shurlock

Agree - if a running back can come back stronger, you'd hope footballers can. That said, whatever happened to Marcus Lattimore?

Good effort Davo, though serious studies on the subject disagree almost entirely with your post. Leaving aside the fact that its written by a yank and a dorris, Anita Elberse has found that paying top dollar for players a la "Galácticos" strategy works (see her book Blockbusters).

4/7 on us not making the top 4 with SkyBet. Might be worth taking.

It's good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that and I know. But lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.

Likely to keep him out of the Newcastle game?

Sure not Sam "I could manage Real Madrid" Alladyce.

CL football? The skates highest league finish was 8th, pal. They'd be proud of your myth-making, though.

4th place. Its much harder to finish top 4 than win a cup -and so a greater achievement in my eyes. Also probably why it's not going to happen.

Read the full interview. It's virtually all about the league, even ahead of a cup tie.

Hasn't someond told him that you don't get CL football for winning the FA cup

Who gives a s**t about what's on or off target. A thirty yard dribbler that is comfortably gathered by the keeper may pad the stats but is irrelevant. The only pertinent 'fact' from Sunday -apart from us winning- is that united created few clearcut chances until the end of the game -and even one of those needed a bit of help from Forster.

Turnbull been watching Smalling, it seems.

Dowd is a spineless, little jobsworth. You think he would have learned from the criticism he received in the United-Chelsea game where Smalling, again the worst offender, had Ivanovic in a headlock and United should have conceded several pens for holding.

No that's landing on the moon.

Showed flashes but was understandably rusty. Given how little of the ball we had (and nothing stuck up top when we did see it) and the explicit instruction to play some way off Pelle (to exploit the space between Jones and Valencia), he was always going to find it difficult to impose himself on the game. Should start against Ipswich.

Would expect Elia to start again. Has a lot of rust to knock of and we're reliant on his pace till Mané returns.

Painful seeing Peyton's career end so abruptly, especially given the opposition - he looked like a noodle arm second-stringer. Sport at its most unsentimental. The Colts are flat-track bullies and Luck still prone to turnovers. Can't see them doing anything against the Patriots who'll probably draw on the game-plan they used the last two times they smashed the Colts i.e. run the ball down their throats. Shame about the Ravens who I saw in New Orleans in November. Injuries and holes in the secondary finally caught up with them; but there is plenty to build on, hopefully with Kubiak still on board. Will be interesting to see what adjustments Green Bay makes after their first game with Seattle; with Rodgers' mobility limited, can't see beyond a Patriots-Seahawks final.

And Lambert (then again your timing and recollection of events over the summer has always been patchy)

Even on here, mere mention of CL football has got you branded a grizzling, gullible fûcktård, a bedsit Neil Armstromg or Edmund Hillary.

Rubbish - if anything the problem is that money has been distributed in thoroughly inefficient ways: generous subsidies and jobs for life in the public sector that dwarfs everything else. The result of this social contract is to kill private initiative and economic dynamism that are a precondition for these states to join the 21st century. In Kuwait, a relatively democratic state, the electorate uses its voice to protect its privileges and resist change that is actually the preference of many of those at the top.

Only in the sense of paying a reasonable premium (say 30% max) for players that we intend to sign in the summer. If anything, it might be easier to get more ambitious targets now than in the summer while we're actually in the hunt for a CL place.

https://v.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/5A516954681166057060929003520_2aef2d1db42.5.1.2167130021083047429.mp4?versionId=pG57QX4SSaEOTRmWzSbzA7Cqshy2JLSS And we still did them

If it's his hammy, it's the third time he's done it this season. Seems injury prone.

Made two big mistakes that could have been punished but otherwise did very well.

From the top of my memory Assist for Morgan's goal (2nd v.West Ham): Short corner with Tadic, whipped into the near post from just outside the box. Assist for Morgan's goal (4th goal v. Newcastle): Short pass to the edge of the box, following Pelle's back heel, for Morgan to curl into the top far corner. Assist for Mane's goal (1st goal v. Palace): Throughball, after exchanging passes with Mané who then rounded the keeper. Assist for Toby's goal (3rd goal v. Palace): Outswinging corner from the right for Toby to head in. Assist for Mané's goal (1st goal v. Arsenal): Chipped ball down the line for Mane to chase and curl in from the byline.