mrfahaji

Couldn't place where I knew the name from for a while... Funny how things turned out.

I don't think he does...! Abraham is the on loan striker, and he refers to "no better than last year" as well. It's not easy to decipher, but that aside his post clearly sets out a pretty damning argument against all the "but but clean sheets" claims.

Yeah why not - "no transfers can take place between English league clubs after X Date" would surely work. It then means if a team kicks off the season and realises their Danny Fox equivalent is not cut out for this level, or if they get a season ending injury in the first game, they do at least have a chance to do something about it. It just has to be from abroad. I'd imagine it would have to be 'English League' rather than 'UK' as it would be a league, rather than country initiative?

While clean sheet statistics do at least suggest our defence is abysmal, it can also point to cautious/negative tactics (especially when coupled with a lack of goals scored), or the other team being poor, or even the other team being unlucky. In my view, Yoshida is decent in the air (but not excellent), quick, and average in possession. He sometimes gets caught out of position. Stephens is weak in the air, good in possession, not particularly quick (though I could be wrong on that), and sometimes gets caught out of position. I think either of them are good enough to partner a commanding centre half, but together it does feel like a couple of weaknesses (heading, positioning) aren't sufficiently covered by the other. As much as I like the look of Hoedt, I'm also not sure he fits the mould of a player that plugs these gaps. On the flip side, I was about to claim we struggle against the big centre forwards who are also experienced or have good movement. The likes of Kane, Ibrahimovic, Lukaku... and then I realised that the majority of defenders in the land struggle against such players, so why should we expect Yoshida & Stephens to be different?!

No, I'm not either, wasn't exactly a serious suggestion...!

How about, the league has a 'pool' of agents/lawyers which is funded by player wages and/or clubs. These agents are paid a decent salary but not much if anything in the way of bonus/commission. Each agent is responsible for a number of players and negotiates contracts, to make sure the club don't take advantage of the players (which they would). If the players want to then pay an 'agent' to help with all the non-football/financial stuff (e.g. buying furniture, boosting image, sponsorship deals etc) they can, but they are excluded from negotiations between players and clubs. Not only would the new agents not yield such power, they wouldn't be puppet masters, but also all under one roof player wages would become a bit more standardised. It's a work in progress purely in the confines of my mind, and it's never going to happen. But one can dream - this along with team salary caps could fix our broken game!

No, he's Chilean.

Ottawan - D.I.S.C.O. J.S.G.A.O! He is J.S.G.A.O! He is J, just about legitimate He is S, slightly worrying He is G, going to mess it up He is A, adding to my anxiety He is oh, oh, ohhhhh J.S.G.A.O! he is J.S.G.A.O! I don't really advocate such a song, nor any song, about the new investors... Just hope they keep things going the way they have been, only adding investment to keep things ticking along or to improve the club infrastructure.

I think it's allowed to put hands up to block the ball from hitting your face though, isn't it? If nothing else because it's an instinctive reaction. However, I think the ball was actually going past his head and it still hits his arm. In which case, hard to argue it shouldn't be a penalty.

Sounds like a couple of defenders we already have.

Yes, sorry I wasn't saying they definitely are. Just that they started to use it a bit more towards the end of last season (we were discussing Wimmer a couple of weeks ago). Obviously Alderweireld & Vertonghen are first choice, but he was surprised Wimmer didn't get more time when they were injured, thinks he showed better promise at CB than Dier.

My best mate is a Spurs fan and thinks Wimmer is a good player. Is disappointed that Pochettino clearly doesn't rate him, especially if they're going to play 3 at the back. That being said, as Pochettino clearly isn't his biggest fan, I'd be disappointed if Spurs insisted on such a high fee and if we then agreed to it. He is, at best, a decent defender with some upside. Not sure that warrants a £20m pricetag.

Agree, I think the first would have been given as a free kick if it was on the half way line. But I wasn't surprised to see it not given; Swansea would probably say he made a meal of it and it woud have been soft. I didn't see enough replays to be sure on the second one, but it looked to me like when the ball struck his hand it was actually by the side of his head, not in front of it. I don't think it was an intentional handball, but if the hands moved towards the ball, in an unnatural position, the ball wasn't going to hit him (i.e. in the face) anyway, and in fact the ball would have been heading towards the goal, you'd think that would qualify as a penalty even if it wasn't intentional.

Didn't come across that way on the live commentary text I was reading.

It shouldn't be the case though, really. Not sure I agree with the attitude of "well so many people get it wrong, let's just say it's allowed now. Everyone wins." Well no they don't, some of us have actually bothered to learn or think during our lives. Soon we'll live in a world where "with regards to" and "I would of thought" are acceptable, and perhaps people will start adopting "I could care less" from Americans (not all of them...) too. The future is bleak!

We weren't actually that bad vs West Ham, people just got annoyed about the result. Randolph pulled off a few good saves, Gabbiadini missed a great chance after his amazing goal, yet at the other end West Ham's first was sloppy from our CBs, and Forster was terrible for the other two (as well as them being a little lucky).

Good insight, thanks. I must say it did feel like JWP was making a conscious effort to get into th box. He doesn't have that goalscoring instinct but at least it looks like he's working on the right things. Agree on passing risks. I know everyone likes to slag off our play last year, but I actually thought some of our play under Puel was neat, and I'm glad we seemed to have retained some of it - even if playing out of defence in small triangles makes me a little nervous! While you're right about the 'safe' passing today, I would say it was at least a bit better than last season. The ball didn't go back to Forster anywhere near as much as it used to for one thing. We also pressed more, which is another thing I was really hoping to see return. Only one game though, against a poor, unadventurous side, so too early to draw definite conclusions!

Yep, although I thought the problem was more that it was behind Cedric, so the whole move slowed down and they got numbers back.

I know the 'expected goals' thing is a debatable topic, but if you saw the BBC article they show the players who have the 'best' ratio of goals to expected goals - basically all the top strikers - and the ones with the worst ratio. Tadic had the worst ratio in the whole division last year. Not helped by his penalty misses no doubt! I like him overall though. He's the one player who can produce that inch perfect pass to set up a chance. Needs to do more, but I still feel a wave of optimism when he has the ball at his feet that I don't get so much with others.

One positive, I'm not sure if it's been mentioned, is the infrequency of the ball back to Forster. Yes, it sometimes went back, but only when there weren't any decent options. Last season we somehow managed to get it back to him when we were on the edge of the opponents box at times... My reaction from the match is one of frustration, only having 2 out of 29 shots on target and spending virtually the entire game in their half/third. That doesn't mean there aren't positives though, we played pretty well, could and should have scored at least a couple. The team seemed to know what they were doing both offensively and defensively. Trouble is, we've outplayed Swansea at home and haven't won. First game of the season, never mind, at least we're off the board, but we have a fairly decent start to the season so can't afford to have too many of these "one that got away" fixtures.

I actually thought the one towards the end was better. The first one came early in the game (which shouldn't be an excuse, but especially in the first game of the season I imagine it takes a little while to settle and get your eye in), it was fired fairly hard across, he was on his weaker foot and having to adjust his feet to get the angle right. Don't get me wrong, it's still a very good chance which he should score, but the one towards the end was perfectly rolled onto his left foot, and at the very least he had to hit the target with it, rather than curling it over.

I'm sorry but to call out all those players and say "only JWP looked an attacking threat" shows you are biased in favour of him. He showed some positive signs but was hardly standing out from the crowd, and also missed a very good chance don't forget.

In real time I didn't think it was a penalty, at his face and close range, but on replay I'm not so sure. Ridiculous that we haven't scored yet.

Yoshida and Tadic chances probably the best so far...

Redmond gets involved a lot but when it comes to the final ball often doesn't get it quite right. Tadic on the other hand has been quiet but now and again plays an exquisite ball. Hard to know who Boufal should come on for... but would also like to Austin now. Balls into the box would be a lot more worthwhile