The Fish

Already think there's too much attention on this kid. Sure, he's banging them in for the kids, but he'd probably be better off playing some league football outside the Premier League before we start pinning our hopes on him.

Found his level?

I don't think we can play 2 up front with the squad we've got available. Rondon has looked paggered about 70 minutes into every game, so why give him another 90 minutes to play? Why risk him in a competition we simply haven't the depth, nor league safety to take seriously? Our wide men have, to a man, been shit this season, so those two forwards would be starved of decent service, no? We've no creativity in the centre of the park without a fit Shelvey, certainly not now Ki has gone for international duty. I can't think of many teams that play with two up front anyway? Most play with one centre forward and a couple of attackers wide of him, don't they? And who've we got in that position? Rondon, Joselu, Muto and Sorensen? Only one of those is actually performing well in the Premier League. Why would you put two of them up front together? Beyond a Mike Basset "4-4-Fucking-2" twitch. Benitez could maybe have given Sorensen a go, but the kids he's faced for the U21s are a mile away from Championship opposition (let alone Premier League). He could maybe have made substitutes earlier, but the longer Rondon, Shelvey and Perez play on Saturday, the greater the risk they won't feature against Chelsea.

To be honest, £20m is not a lot in this market. Young, English, promising striker? I think they've got a decent deal there.

I believe that Kenyon wants to buy, I can believe his team penned that letter and I think Ashley would sell for the right price. Trouble is Ashley's "right price" is nonsense, Kenyon is not stupid enough to get fucked over by Ashley in negotiations and by the time it's resolved one way or another, the January window will be closed.

Happy New Year chaps

Comfortable 2 or 3-0 win for Liverpool.

Oh aye, cos I'm sure I'll be reclining in tranquility for the duration.

Loads of people seemed convinced we'd beat these because Jokanivc has them wide open at the back. Ranieri isn't Jokanovi and while we played badly repeatedly referencing the "worst team in the division" is myopic.

Mrs Fish had the 12 week scan last week, Little Fish is due at the end of June. It best not be late, I'm not sharing my birthday limelight with any mother fucker!

Happy Birthday Hadynator.

That's shit Strawb, condolences.

People round here are happy Mourinho's gone, have written this season off and are Wishing/Hoping/Expecting for Pochettino in the summer. Say Mourinho's the first manager in their lifetimes that thought he was bigger than the club. Think Woodward cares more about securing that important farming equipment commercial partner, than he does the results on the pitch. Man City fans aren't happy he's gone, but delighted Solskjaer's been appointed, even if it's only until the end of the season.

1-2 Fulham to shows signs of improvement under Ranieri. Our toothless attack to be our down fall again.

How's Gayle doing?

Wasn't playing in front of Almiron at Torino.

Got a good river if anyone needs one.

No Murphy which seems harsh. Atsu starts beside Perez. Fly out the blocks, grab an early goal, concede just before half time, invite pressure throughout the 2nd half, Wolves to win it.

Nah, my legs have gone, stick me in the Regista role.

Not the worst thing a sunderland player has done to a kid.

I'd definitely go with the back 5, I think Murphy deserves to keep his place, but maybe swap Atsu out for Kenedy? whoscored.com says they play 3-4-2-1 focussing on width

The MLS player of the season Josef Martinez credits him with his good form.

The way footballing greats speak about him...

Definitely think 5 at the back would have better disrupted the West Ham attack. Congest the midfield and peg their fullbacks back. That said, their two central defenders look very good, so had we set up in a system which reduced our own creativity we may not have had a sniff at all.