shurlock

The stats don't really bear out your point. Agree we dropped off in the second half but only against our own high standards. We scored more or less as many goals in the second half of games as we conceded them which doesn't scream out as a major problem. http://www.soccerstats.com/table.asp?league=england_2014&tid=k

Like who - Cardiff? I put that down to Jrod's injury? Villa? again, I put that down to personnel rather than tactics. Can't think of many others - no more than other teams have encountered. Whether it's Chelsea and it's run-ins with Wham, Palace, Sunderland, Norwich and Villa or us, all teams have problems when the opposition comes to park the bus. No team has a divine right to break another down.

Spot on - spared me a couple of paras and untangling that mess of a post.

Give a man a soundbite and he'll bullshīt for a day, teach a man to soundbite and he'll bullshīt for a lifetime.

As MP said, even with Spurs, it will take time to implement. Too many people equate pressing with 10 shane longs careering around the pitch.

Would have been more authentic if Ralphy had narrated that spiel - after all, he is responsible for half those soundbites. That's why Ralphy earns his bread and goes to Davos.

The science behind and commitment to the pressing game will be scaled back -signs of which were clearly evident during preseason. What people miss is that it is an approach that demands not only fitness but also plenty of practice -the reality is that many of the new players will not be attuned to its ins and outs. It's a shame because our pressing really put the fear into the bigger teams (with the exception of Chelsea) and gave us a clear identity.

Isolating in what sense? Not training with the rest of team? Maybe it's just the fact that he has more catching up to do given the preseason he's missed?

It helped that he could bring some quality off the bench -in this case cork for wanyama. In many other games, he didn't have that luxury, especially when needing to get a goal. Again this has nothing to do with the hipster criticism that we lacked a plan B.

Our CB situation on the whole was pretty good - Ken Monkou and Richard Hall formed a solid partnership.

So tinpot

He was actually playing through an injury towards the end of the season - nothing to do with fitness or the bull**** myth that AL is somehow a 60min player.

Is this from the latest press conference? Delighted if so as Long isn't a natural winger and Pelle needs service.

Loved how Martin O'Neill pi $$ed all over the 3-5-2 Van Gaal wånkfest at the WC. Guppy and Impey were doing it 20 years ago for Leicester. Would love Van Gaal to fail.

A slightly different angle, Nicky, but given you're not in control of your argument, the point eludes you. If you're simply saying that it's the managers prerogative to pick what he feels is his strongest side, then fair enough. You could have said that in half a line, as I have done, and spared me reading a paragraph full of c**p about us signing Vincent Kompany or Mats Hummels. Let's just hope Forster stays in the team on his merits and any fallout from this incident can be contained.

So Forster is better than Boruc in the same way as Vlaar is better than Hooiveld or even Yoshida? Nothing more to say, really.

Well done on making the most idiotic analogy of the day, though Nick G, a perennial contender, also deserves an honourable mention. Are you seriously comparing Boruc and Jos respective talents? In reality, there is little to separate between Boruc and Forster - many would claim Boruc is the better keeper -is certainly doing enough to keep Arsenal's no.1 out of the Polish national side. Boruc has played very well for us and is in the team on the merit rather than necessity (refer back to your moronic Hooiveld analogy). What has Forster done -other than being a £10m signing from an uncompetitive league and a personal favourite of the new regime? If Forster shows he's the better keeper, then fair enough. Doubt Boruc would have felt aggrieved but that's precisely what makes Koeman's comments so misplaced. They were made even before the two had gone head to head in practice - let alone an actual game.

A premium economy Jonathan Walters.

Those are the football manager (FM) types.

Transfermarket is like the slow-witted, autistic brother of FM, the one that can't count cards. Same goes for anyone citing it to makes a point. Says absolutely nothing about real-life supply and demand in transfer markets.

No- the recommendations or targets have to be realistic. Was Rojo ever a realistic target?

I don't particularly rate Welbeck -at least in terms of being international class- but he is better than Long. His performance last season against us at SMS was Jrodesque and would have fitted very nicely into a front three with or without Jrod. Anyway, it's all academic - hull are unlikely to get him, though wonder if we would have stood a better chance. Probably not right now.

How much had we spent over previous summers - how many £100K pw players did we have on our wage bill? Players were under no illusions about what they were signing up to or the constraints we would be operating under - your daft, unprovable 'footballers aren't the brightest bunch" doesn't change the fact that they know what side their bread is buttered on.

Don't think Koeman has full say or control over Cork - unless Koeman desperately wanted to Cork, the preference was always to sell him. It's not like Cork has had much to time to impress - if you wanted to run the rule over someone, you would have given them more preaseason game time; it's equally perverse to claim that you want time to evaluate a player while concluding Taider is more than adequate backup on the basis of less than one half. With all the disruption and Schneiderlin's pending departure, Cork is now one of our most experienced and proven players -he is still more important than JWP and not far behind Davis IMO; last season, as players went down like flies with injuries, we could take comfort from the fact that our midfield was sorted.