shurlock

Colin Clarke up front. (Snap)

Exquisite name.

Martinez inherited a good but ageing defense - it certainly looked leggy against our pace on Saturday. In that regard, the lack of succession planning probably goes beyond him. It also hasn't helped that younger defenders like Stones have been injured.

If you've watched Everton, you'll know he's been played out of position on the wing.

Happy with that - Chambers outmuscled and outjumped for the goal too.

Less of a message than turning our back on the Academy for most of the season - good to see that change somewhat yesterday (if that kind of thing matters to you).

That's arguably how Parliament ran until the late the nineteenth century and how Congress runs today. The growth of political parties was driven by strong class identities -for better or worse, those have faded in importance, replaced by more fluid allegiances. Having independent nonpartisan independents mirrors more closely how individuals view themselves what they want from the political process. By extension, the idea that such a system would grind to a halt is the kind of apocalyptic strawmen that has been used against PR, even though it underestimates the instinct for compromise and pragmatism that is a hallmark of mature democracies like the UK.

What's the source for this number? We're just talking about the Commons, right? Smells fishy.

He played on the right for most of preseason. Against Liverpool, he played the first half on the left and then moved more to the right in the second half - it was his interchange and understanding with Clyne that led to our goal. But he's a predominantly a left sided player. As to whether switching to the right led to his dip in form, I don't buy it. Just think hes less of an unknown quantity and defenders play tighter and more physically with him, not allowing him to face them square on.

Well the poster does nothing to dispel the wannabe ITKer or just ignorant mongboarder talking s**t myth.

Can understand the logic; though would say that pointing to CL final as precedent isn't very helpful. Chelsea knew they couldn't beat Bayern in an open game of football and Bertrand was very much part of this contain strategy. Whether we needed to do something similar against L1 opposition is debatable. Would also say that Bertrand's main attacking strength is his accurate crossing but without a target like Pelle, that threat was limited. No hindsight needed to understand that.

A tad melodramatic, no?

Not really - the OP spent most of the summer railing against perceived negativity and berating bedwetters.

By the same token, we have flattered to deceive on quite a few occasions, even while winning. We haven't dominated teams or controlled play as we did last season. Yes we struggled to score under MP but I never felt the concern I have this season that a game could quickly turn against us.

Would say the problem is more serious with a Long-type player. Pelle basically occupies the two CBs in the middle but has the option to get the ball wide. With Long making diagonal runs or working the channels, the wide players need to cross more and come inside. Under Koeman, the wide players tend to occupy more rigid positions which makes that interchange more difficult for Long. Of course, in the case of Pelle and Long, there's a question of whether the CM three are adventurous enough, especially the Davis/JWP role but it's a difficult juggling act as they provide such effective defensive cover.

He has had experience playing up front by himself but when you're making runs to stretch CBs or pulling them into the channels, it's even more incumbent on midfielders to attack the space, especially in the middle that has hopefully been vacated by the CBs. We didn't have enough support coming from central areas for Long upfront to work effectively.

Given the opportunity to play in his favoured position - thoughts on his performance? And, yes, the fee, for the commercially illiterate, is relevant to the discussion.

He's been ****** poor but final straw - such knee-jerk nonsense. How did the Gardos experiment go btw

And yet looked like the only one was going to get a goal.

Behave

Send them out on loan rather than play uncompetitive, Mickey Mouse reserve games. Like Stoke have done with Butland.

'False position', a 'favourable rub of fixtures' - some beauts by the divs on here. As much as I dislike West Ham -leopards don't change their spots as they continue to play ugly, utilitarian football, the table doesn't lie. We are now virtually halfway through the season and every team has played each other once. Whether they can sustain their position is another matter and will depend on injuries, AFCON and their spending in the window which is also true for all smaller teams.

Decent side Swansea, probably the pick of the bunch outside the big boys.

Lovren Hahaha