Donatello

Shelvey is almost three years older than him, i.e. unfair comparison. Barkley is simply a better player, and there's no shame in that. Reference interview participation, he's probably asked to do them/content is pulled from club interviews. I'm sure he'd rather spend his time doing anything else.

O....kaaaayyyy *adds to ignore list*/*puts out blue eyes*

I mentioned this (in passing) in the 'JWP needs a defense, etc, yada, yada, yada' thread. It's the one position where he's looked suitable. And as you've referenced, it provides some stability for Cedric to overlap. Ultimately, Prowse isn't ready to operate in the final thirds of the pitch, so it's the only position where I think he would warrant any game time. -------------Stek---------------- Cedric--Fonte--Yoshida--Targett ------Wanyama--Romeu------- JWP--------Mane-------Tadic -------------Pelle-------------- If no Wanyama, then Reed. If no Mane, then Juanmi. Maybe JRod/Long coming on second half to meet JWP crosses late on.

My schlong is bigger than your schlong, innit.

Diddums

One week ago, against FC Midtjylland. Get that memory tested, perhaps

Time wasting and an obsession with the ground (which I found more grating - if only because the ref tacitly endorsed it). Sounds like a great spectacle It's always interesting to receive a different perspective though (presumably from someone who follows the league in question).

I always thought he played best under Poch, as a right sided midfielder.

I'm not sure he needs to be defended. It sounds glib, but a player is only ever as good as his/her ability. So why would Prowse be to blame for not being a set standard? If he becomes a squad player for us (a Premier league team), where's the failure in that? England talk is nonsense propagated by excessively excited (we can all be guilty of it) press/fans/staff (in that order). Note, I'm making a distinction between 'criticism' and someone requiring a 'defense', I.e. anyone can be criticised.

I made no remark about their footballing style of play - you work with what you have. I'm commenting of their cynical tactics/game management.

Overreactionary, in my opinion. Our first 11 (Stek, Cedric, Fonte, Toshiba, Bertrand, Wanyama, Romeu, Davis, Mane, Tadic, Pelle) is more than good enough to stay up. The main issue tonight/this season is that once you expose our squad players, things *can* get dicey. And then Koeman strolls along and inexplicably plays formations which accentuate those weaknesses. He's had a mare start to the season - worse than any player. Whilst we are without first 11 players, we need to play our best remaining players (Tadic, Cedric, Long (maybe) - sounds obvious I know) in our most familiar formation (4-2-3-1). I thought he was switching to a back 5 to remove defensive pressure from our full backs, but he's actually hung them out to dry offensively (given their limited ability).

What does appeal to you then? Champion League qualification?

Two of them should've started. Hindsight or otherwise.

He seriously said that? (I've turned off) WTF?! You'd be forgiven for thinking he's lost it.

Without wishing to sound like a stereotypical arrogant fan of a Premier League club, I honestly can't believe that/this. I'm flabbergasted, not to mention crushed. I'm an optimist and prefer to cut people (managers, players, etc) slack, but Koeman's starting line-up has dumbfounded me - as has his reluctance to change it. I'm at a loss to make sense of what he has done here. Players with limited ability you can understand, but that was one of the worst managerial performances from memory. And the reluctance of the coaching staff (in light of his Koeman's injury) to get up off the bench and try to motivate the players irks me greatly. As an aside, FC Midtjylland are one of the most cynical teams going. And that referring performance was woeful. Neither excuse our exit of course, just makes me even more bitter

Has JWP just decided that he doesn't want to play RM anymore?

Mind-boggling.

Mhmm, this is what I alluded to in my post. Frankly, Martina and Targett aren't suited to play the wing back role, *but* they're receiving zilch in the way of support. Martina has had very little, Targett hasn't had any. Still, you have to work with the players available, which is why this formation doesn't make much sense.

Don't share that point of view at all. Martina has been fine for me - at least he's getting crosses of reasonable quality into the box. Targett hasn't delivered anything in that respect. Ultimately, we need to ditch this information *now*. It may work with the correct personnel (Bertrand/Cedric), but it isn't going to work with players whose pace is slow (Targett) to mediocre (Martina). In their (Targett/Martina) defense though, they're not getting much support - Pelle isn't going to run channels, and Rodriguez is only doing so minimally.

-Stek- Cedric - Fonte - Caulker - Targett -- JWP -- Romeu -- Tadic ------ Mane ------ JRod -Pelle- I don't think Caulker is as defensively sound as Yoshida at present, but his aerial presence for attacking corners dignifies the defensive risk - he's looked like scoring in numerous games (which I feel adds credence to the suggestion that JWP's corner are indeed quality, it's just that we haven't been attacking the ball well enough - note, I'm aware that Davis has been primary corner taker thus far, i.e. if Caulker can attack a cross from Davis, he can attack a superior cross from JWP). Long for JRod if it isn't working, with Tadic switching to the left.

Whoosh.

As above, Romeu was one of our better players.

He wasn't rated to start ahead of Schneiderlin and Wanyama. You can't possibly believe that statement about Clasie.