SaintStinger

Never liked this guy from the moment he scored and ran straight to Pellegrino pointing his finger, ignoring the fans, just to make a point. His point being that he can score goals like that so should be starting games regardless no doubt. Terrible attitude and not good for the squad or manager. Someone mentioned above that he would of been a Koeman signing. I expect that his attitude would have been different if Koeman didn't leave. We know he would drop Mane on a couple of occasions for being late, even though we needed him really. He also shipped Safir Taider straight out after only playing in one friendly saying he had the wrong attitude. So Puel and Pellegrino were too soft, yet i think both were brought in as yes men, men that made sure expensive signings actually played regardless of attitude or form. Not good for anything if players call the shots. Hughes coming in seems to making it clear that he will play who he wants. Our expensive new signing has been dropped (which needed to happen tbh) and i'm not surprised Boufal is crying. He's not getting his own way again.

Classic Long first touch.

Wouldn't surprise me. Remember when he scored then ignored everyone to run at Pellegrino pointing his finger? Seems he thinks he's the dogs danglies and deserves to start regardless.

Agree. The first half of the season is repeating itself. Austin fit but on the bench, we cant score, bring him on at the end when we're desperate. Then he get's started and starts scoring (as a lone striker, to those bringing up his mobility again) Then he gets injured. Now fit again comes back in and scores, then dropped to bench to be brought on when desperate. He needs to be starting games over any of the other strikers we currently have.

To be fair i've watched it again on motd2 and he looks to actually move out of the way altogether and just stick his leg out. So it was a pretty lame attempt to stop the shot and i'm sure Hughes will have had a word with him about that.

Players have died from being hit in the chest from balls hit at them very hard. It's happened multiple times and the most recent was just a few weeks ago. Look up Bruno Boban. It's obviously very rare and i'm not suggesting players don't attempt to block goal bound shots but getting hit in the chest by a football at full pelt certainly can and does cause serious injury and even death.

Garry Monk for me. Currently pulling Birmingham out of the relegation mire and hasn't been that bad anywhere imo. Still plenty to learn (he's younger than Eddie Howe) and makes mistakes but has the right attitude and i've no doubt he'll be managing in the prem again someday. I expect Hughes will stay though as i think we'll survive the drop.

Hilarious.

Unlikely Austin will last much more than a half, but i like that he's getting used at the start rather than throwing him on to chase a game. Get the damage done early!

Sadio Mané - So good on the ball, great pace and great finisher. Will always remember his record breaking super fast hat trick. Infact that game, when the ref pretended to take away his match ball at the end, was one of the few times i saw him smile. Shame he's gone. Graziano Pellè - Ended up being a bargain and took to the prem with ease. Lots of really good goals and the occasional lovely flick on. Never forget that worldy he scored against QPR, which totally overshadowed the stunner that Austin scored against us earlier in the match. Seemed to bring the best out of Tadic. Shame he chased the big money. Another season here would have been better for us and him. He hasn't had a look in for Italy since he left us. Steven Davis - A great server since our return to the Prem. And excellent passer and reader of the game. Time may not be on his side now as he's started to pick up the odd injury which he's pretty much avoided his whole career when you looks at the shear number of appearances he's put in. Still has plenty to offer imo. I can't leave this without mentioning Jay Rodriguez. The game he got injured he was on 17 for the season and was on a streak of 5 goals in the previous 4 games. Who knows what may have happened if things turned out different. Such a shame.

Maybe Man City will be too focused on winning everything else and put out their £500m reserve squad or something. Maybe we'll just have a real good game like last years LC final. Maybe Austin will be fit again.

Haha indeed. A bit of mud didn't stop Le Tissier making it look easy. First clip on here is a classic

Always sad to see a player of his ability leave the club, but glad the whole thing is over with now.

I'm going to repost a post from myself from the friendly thread a while back just before Austin got his first start. I should of posted it in this thread originally. All very relevant considering people questioning why fans like him still and still calling him crap basically. Plus his goals vids should be here The first paragraph was in response to him not being a proven prem player because scoring 18 goals for a crap team doesn't mean anything....

Back to slagging off Austin again are we? Or should i say the usual faces slagging him off. Him getting a few starts and proving them wrong (like he needs to prove anything) kept them quiet but now he's out for a bit back they come to tell us how crap he really is.

He's been called far worse than slow and championship standard by some posters on here for the last 6 months or more. A dog**** footballer, we only got him cos no one else wanted him, and Stern John had a better record are a few standouts. Also, whenever Austin didn't score in his usual 10 mins cameo it was because he's fat, slow and ****, yet Gabbi not scoring for 70 mins in the same games was only down to poor service of course. He got himself fitter recently as bit parts don't help match fitness or motivation to improve but fair play to him for working on it and basically forcing himself in our managers 1st team. I'm glad he's now playing, because, like i said in that friendly thread, he would be off in the Jan window and it would be totally our loss.

I knew Austin would start to score if played more. Also, Everton are really bad, hehe.

Oh and i forgot to add. I'm sick of the attitude of some of the players lately, misarable bunch that moan and whinge. No passion. I bet when Austin scores his next goal, he'll run to the fans and not straight to the manager to diss him for not playing him.

Not proven in anything more than a poor side? Same as Le Tissier then? He had a great season. How many strikers score more than 18 prem goals in a season? Very few and they were good goals against top defences too, including a cracker against us. He was worthy of that England call up at the time. He has abilities that we are lacking in our forward play, first touch, accuracy and bravery. He will never look for the foul which is what i hate about Long and Tadic, get in a good position then fall over. I really don't get some fans dislike of him, and some of what i've read is mind boggling. His backstory is one of a kid playing part time while bricklaying, and was spotted by Eddie Howe who couldn't bring him to Bournemouth because of the embargo so told him to sign for Swindon for his own sake. A kid who even after playing for a season still couldn't believe people wanted his autograph. Who would get all the sunday papers to see his name as scorer in the results section. He's not stopped scoring since, and made a mug of every defence in every league on the way. He wasn't bred out of an academy, thus alien to us working class like most these days. He's very much a Lambert in that sense. He signed for us not because we were the only ones interested but because his mind was made up instantly when we showed interest. He didn't want to go anywhere else. I believe that a run in the side will start the goals flowing, i really do. This is the first time in his career, barring injury, that he's not been scoring, but it's also the first time where he's not starting games, and it must affect him. He clearly lacks match fitness. Everyone always says players need a run, and it's true. Look at Yoshida. We also say that strikers that are starting but not scoring need a break, or dropping for a bit (ala Pelle) yet Shane Long gets the nod from the Manager and a lot of peoples first 11's before the games lately. Shane Long has the worst first touch i have ever seen, falls over when getting into good positions (completey lacking the bravery that Austin has) and simply isn't scoring goals and at no point would you expect him to either. Him being on the pitch and running really fast chasing everything (before falling over) isn't working, and we're still not scoring goals so Austin needs to start over him, even if it means the manager changing it up a bit to suit. Something the manager seems unable to do, thus we contionue to not score goals. Start him for a bit then if nothing changes then slag him off and blame him for eveything instead of doing it now when he's a bit part. He's only been on the pitch totalling 1 full game this season. He's just scored a hatrick in a friendly (to give him game time i assume) so start him next game otherwise i dont see the point. Kinda reminds me of Le Tiss back in the England friendly, grabs a hattrick in a b game but still no look in. Dumb ass Hoddle. He's still only 28, he's not past it and if he left he'd be banging them in elsewhere. I want him to do it here. Anyway, i just want him to get a few starts, a little run in the side and see if our luck in front of goal changes. He has some cracking youtube vids too How can you not like these goals! Best 100 goals Prem goals for QPR

How many minutes has he been on the pitch this season though? About 90 mins total? Of course he's looked off the pace.

Not the first time he's scored in a friendly this season but he will still only get his 10 min cameo to try and score when the rest of the starters fail to find the net yet again in the 80 mins previous. Just like pretty much every game this season.

So it seems. Ah well.

Bet Brighton fans hope Austin doesn't add to the 6 he's put past them in the past. Hopefully he at least gets his usual 10 mins, unlike at Huddersfield where he didn't get on the pitch, so couldn't add to the 7 he's on against them. I'm sure they were glad about that.

Great player and always linked up well with the other strikers we had that did a job for us, Barnard, Sharp and JRod.

Slitting the throat of an animal and letting it bleed to death, stunned or not, doesn't sound as humane as possible to me. The RSPCA seems to think that not all halal meat sold in the UK is pre stunned anyway. I think a bolt to the brain for an instant death is far more humane and like i said, i'm betting the majority of the public would think so too. If they knew about it. I'd like products and menus to be clearly labbeled, giving the public and informed choice on what they eat.