OTF

I'll go on record to say that there is no way in the world that Enrique is not a top half of the Premier League quality left back. He's better than Wayne Bridge. He's a much better defender than both Baines and Bale. Given their current Spanish influence he would be very at home within Liverpool. IMO we're five good players and a good manager away from midtable premier league. The difference between mid-table and top half is nothing more than a bit of belief and a good injury free run.

Scary how poorly they're doing with the amount of money spent of late. We won't spend anywhere near the amount they have in the past several years.

Tamas Kadar does look promising, composed on the ball, strong and aware but he is predominantly a CB not a LB....i'd rather him and Williamson be back up for CB alongside maybe another CB and us go and get another natural LB as cover for Jose. I agree that Kadar is decent backup for Jose at left back. Tall for a fullback, but I think he fancies himsefl to be able to play there - seems to like being n the ball and getting forward. Predominantly a central defender becuse of his height, but at a pinch could be played left fullback. Ryan Taylor should laso be able to do a job there at a pinch, so I'd say getting cover in for Jose should be lower down our priority list than some decent central midfielders and a quality forward.

Nervous moments at the end there. Looked shaky as.

Quality header.. he seems to head a lot better in traffic.

Awesome start....

When is van aanholt's loan up?

Thing with Hughton is that they had a pre-existing relationship with him as one of their trainers/coaches and so would have already been calling him by his first name. He's more or less been the right man for the job, keeping the squad happy and performing pretty well, deflecting any potential bad publicity/media beat ups with his calm persona. Next season though it will be a completely different story. The confidence could disappear very quickly and the heads will drop. What Hughton can do in a situation like that is perhaps an unknown entity. He did have some experience in that sitaution last year but without the year of experience and the deeper relationships that he will have forged with our players. Given that he was signed for multiple years, and that he's done a good job so far if we're promoted there's no way Ashley will get rid of him. That is unless we find ourselves in a horrible predicament mid-season. If he does choose to part ways with Hughton under circumstances like that we could find our old friend Joe Kinnear back in a 'caretaker' role.

A few weeks back on the Guardian.co.uk, Football Podcast (with James Richardson) they were talking up his prospects as an option for England on the left.

And we only have to think back one season to remember what we've got in store in a fourth bottom season. Were it not for a mistake from the linesman in the penultimate game last year we'd have finished exactly there. Season of Dross here we come!

He does have good technique under pressure, however what happens quite a bit is he'll beat one player whilst looking for a passing option and will then have to try to beat them again or thread an impossible ball because no passing option s have presented themselves. I'd put it down to imitations of other players which in turn goes back to team selections. Guthrie doesn't have pace or trickery, but he's half decent at using his body to protect the ball. It would be nice to see him form some sort of partnership with a steady midfield setup. I really thought he'd be a central figure for us this season - hasn't turned out to be the case because of what appears to be blatant favouritism towards some of the more 'experienced' players.

Super Subs.. PS - Accaspacca's master plan undone by a flukey goal...

Sounds as though Coventry have been chasing all game with the amount of fouls and yellow cards they've conceded. Why can't we aim to play like this every week regardless of location?

Can I please have the few minutes back that I wasted reading that?

True, it doesn't affect us and seemingly won't for the next 5 odd years (and who knows from there) assuming we're stillunder the control of Ashley.

Yep, the treatment of that girl was horrible, by a complete cunt of a stewardess. She was supposed to ask Smith if it was OK if she encroached upon his additional seat. Wouldn't have mattered to Smith anyway as he went the entire journey sitting in his one seat with the armrests down just to prove his point. As he says on the SMod it likely wasn't the Pilot who requested his removal from the plane but more likely the member of staff he enountered whilst boarding the plane. It couldn't have been the desk clerk Susan who attracted most of his ire, because she was the one who organised for him to board with only one ticket allocated. If it was her she must be a particularly heinous bitch on a super power trip. Quite frankly she doesn't sound intelligent enough to be that sinister.

bull-shit, a one off game doesn't mean anything, should we give Leeds all of Man Uniteds CL fixtures since they knocked them out of the cupt? why bother with the whole league system? If Manchester United fielded a weakened side in a fixture with such meaning then sure. Of course Leeds are a long way off finishing in the top 6 of the Premierleague, so that's hardly applicable. Manchester United were beaten by Leeds because they more or less couldn't give a toss about the FA Cup. A touch dramatic with the who league system comment - It's making a modification to the league system where-by some of the meaningless end of season fixtures will have new meaning given to them as teams in the top 5 (I'm adding Machester City into the mix because feasibly next season they'll be there) push to ensure they gain automatic qualification to the Champions League and teams in the middle push to have a shot at picking up that fourth Champions League spot. Noone really gives a hoot about the Europa League (not the least because it sounds like some kind of talent competition) but the chance to enter a playoff to get into the Champaions League qualifiers would have huge appeal. Every year since 2005 the same four sides have gained Champions League qualification. This will seemingly happen over the next 5 years as well, with only Manchester City being thrown into the mix courtesy of their new money. Arsenal in particular have created a side that is unlikely to challenge for a title, but is more or less assured of finishing in the top 4, so a move like this may make a team like that strive to try to win the title, rather than play it safe just aiming for the top 4. Chances are that the playoff match would see the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester City playing between themselves for two out of the three spots, so in effect not that much would change, except that the competitiveness of the league season would be prolonged.

But is that a desire for a particular outcome or is it a desire for the actual format? How would you feel if Liverpool finished 7th but won the play off thus qualifying them for the CL when 3 teams who finished above them don't....? Largely a desire for the particular outcome. In my system only the top 6 sides would be eligible, so Liverpool couldn't finish 7th and get in. If they finished 6th and got in then I'd wear it with a grimace. The way I see it for the next 4 or 5 years we won't see anyone outside of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City finish inside the top 4 in the league. Aston Villa and Tottenham are trying to play catch-ups with these sides, but just don't have enough money to feasibly have the depth to compete with the big sides over a 38 game season. Everton have stability on their side, but with the money not there to continue investing they too suffer from lack of depth. The fact that they have built a strong side on reasonable wages should be recognised. Firstly, it's not a lottery if there's only 3 tickets. Secondly if you can't beat another lower ranked side on your home pitch then do you really deserve to go through? Did Collymore argue that there was no point in having a World Cup? This is true, however it is patently clear that there is four English sides who are very much good enough to compete and go far in the Champions League. Having only one team from each league in there would lower the overall standard of the competition because of the intense concentration of ability within three leagues.

Bearing in mind Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's family are over 40 times richer than Abromovich, I think they'll get by. It's not their financial welfare that I'm concerned about, more-so the flow on effect for teams like us. When good but not great players are being paid wages that are in my opinion excessive, it leaves us in a extremely difficult position in terms of signing players - in particular with a tightwad owner and a manager who hardly inspires confidence.

I got that actually, it was two separate points. The first was that the international players (eg. players representing their countries England or otherwise) will have enough money by the time they're 35 (unless they're Obafemi Martins who's broke and is already 40) to retire extremely comfortably. The second was that if there was more of a focus of keeping local players in their local sides, then it would be a lot less like constantly being away for work. Plenty of time during the week to keep in contact with friends and family (more-so that the average person working 9-5). You can understand them doing everything they can, however I don't think any of it has worked. In the end if the players are good enough they will rise to the occassions. More revenue from TV is a big motivation, but so is trying to make the league less predictable. Outside of th UK most people (read: twats) like supporting winning sides when there is no side that you can attach yourself to geographically. For this generation that's Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and to a lesser extend Liverpool (who can fall back on their European exploits in the face of repeated domestic failure). Seeing some different sides in the Champions League will begin to redress the avalanche of support for the big four clubs. I'm sure we'll eventually see Manchester City overtake the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool in the league, and whilst this being purely financially based is not a good thing the fact that there will be a set of five sides fighting for the coveted four positions is. It could be heavily slanted in favour of the team that finishes fourth. For example, team five hosts team six in a single match to determine who travels to plays team four. Both games will have extra time and then a penalty shoot-out. Only two extra games are added with only three teams involved. At the same time it will keep the top four keen right up till the end of the season as they try to push for a top 3 finish to guarantee their involvement. It might just be me, but I'd love to see the likes of Villa, Everton, or even Spurs (whom I hate) knock out Liverpool from the Champions League, thus compounding their financial predicament.

Talksport: What about the team selections, Alan? Smith: Nicky, myself and Kevin I think have been doing a fine job with the selections. Until such time that Mike appoints a manager we'll continue to do so to the best of our ability. Talksport: You do understand, Alan, that Chris Hughton has been appointed manager? Smith: Chris who.. now? (murmuring in the background) Smith: Chris is an excellent train.. coa.. ahh manager who has the full respect of all players in the side.

Seems 100% home & away record is only acceptable.... Even then the performances would be criticised by some. There would be something wrong if anyone who saw the performance against Swansea did not criticise it.

70k a week. Wonder if that's true. If so I'd hate to see Manchester Cities books.

Who really cares what the overpaid under-appreciative players think? Seriously, four weeks annual leave is what most people get and they don't get to swan about during large parts of the week getting into whatever mischief they please. Plus after 10-15 years of professional playing the 'international players' can effectively retire at the spritely age of 35. If there was more local based players in each of the sides needing time off to go back home and visit family etc would not be such an issue. More games is not the issue. I like this idea. Over the length of a season it's pretty much always going to be a case of the top four teams being the four who spend the most. The four who spend the most will be the four who earn the most, who will be the four who already have the international market cornered, who make the most from merchandise sales, who make the most from TV and who have the money from their previous involvement in the Champions League.

Liverpool will still finish in the top 4 this season anyway.