shurlock

Just need you to cite his win ratio to complete your missing-the-woods-through-the-trees routine. Of the players of his generation, he was born with the managerial silver spoon in his mouth -hence his decent CV. Had he made the most of the lavish opportunities handed to him, he would have been managing Barca or one of the giants by now. As it is, he's flattered to deceive and is managing us.

Except in the case of Jrod.

"if we sign Vlaar, the Celtic CB and one of the two feyanoord CBs" Even if we take things to the extreme, what f**king planet are you on?

We're one of the biggest sellers but thank f**k we're the 7th biggest spenders or something like that. And there's more to come or is that go?

Beanbags, that's a throw-back. One for the kiddies?

Boo hoo. The nostalgia porn brigade is out in force again.

The assassination of Jesse James is a v.good OST Waltz with Bashir is also excellent. Awaydays/This is England both have decent soundtracks.

Isn't he the player who suffered that horror tackle from Matuidi (should have been a red) and got stretchered off?

Don't think he did or not to the same degree as the players have openly said - it was more or less penal colony running for the early part, followed by more running in the searing Spanish sun.

Cheers. So were Isgrove and McQueen staying wide, not cutting in? If so, who was getting close to/feeding off Pelle? Were the CMs providing much support to him?

Number 2

Others saying the FBs are getting even further under RK's system - which is it?

Right here, right now - that would be my line-up.

Well put.

Er...ML passed away one season before we got promoted to the championship. Apologies for not reading beyond that point.

Agree to a degree, though more important than the numbers is the coordination between players. Even if teams press in numbers, they can still make a mess of it if players don't know how or where to set traps and/or can count on their team mates to do the same.

And therein lies the misunderstanding around the modern pressing game. A classic Townsendism. Rooney defends from the front; doesn't mean he or teammates are anymore effective or efficient in their pressing.

Nothing illustrates the contradictions and stupidity of the anyone-but-Cortese brigade than the volte-face on Les Reed. "Used to be a c**t but he's alright now"

Blackburn bought Flowers, Kenna and Shearer but it was slightly staggered IIRC.

Promised? Where was it promised? Hodgson told the media that England shouldn't be in the WC if it wasn't aiming to win it. Did he promise the WC? Lofty ambitions are part and parcel of sport. Even now the new regime is talking about Europe. Either you are wet-behind-the-ears or are being disingenuous. Now if you can point to specific, quasi-contractual promises, then that's a different matter. But you can't and won't. Ultimately, the players who joined knew full well the course we were taking -namely that we weren't going to break the bank to make progress and that we were going to integrate youth, even if it sacrificed a degree of short-run success. By definition, players know what side their bread is buttered on -contrary to dullards claims on here, so could work through the implications of what this approach was realistically likely to achieve. Nobody was hoodwinked or given false expectations about these constraints. Regardless they joined. The rest, including talk of CL football, is frankly irrelevant. As I say, no self-respecting dullard's bingo would be complete without some reference to moons on sticks.

The good old moon on a stick promise, every dullard's favourite retort. Well done.

Nor are they similar players.

By first choice targets, what kind of player are we looking at? Similar to the calibre brought in last summer? Internationals? Domestic/foreign? Young/experienced? Price range? RK targets or the fruits of the scouting network?

Assuming we have to pay £5-10m for these players -your 'default operating model'- how are we miraculously going to turn them into £20m players? The only way we can add value of this magnitude is by spending big on younger players - our signings to date don't suggest that.

Very true.