Wes Tender

Well considering that 6 of them were from playing Arsenal the figures look much worse than they were, especially when we only lost by a goal to both Man City and Man United. But on the flip side, we also scored 5 goals in those matches compared to the solitary two we have managed in four matches against much less illustrious opposition.

I have the points for each manager over the 20 game span since Pochettino arrived and the corresponding number of games before Adkins departed. Pochettino - Won 5, drew 9, lost 6 = 24 points Adkins - Won 5, drew 7 lost 8 = 22 points Therefore with the expenditure of £30 million extra and the additional experience of playimg in the top flight, the difference between them thus far is just two points. Mentioning individual matches where one manager won and the other lost works both ways, as Adkins managed to beat Newcastle 2-0, whereas Pochettino lost 4-2, Adkins beat QPR away, whilst Pochettino lost 2-1 at home for example. In many matches where each played the same team the results were the same, although of course there was home advantage favouring one or the other. Pochettino hasn't yet faced Arsenal, whereas Adkins played him twice, with one creditable draw. Naturally they haven't faced all the same teams twice, but overall they have each played a similar fixture list and the difference between them comes down to just a win instead of a draw, or two extra draws instead of losses. If I've added it all up correctly, Adkins' team scored 6 more goals than Pochettino's, but let in 12 more, although 6 of those came against Arsenal right at the beginning of the season, who Pochettino hasn't played. Pochettino's team has let in one more goal than they've scored, 22, whereas Adkins has a goal difference of -7, but as I say, 6 from Arsenal alone. The next level?

That's what I said.

Is our points total under Pochettino since he arrived better than for the same number of games under Adkins before he left then? Surely that is the acid test, rather than a comparison of the first 4 matches of last season against this to gauge whether we have improved; especially when the financial outlay on players recently is taken into consideration?

In which matches is possession not key? If a side doesn't have the ball, they can't score goals. Our trouble is that we often have better possession stats, but fail to make it count.

So Schneiderlin's 5 goals last season must have been long range shots, as Cork's defensive frailties didn't allow him to maraud upfield last season? And as far as I can see comparing Cork with Wanyama, he is better at passing the ball than Wanyama and better at winning it back and generally puts himself about quicker, closing down and intercepting. But if you think that those attributes wouldn't change anything at all, then fair enough.

Well, Wigan had been in the top flight 7 years longer at that time.

I'd hazard a guess that the difference between them then and now can probably be summed up in two words. Romalu Lukaku.

Well, if you don't think that playing three of the top four teams in the first four fixtures to be the toughest start, then give me your alternative tougher list with the teams and dates. I might be mistaken, but I don't believe that there has been a starting fixture list where another team had to play three of the top four teams in the opening four matches. Why we were poor in those other games was a combination of lowered confidence after the first four games, a learning curve after a baptism of fire in the top flight having just been promoted and the absence of Cork. Improved results coincided with his returned to fitness. You might be overjoyed at the 5 points in four games, but considering the opposition and only two goals, excuse me for not being overwhelmed with optimism. And defeat by the mighty Wigan might well be compared to defeat this time around by the mighty Norwich, taking into account the level of expenditure we made these past two seasons.

Any team is capable of beating any other, but if all the teams are capable of producing equally hard games, perhaps we ought to clasify them all as gold games instead of gold,silver and bronze. But does anybody disagree that we had probably the hardest starting fixture list since the inception of the Premier Division last season and that therefore this year's is naturally seen as being considerably easier in terms of the stature of the opposition? So we got a few more points in these opening four games than we did then. But last year we got that difficult opposition out of the way early, so had a run of easier fixtures to come later on. We didn't have too bad a fixture run in to the end of the season either and yet we weren't firing on all cylinders then either, with a sudden goal drought similar to the one we start this season with, just 3 goals in six matches.

Just watched Big Fat Sam's comments on Schneiderlin's tackle, claiming that it was a red card offence all day long, how lucky he was to remain on the pitch etc. Well, BFS, you bloody hypocrite, what did you think about your player O'Brien's two footed tackle from behind on Lallana? Should he have gone off too, or should that only apply to the other team's players and not the thugs and cheats in your own team? Any comment on the gamesmanship of Nolan, fooling the officials over his deliberate handball, Sam?

Conversely of course, by the same token, it was tactical genius bringing on Lambert and Davis who both scored against City. And I thought you didn't rate Puncheon, or was that somebody else? Funny really that when Cork came back from injury, we all of a sudden started to become a team letting in fewer goals and winning more and yet he isn't good enough this season. Well, if you've spent that much on a player like Wanyama to improve the midfield, you'd be a fool not to play him every game, wouldn't you?

Well, there we differ. Scoring 4 goals total against both Manchester clubs rates much higher in my estimation than scoring just 2 goals total in four matches against the likes of West Brom, West Ham, Sunderland and Norwich. Last season we were new boys, inexperienced in defence at that level, but scoring freely enough. We have strengthened the defence and gained experience and also strengthened our attack, so increasingly question marks are being asked about Pochettino's selection and tactics.

Cork might not be a goal scorer himself, but our chances of scoring increase with him playing, as he gives the ball away less frequently, wins it back more frequently and gets it forward more quickly than Wanyama. Is it just coincidence that Schneiderlin has been less affective without Cork beside him?

I'm with you on all this and would add a sneaking suspicion that Puncheon would have added something different. We had enough penetration and scoring opportunities and half were wasteful and the other half produced some exceptional saves from Jaaskelainen. There seemed to have been two clear handball penalty shouts and we hit the bar, so because we failed to score any, it looks a lot more worrying that we have had such a poor goals return from open play. It is a worry that Shaw goes off apparently carrying a knock every game, that Lallana also gets substituted when he's doing quite well and that Cork isn't deemed to be as good as Wanyama, or at least good enough to play some games to give Wanyama a kick up the pants to train to keep possession better. West Ham are one of the most cynical teams of dirty cheats in the division and considering how huge some of their players are, it really is amazing how little it takes to have them rolling around on the ground feigning a career threatening injury. Thankfully the ref wasn't always fooled by them, but they had at least a couple of brutal tackles on our players that appeared to be worthy of red cards. So a great result for Cynical Sam and his team of cheating, hoofing thugs, with three key players absent, but two points dropped by us with supposedly our strongest team available and increasingy a worry. For all those consoling themselves with the thought that we are a few points ahead of where we were this stage of last season, it is worth reflecting that we scored 4 goals against the likes of City and United last season, compared to the likes of Norwich, Sunderland, West Brom and West Ham and although we have a much tighter defensive record, we have gone totally off the boil at the other end, despite allegedly strengthening the team.

He has so far come across as a level-headed lad, so there is no reason to suspect that he will go off the rails. If he were so inclined, then his head would have been turned by the opportunity to have played for any of the top four glory clubs, yet he decided sensibly to commit his immediate future to us. It seems that the coaching staff that we have in charge of the academy players instill a great attitude into their charges, as well as playing ability.

If nobody knows who it is, how does he get the royalties?

I agree. Here's one though.

I agree about the weekend market at Chatachak. It is HUGE and sells pretty well everything. I also agree about the Lemon Grass restaurant, which is a bit more expensive than some, but nice authentic old atmosphere. Also worth seeing is the Floating Market. Not the one in Bangkok, which is a Disneyfied copy for the tourists. The real one means an early start and a bit of a drive well out of Bangkok. But when we visited it, we did the River Kwai the same day. The bridge itself is nothing special, but the War Graves and the museum are a moving experience.

This is as close as I could get to anything contentious. Why shouldn't he be able to trouble the world's best defences? Which ones are we speaking about? And surely the defences of glory teams in the Premier Division are comprised often of players equally as good or better than those representing most national teams and he has managed to score against those. And when they say that he seems unlikely to trouble the world's best defences, troubling them isn't exclusively to do with him scoring goals himself, as he is also eminently capable of providing the assists to provide others with the scoring opportunities. Or isn't he deemed capable of that against the top teams either?

You're quite right. Understandable that the majority of their readers are plastic fans who want to read about the glory teams and big name players, but sports journalists are supposed to be professionals, employed because they have some expertise and can back up their opinions with encyclopaedic knowledge gained through knowing the game inside out. So it really is incredible that SRL can be the Premier Division's top scoring Englishman and these journos somehow failed to recognise the facets of his play that had made him successful. It really is a sad indictment of their ability.

....

As your mates are glory hunters, then their opinions aren't worth consideration anyway. If they support those three teams you mentioned, then the irony obviously escaped them when Ashley Cole, Lampard and Gerrard are all older than him, also lacking pace and players like Cleverley are crap. Apart from Rooney, is there an English striker better than Lambert available from the glory teams? And although he is so old, crap and lacking pace, nevertheless he has managed to score goals against the Premiership Glory teams. I'm not sure about Liverpool, but certainly Chelsea, Man Utd and City.

I derive enjoyment from it. Oh, shame on me; it's cruel to mock the afflicted. I'm no better than the Victorians poking sticks at the inmates of Bedlam.

What the idiotic halfwit Skate doesn't seem to realise, is that Lambert put a goal past England's Goalkeeper and their Skate defence crammed full of internationals when he played for us in the third division against them riding high in the Premiership. So which way does the moron want to cut it? That James and their illustrious defence were crap, or that Lambert had something about him even then? He has since also scored goals against top international defenders playing for the glory teams of the Premiership too. I think that they must be jealous that they won't be able to afford such players as Ricky and Osvaldo within the foreseeable future.