mrfahaji

I think a lot of the time it's about whether you spend the time to get the intracacies of the sport. One of the things that makes football so brilliant is it's accessibility and how easy it is to follow/understand - although of course there are also intracacies, as the debates on here will testify! I've never been a fan of rugby, there's just something about it that doesn't appeal to me. And if I do ever see it I think it's pretty boring unless it's in the dying minutes with one team knocking on the door. But that could be said about any sport! I can't sit through hours of golf but I can watch the final green of the masters, I can't sit through a cricket game but would watch the last couple of overs with one team needing 10 runs to win. American Football is a sport which I initially thought was awful, and then I started to show a bit of interest in it (a good friend followed it), before making the effort to learn about it and get into it. Now I think it's a great sport. Not a patch on Asssociation Football from a 'game' perspective, but from a competition perspective it's hard to knock the NFL while bigging up the Premier League. I saw one of the final "NFL Shows" with Mark Chapman the other day and Osi Umenyiora said "if I was a gambling man, I would put all my money into the NFL, because the product is just too good. The teams who aren't meant to win WIN, the teams who look unbeatable LOSE - anything can happen and everyone has a chance." Not sure we will ever be able to say that about the Premier League, because the priorities are all wrong. But back to the original point - most sports (and things in life in general) become more rewarding the more time you take to learn and understand them. Still hate rugby though.

Pretty damning that you've said this when a few weeks back the Leicester game was the worst anyone had ever seen, and earlier in the season the Watford game had been the worst many had seen for years...!

Mauricio Pellegrino is ok in your book then?

I think this is why the manager has to go, too many false dawns. We might get the odd win here and there but we need to put a run together. In our position there should be no such thing as a “free hit” fixture, but like some fans the board will probably see this result as such and not look beyond the scoreline. Liverpool can be sublime on some days, but they can also be vulnerable on others. Sad that we didn’t even put it to the test which one it was today.

WBA performance hinted at the squad having a bit of fight, and the WBA result should have given us a bit of confidence. At home to fellow strugglers is always a pressure scenario but at home to Liverpool, especially with the needle of all our ex players, was a chance to have a go, with new found confidence and without the pressure. The fact we were so abject and our main aim appeared to be to keep the score down shows the manager hasn’t been able to harness or build on the positives from last week, and we once again reflect the boss’ fear and caution.

Me neither. I dislike nearly all the English teams in it (and several of the foreign ones too), and I hate what it represents (i.e. money, unlevel playing field, plastic fans). When it was on ITV I would occasionally watch a match if there was nothing better on, but now it's on BT there's no chance!

I don't think there needs to be a winter break as such, just maybe fewer games over that period! Don't understand why it always has to be one extreme or the other. Saints played 7 matches between 10 December & 2 January, and 4 games in January in total. First of all, is that really that bad? It's only a couple of fixtures more than once a week! Secondly, depending on how important tradition is, why not just say "no midweek fixtures", apart from Boxing Day/New Year's Day, which are SWAPPED with the weekend fixture instead of added to them. You'd end up losing 2 or 3 games from the schedule, which would mean no fixture pile up over Xmas, but equally not be too hard to reschedule elsewhere in the Calendar. But no, we have to discuss taking weeks off because Pep and Jurgen want it.

True, but for me that's the reason to keep the option open. And it's still an opportunity for the likes of Rochdale and Notts Co. Maybe even a Championship club in debt would like/need a pay day at Old Trafford. But because it is quite rare - most fixtures are between Premier League clubs and/or Championship, most of whom don't want an extra fixture, then in most cases there wouldn't be a replay. Essentially it's an arrangement which allows for the positives but doesn't bring with it any negatives. And if it is so important for Tottenham (for example) not to have to face an extra fixture against Newport, maybe they'll just have to make sure they win first time out ;-)

In one of the lower league cup competitions (at least form my experience playing Football Manager as a team in the conference...), teams are asked ahead of the fixture whether they want to end the tie on the day (i.e. ET & Pens). If both clubs declare they want to, there is no replay. But if one team declines, then there is a replay as per usual. I think this would be a good rule as it would mean the small teams can benefit by drawing with a big team and getting a replay, but if both teams are in the same boat, wanting to avoid fixture congestion, they can.

I believe the rule states he isn't offside unless he makes an attempt to play the ball. It is a ridiculous rule, made even more so by the fact that once the defender plays the ball they are no longer offside (though I'm not sure where the line is between deflection & deliberate pass). Stupid rule, but it is the rule nonetheless. I remember a similar debate in an Arsenal-Spurs game 2 seasons ago, when Wimmer scored an own goal despite Arsenal players being stood offside waiting for the ball. Puts defenders in an impossible position.

Well the medical team should know exactly where his weak spot is on the ankle...

A friend of mine was reffing a local game once and starting copping a load of flak from one of the parents - Steve Wigley. Apparently he was a right d1ckhead.

Was poor from Lallana to end things the way he did, but van Dijk had been, at best, "not trying very hard" for a whole year before he got the move. Lallana did at least give his all for us while he was here, and I think he slightly regrets the way in which he handled the move (emphasis on slightly). Still don't like him, just comparing him vs VVD.

It'd be interesting to see how many shots from free kicks we've had in that time, and how many each have taken...

Glad to see you've started another "Lawro on MOTD" thread after your last one didn't get any replies.

Been a long time since I’ve been hoping for Spurs to score. What a beautiful end to that game!

Just saw a comment/text/tweet on BBC: “I don’t understand why Newcastle are so negative every time they go ahead in a match.“ Isn’t Benitez Pellegrino’s biggest influence?

I've seen a fair bit of Hoedt showing good leadership skills. He seems to do a lot of talking/shouting/telling in the backline too. Of course, other people could just see that as having a moan at his teammates, but it tends to look like more 'constructive' criticism to me. My main hope with Pellegrino is that eventually the right team selection and right tactics will dawn on him. Should have happened a long time ago, but in the same way that he eventually stopped playing Redmond and Forster and has clearly realised this was for the best, perhaps he can do the same with other factors, like playing Lemina.

Wouldn't surprise me if we beat them on the last day, as they will probably be champions already. Of course, we will probably relegated already.

Apologies in advance for the long post, but thought it would be interesting to look over ALL our games this season and see where there were positives and where there were warning signs: Swansea (H) 0-0. Some encouraging things, but was clear Swansea weren't very good and that we should have won. West Ham (H) 3-2. A good first half, but dreadful second half, letting 10-men get it back to 2-2 and winning through a soft last miunte penalty. Huddersfield (A) 0-0. Not a terrible result, Hudds were on a high. Had a spell in the first half where we did well but were mostly outplayed and could've easily lost. Watford (H) 0-2. One of the worst home performances we've put in in years, certainly since our promotion. Palace (A) 1-0. Palace in all sorts of woe, but we had a great first half nonetheless. Second half they were much better and felt they could/should have got an equaliser. Man Utd (H) 0-1. Went 1-0 down early, was so easy. Just what you want to avoid against Mourinho. But played reasonably well after that, unlucky with a couple of chances. Stoke (A) 1-2. Poor performance. After getting back level with 15 minutes to go still found a way to lose. Newcastle (H) 2-2. Tried different tactics and started the game brightly, but from about 20 minutes on Newcastle looked the better, more purposeful side. West Brom (H) 1-0. Pulis sacked after this, they were dire, but nevertheless made it difficult for us. We had a few decent spells but looked to have run out of ideas mid way through the second half. And then Boufal scored a wonder goal. Brighton (A) 1-1. Started brightly and scored early. Kept the pressure on for a bit but couldn't get a second. Mid way through the first half retreated and eventually conceded and were fortunate not to lose in the end. Burnley (H) 0-1. Had more of the ball but didn't create much. Pope made some good saves but they tended to be from long range shots/set pieces rather than because we were creating lots of good chances. Burnley kept it tight until Dyche sniffed a chance of victory, changed it tactically and they scored/won. Liverpool (A) 0-3. Were keeping things tight for 30 mins, didn't look too bad until Tadic had a howler. After that we were pathetic. Everton (H) 4-1. An unexpected triumph. Charlie Austin finally given a chance and showed what we missed. Unsworth's Everton were hopeless, but we still did well. Man City (A) 1-2. Harsh to lose with the last kick of the game in the 96th minute. A respectable performance, plus missed a couple of glorious chances, but we also had to rely a little profligacy for them. Bournemouth (A) 1-1. Off colour for the first half, Bournemouth could have been out of sight. But second half was better, and felt we could have won it in the end. Arsenal (H). Really good performance for most of the game, but failed to capitalise and only led 1-0. Then sat back, deeper and deeper, until they inevitably equalised in the dying minutes. Leicester (H) 1-4. By all accounts made the Watford performance (see above) look respectable. Absolutely abysmal. Chelsea (A) 0-1. Decent first half performance, but evidence of Pellegrino not having a clue with regard to in-game changes. Forster cost us the goal but in second half he kept the score down. Huddersfield (H) 1-1. Pretty poor performance all round. Huddersfield were better for most of the game, save for a short spell after we scored. Tottenham (A) 2-5. Spurs put five past us and didn't even have to play that well to do it. Embarrassing. Man Utd (A) 0-0. Good, albeit defensive, performance away from home. Crystal Palace (H) 1-2. Decent first half, completely out thought second half. The equaliser was inevitable and all the wrong changes were made, an unforgivable loss. Watford (A) 2-2. Great first half, despite Watford being terrible. Led TWO (yes, two) nil. They changed things second half, we couldn't cope. Equaliser should never have stood but second half was ALL Watford, can't say they didn't deserve it. Tottenham (H) 1-1. Decent performance. Spurs not at the races, but partly due to our play. Terrible defending for their goal. We could've won it, but so could they. Sat deeper and deeper, as usual, probably due to heavy pitch & tiredness though. Brighton (H) 1-1. Pretty awful display. Brighton came with a plan to make things difficult, they succeeded. Rescued a draw but save for a 10 minute spell in the second half where we had some momentum, looked out of ideas and struggled to create anything. Cups: Wolves 0-2, horrendous display. Fulham 1-0 laboured to victory, had a couple of decent spells but second half was mainly defending and booting it clear. Watford 1-0 similar pattern to last game, except lessons were learnt and we defended a bit better against their big forwards. Of course, some people will dispute my one line summary of each game, but thought it'd be interesting to review the season so far and how many matches we've had with more than a fleeting positive spell, or without any major warning signs. I can count a handful of games where there were several positives and very few negatives - Everton, City, United (A), Spurs (H). And we only took 5 points from those!

Yep. Had we acted earlier in the season I wouldn't have been so sure about Silva - hell, I'm not even sure now - but if he can do with us what he did with Hull, in terms of points per game, that would still give us 15 points (assuming he arrived after WBA), enough to give us a chance of staying up. Unfortunately, a new manager would reinvigorate the crowd a little I'm sure, but we only have a handful of home games left. All our work is going to have to be going to relegation rivals places and beating them.

Anyone feel like the run of fixtures at the end of the season have an ominous feel to them? Puel to put the first nail in the coffin, local 'rivals' Bournemouth to put the next, and for us to be mathematically relegated when Theo Walcott scores the winner against us.

Well I put a bet on relegation after Burnley. Mainly because I thought the odds were too long given how poor we were, even though I didn't actually think we would go down. But the fact that was even a consideration tells me that's when. But if not, then the apparently abysmal (I had the fortune of not seeing it) display against Leicester should have been the final straw. I started having doubts after Watford (H) in September though...

We need some Bold selections. Don't want to see anything airy-Fairy out on the pitch.

He was horrific that day! But I'd never lost hope on him, because when he first joined he immediately stood out as having a bit of class. In the same way that Lemina did, and also Gabbiadini.