shurlock

The island mentality thing can cut both ways - being a small country has always forced Britain to look outside its own isles for resources, trading relationships and invariably conquest. No wonder it built a navy and ruled the waves - in the process, bringing it into contact with many more cultures. To this end, it's possible to draw a distinction between the UK's relationship with mainland Europe and the rest of the world. Just because it might be less close to one doesn't mean it's necessarily less close to the other. Always felt that the British were more open to foreigners outside Europe than Europeans.

Was more of a makeweight towards the end of last season after Jrod went down, utilised for his relative pace and hard-running (compared to Lambert). Long does a much better job of that. For a big lad, thought Gallagher was pretty weak in the air.

Completely agree. Said something similar earlier. It's not a coincidence we first used it against Everton, the first game both Victor and Morgan. I think only Morgan started up at Palace the next time we used it. Davis and JWP were the other midfielders - closer to your understanding, though still not quite there. At WBA in which both Morgan and Victor featured, it was complete overkill. Am sure 3-5-2 can be quite attacking (and it didn't look too bad at an admittedly poor palace side), though like every formation, it is flexible enough to cater different philosophies, different emphases on attack and defence. It's widely reported that Koeman used 3-5-2 at Feyenoord whenever they needed to grind out difficult games away from home, even though it ended up becoming his system of choice.

In all fairness, they're very different emotions. Being in L1 on minus 10 raises no hopes - disappointment is already factored in. Any success is then a pleasant surprise. Being on cusp of something pretty extraordinary does raise hopes with the invariable brutal comedown. If it leads to recriminations, they're rash and impetuous but ultimately short-lived, giving way to the bigger picture. Has very little to do with the mindset of the modern fan or any other patronising horse****.

Exactly.

We first showcased it against Everton (only Lukaku up top). We haven't played it against all teams with two up (think Burnley last week with Ings and Vokes) while we ditched it pretty quickly after WBA scored - perhaps because it sacrifices too much attack for defence, not helped by Gardos who didn't feel comfortable enough to spread the ball out to Clyne, making our attacks very unbalanced.

Not really. We've played it as much against teams with one up top. It was the product of pragmatism - in particular, to compensate for the absence of our Morgan and Victor and the need for more solidity when we were hitting the skids (post league cup exit). It looked OK, though we ditched it as soon as Clyne got injured (it requires two proper wingbacks ) and CBs who are comfortable in distribution (Gardos was terrible as the right sided CB at WBA). 3-5-2 can also sacrifice some attacking energy. Opposition setup has little or nothing to do with things.

Very true.

Camara isn't a bad shout, though Camara was stocky and powerful whereas Mané is wiry and elusive. Not been as excited about a player for ages - has so much room to grow. And to think you don't have to be a Ronaldo or Bale or spend £30-40m to get both pace and skill, as some distinguished dinlows on here have insisted.

Thought the last Labour government f**ked up the economy by trying to outTory the Tories.

How are you supposed to have any semblance of control when your holding player is a psychotic donkey like Jones.

Townsend jizzing over both sides playing 4-4-2.

The Lounge's very own Groundhog Day. How quaint and thoughtful.

Not to mention, destined to become the Millennials version of Seb Coe.

Perhaps not but the most tactically aware player at the club, an emerging hybrid of Paul Scholes and David Beckham and a future England captain will do nicely instead. In other words, tempered expectations.

You don't sound the sharpest tool in the box either, pal. Just as silly as writing off JWP has been the tendency to hype him to the hills (last season, on some accounts, he deserved to go to Brazil, that is, until he lost his form/place in the team). Arguably much of the scepticism has been in reaction to the hype; the claim is not that he's a bad player or going to sink like a stone like other youngsters this place has creamed itself over in the past. But hey don't let fact get in the way of your nice, little yarn.

Thought the general level of play was pretty poor. Some very slack defending and goalkeeping.

True, Matic pulled off Fonte, though Eliseu should have pushed up; instead he was caught in no-mans-land.

Not sure he was at fault for the goal, though whoever played Matic onside definitely played a role. Thought he got beaten too easily in the air from peach of a cross from Tadic. Otherwise he didn't have much to do and was pretty solid. By contrast, Djuriric seemed to have a death wish when he came on.

Are these the same as the release clauses you were claiming all last summer? Truly bizarre :lol:

Another one from the money-grows-on-trees school.

True, though he takes more risks with us e.g. he's happy to spread the ball diagonally and play balls between the lines. His performances for France have a touch of JWP about them, square or backwards passes, preferring to shift responsibility than looking to dictate play.

In defence of Rose, he's had a v.good season, a much better one than Baines and Shaw. He's still a dirty b*****d and didn't deserve his place at the expense of Bertrand.

Am sympathetic with this view, though the emphasis should be on equality of opportunity rather than outcome, mindful that the two are connected at some level. As always, political economy considerations loom large - unless centre left parties can change the language and the policies around redistribution (the wonky idea of predistribution is a stab at this), they'll simply be preaching to the choir and fail to sell the agenda to the public at large.

I'd put more faith in a FM game engine than macro models of the economy.