Smirking_Saint

The most important thing is clearly ensuring the car park is free, benali can make transfer decisions and the return of the red n white kit, everything else is redundant IMO

This

I see what you meant, and unlike some of the others Im not going to stand and chastise you for it, but I think personally the way we play means we need players not only with lots of energy and commitment but also they need to have a decent level of tactical and technical ability as essentially it is as much to do with ball retention as it is with winning the ball back quickly. Its similar to tactics used by Bayern, Barca, Athletico etc Essentially its based on Bielsa but with some differences. Would he suit Madrid ? He certainly would get them much more organised, but they essentially want to play attractive attacking football. In short, he isnt ready for either yet, but if it were a choice between Barca or Madrid I think he would suit madrid more

So if you really needed a **** and when you got to the bog there was a little target, that you hit and then decided to Jizz on said target itll be like your perfect day ? Bucket list addition that Stevo

Its always a confusing statement that one, whats the options ? Intentionally flirt with relegation and finish 10th ? Surely its about preparation.

It was going around footballing circles that he wasnt particularly happy. They have clamped down a bit on the finance side of things (but they still spent in summer TBF), hence my comments about pinching Bony soon. And he generally wasnt happy with results. The rumour was he said he was off in the summer anyway so not surprised they have moved now, I cant think of why now particularly though, not like there are any suitable managers around right now ? Whats AVB doing ? As per relegation, its unlikely, but still a very real prospect for them. Dont get me wrong, I will be surprised, but stranger things have happened. Edit - I didnt realise they were only 2 points from relegation ! It really isnt unlikely then its very very real.

But it wasnt careless or reckless or excessive force, it was strong and he won the ball, it was definately unfortunate but IMO it wasnt a foul. Dont get me wrong Brown often flirts on the limit of whether a tackle is too strong or not, I remember in that game the challenge against Lambert ? When J Rod fluffed it ? Anyway he probably got away with it through the fact that we had a shot on goal and he won the ball. This specific foul ? Ive seen them given, but equally Ive seen them allowed so no I dont think it was the definate foul everyone made it out to be. Rose's red got rescinded too

From what I hear from the training ground he is a very good and very modern young coach that brings an aweful lot of hard work, determination and ideas to Staplewood. You can certainly see that from how he has us organised, if you think the way we play is easy to coach you are very much mistaken. The arguement you put forward isnt really an arguement, its the coach that steers the ship. After all Utd won the leaguevlast year with roughly the same team.

Be careful, you'll be told you never watch football etc bla bla bla in a minute

Im not saying she wont at all BTW, but my point was she has not said anything either way regarding ongoing investment. As I said Im not too worried right now, the summer will tell us what we need to know, theres no point speculating until then TBH

Where has there been suggestion that she will ?

Me too, quite like our recent kits, where as I liked very few of the stripey kits but can understand the clamour for their return

Personally I dont really think the parking charge was a huge issue but its hard not to agree that there is a much more positive vibe around the place then there was. Not sure NC was the 'monster' he was made out to be but he was certainly ruthless in his quest for efficiency and ambitious towards his 'goals' I judge ny club on their ability to win football matches first and foremost. Of course the other pr stuff has an effect but realistically its a sports club so with our recent successes I was perfectly happy to accept certain areas of PR slipping. Hopefully KL will be able to continue the success that NC provided us but only time will tell, certainly if she manages to progress and adds a much happier corperate image then everyone is a winner and she will have achieved more than even NC managed in his limited time here. All in all I will wait and see, something still doesnt seem quite right to me but thats personal opinion more then knowing anything. Summer will tell us a lot about whether we have 'progressed or regressed' in NC's abscence and frankly Benali walking around and an hours free parking isnt going to convince me we have moved forward without similar levels of investment as before.

He moved back into the number 10 position which released him to dictate the play

He was touted around the season we come up yes

GK - Hart, Forster, Foster Def - Baines, Walker, Clyne, Shaw, Jones, Jagielka, Cahill, Shawcross Mid - Lallana, Milner, Gerrard, Wilshere, Barkley, Henderson, Cork, Chamberlain Str - Welbeck, Rooney, Sturridge, Lambert Jay Rod, Caroll, Townsend, Lampard all on standby

Last time this happened Wilshere wandered all over the place, which is pretty ironic considering thats usually Gerrards trait, Gerrard and Cork would be excellent

Cant really argue with this other then Roy will look at Carroll or Lambert. Two very different players despite what some of the papers say. In Lambert you have someone who is very techincal, will probably shield the ball well (he certainly does in the PL) and find his team mates but in Carroll you have someone a bit pacier and that will cause havoc. Potentially both are usefull. Lallana will be on the plane make no mistake about it. As for Jay, itll be dependant on him keeping banging the goals in until the end of the season, Welbecks form and potentially how they both play in the friendly. I certainly dont think that Welbecks as bad as is often made out but arguably Jay Rod is more in form and now has that golden ticket as he can be part of a group of players called up.

He dropped back into the No 10 role on sat, hence why he looked infinately more effective, not entirely sure the whole Ossie issue got in the way of him personally as he was pretty much disliked by much of tye squad

Exactly this, in reality most intelligent people realise that immigration isnt the devil at play that many believe it to be, in fact it is positively vital at certain levels. The problem is completely ignoring it and removing peoples voice on the subject sows the seed of discontent and even hatred. Spend any time in the main industries that have been effected by immigration and you will see far more racism and even hatred then there was say 10 years ago. I dont agree with it, in faxt it upsets me the levels that some people speak but all in all its been caused by a refusal to believe an issue exists and has caused a bigger devide than actually tackling the issues head on

Its evolved into something completely stupid. You were meant to do a short video of something interesting, daring, bit crazy then down a pint and nominate someone but its just gone rediculous over the last year or so

Without significant and ongoing investment I cant see that we are going to push on to the CL level, Europa league is definately achieveable as early as this season but you do have to wonder whether or not its a real objective this year now. If we find ourselfs playing on too many fronts I think that the damage would be obvious to our team that already works extremely hard. The main thing will be to keep hold of our prized posessions. Atleast for the next couple of seasons if possible. Should we have to sell then we should be asking for stupid money if, as reported, we are financially sound. Moving on we need depth. We desperately need a top level striker IMO and probably another CB on the same level as Lovren. We have also seen how important Boruc is so thats another area of concern. Top four is not completely out of reach for anyone but it would take a phenominal effort, massive investment and probably a poor season from one of the established sides.

Pretty sure Januzaj has plumped for Belgium

Its also 'fishy' that as soon as the Ossie drama started Falcao got his 'injury' clearly he has eyes on a PL crown with the super Saints next year. Just hoping that he can bring Silva with him as backup

Gerrards consistantly looked one of the better players for England for me but its no secret that I think he is fantastic and you do not so I suppose there is an element of Bias on both parts. I would definately say that after the WC we should be looking ahead to the next one and use the EC as experience for the younger players. That would be my choice, I think we are more or less on the same wavelength on this.