Howay

The club apparently appealed the decision to put the Brighton game on a Tuesday night and both Brighton and the EFL rejected the appeal, absolute cunts fucking not only the team over and creating a fixture pile up but also the fans who were planning on going and now face one of the longest (if not the longest) away trips in the league on a Tuesday night. I was happy for Brighton to get an automatic spot with us because of Hughton but they can gan and whistle after pulling that.

That too aye.

Aye centre backs going into a blind panic anytime the ball approaches the box doesn't really show up on statistics. I'm going with 3-0, we did struggle to break these down last time mind but I do agree with Fish that we might actually fare better with a big lump up front.

Agreed, it's a bit easier to take when it's more of a squad player like Atsu but if it's someone like Mahrez it messes up the teams game plan etc for the time he's gone and then when he comes back he'll have to get back up to the speed of playing with the team, may have picked up a knock or need a bit rest after he comes back.

I didn't say you said it would put hardship on them I was just meaning that there are not many reasons for them to keep hosting it when they are. Of course it is their prerogative to a degree, the same way I'm well within my rights as a fan of a club it inconveniences to disagree with when they host it, but they should also factor in the fact clubs are paying these players wages while they are off on duty for their countries for a month. Fair enough you can say it's elitism, or arrogance, but in my opinion they're being fairly arrogant themselves holding it when they do knowing it is inconveniencing the clubs who pay the massive wages of the players that are the stars of their tournament for little reason other than it's when they've always held it. Just a quick look and it's in the 30's this week in Gabon, the average temperature in July is 25 degrees and the wettest month is November. We both agree on your last sentence, although I don't like Liverpool I feel bad for them and Matip that they're going through the issue.

Aye it looks like Rafa has definitely prioritized in this game, glad to see Shelvey is getting a run out to get up to match speed mind.

Was it Ferguson that said something a long those lines? It's definitely something that should be considered for key players in a squad, I suppose it depends on if you think their talent is high enough that you're willing to forgo having them for a month or so every two seasons.

It may not be the middle of others like the South American etc but it's still an important time for them as well. Regardless a high proportion of the players that play in the tournament play in leagues where it is the middle of the season, it also bucks the trend of basically every other International tournament. I don't see how them holding it in the summer puts the tournament in any undue hardship, it may even boost the ratings since they'd not be competing for air time with most leagues. Just because it has always been held at this time doesn't mean it can't change, the proposed change of dates for the world cup in Qatar shows that.

I'm thrilled to bits we've lost an impactful player so the 15 people in that stadium got to watch that, what an utter fucking farce of a tournament. The fact that players risk bans for refusing to play in it is ridiculous, if you're going to hold a tournament in the middle of club football season every two years the players should be well within their rights to opt out. Hold it in the summer every four years ffs, the excuse of it being too hot then is absurd as they played a summer world cup in South Africa and surely the players are more used to it seeing as they're from there.

I can't help but feel that is just a further attempt to lump on to the click bait of that other article, the side is doing well and there isn't a lot going on so they're creating a bit of controversy by making it seem like Rafa is about to be fucked right over and walk. Maybe it will happen but until it does this is all just the papers, I'm not sure how they would really know what was discussed at that meeting and they seem to be reading a bit too much into what Rafa was saying imo. They're using the fact we've not brought anyone in to help fuel this sort of talk but as the Fish said it could also be Rafa thinking we're top of the league, doing well, and he feels we have enough to get promoted so why spend 15-20m on Championship fodder like Tom Cairney when we could put that money to better use in the summer. I absolutely do hold Ashley in the lowest regard though and none of this would shock me at all, it would be his most ridiculous decision yet effectively fucking over a Champions League winning manager to give more responsibility to a 72 year old bloke who had us spunking 25m on two shite French players that barely saw the field. You can also point to Carr getting Sissoko etc who we made massive profits on but I don't see why you'd have to fuck a manager over by taking all control away from him to see similar results.

I've been disappointed with Hayden in the games Shelvey has missed as I thought he might step up a bit but he has been struggling, while he has had to play alongside Colback it's still a shame. I think Hayden is still really raw but is far more willing to go forward and give things ago than Colback and Anita, he is also a lot more athletic than either of them. He had a few games where he was pretty impressive, getting some assists, some good powerful runs, and keeping pressure on the opposition by pouncing on loose balls around the area which I think many jumped on as it was better than 95% of what we've seen from Jack and Vurn. Hopefully when Shelvey gets back in the side he can start to resemble more that form than what he has shown recently but as you say he's still very raw, I think he'll ultimately prove decent business mind as he only cost around 2m didn't he? and I think he has PL player potential.

He has only started 6 games this season, I'm not sure if he has been injured but he's not first choice. No clue if he'd have any interest coming to us just saw others mentioning him.

I feel bad for the lad but aye it's going to be good knowing I wont have to see or hear the bloke playing, to be fair to him he always tries it's just he's utter utter shite. Really hope we never have to see Colback or Anita play again after this season, unless we play Accrington Stanley or wherever the buggers end up in the cup.

Agreed, his 'one trick' is really hard to stop when he's on form and he can win games on his own from nothing. He worked hard when many put their heads in the ground towards the end of last season and as Alex says maybe Rafa really knew how to play him, Rafa definitely knows better than Alan Pardew. I don't think he's any more streaky than most players, it's not like there are many players that are consistently devastating in games and those that are cost a fucking fortune, even then it's better to have a player that has a ceiling as high as his who might hit it irregularly than have a player as limited as Gouffran. Even when Townsend isn't on his game it's not like he's a complete fucking liability like Sissoko, he was trying just might not have had loads of impact. It would be mental if we didn't sign him if we had the chance to get him for 13m, look at some of the complete and utter shite that is being quoted at 15m ffs. McCarthy would be quality as well, he's a mid table PL midfielder and would be a significant upgrade on Colback and Hayden.

I hope Elliot starts tbh, give him a chance to get a bit of first team action and that way we wont have to be subjected to old butterfingers Sels. Saying that Darlow completely deserves his starting place. Would be nice to see some of the younger lads get some action as we really have to start producing some players from the academy, but we've got a good draw for the 4th round so a bit of an FA cup run would be class.

To be fair we could just get a bloke from the stands to fill in for Colback if he gets injured.

They're only allowing 3 non-Chinese players from next season: http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38636082

Aye I'd play Shelvey, as Andrew says we need to give him time to get up to match speed. Murphy is the question mark I'd suppose as we could go with Perez up top but then you're risking him too.

Toys were out the pram last few weeks like, seeing an 18 year old kid with a scraggly beard cut your defence to ribbons will do that mind. Imagine how much money they'd give him to move to China.

Aye, the media love Mourinho I also get irritated with the Pogba wankfest he's clearly a good player but he hasn't done much for Man Utd yet, I know he's really young and is going to take time to settle but you'd think he was setting the league alight the way they bang on about him. His system is always going to take time to implement and as you say their defensive players really aren't up to snuff, especially to play his style of football. The issue I always had was the way the media just fawn over him, I mean there was even a reporter that asked something along the lines of "Pep when you won 6 early on your system was well integrated, a lot quicker than we all thought, but now you've hit a rough patch how long until your system is integrated?" it's just fucking stupid his system wasn't integrated early on they were just winning some games. He's asking players like Sagna, Stones, Otamendi, Zabaleta, Kolorov, Bravo etc to pull off the same cool under pressure short, quick passing moves on the edge of their box that players like Bernat, Alaba, Alba, Pique, Neuer, Alves, etc were doing, they're not anywhere near that level and they're fucking it up quite regularly. His system will probably eventually prove successful (as in winning titles, I doubt it'll ever see a 6 trophy season again as that was a combination of system and nigh on perfect players for that system) and he'll eventually make the needed adjustments to suit the league more but will the ownership give him the time and will he stick it out.

That Stones is a right dippy cunt mind, he's a young lad and is a long way off his prime as a CB but he may well have been better off (football wise) at Everton as at the minute he is sort of in and out the line up a bit and the pressure is mounting (mainly due to his price tag and hype) with every error he makes. I guess we'll see how Guardiola responds to this competition really, I don't think he expected the lower sides to be as competitive and he is looking a bit out of sorts in interviews and on the side line. There's honestly a decent chance he might be forced out as the Man City fans are quickly becoming demanding and the problem he has is there was so much hype around him coming in. It's obviously is no fault of his own but it's working against him at the moment, the media are sensing a bit of blood with his short responses and they're doing what they always do turning a bloke who was a media darling and trying to portray him as some mug. As I said earlier in this thread imo he's clearly a top coach but he's been so overrated, I mean to many the minute he signed for man city the title may as well have been given to them for the next few years, he's not a miracle worker and he's put his confidence in some players that aren't working out (mainly Bravo and Stones). I think ewerk is right in saying he'll either figure it out and have them winning the title in a couple of seasons or he'll be off, I think he'll stick it out but I do admit he's been looking ropey in the interviews and I also noticed what Parky was saying about his body language after going 2 down at Everton.

Got to love a bit of shit trivia.

First name is Ruben, he's Carl Corts half brother as well iirc.

I think our lot are probably trying to get players in but this window has been pretty fucking stupid so far, Brentford asking 15m for Scott Hogan when their club record signing was barely 2m, Fulham wanting 15m for Cairney, Chelsea not wanting to loan out Loftus-Cheek for some daft reason. We're in a tough spot where we could do with players like Hogan and Cairney but honestly they'd be squad players at best in 6 months so is it worth paying 15m for them when we'd most likely get promoted with what we have?