shurlock

Way over the top but its fair to ask what's up with him as he's underperformed for a while and not really shared in the same bounce back in form that the rest of the team has.

To be clear: his inclusion given the options at our disposal.

Certainly, he was off the pace but that 's inevitable. Rather he got that opportunity in the cup than the league, not least as his inclusion today wasn't the difference between the two sides and our chances of going through.

Reed would have made little difference. Cork is currently the much better player and am glad he got an opportunity to knock off some rust and build up match fitness.

Not what Fonte said about the quarter final and it wasn't just a soundbite.

More concerned about our lack of creativity in the last 4 or 5 games, typified by Tadic's form. We've actually been pretty clinical with the few chances we've created.

In defense of Chiles: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/11366039/Adrian-Chiles-is-a-hugely-talented-broadcaster-and-ITV-have-made-a-mistake-in-removing-him-from-our-screens.html

DeflateGate is very serious business Would say there is plenty of agonising about what it means to be American. It's a US hobby as Tocqueville pointed out: it's why, for instance, Piketty's book on inequality touched a raw nerve and the news -for better or worse- gets presented in moralistic terms. Anecdotally, there are more books published on US history each year than ones on British history. Been to the US countless times (am a US citizen), never once met someone with or mention a gun. That said, I've not been everywhere which ultimately reinforces the banal point hat the problem is a distinctive regional/cultural phenomenon, with ownership rates concentrated in the great outdoor states (which are invariably the least populated) and the South (you tell me whether North Carolina is in the North or South - many would argue that Virginia is the South). The other stark difference with the UK is the sheer economic segregation within cities - two observations that militate against broad-brushed diagnoses, implied by the OP.

A health warning should be issued whenever you bodge your way with numbers. What's worse is that you genuinely think you're saying something meaningful. So JWP is a better player just because he's racked up more appearances? Never mind that breaking into the United side was far harder or that Scholes actually looked a star in the making when he made his debut or that the sample size for JWP is larger, making it relatively easier to predict what his ceiling might be.

So basically it's nepotism and good looks. In this context, sports journalist is largely a circular concept. Look forward to seeing Clare Balding on SSN in the near future.

Always love the "Cortese did a lot of good but..." posts like the dodgy small print or disclaimer from a loan shark or an ambulance chaser. Almost always get lost in what ultimately is a rant against the man. The c**t's gone. Move on. The thread's about Jack Cork.

Would have thought Reed would step in straight for Cork, though signing another midfielder might also be a partial hedge against Morgan and Wanyama's possible summer transfers.

Good to see other clubs taking an interest in us and remember being beaten by your lot at your place (heavy spring showers in a temporary, uncovered stand). You're right to point out that JWP is not just a deadball specialist. However, stats don't tell you everything and not every assist is created equal. When I think of an assist -perhaps somewhat romantically- I think of a ball in the final third, perfectly weighted in tight space, laying the goal on a plate. Obviously, most assists fall short of this standard, though some of Tadic's assists this season (e.g. versus Liverpool, Sunderland, United etc) aren't a bad real-world approximation. When you look at JWP's assists, a couple of things stand out: first is the quality of the strike -Schneiderlin's far post curler versus Newcastle or Mane's lob versus Arsenal, both goals of the month contenders. Arguably, they were created out of nothing and often owed as much to the overall build-up needs as JWP's final pass (Pele's back heel in the Schneiderlin goal is what really deceived the Newcastle defenders, creating space for JWP to lay the ball off to Morgan). Second is the space afforded to JWP, which reflects the way Koeman has set us up, exploiting CBs willingness to squeeze up against Pelle. Since we've playing pacier options -Mané and Elia- off Pelle, there has been plenty of space in and behind defences caused by defenses aggressiveness that JWP, as the most advanced midfielder, has been able to exploit (see his assists against Palace and Newcastle). Of course, these assists still require execution and JWP has done that with aplomb but they remain largely byproducts of the system: see Tadic's assist versus Chelsea which is a near carbon-copy of JWP's assists. The open question is how the likes of JWP can still create opportunities once defenses start adjusting to this - that more than cursory and often crude stats will be a much more useful acid test of JWP's value to the team. The good news is that he has time on his side.

Blocks 1-3 are your best bet, pal.

It's a terrible joke.

Edit

Fair play - always good to balance out some of the inbreds.

Obviously prefer a Saturday kickoff (the US would have got the game live anyway). Still, in terms of going and getting a result, the change might help us as the away side. Seen loads of games where the atmosphere is **** and the home team can't feed off it. A sluggish, scrappy game might also suit the underdog.

Niall Quinn - good guy but terrible commentator. Markovic bought that all day long.

Mané not starting this afternoon against Ghana, it seems.

Glass houses, pal.

What is overlooked amidst discussion of the Gardos deflection is that the initial pass took a deflection off Fonte which split Gardos and Clyne, turning it into the perfect throughball. Can't blame Forster for anticipating the trajectory of the first pass which was much innocuous and almost certainly not going in an area where he could come and claim. The Fonte deflection also took place much further up the pitch, meaning that he wasn't necessarily favourite to get the ball even if he had tried.

Shoddy way he was treated but it was an inspired decision to let him go when we did, giving MP half a season to bed in. Not sure we would have had four England internationals in a NA team, especially Jrod whose misuse epitomised Nige's struggles at this level. Still getting out of the championship which is a brutal division remains a massive achievement.

What ideals are those? I agree aspects of the country are pretty unpleasant; but in foreign affairs, it is largely inward-focussing, keen on maintaining the status quo, sensitive to the benefits of industrialisation and Western technology while keen aware of its own vulnerability -whether to pan-Arab Nasserism, Communism or the designs of regional neighbours. All this has had the effect constraining the extent to which it has sought to revise the international system in the way some on here believe. It also goes some way to explaining why the House of Saud has had to worry more about internal challenges (e.g. the Grand Mosque Seizure in 1979). At times, it has diffused these threats by giving religious leaders more power which has pushed the regime in a more conservative direction. It is also true that it has played the Islamic values card in response to external ideological challenges, though ultimately not at the expense of its pragmatism. As such, calls for an aggressive Islamist foreign policy have always rested on slender foundations. Afghanistan was a marriage of convenience between the anticommunism of the Saudis and Islamists who, at the time still saw themselves as supporting local, oppressed Muslims rather than spreading religious fundamentalism through violent jihad. Unsurprisingly, cracks in the relationship widened immediately and arguably irrevocably after the Cold War - see the Saudis refusal first to intervene in South Yemen, instead supporting the Saleh regime and then its preference for US military help during the invasion of Kuwait. If anything, it's been the official unwillingness to play ball that has fuelled extremism, not the other way round.

West Ham were pretty dreadful in the first half and Hull had their moments through Aluko. Very different story in the second, though kickstarted by a goalkeeping spill. And City to win.