shurlock

Agree Morgan's situation is different insofar as the national team would probably shun him, even if we were a top six side. But arguably the quote says a lot about what our better players want or need to stay committed in the short term. Ambitious though it is, it's not pie in the sky stuff.

Has Morgan says he wants to leave because we can't offer CL football? Rather he has said that he wants us to keep our players and sign a few to make a challenge for the top 6. If that's a precondition to him staying, is that a completely unrealistic ambition for a club like ours to aspire to?

Talk about stating the bleedingly obvious. Our situation is arguably different in that some of those players rumoured to be leaving (it could be complete BS) are not itching to jump ship or currently making demands that are impossible to achieve with a club of our size or stature. Morgan's interview is a case in point. His hope that we would keep the squad together and bring a few players in to challenge for the top 6 might have been ambitious but it certainly was not deluded. No mention was made to CL football or any other pie in the sky fantasies. Cue mongboard strawmen. Which begs the question: if we take these players for their word, why shouldn't we keep them for another season or two.

Is anything planned for Bally given its so close to his anniversary and everton are involved?

In the NFL, Adrian Peterson's recovery (9 months) stands out as the most freakish - his position depends almost entirely on burst and acceleration. Good article on how advances in rehab make full recovery more likely. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl---adrian-peterson-effect--leaves-doctors-in-awe-and-players-rushing-to-return-031136811.html

I like soulless modernist architecture. Oh well they still have memories of Wembley...

A bit of good news perhaps is that the injury was on his right leg. Studies show that footballers who undergo ACL surgery on their nondominant limb have a higher future rate of ACL surgery on their other limb than those who initially have surgery on their dominant limb. Can the experts confirm? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23002201/

He didn't outdo MP you moron unless you're talking about injuries. Agree Spurs will go 'flash' - they'll feel they've been burned by going 'young and progressive' as with AVB.

Such an innocuous incident - going up unchallenged for a ball. What a tough break for the lad.

Why? Morgan was 1 v 2 (toure, fernandinho). Had he lost the ball -not inconceivable in that situation and the other players had bombed on, we would have been overloaded. We're not Arsenal ffs. As it was, the ball was fed out pretty quickly to Lambert in an advanced position. Things are easy in hindsight.

Small Fry has previously spoken about the 'credible and aspirational plan' in place, so let's wait and see. Remember Ralphys a member of the WEF.

Lino's not much better -spineless bottler. Should have stood his ground.

How long did it take those helmets to admit the error of their ways?

Great goal from their loanee.

Why? The clock would stop while the decision was being challenged. Second you burn a valuable challenge that might be needed for later on in the game.

How is it open to abuse? Managers have to think twice before challenging in case they're out of challenges when something genuine or serious comes up. It has a great disciplining effect. Following the rugby route isn't a bad idea, though it would probably lead to more stoppages and I'm less optimistic about refs willingness to question their own decisions - unless they are in real doubt. For instance, I could have imagined Foy referring the pen decision to video given his clear hesitation (it was a pen) - but I don't think he would have done the same for offside which ultimately was the more egregious error of the two incidents.

Was my thought as well - that Fonte overcompensated because Gazza was in goal. But Fonte's naturally a reckless player - enjoys diving in. Got away with it several times at Spurs most recently.

Not really when they were moaning about players that cost more than our entire side. Out of the bigger sides, worst atmosphere I've experienced this season (Spurs possibly worse) - might have something to do with the quick fire nature of their 2nd and 3rd goals that allowed them to relax. But I remember Chelsea and Arsenal making more noise in the second half when we played. Let's not forget it was a pretty rubbish time for an away game - City who also have something to play for don't have that excuse.

One area I agree with Big Sam on - there should be a challenge system like US football, though they also have timeouts. Managers should get 2/3 challenges per game: if they win it, they keep their challenge; if they lose it, they have one less challenge. When mangers are out of challenges, they have to lump it and accept the consequences. Replays which are too ambiguous to call go with the ref's original decision. The real issue is what is and isn't reviewable: offsides are closer to goal line decisions in that they are more objective but they aren't much help when a ref or lino has flagged for offside, the play has stopped but the player was on. They are better at dealing with situations like yesterday. But that's better than nothing. Pens are infinitely more complicated, though replays could stamp out certain types of abuse -whether or not there was contact but even that's fraught.

No it doesn't. Watch a game rather than hide behind numbers. Next.

Jan 14? So excluding our worst injury spell then File away with 4 wins in 18 games and the other pearlers.

Davis Boruc Bazza Chambers Clyne Jos Lovren Fonte Yoshida Shaw Fox Morgan Wanyama Cork JWP Reed Gaston Davis Guly Lallana Lambert Jrod Osvaldo Gallagher =24

Did anyone notice the two cameramen aggressively following Gazza around prematch? Talk about adding to the pressure. Surprised if it was part of BT's coverage.

"You can't buy an atmosphere" - sums up everything about City and the prem. Proud of our performance despite some very difficult circumstances.

We're a very different team without Jrod's pace and ability to stretch defenses.