Olallana

Skill? Clyne home against Aston Villa? JRod against Chelsea? Davis against Man C away, the counterattack? Morgan against Liverpool? Gaston against QPR was a bit skillful....

Comparing with Silva is a bit daft cause when he came to Man C it was his 6th year at the highest level. And for the sake of, he had 4 goals and 8 assists in the league. For Mata his first year in Chelsea was his 5th year at highest level. 6 goals, 16 assists in the league. In a top top team you will of course have more assists. For Gaston this is his 3rd year at highest level, and his first year he only started 16 games so he is more new to this level than those other two were. In comparison 5 goals, 3 assists are not THAT bad in a team that also has been struggling and when he´s been out for injuries and other stuff. EVERY year of experience at this level matters, much more than the age on a player IMO. Michu, yes bargain of the year. Hats off to Swansea and Laudrup for bringing him in. He has a lot of experience though but from lower leagues so maybe people should compare him rather with Rickie Lambert than with Gaston....

We are not safe yet. (and I haven´t followed this thread so perhaps someone already taken this angle before me) Which team would you wanna swap position with at the moment of the teams from 40 points and down? Fulham. Have Liverpool home and Swansea away. Tough games but can see them pick up a draw at Swansea but might be a nervous game depending of results this weekend. A maybe for me about a swap. Aston Villa Chelsea home, Wigan away. They are in form but if they dont pick up anything against Chelsea their final game can be very very nervy. Wouldn´t wanna play that kind of game away and to crazy Wigan. A small maybe but think not even though they are in good form now. Sunderland Saints at home, Tottenham away. This weekend is their best choice since we are quite goal shy at the moment but meeting us you never know what you´re up against. When we have our good days we are very tough to beat. And with 3 best goalscorers out of the team.... A no for me. Norwich West Brom at home, Man C away. Their best chance is this weekend but West Brom is also a team that can be brilliant or quite poor, what will they be this weekend....? Cant see them getting anything at Man C. Last game, home and hopefully good weather is always a good inspiration for the home team. A no for me. Newcastle QPR away, Arsenal at home. Obviously best chance at the weekend against QPR but can be tricky to play a team in their final home game and they might even want to show some pride to their fans....(yeah yeah I know, pride and QPR players......). Arsenal at home they historically can pik up points against but cant count on that and Arsenal is probably in a dogfight for CL spot. A weak yes but very weak. Wigan. Swansea at home, Arsenal away, Aston Villa at home. Yes they are in decent form and has shown they can score a lot of goals but still they need to pick up points and that´s easier said than done. Much is on tonight of course, if they dont win they will be in a tough spot and with a draw tonight, lose at Arsenal and win against Aston Villa put them on 39, I only see Norwich as the team they can pass then.... So for me, I wouldn´t make a swap but we need to perform like we did at Spurs, then I´m confident we stay up and maybe might finish 13-14th....

To the highlighted above....

That would be it yes.

Sunderland benefits from a more open game. More talent in the team.

The slight difference is that a draw tonight stops us to finish before Sunderland IF they win against us, lose at Spurs and if we then draw against Stoke. If they lose tonight a draw against Stoke can be vital for us.

thats for next week unless it´s a straight red today of course...

Dont feed the trolls

Meaning they have to win against us so they wont be able to sit back and park the bus, good for us IMO.

This game could use this referee..... from about 0:40 if you dont want to watch the whole video.

Is it one or two match ban for red card by double yellow? Thinking about if any Stoke player gets a red, referees likes to even it out during games...

If it wasn´t allowed they wouldn´t in that manner. I agree but the whole bench, 10 people jumping up and screaming and waving arms is ridicolous IMO.

Red of course but I hate that those kind of reactions from the bench are allowed and that FA never fine or do something about it.....

But the thing was that we didn´t perform well the last month under NA. We got some decent/good results but really only played well in one game. Sunderland at home, 0-1. No comments needed. Fulham away, 1-1. Dire dire dire, saved by a former Saints stupid handball. Stoke away, 3-3. Decent attacking, but gifts from Stoke on two goals. Then terrible defending, and the wrong guy in goal made us not win that one. Arsenal at home, 1-1. The good game in my view. Probably one of our better this season before MP. Chelsea at home, 1-5. Cup, didn´t play our best team but never a good performance. Villa away, 1-0. Better result than performance, lucky that Benteke in these weeks were off form and couldn´t score. Chelsea away, 2-2. Battered completely in first half, should´ve been 4-0 to Chelsea. Lucky to get away with a draw, only had two good oppurtunities and luckily we scored on both.

Welcome to the 21st century where the tools for watching and analyzing football games are "slightly" different to when you were young..... And why mention Redknapp, a manager that arrrives 15 minutes into the game and leaves 15 minutes before the game ends, when it´s his own team playing!!!

Unfortunately I think that was a space that Morgan would have been in to cover Luke when Bale cuts inside...

No MOTM polls last weeks/month?

You forgot to start the sentence with "listen".

well THAT`S pushing it a bit, dont you think my friend? They could have easily lost 4-0

I did not know we won against Wigan and Norwich under NA.....jeez I have to follow the results better....

Sunderland will overtake us if they win next week whatever their result against Stoke is and I was playing the worst case scenario that we dont get any more points. Which I think we will do though.

One could also argue that MP has inherit a team with to little depth at striker position...? Just making the point that you can argue this or that way about probably everything....

Norwich not winning against WBA would almost seal it.... Newcastle might get something of Arsenal rather than Norwich getting anything away at City.

98-99% I would think??