shurlock

Some bizarre suggestions - for me it has to be a dream ticket of Slaven Bilic and Kenny Jackett

Good news though to quote an Adkinism 'until he puts pen to paper...' There's a lot of fawning over our players, especially our academy products -much of it parochial and OTT. JWP being a recent example. But having been slightly sceptical about Shaw, I do believe he's the real deal. Even making Fox an afterthought and putting in night and day performances is no mean feat.

To clean Guly's boots?

Another soulless stadium on a retail/industrial park - hardly living the dream or a badge of authenticity.

Its called actually going to a game and supporting your club

Our tickets (adult) were £25.50 IIRC, so pretty reasonable. The City prices are criminal, especially as the away end has one of the sh*test views in the Emirates.

Can't see a Houston win either - the contrast between their performance against the Patriots and the 49ers performance against the Patriots only week later showed up all their inadequacies: over-reliant on the run and unable to turn to the passing game when the opposition builds a lead -and the Patriots will put plenty of points up. I like Wade Phillips aggressive, gung-ho style but blitz after blitz just leaves them too open against Brady and co.

Looking forward to getting back from the Villa game and watching the ravens game. Can't see anything but a Broncos win, though I thought the same when the Ravens went to Foxborough in 2010 and inflicted the Patriots first home playoff loss in decades. I've liked the Bronocs this season and Moreno has dispelled any questions that existed over their running game after McGahee went down. On paper they look the most well-balanced side and Manning always gets the better of Lewis; but Denver's record also slightly flatters them. They're in arguably the weakest division in the NFL (a toss up with the AFC South) and the Ravens won't be the team that got smashed a month ago (as much down to silly turnovers and poor execution as anything). The defense is getting healthy again (Ellerbee, Krueger and Graham have really stepped up) and the ship has been steadied after Cam Cameron's firing. If the Ravens get a fast start, it could be interesting.

Criminal if 'Stephen' doesn't win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor - amazing performance balancing the sinister and the subservient. Hard to know who's controlling who. Di Caprio also deserves an honorable mention. Could have climbed back off the ledge and toned down his performance but he didn't bottle it. And the terror wasn't cartoonish either. The KKK scene was hilarious - what Blazing Saddles would have looked like if it had been shot today.

That doesn't surprise me though it would be interesting to know whether this info was already out in the public domain or clubs had made a massive effort to keep things a secret. The reality is that many clubs aren't very hush hush. A better test would to see how much news leaks out when a club operates a strict policy (given many don't). For instance, could your mate find out when Lallana is back? I'd like to believe that if journos don't know -and they are equally, if not more integrated into the game and the rumour mill as scouts, not many outside the club do either.

As I say, I think hiding info is less important in terms of how we set up on the pitch than our ability to negotiate on a level playing field in the transfer market. If serious enough, Fonte's injury will bump clubs asking price. What was an important position to have cover in has now become an absolute priority. But if Kraken is right and nothing can be kept secret in footballing circle, its all pretty irrelevant.

Forget about how we set up on the pitch. Surely it matters in the transfer window? If a selling club knew Fonte was out for a while and we were short at the back, it would be doing its upmost to exploit this vulnerability. This kind of knowledge means a massive shift in bargaining power.

I get to see Leicester play quite a bit. At the very least, he could be slotted into the team without too many growing pains.

Kaspar Schmeichel is a better prospect than Butland.

He's still rusty, so its hard to say whether these jitters are temporary or an indication that he's ready for the scrap heap. At least, saturday's relatively meaningless cup game gives us another chance to look at him. Earlier this season. he might have been excused for having a s**t, unsettled back four in front of him. Now there are no excuses.

Ive always rated Guly's defensive work but before he got injured Lallana was also stepping up and doing a lot more tracking back. IMO its one of the less appreciated reasons behind our recent improvement.

Plenty have -people were even moaning about his performance at Fulham even though he was excellent there.

Thought Yoshida was very good -apart from a few poor passes (and watching Lambert and Yoshida prematch, I got the impression that hitting the ball early and long was part of the gameplan). Yoshida, Fonte and Shaw have looked very solid - only Clyne has dipped a bit. No issues with our defense at the moment.

Mayuka did get behind them first half - thought he sprung the offside trap brilliantly. Had to then check back a few times because of the lack of support and made the wrong decision. We were more likely to beat with pace than in the air as their defense -Rose apart- is pretty slow and immobile.

Guly's old man is a cvnt?

Pre Xmas games are always poor -partly the JCLs, partly the distraction of Xmas. And don't play Shane MacGowan at HT - it gives people ****** narcolepsy.

*****

Don't totally agree. Clyne and increasingly Shaw get forward but they are better at feeding little through balls or skidding crosses in -balls which are more suited to a fox in the box type forward. Fox (though most of his threat came from dead ball situations), Richardson (though hit and miss) and Butterfield were very capable of delivering early, accurate and well-flighted crosses from deep -balls which are better suited to Lambert's game and take CBs by greater surprise.

Doubt it. Photocopiers and toner cartridges are the alpha and omega of our leisure economy - how do you think all those maccy d promos are possible? Turkish is a modern day Gutenberg.