syd_barrett_saint

Obviously no one thinks that all/most fans dislike Guly because of racism / xenophobia. But at the other end of the spectrum, it is impossible to claim that all fans who dislike Guly are discriminating against his colour and/or nationality (and people who get outraged at the suggestion should question why). It isn't as black and white as that.

Lol. Can always rely on Bearsy to hit the nail on the head in a comedy style.

Exactly, when we changed to 4-4-2 after the first Wigan goal (which was the first time Wigan had really threatened all game, and came just after Lambert had almost put us 1 up with a trademark header), it was embarrassing how easily could then keep the ball. They had us chasing shadows. 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 is the way forward, but we desperately need some pace and trickery on the wings. As much as I like them as players, Guly and Rodriguez aren't working out there. Perhaps Lee could (and maybe putting Lallana back on the left too), but we also need a couple of players like Ramirez and Phillips to make it really work. And of course another CB, maybe a LB too as I don't think Fox is able to support the man ahead of him enough either, to create the much needed 2 on 1 situations down the flanks. Oh, and unlike last week, Guly was indeed poor today, terrible ball retention and not much came off for him. But HE DID chase back when he lost the ball. People who say he is lazy must be blind. But at the end of the day, hopefully soon, Guly will just be back up to Lallana in the attacking central midfielder role, with faster/trickier players on the wings. PS - PLEASE CAN A MOD/ADMIN MAKE ME A FULL MEMBER. I PAID MY SUBS OVER A MONTH AGO, AND YOU IGNORE ALL MY MESSAGES! Thanks.

Lambert in the middle and Guly on the right was the change I was hoping would happen for this game. Seems quite sensible to me.

I lived in Brazil for 6 months in Belo Horizonte and visited many parts of the country, including Sao Paulo (where Guly is from), Curitiba and Rio, and all understood my (Argentine) Spanish. Maybe Carlos speaks Spanish from Spain and they had problems understanding that? I also deal with Brazilian tourists most days in Buenos Aires and they all understand me in Spanish. Though maybe those from further north in Brazil or more remote areas might not, I guess. Skintsaint, while you are here, I'll use my last post of the day to repeat this: Please make me a full member again (or let an admin know if you can't do that as a mod). I paid my renewed subscription via PayPal ages ago. Thanks!

Also, Gazzaniga is from Murphy, Santa Fe in Argentina, and Ramirez is from Fray Bentos in Uruguay, which if my geography serves me right are only about 150 miles apart. They were practically neighbours! (in South American terms... 150 miles is nothing). Besides that irrelevance, Uruguayans and Argentines share basically the same culture, and they are similar ages and share similar experiences (coming to Europe young to play football), so I would say there is a fair chance they will get on :-) Oh, and can a mod/admin PLEASE make me a full member again. I paid my renewed subscription via PayPal ages ago. Can a full member who sees this please private message a mod/admin for me, as I don't think I can as a registered user.

Most Brazilians can speak Spanish, all can understand it - Portuguese and Spanish are very similar languages, though Portuguese is more complex, so generally Portguese speakers can understand/speak Spanish (or at the very least, Portunol), whereas most Spanish speakers struggle with Portuguese.

When a player does as well as Guly did today, and almost everyone recognises it (including people who are not his biggest fans), and then someone comes on and says we were playing with 10 men with Guly in the team, you have to admit that either that person is a blind idiot, or has some other kind of agenda. And for me, it is difficult to believe someone could be so idiotic, so the possibility of some other agenda comes into play. You are either naive or ignorant if you think that racism isn't something to do with some fans' negative views of Guly. Or xenophobia at the very least.

Saying that after today's game shows that you're a ****in' idiot and/or racist. IMHO.

Don't get me wrong, I am made up about our performance as a team today, but... It isn't just writing a player off after one game defending against some of the best attacking talent in the world. Fox was a liability at the back last season too. He is the weak link in the team for me, good delivery most of the time I agree, but that's it. Poor positioning, failed Hollywood balls and defensive errors... not just today, but in the league below against far worse players.

Bearsy, you seem to be the guy in charge around here, any idea why I haven't been made a full member of the forum again when the membership fee was taken from my PayPal weeks ago?

Guly and Fonte will be able to speak Spanish, or at the very least Portunol. And most people from Uruguay also understand Portguese anyway, due to being sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil. So with Gazzaniga, Guly and Fonte he'll have enough help to start with :-) If he signs, I'm thinking of popping over the river from Buenos Aires to Fray Bentos and walk around with a Saints shirt with Ramirez on the back :-)

Is an admin person reads this, why am I still only a registered user? I paid my subs by PayPal. About a month ago I guess. Can someone alert admin here, as I don't think I can send PMs as only a registered user, right?

Great read as always, but... I know 13th place is unlucky for some, but one of the teams has to finish there. Not too keen about having to share 16th place with West Ham either ;-)

http://www.thefirstrow.eu/watch/131375/1/watch-great-britain-vs-brazil.html (to watch online, for those of us abroad or away from a TV)

Jack Butland also just came on, will be interesting to see if he is as good as they say!

Argentines can only apply for Spanish citizenship if they have a Spanish grandparent, or great-grandparent if a parent already has the citizenship through that route. I would guess that the same goes for Italian citizenship for Argentines (in fact, there was more Italian immigration to Argentina than Spanish). I know Argentines with European passports from all over the old continent, including Poland, France, Croatia and Germany. Always good to have an escape route if all goes tits up here again!

I bet you're popular in SF!

But isn't Buttner currently a left back that can perhaps also play left midfield? Whereas Jarvis is a winger. I don't think it's a case of one or the other.

Francis Benali is merely the small protrusion into our 3D world of a massive many-dimensional creature. This is the only dimension in which said creature has scored a goal into the correct net.

Well, making Dzagoev my captain turned out to be pretty inspired :-)

Nice. Blaszczykowski is looking good.

So, who else has Lewandowski in their team then? :-)

Again, we'll have to agree to disagree. If we get a good RM in (which we do need, it isn't Guly's best position, and Chaplow blew hot and cold even in the Championship), then Guly will get less games of course. But unless we strengthen well in attacking midfield positions, Guly will still be involved a lot next season. At the moment this is all hypothetical though. We'll see when we know our squad going in to the new season.

You think Guly is a passenger. I don't. Many people think he is a passenger. Many don't. Time will tell. I will in fact be happy if Guly is phased out, because that would mean we will have had an excellent transfer window and would go into the Prem with a very strong squad. Here's hoping!