shurlock

Not Blind Faith?

Not quite true. The evidence is that the majority of ACL injuries in the NFL are not contact-related - one estimate puts the figure as high as 70%. Accidents happen because of the way athletes jump, land and plant their feet, especially when its on their nondominant side. The reason why rates are higher in the NFL, at least, is that athletes are simply bigger and faster.

If Whitey G, Les Tender and SOG formed a supergroup, even they couldn't have written a ditty as spectacularly self-congratulatory as this.

Les, speak for yourself, my rose-tinted, white-washing friend. FWIW, I know quite a few spurs fans who were looking to find fault with MP and Toby, in part, because they thought they should be attracting bigger names than the cream of provincial southampton - a function of their higher expectations. There's no universal law that says fans will put their own on a pedestal. Rather, it probably says more about your own sweet, little biases. Which, kind of, explains your schizophrenic attitude towards current and past players.

Did make one or two mistakes on Sunday - one of the Bournemouth's best chances came from his failure to push up, playing Murray onside after Gosling's through ball. Only a great VVD block prevented a dangerous shot (VVD gave him an earful afterwards). The irony is that Yoshida was slaughtered on here for Leicester's second, a near carbon-copy of Cedric's error, though in that case, Yoshida was arguably less culpable since Davis underhit goal kick took everyone by surprise and prevented the back line from getting properly set. But hey consistency isn't always in huge supply on here. On the whole, Cedric is making good strides. At times, he waits for players to come onto him, before making a tackle, something that Clyne never did (thanks to his trust in his recovery ability). But as he has shown, he can only improve.

Halifax Man has a rightful heir.

The fearsome blue rinsers assisted-suicide squad.

The original nonsensical claim is that we didn't drop too deep. Not sure what you mean by doing more with the ball? When leading against a side like bournemouth, I don't expect us to push for a third or even necessarily create more chances; however, I do expect us to retain possession better and maintain a better shape. That's the definition of game management. Conceding rash free-kicks on the edge of the box or going down to ten men, among other things, isn't. Even on the narrowest definition, we could have done much better in managing the game. Process matters, even if the outcome turned out OK.

Tadic is no Le Tiss. Nor is he a game-changer. Like you, I have no problem with giving creative players certain 'freedoms', though I'd rather accommodate them in more central areas. Playing on the wing is a different matter where there's a greater expectation that the fullback will be given cover (did you see Cedric giving Tadic an earful on Sunday). In our case, it's even more important now we no longer have a mobile DM partnership like Morgan and Wanyama. Mané works hard, albeit he's sometimes reckless and he's a much greater threat than Tadic.

Yep. Gone by xmas was the cry on here. Last xmas.

Like Leicester and United (who were no great shakes)?

Not defending too deep Keep plugging away with that one. Just because we didn't concede or they had one decent shot had less to do with our solidity, organisation and deliberate control than their downright ineptitude. There were plenty of half-opportunities that any moderately better team would have capitalised on. Fonte acknowledged as such. Given your thing for Yoshida, there was one instance where a Bournemouth player had him squared up just inside the box, having got behind us and instead of driving at him, the prize a one-on-one with Stek, he hesitated and actually took the ball out to the touchline. Also recount a dangerous ball fizzed across the six yard box, among various things. Next you'll be spouting strawman b*****ks that we can't expect to beat every team 8-0.

Mike Dean on top of things, as usual.

Perhaps he's bulls**tting when he claims Arsenal has been in touch with him, then. EIther way, Wanyama's passing has improved substantially since his first season. Creating space isn't all about passing either. Its also about taking the ball forward, sucking opponents in or out of position. He has shown far more willingness to do that than Morgan. His ability to go past opposing midfielders -often simply by brushing them off- adds an important dimension to our game.

Did you go to either away game in the EL?

Early performances seem to be exposing the myth that Clasie is somehow destined for the no. 8 or 10 role. Made some decent passes, though from a static or fixed position. Will be interesting to see how Clasie fares when put under pressure - with such a large gap between Murray and Bournemouth's midfield, our DMs enjoyed plenty of time and space on the ball. Second half was a different matter. We'll learn much more against Sunderland without Wanyama's indomitable presence in midfield.

Played well yesterday - really not sure what game some people were watching.

Tadic track back?

Thought Wanyama was very good -ultimately paid for having to carry much of the burden by himself in midfield.

Better than singing the "f**king s**t" song at him.

With Clasie now available, there's a good chance that JWP won't be starting as many (league) games. The liverpool line-up is as close to RK's preferred line-up as we've seen this season.

Two consciously understrength sides - we should edge it.

He didn't have a full preseason after the WC. Remember he featured as a sub in the wham game and did well. But was shopped out to Hull soon after (which I can partially understand). Les was bigging him up this preseason, though it's still a mystery why he vanished again -injury, lack of fitness or something else. Like MP, Ron appears to have his favourites.

tahar el khalej - new boots

Thought Midtjylland's use of the Alan Parson's Sirius/Eye in the Sky (instrumental/intro loop) was half decent, though I've also heard it at the Superdome in New Orleans.