had the benefit of Shelvey to switch play but also pace down the wings to exploit the resulting space. If you accept this argument, it's possibly a game made for Clasie as well as one in which Mané has more joy on the wing than down the middle, otherwise his best position.

Bedwetting helmet. Knowing Koeman, he's asked santa for some extra undies and bedsheets this chrimbo. Or something like that....

Nope. Can certainly assure you that those faultlines exist within the party. In private, the likes Chuka Umunna and David Miliband happily refer to themselves as neo-Blairite. What this means in practice -besides a thin version of equality of opportunity married to social populism and a happy-clappy faith in business or pluralism as its euphemistically called- is anyone's guess. Clearly there are other faultlines in the party, many deeply sceptical of Corbyn, though their voice isn't nearly as loud or shrill as the Blairites. Mandelson's gleeful portmortem on Labour's election defeat, hours after the fact, while the body was still lukewarm was as breaktakingly partisan as anything the Corbynites have done. Dan Hodges "look at what Ed Miliband did and do the opposite" -and Ed M now comes across as a moderate- is as binary as any Corbynite worldview. Let's not forget, the Bitterite tag was coined by John Prescott. He backed Andy Burnham to win the leadership contest. His comment, above all, speaks to how indulgently destructive this internal opposition has the potential to be -never mind, there are ideas on Corbyn's tentative policy menu that mainstream labour supporters and indeed voters might sign up to. Scepticism, tempered by wait-and-see and residual party loyalty, appears to be the prevailing mood, not the schlock Dan Hodges articles you cite. So yes, it takes two tango and the Corbynites are not gristling over an imagined enemy. None of which is to deny that the sooner the Labour Party moves past the dalliance with Corbyn, the better. The same goes for Corbyn's most vocal critics: the sooner they learn some of the lessons of Corbyn's victory (and more critically their own failures) rather than dismissing everything as some bizarro putsch by the unreconstituted left, the better. The last thing Corbyn or British politics needs is to make a martyr out of the bearded tŵàt. A sense of victimhood comes easily enough already.

And I hope Corbyn fails quickly and painlessly, though, above all, I hope he fails as a result of his own mistakes rather than the machinations of others. It's not like he needs to be pushed. But, so convinced of NuLab's manifest destiny, it's not in the DNA of Blairites to stay quiet -never mind to listen and learn. The likes of Hodges are akin to those Japanese soldiers who carried on fighting WWII decades after Japan surrendered. Or Dan Ackroyd in Trading Places. But in this case, they were trounced by a bearded twät. And for one I find their enraged impotence hilarious -and long may it continue till a credible alternative to Blairism and Corbynism emerges.

True to form old boy. Hatchjob Hodges. Who p!$$es himself, like an incontinent attack dog, on account of any politician who isn't called tony or david m or boris for that matter. Boo Hoo to the Bitterites.

Looks like hes going to watford.

Could just be carrying a lot of water...

Why? I assume you can trade on the difference at places like Betfair. As such, the bet isn't whether we'll go down (we won't); rather it's whether our odds will shorten (which is quite possible).

Their head of recruitment and assistant manager, Steve Walsh, appears to be off to Arsenal. Likely to be confirmed this week. Different teams, same s**t.

You mean compared to a bland culture of consensus, ruled by the dicta of positive thinking and other 50,000-packed stadia jizzery, as if disagreement is a mortal sin. It's been a breath of fresh air since you left.

Get a room, you two. We're not living under sharia law. Yet...

Bottom four budget = that came from koeman, pal. You have so someone in the club talking about having a bottom four budget; and another talking up finishing top four as a realistic aspiration, that's a picture of perfect consistency Then again, some people don't know whether the s**t comes out of their mouth or out of their àršè.

Made some excellent saves, though its only one game. Still looks a bit dodgy coming off his line, not only in claiming crosses but also through balls. Wonder if he'll get a run in the cup...

Two very different games. Villa was down to poor finishing, aided and abetted by some generous defending; we didn't create enough against Palace. What we did create was scrappy and speculative. If any side is justified to bemoan poor finishing, its Palace, not us.