The Fish

Ironically that would be more of a problem if Gayle was fit and starting, but Murphy (I presume) will be looking to get onto the end of crosses from Ritchie, Shelvey etc. They apparently give away quite a few free kicks in dangerous areas and can't defend set-pieces An early goal would mean they'd have to push out a bit, at that point I trust Shelvey to find runners with searching balls into the pockets of space they leave.

Tongue in cheek? completely rewritten more like. Ewerk's played you for a roight plum, me owld choina.

I like the look of Rotherham's weaknesses; Defending the wings, defending through balls, defending against skillful players, defending against long shots, defending counter attacks, defending set pieces, defending, defending, defending. Especially when stacked up against our strengths; Attacking down the wings, attacking with through balls, attacking through long shots, attacking through set pieces, attacking, attacking, attacking.

Poll?

I just get a little frustrated with the need for a scapegoat. If we lose and he's playing, he tends to get more abuse than, say, Ritchie who has put in some absolutely lifting performances. The consensus is that Mitrovic has failed in this league, when the poor kid's hardly played. Generally only gets about 10 minutes at the end of a game.

Why wasn't more made of the 'keeper seeming to handle outside the box around 1:35?

He was quality against Brentford, decent against Forest but suffers because people have such high expectations of him. He came on last night when we were absolutely coasting (should have been 3 or 4-0 up at that point), then had a hand in the 3rd; winning the ball then playing it through for Shelvey to provide the final pass across to Ritchie to tap in. He's not lit up the league, but he gets more criticism than I feel is justified.

Would make total sense to give a chiefly unchanged side a crack against Oxford. To be honest, when I saw our line-up I was concerned as it was a similar amount of rotation we saw from Pardew or whomever. I think the stark difference was the mentality of the team. It was clear from the first minute that the team was up for this. The inclusion of key men like Shelvey and Ritchie was the catalyst and the difference old Skeletor makes in the centre is staggering. Gouffran was a positive up front by all accounts but I don't think he'll be starting up front in the league much if at all. If Pardew or McClaren had named that line-up we'd have lost.

Not being funny, but given the size of their debt and their reliance on the Premier League to stay afloat, it could well be a big step towards financial rack and ruin.

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just calling for calmer heads, is all. We've seen no concrete quotes to suggest the owner and the manager are on a collision course, in fact we've seen quotes from the manager stating he remains in control of transfers, and yet despite all that some of the fans are ready to dust off the marker pens and bedsheets again. As always, I'm calling for calm consideration.

People are clueless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvNOk1bV42s Atyu's Ghana won 1-0 Atsu got Man of the Match

Aye, Ashley's made some gaffs before and will likely make some mistakes/bad choices in the future, but so far I've seen nowt to suggest that there will be significant changes to the transfer policy, if there are that those changes haven't been agreed upon with Rafa's blessing. It looks to me like the club finds it unwise to pay over-the-odds for players in this window, when we're top of the league, we'll odd-on for the title and the market is frankly ridiculous right now. If you were in charge, and you saw players like Scott Hogan being valued at £15m wouldn't you think that perhaps this window is a bit fucking mental? And as such it's probably going to make signing the players you want prohibitively expensive. £20m for Tom Cairney e.g. We pissed ourselves laughing when Spurs paid £30m for Sissoko, and were pleased when Liverpool spent £25m on Wijnaldum too. Wouldn't you rather money was set aside for the summer window when values will have settled a little, more players will be available and we'll have a better idea of what we need? Of course I'd love us to go off and spend £30m on a star player, but objectively, that's a little silly. He's attended two games and had a meeting about transfers, that's hardly sufficient evidence for me to go running for the fallout shelter.

So, because there's some rumours of a transfer policy that states we buy young players with potential that Rafa seems to be on board with, he's on his bike? Blyme there's some pessimistic buggers around

Better standard, no?

Worth a bid?

I think much of that is because of the chump he's sharing the centre of the pitch with. When Shelvey is pulling the strings and we're controlling the game it's easier for Hayden to press forward and try some riskier balls. When Colback is giving the ball away and gifting stupid freekicks it would be irresponsible for Hayden to play a more expansive game. I like him and see a PL player in him already, another few years under Rafa can only help as well.

He got Motm

Was chatting with a Palace fan who agreed that, on reflection, the standard of 'keeping has plummeted since Woodman took over.

Rank Country Population 1. China 1,367,485,388 2. India 1,251,695,584 3. United States 321,368,864 4. Indonesia 255,993,674

he's an attacking fullback/wing back/winger.

I can't even see the typo

Well they have a lot of faces.

Did China push hard for the 2018 World Cup? Would have thought that would have been a perfect spectacle to launch their improved premier division, the clubs could have used the stadia afterwards, all the media facilities put in for that tournament could have been appropriated by the domestic league afterwards, and other stuff that I can't think of right now.

Snob