shurlock

Gardos has not proven anything yet-whether he can deal with pace or physicality; whereas Yoshida has been a safe pair of hands whenever called upon. Cant ask for too much more a back-up.

Not denying that they are winning and out of the three sides you mention, United seem the most dangerous. But none look that great or imperious. Says as much about their form that you're trumpeting a nervy win at home to Stoke and a slugfest away at the bottom side as evidence (in the case of the scousers).

Winning isn't the same as finding form. Both United and Liverpool are huffing and puffing to their leads.

Agree completely.

We outplayed City at our place last season - no reason why we couldn't get closer to those levels.

Tadic's crossing has been poor most of the season - excellent at picking a pass on the deck and clipping the ball forward into space; but tends to underhit most of his crosses, rarely beating the first man. From corners, Davis tends to stand balls up; rather than whipping them into the box. Surprised we didn't take more short-corners as we've done in the past with greater success. On the whole, it says something when your best crosses come from a left-back who ventures forward infrequently (at least compared to Clyne).

It was a booking and we looked relatively solid in the second half -apart from at set pieces- until we threw caution to the wind following the sending off. Our best chance came from springing City's risky offside trap - other than that, it made little difference whether we were 1 or 3 down, we did create enough or look like scoring after they got their opener.

Unsurprising and not the first time we've flattered to deceive - only difference is that this was against a decent side, not premiership filler. We do like to sit off teams whereas our past results against City and even QPR's performance against them showed the benefits of pressing them. The extra man in midfield, even before the sending off, should have been a foundation on which to close the space; instead it only added to our ponderous possession.

There are 101 reasons one could think of why Cork doesn't have a new contract - well before one starts speculating about an object whose purpose, design and use are a mystery. For all we know, the black box could quite as easily recommend a player like Cork, assuming that it's job is to recommend players. In short, the theory is mongboard white noise at its most painful and laboured.

See it slightly differently. Forster will rarely come for a cross and dominate his six yard box unless it is completely uncontested. For all his size, he doesn't always use it.

Whether determined by talent, supply or demand, the size of the transfer fee is relevant and will always be relevant, you utter helmet. In your cheerfully naive world, is there always a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and money grows on trees? In the real world, meanwhile, budgets are preciously finite and everything comes with an opportunity cost.

It's Toulon, not Toulan and you keep wheeling out that picture when I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. Having watched nearly every game, he scored a great free kick against Brazil which was a definite highlight of the tournament and probably singlehandedly won him 3rd place; but otherwise didn't particularly stand out in a pretty flat side that looked streets behind decent opposition -and I don't mean Qatar the only side England managed to beat. JWP, the well-spoken, well-mannered boy next door, has been touted since his league cup debut against palace in 2011 -clearly has time on his side but hoped to see him make more progress than he has done in those three years, given the hype.

"You're British till you die" was the highlight of the evening. Otherwise, another flat track bully performance by England, exemplified by Rooney's goals.

Begs the question what spurs chief scout does. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/tottenham-transfer-news-sadio-mane-3275913

England's goals remind me of the stuff we used to score under Branfoot.

Spoken like a true sociopath.

Not sure what your point is? You're blurring two different things. Is it that clubs with smaller squads suffer because they can't deal with the fixture backlog (we're only three games away from Wembley) Or is it that clubs are too focused on the cup final they take their foot of the pedal in the league (arguably for most players, getting into the CL is a bigger incentive; it's just that as sour mash points out, hardly any teams like us have had a credible chance of qualifying for it)

The Haywood article in the telegraph has been repeated by other parts of the media http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/11220352/Decadence-and-indiscriminate-big-spending-mean-Premier-League-could-be-all-but-finished-by-Christmas.html. People like David and Goliath stories, especially given wider disillusionment about the game. It's one reason why Atletico upsetting the Real/Barca got so much press last season and they were no angels in terms of sporting purity. The press is still wary whether we're the real deal -and cynicism is it's default position; as such, our achievements are likely to be underplayed or patronised until we prove otherwise (which is fair enough - there is something surreal about our start). As to suggestions that the media actively want us to fail -and have a vested interest in our failure; that's dribbling nonsense. The press will continue to write stories about the big clubs regardless what we do -and nothing sells more and allows a journo to differentiate himself professionally from his peers than crisis and scoop-heavy intrigue.

Surprised no simpleton on here has shouted out 'moneyball'. It seems to be the response to everyone of our signings. Of course, if we are in fact playing moneyball, the fate of Paul Mitchell or for that matter any other scout is less essential than imagined. After all, moneyball effectively replaces human intuition for statistical analysis, machine over man which will crank on regardless of who is here. On the other hand, the role of moneyball might just be a figment of the mongboard imagination, one that has trouble with basic terminology. Wouldn't be surprised to see Mitchell leave - after all, most transfer rumours that circulated over the summer turned out to be bang on the money, leaving the conspiratorially-minded with egg on their face. Tinfoil hats should be the dresscode for the Lambert departure thread and other summer gems. Don't think it's a bad move by spurs -leaving aside the curious fact that the mongboard brain trust, at least, up until the summer, dismissed many of the signings that took place on Mitchell's watch as failures. Perhaps Levy realises that his squad is an accreted and incoherent jumble of different managers visions and is now willing to stand by MP and invest big in his ideas, provided there is a bit more structure and accountability. Getting someone with whom MP is friendly splits that difference. One might even conclude that it's a vote of confidence for MP, despite dire predictions that turkeys would be enjoying a more comfortable Xmas.

Apart from your precious sense of victimhood, what are you on about - many see it as a breath of fresh air. The Telegraph wrote a nice piece on a return to the 'imagined democracy' of the 1970s. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/11220352/Decadence-and-indiscriminate-big-spending-mean-Premier-League-could-be-all-but-finished-by-Christmas.html

Shame, he's not very good anymore.

Why would it happen? It's not at all clear we would get him if Atletico started a bidding war and one of the big clubs came in for him, offering money we don't have (never mind ambitions).

Thought the midfield three of Lucas, Allen and Can they put out against Real was very stout. Needless to say, Gerrard and for that matter Henderson were nowhere near it.

You saw much of him in his Lyon days? Seems to be the standard mongboard refrain when nobody actually saw him play, instead going on second-hand truths and half-truths.

Top 4 is pie in the sky b*****ks, though there's no reason why we can't achieve 60+ points. Worth remembering that in our first season back in the prem, we managed only 4 points from the first 10 games (admittedly the fixture list dealt us a s****y opening hand). We then went on to collect 37 points from the remaining 28 games, taking some big scalps but also losing to some utter dross. If we can't better that haul with this season's much stronger squad, then I'd be extremely disappointed. How much we can better it by is anyone's guess.