The Fish

I'd be tempted to shelve Shelvey, he might be all riled up and it'd be fucking typical if he escaped punishment for the Lansbury incident and went in two footed on some no mark from Birmingham. Hayden was superb last game and playing him alongside Diame might bring Ritchie and Atsu/Gouffran into the game more, instead of us always looking for Shelvey?

Can't find owt, but there's this from 2012. The article says http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2253648/Carlton-Cole-Darron-Gibson-red-cards-overturned.html

Gotta tear up most of my notes for the Podcast recording tonight now. FA, always screwing the little guy.

You think if it hadn't been on tv (and hadn't received such widespread criticism) we'd have seen the reds overturned?

You have to give him credit for that one, not many people could have made that link.

It's a variation on the 4-4-1-1 though.

How about Darlow Yedlin Lasc Clark Dummett Ritchie Hayden Diame Atsu Mitro Gayle Mitro played as a pivot that the others play off, almost like a deep lying target man?

I'm beginning to come around to TGQ's way of thinking.

I like the looks of Atsu, if he can improve his final ball and decision making he'll be tip top. Agree that that kind of mercurial Gauloises-smoking, Proust-quoting, genius doesn't dovetail with Benitez's pragmatic approach to football. @@Gemmill must be delighted.

Not really, he was as suspect at the back as the rest of them. I thought Enrique was the pick of the bunch, especially because of the relationships he had with Colo and Jonas on the left.

That bastion of reason and insight Kris Boyd has had his say on Cathro http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/kris-boyd-tears-newcastle-coach-9396571 "Look at him, with his counting machine, bet he doesn't even let his players have a fag at half time!" I've heard nothing but good things about Cathro and he's certainly paid his dues, hope he does well up there.

Shit draw imo. Not a walk over, nor a big scalp, not even an interesting club.

That's because they know they haven't a leg to stand on. The worry though is that Diame's use of the ball is pretty selfish, he doesn't create for others, he drives with the ball into a dangerous area whereas Shelvey affects the spread and speed of a game. Agree that it's unlikely we'll see 4-4-2 under Rafa.

I went for 3-0 and when the poll is made public I'll sacrifice the 3 seconds it takes to re-enter it and not throw my toys out of the pram.

Good post and I agree with much of it. I think there's shades of grey with each of them, no one player is 100% good enough for the Premier League. I just fancy that Rafa's Anita will be much better than McClaren's, Carver's or Pardew's. I totally agree we need to add 4-5 players, around that core and maybe add a couple more young prospects.

Yeah, 4 top flight players plus maybe a couple of prospects. Although over the course of 2 windows, I'd be happy to add 6+ players. We sign an attacking midfielder to rotate with Shelvey, a young striker like Tammy Abraham in January, then 4 quality players in the summer?

They are without a doubt, some of the stupidest things I've ever read. One where you steal a previously opened gift? Are you kidding? That's secret santa followed by an arsehole being an arsehole. One where you guess who was your secret santa.. that's what happens after every secret santa, so that's just secret santa. "Conspiracy Santa" Where everybody gets together to buy everybody a present isn't secret santa at all; you know who your santa is... it's everybody else. And he less said about Secret Casino Santa the better. And none of them are giving your boss a picture of yourself as a gift...

Anything more complicated than Candy Crush get the eye-roll treatment. She did enjoy GTA briefly, then some 12yr old Yank decided to keep murdering her over and over and over again. We'll read together, but blowing up aliens or racing cars is a no-go. Except for Mario games, obvs.

Yeah, there's is zero chance of my lass getting into FM17. She can barely tolerate actual football.

Of course I do, but I don't expect this group of players to be capable of much more than safety (even if that safety is secured quickly). We have to be wary of over-reaching and be wary of too many changes in personnel. A few signings in key areas and we should be aiming for 15th ish. Next season aim for 10th. Get up, stay up, see where we are.

should do a blog mate. Yours is a more interesting tale than mine, where basically I took over from Rafa and I'm now evolving into the behemoth that will dominate the English football landscape for generations.

Yeah, there's a narrative appearing that we'll need a total overhaul, but that's just not true. We need to be better than 3 other teams, well I'd say that we're already better than every team in the Championship, so with a few additions over the next two windows should mean we're better than at least 2 of the teams that are up there with us plus at least one of the teams that survives the 15/16 season.

I think we've a core that can do it in the Prem. Darlow, Elliot, Krul Yedlin Mbemba, Lascelles, Clark ---- Anita, Hayden, Shelvey Ritchie, Atsu Mitrovic

Well, there's 2 that I can think of; 1. Doing a Secret Santa and 2. calling something else you do "doing a Secret Santa". For example, I'm just about to go to the loo and "Do a Secret Santa".