Howay

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?

He played Zabaleta in central midfield today, we should definitely hoy in a loan offer for Delph if he's that far down the pecking order.

Aye there's no way Ashley would in anyway shake the boat now, the bloke is a total cunt but he knows he needs the club in the Premier League. As I said I wouldn't be shocked if he did eventually return to his previous way but it wont be for at least 2 seasons, he'll want us comfortable in the PL with a squad that looks comfortably then he might start cheapening out.

Everton only had 29% of the ball and 4 shots on target that keeper Citeh have is fucking useless mind.

His body language was bad when they went 2 down. Clinical performance by Everton mind, same mistakes from the Citeh players as Stones booted it off Coleman and it fell right to Lookman for the 4th

The run and goal by that 18 year old lad for Everton was quality. I was actively wanting Lukaku to leave it so the kid got the goal

Aye always sunny is brilliant. I watched the first two of that new Medici show that's on Netflix, quite enjoyed it after a slightly shaky start where it was jumping about a bit.

That's the one I'd forgotten where he'd started.

It's an amazing record like, especially when you take into account the long stretches he missed during a couple of bad injuries.

Aye that Alli is a quality player, he's still so young as well. Kane is a cracking all round forward. I bet Alli is thrilled big Mike didn't come back with a better bid when he was at Millwall.

Like moss on a rock.