shurlock

You don't quite understand cause-and-effect, do you. He was only dropped for one game; but the kneejerkery on here started well before, from the Leicester/Villa game.

Has been excellent - makes defending look effortless at times. Is much better in the middle, though - today, thought he lost track of what was behind him: Carzola in the first half for his chance and then Sanchez in the second which drew a great save from Forster.

Jack Whitehall Islington pluminess, but probably spent the odd afternoon down the Maccy Ds in Archway in an attempt to cover his tracks.

Was OK given the benchmark is so poor; but thought, like Taylor on Sunday, he was too quick to blow the whistle.

Was a shot all day long.

This one is unbearable (though it's also how i imagine quite a few on here speak) [video=youtube_share;OlWHAwjrdAQ]

"You can't simply force someone into a zorb race"

The sale of Lambert - just for the left-field, wtf adrenalin rush. And ultimately after the dust had settled we emerged stronger.

We did persist with him in the sense that he was our top target on getting to the championship in the summer of 2011 -perhaps at the expense of pursuing other strikers- only to go back and get him in the January window. Either way, if rumour is to be believed, Austin said no to us in the January 2011 window when he opted for Burnley.

Never mind that the vast majority of US presidents are of english/anglo-saxon descent.

We're more interesting because the historic strength of the Academy gives us our story the appearance of structure and sustainability -as if it could be boiled down to a business school case study (which yanks love), ripe for application in other areas. Ultimately wheeling and dealing in the transfer market -buying an undervalued Michu or a Bony- feels like a crapshoot -not to mention is much less romantic and resonant than the whole yoof revolution angle. Of course, the story is a caricature. We do not owe everything to the Academy, especially this season and its prodigious output in recent years might just be a freakish blip. But, coupled with our rapid and ongoing rise, its not hard to see why we're a story and Swansea are not.

And even that was a pïss poor imitation of the excellent Hard Knocks series.

Not entirely. Would also say it reflects differences in how TV's done over there. Sports documentaries are a much larger part of US programming than they are in the UK.

Typically grauniad and grandiose but good nonetheless. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/dec/30/alan-pardew-noisy-distraction-newcastle-real-issues-mike-ashley

[video=youtube_share;wybyKuvz2ys]

Pahars

Do they do them in quarters?

A criticism that can be increasingly levelled at Tadic.

Why would Garry Monk be fired, let alone be the next to go?

Longy would be proud of that finish.

You'll know better about the Northam than me - just surprised it's changed that much. I do know that quite a few who used to be in the Kingsland North (and possibly the Northam) moved to the Itchen North and as a result the atmosphere has improved there.

Misty-eyed revisionism. The atmosphere in L1 and the Championship was nothing special. Just a simplistic assertion that because 'real' fans came out during the lean times, the atmosphere had to be commensurately better. The problem is structural: the separation between the loud and quiet parts of ghe stadium is too great for an atmosphere to catch on and apart from the Northam, the Itchen and Kingsland corners, nobody sings -regardless of the division we're in. If anything, being back in the prem has improved things at the margins -not least because blocks 1-3 have been reopened.

Alderweireld is on loan -there's a good chance we won't sign him as bigger fish come in. So you propose we not only secure his services but also get another player of similar standing. Fantasy pal.

He was outstanding against Everton, had a poor first half at Palace (but recovered in the second) and struggled at times yesterday. That said, he was often isolated against Chelsea (Morgan and Victor were particularly conservative in their movement and he didn't have the usual options down the flanks). He was also largely stuck on the right, ostensibly protecting yoshida which isn't his natural position.