Donatello

Here, and on the bench (most likely).

*yawns* At any rate, it'd be a justified selection imo.

But how is his salary relevant to him having broken his leg? People (inc yourself now) are just spitting out nonsense hypotheticals. This isn't the 'I'd Do X For X Amount Of Money' thread

Anything that facilitates his position of Koeman being an overly defensive manager

Yeah, you're right, f*ck him.

Excuse the delay It can be taken into account, sure, but I still don't think it adds credence to the suggestion that we didn't score enough goals last year. There's *always* the potential to score more goals, but to what cost? (defensively) Ultimately, the highest point tally speaks for itself - and justifies whichever system Koeman used throughout the season. And reference the "third midfield position", how can Davis and JWP make 55 starts between them (in a 38 game season) in the same position? Answer: They can't, obviously, and for each of them to accrue those starts would indicating that one of them is playing *instead* of a defensive midfielder. An attacking move on the surface (the issue is effectiveness/ability of said players, but that limit doesn't suggest defensiveness by default). To summarise, I don't think Koeman's decision to play both JWP and Davis can be construed as what you perceive to be Koeman's negatively defensive mindset if he is choosing to play one of those two in place of a traditional DM. It's a toss-up between that selection, and that off replacing both JWP/Davis with a DM and an out-and-out striker/forward player (i.e. Juanmi/Long). Personally, I'm inclined to agree with you with regards to Juanmi - I'd rather Romeu start ahead of Davis, and Juanmi instead of JWP (i.e. the latter variation), *but* it's probably more prudent to play players accustomed to Koeman's tactics away from home/this early in the season. You only have to look at the home game against FC Midtjylland to see that the Wanyama/Romeu partnership isn't great yet. All that being said, he should've made attacking subs! Edit: P.S Additionally, and with regards to the style of last season, who was Koeman to play instead of Davis in AM? Djurijic? Yes, perhaps. Elia? Nope. Long? Nope. He simply didn't have the options last season anyway. P.P.S Injuries pending, I think it's possible that Davis won't hit 30 starts this season, and it's an almost certainty that JWP won't hit 25 starts. Again, dependent on Clasie/Mane fitness issues.

I'm not one for relying solely on statistics, but his work rate is clearly very good.

Chelsea scored 29 goals in 4 matches during on their way to scoring a record 103 goals. Is that achievement lessened because they scored heavily in a few games? Are we now to count only the first 3-4 goals per game or something? :S Point being, you'll find outliers in most (if not all) record breaking/matching seasons. Edit: Note, I agree, he favours clean sheets (and justifiably so), but I don't think it's fair to assert that we don't score enough goals under him. We could always try to score more, admittedly, but given the record points tally last season, I find it hard to swallow that the balance is too askew.

Didn't we equal our highest 'goals for' tally in the Premier League era last season?

Firstly, they can sing about who they want. They paid to travel there. Secondly, one moment (two songs) to acknowledge one of our greatest players. Thirdly, Mane was warming up and clearly readying himself to come on.

In VvD's defence, some smuck (I can't recall who) lost possession on our left flank, which then placed the back two under direct pressure (I.e. Rondon).

Steven Davis at his best I think my biggest issue with him and Prowse (removing ability from the equation) is that they both shirk attacking responsibility, 99% of the time opting for a lay off/safe ball, rather than trying to initiate.

The transfer fees which enable them to increase their salary considerably? The transfer fees they receive considerably loyalty payments from? Football clubs, because of the way success is engineered, are by and large loss making outfits (or they have been historically). I'm not convinced that a case for underpayment can be made in such an environment. Besides, no individual player can realistically claim a certain amount of responsibility for X amount of money generated, so their salary should only really be measured against that of their peers, rather than the billions generated/overall honeypot.

Faaaaaarrk off!

I see. So they ask you to write about every eventuality in order to appear correct? At any rate, I was only horsing around. Interesting to know how it all works though.

Are you sure? Connor says otherwise

I can't help but feel that you're overstating - Aston Villa, Newcastle, Norwich, and Watford don't have much to boast about either.

Cheers, Monkers.

You're pretty loyal to your nonsense posts

Don't listen to/read the interviews? I mean, they're not broadcast directly into your brain, *you're* finding them

Care to say that a third time?

This. I cannot conceive how someone couldn't understand this/his meaning.

He 'has' a Spurs 'contact'.