shurlock

RGIII had a good day I thought - at least, the c**t who had him in his fantasy team scored a shed load against me. Sacks mean f**k all nowadays, especially with passing averages going up and the increasing ability of QBs to rush. Don't know if elite quarterbacks are not getting it their own way - just think the identities are changing. Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Eli Manning -QBs I would put in the 2nd or 3rd tier- have put up some big numbers this season.

Pull your foam finger out of your a**e, Turkish. All investments entail a degree of risk, so yes we might get burnt but there's a world of difference between buying youngsters who have potential resale value (us) and Chelsea, City and others who buy players in their prime with little or no resale value. Take City's recent write down on De Jong and he's hardly the worst case. Players are assets and I'm sure they're treated as such for accounting purposes. The same goes for the academy. Of course others are making similar investments but our track record shows we not only know how to make the most of this kind of investment but we are also willing to give youngsters a chance (admittedly in part because we're a smallish club and not chasing trophies).

And Davies in midfield.

Why? If so, surely it would be a good idea to keep butterfield as a back-up for frazer?

One trick pony?

Didn't know what the chant was about- a bunch of OB were being restationed in their end at the same time and I initially thought it had something to do with that. That's how little I knew...

A far cry from northampton in the first round of the carling cup. He's almost destined to get it at Anfield on December 1.

Mayuka's really 45

In the The9's defense, i would say playing away with Rickie upfront is a different proposition and requires different skills. He's the best we've got but I can certainly see more room for rotation and experimentation player-wise, if not formation-wise in these games. And before you mention the Man City goal, we had already committed to throwing people forward and giving Rickie more support. None of this changes the fact that he's a class player.

13-17 erring on the lower side.

IMO Richardson looked pretty poor when he came on -and I was a fan last season. Perhaps Richardson + Clyne is an upgrade on Clyne + Fox but its not a massive one. Other than that, thought Davis was excellent - good on the ball and strong in the tackle (even if he seems a bit slight); Lallana also had an v.good game after the overelaborations of last week (still wants too much time tho) and Rickie was exceptional - gratifying that he was on a similar wavelength with Ramirez. Punch looked better as the game went, even if his shot for the goal was going out for a throw. Still think Mayuka represents a better option- couples pace with a decent touch and decision-making, a rare combination though does like to take up central positions. Yoshida had one or two slips -does like to get tight on the attacker- but otherwise looked a cool customer. Will be interesting to see how we stand up to Fellaini as Jos is probably our best defender in their air (that said, Villa did play quite a bit of hoofball and we coped OK). All in all, a good performance, even if we were helped by Ireland's exit. Also interesting how we do better when we attack teams - can we do a slightly watered down variant of this away from home as IMO the strategy of soaking up pressure and hitting teams on the break is a loser (we don't have the pace or the defensive qualities to play those precise percentages and pull it off). The team was poor but thought the Villa fans were good value.

Just got to sign Yuto Nagatomo now and our LB woes will be solved....

Of course, Nixon was the one who broke the Di Matteo story...

Prem's moved on massively since the time of Benali and co. Those were the glory days when teams like Blackburn would fly the flag in the CL and get regularly beat by the likes of Rosenborg, Legia Warsaw and every other post-cold war two bob outfit.

So you would have been happy to bring any old c**p in to tick the box of two CBs.

So who would you start? It seems you would quite like to see Ramirez, Mayuka, Lee, Lambert, Lallana all starting....

It must have done though its not like Derry has a lot of time for tippy tappy niceties in the middle of the park...FACT

How much do you post on your own board?

Sophisticated? Long ball?

I'd say Guly did more linking than Rodriguez in the City game. Jrod was anonymous after the first 5 mins.

You forgot goal-scoring machine Andy Johnson. You know he's already in next season's plans -who says QPR dont think long-term

But that's why transfers are done by committee - to ensure that signings aren't simply tied to the preferences, playing style or personality of the incumbent manager but that they are 'owned' by the club.

True though there are greater reasons to believe that Mayuka (with his pace) and Ramirez (with his trickery) can play in such a system than Jrod. At any rate, I think Ramirez will be played more centrally, Lallana moving to the left.

You probably had a better view of the game than me, then. Agree with all of this.

Neville wasn't at the game, so his word is hardly gospel. Yes the goals may have come from errors, though that's more or less true of every goal conceded (its a matter of degree). More importantly Arsenal worked lots of similar situations and our midfield, played a large role in our undoing. Watching or analysing a few highlights gives you no sense of that.