melmacian_saint

The article further down does say United Kingdom, so might not be just England (even if there isn't a lot more there). Although I really enjoyed them going through, Celtic's last day drama in their group is suspicious. A very, very soft penalty to see them through in the final minutes of their game, while at Barcelona the locals fielded 2 of their usual 11 starting players and were passive the whole way through except for when Messi came on for the last 5 minutes and Benfica started to get desperate (after sitting back when Spartak Moscow equalized earlier). I hope we see some arrests in Lyon and Zagreb after that disgraceful show between OL and Dynamo a couple of years back.

Hopefully it's just a knock and will be fine for next Saturday...PLEASE.

If anyone was attacked and has evidence that allows to identify the aggressor then surely he/she can file a complaint at his/her nearest police station and see if this can be sorted out?? Oh wait...better put it on Twitter for a couple of minutes of fame and mayhem on the web. Warriors unite!

People moaned about protection given to Gazzaniga, but Hooiveld has got away with murder in this forum when compared to other players. Scharner may have won all the headers, but the only reason he won that one was because Hooiveld forgot about him (as he has done with EVERY single player he was meant to be marking this season), was too late coming back and made an attempt to reach the ball that would embarrass any Wessex League defender. You also can't expect Shaw to leave his coverage of the post before the ball has been headed in whichever direction. Unfortunately for us it was headed goal-wards and Maloney was there... However, the fact that in hundreds of corners that we've had since Jos has been introduced back to the side he's only posed an attempted threat in 1 or 2 shows how his aerial game is reduced to nothing in the Prem. He can't even impose himself on less bulky strikers like he kind of did with Carroll and unless that player forgets that he is dribbling the ball a la Jelavic then we better wish that Boruc really is the holy goalie. Yoshida and Fonte in particular very often create good chances from our set pieces and had been almost faultless when applying initial pressure on strikers. I was surprised that unlike when Fonte or Yoshida were to blame for a goal people where were quick to determine they were both not up for the Premier League, that lack of pressure on Scharner that cost us points against a relegation rival wasn't even mentioned by most people. I also don't see how people have determined that Hooiveld's performances are improving, he is making the same mistakes and showing the same problems, except we've got a much better keeper in now which has saved us from conceding a few goals in the last games that were flying in when Kelvin was in the side. Most chances actually come from Hooiveld's bad positioning/marking (see yesterday's top save in the 1st half). Another thing that strikes me is that generally both Yoshida and Fonte seem to have most of their worse performances when Hooiveld's pairing with them, rather than when they play together. Coincidence? No. Hooiveld is a tortoise, lacks coordination and he is literally the human version of a tree in terms of positioning. If you ever have a chance to look back at any of our games, you will see that whenever our back four don't look like a clear, organised line when we're being attacked, it's mostly because Hooiveld's coming back at a yard/decade. His defending style of simply following the ball rather than players is an atomic bomb for any tactics and does not fit with the modern, top-flight football where it's all about covering for player movements and positions. Truth is we should've signed a fit CB on loan until the end of the season to cover for Fonte's injury and let Hooiveld go. He is very, very out of his depth and not matter how unquestionable his professionalism and effort (he does come across as a good professional and person) if we asked any team in the PL if they would take him no one would, not even in an emergency loan. Even Adkins proved this: when all the other members of the back 4 were fully fit, he only gave him a mere 2 minutes against Reading at full-back. In fact look at most people's comments about him: it's never a general "he was good", despite the love-in it's never been more than a "didn't do much wrong". You cannot start a match in the PL for "not doing much wrong". He should not have made it past the January transfer window and is extremely unreliable for a full 90 minutes in this league. I enjoyed Fonte/Yoshida as they were very active in the team's passing game, hopefully Forren can do this too and we can rely on the 3. Injuries will happen so I'd expect them to get a lot of game time rather than just one. Don't understand how some people consider Hooiveld an option.

I think our approach is correct. We all get annoyed when we don't know about players injuries and stuff like that, but the press nowadays is less about plain information and more about selling ideas and more often than not this causes trouble especially in football. That journo at the Balotelli conference is just one of many in England and around the world. They're a bit like prostitutes, just they sell their brain rather than their lower parts.

Ok, so if the Trust's delusions take a twist to reality (remember you couldn't make this whole thing up!) this is their super ownership model running the club in League Two with another points deduction, an administration sorted out with about 5-7 mill of debt to be payed from then on, an empty squad list which if the deadline merry dance happens again will be nothing less than an attempt to beat the world record for signed papers in a couple of hours, wrecking havoc in any planning for footballing issues, a ground whose deterioration and reducing income makes it a dreadful burden for the club, and seemingly a high risk of internal conflict in the Trust itself. I'd sign that. I really hope we play them in one of the Cups next year (possibly the League cup because they will be facing this same situation come Jan 2014), so we can give them a proper send-off into pyramid obscurity.

At least their fans still pack the Parc de Saint-Jacques.

If we do get this Lens guy in then surely that's De Ridder on his way to the airport now?

If Fonte is not back from injury, just get Forren going straight away. We cannot play another PL game with Hooiveld on the side. It's just not possible.

Really good 2nd half, thought we deserved a point but unfortunately our lack of shooting threat in the rest of the team apart from Lambert let us down. Again Hooiveld stressed the need for Fonte to return quickly or for Forren to get his fitness sorted ASAP. Lost track of Rooney for both goals (arguable for the 1st one but 2nd goal he had no clue of Rooney's position once the ball was in the air). I think we should've considered a loan this winter at least to cover for Jose's injury and get Jos out of the team squad. Ramirez has been looking underwhelming and I now pretty much assume this season will not match expectations. Hoping a cracking next season though! Boruc showing why he was one of Europe's top goalies. Maybe not too late for him to be considered so again (or achieve such form)? We'll see, but that save from RVP was from the top of the top draw. The rest of the team looks solid but we need to get those goals coming and we need to shoot more, just not enough chances and we seem to want to walk it into the goal too much! If this happens we'll jet off from the relegation scrap into a comfortable mid-table.

Any ST holder will be able to get a ticket IMO!

Not surprised. Signed mostly for commercial reasons (add all the fan base stuff the fact he was still a national hero for scoring the only and winning goal in the Asian Nations Cup final a year before), showed he actually had talent, got injured and maybe the lack of adaptation didn't help his recovery process. I doubt he will be successful for us so it's probably better for him to go back to Japan and get his career going again. He comes across as an very, very soft version of Anders Svensson. Two players who are technically gifted and all-round really good players but seem to have soft and shy personalities, which means that they are only likely to show their absolute, full potential in their comfort zone (i.e.home countries).

Once again, Steven Davis PLAYED in that position for both Rangers and Villa. In fact, he played a UEFA Cup final in that position!! Let's hope MP at least figures that out as we try to give Ramirez a more crucial role in his best position.

I am Portuguese and can confirm that the correct pronunciation is "Font"

I fell in love with that ground of theirs. The terracing, the crammed seating on top of each other, the old style floodlights. Beautiful.

These figure are ridiculous. I can see a crunch reaching the football world soon enough. It won't be housing setting it alight but player value.

More importantly, are they finally playing this weekend?

Would be great to have a European tour once more decent opposition comes along. Also valuable European preparation if this club is to begin thinking about such quotas in the future.

I thought he did well for us. Think we was the kind of player that would only ever explode in his home environment, didn't seem to toughest guy mentally, hence why he spent most of his career in Sweden.

Given Fonte's seniority and the fact that he is part of the squad's backbone, I expect him to be our main starting CB when back to full fitness, with Forren and Yoshida alternating in defense. In fact I'd say Forren is coming in to replace Hooiveld as our 3rd CB, with another addition coming along in the summer. So, without injuries, I'd go for Fonte-Yoshida, and I'm sure Pochettino will have realized it from his research previous to January. Hooiveld is making the same mistakes with the only difference that he isn't getting punished for them. That foul on Fellaini (who he never got hold of during the game) just proves that he shouldn't be in the Premier League. He was miles ahead going for the ball but was just too slow and reckless and conceded a stupid foul. His aerial threat is also ridiculous considering his size. Both Fonte and Yoshida add much more not only to our build-up play, but are much more of a threat in set pieces. The team just flows naturally really looks like a unit with them.

Heard Forren is a month away from match fitness because of the Norwegian league break, is this true?

The question is why oh why didn't we sign him in July?

It seems Fonte is back in training. Probably fit for next weekend...

Do we know anything about Fonte's injury?

Tadanari, yes. Mayuka and Yoshida however were already in Europe so I believe there was a footballing sense behind their signings (particularly Yoshida who has been good IMO). As for Lee, I think he is not providing us with much now as while the mere occurrence of a signing attracts a lot of people from the country/region of the globe, once the hype from that does not transfer to him featuring regularly there's not a lot for the club to gain from keeping the player and it's clear there are others in front of him. I expect him to fly back to Japan soon enough.