DuncanRG

World class managers in the Premier League: Wenger, Mourinho, Moyes, Pelligrini. Others might end up that way - my money would be on Laudrup, Rodgers and possibly Pochettino.

Great to hear - as the article points out it's hard to fake this kind of stuff. Congrats to Adam on his engagement as well - hadn't heard about that.

Can we get di Maria's left foot?

I would if we lived in some bizarro universe where footballing performance was on a set trajectory and everyone progressed at the same rate. Luke Shaw is quite clearly an exceptional case.

Shaw's no different in that regard, but he has the pace. When Saints are in possession Fox's starting point is the half way line and he (very frequently) goes further up than that, which he just doesn't have the pace to do.

His positional sense - and lack of pace to make up for it - do leave a mess sometimes.

Indeed. If a run-of-the-mill, ordinary footballer like Luke Shaw can do it, why can't everyone?

Cortese does stay in the background most of the time, he almost never does interviews. He's no Whelan.

It's always easier to blood wide players earlier because they have less to learn in terms of positional awareness - and if they don't perform it's unlikely to have dramatic consequences. Baines perhaps had the benefit of being a teenager while Wigan were in the Championship. He was a little older and had some first team experience before he had a crack at the Premier League. I agree that centre half is one of the toughest positions to play as a youngster, next to striker and goalkeeper - which is why we shouldn't give Gazza so much grief!

We can all agree he needs to work on his direct goal threat, but he was still at the heart of a lot of our good play. Has greatly improved his defensive game since Pochettino came in as well - it was a great worry watching him and Fox in tandem early on in the season.

Spot on. He didn't have his greatest season last year - these things happen. He was still good, and can still be better this time around. He is quite clearly a vital member of the squad and huge figure within the club. On the captaincy issue, I think he's there as an example to the academy players. It doesn't make the world of difference that some think it does.

That's very true. But forward planning and all that, if the idea is Europe...

Not at all, the club want to sell him.

The most honest answer a football fan can give is 'I don't know', as the saying goes. Okay, that's not a saying, but it should be. Probably not regularly, but we'd have our four choices like the best teams do.

So begins the changing of the tide for the fickle fanbase. Not you specifically, but if he scores again we will be clamouring over him all of a sudden. Same happened with Rodriguez last year!

They'll still want to have it. Comparing it to what is the club's biggest source of income by a factor of 10 isn't really fair. If the club saw a drop of 20,000 they would react.

Thanks for pointing this out, I thought he simply wasn't selected. Interesting - haven't seen much of him but as with all our lads if the coaches think they're up to I'd like to see them given a game. No doubt that Fox is our second choice left back for now though. And on another note, how great is it that we as a club can be talking about 'the next Shaw' when Shaw is an 18 year old? Great or dangerous, of course.

Our track record for timing's been spotless since Cortese came in though.

The club says there's no truth in this It's the Sun who reported it, including the £350m figure. That'll help boost their sales on Merseyside...

Put down the liquor

Did Chambers and Isgrove start?

Just tuned in to see Mayuka's goal. Well taken but keeper could have done better I think. Still, great to see. How's the game been generally?

Hopefully another chance to get a look at Chambers then!

Of course Sinclair's better. Isgrove's never started a league game! I'd be interested in getting him in on loan.

That's a point, are Napoli still after Jackson Martinez? £22m is a staggering amount of money. Cortese will only pay it if he thinks it's fair, though.