The College Dropout

Nah. The lad couldn't defend at all.

He's not a DM though. He's a good passer of the ball it seems. Off the ball i'm not sure what he offers. he's playing at DM for Arsenal He's playing a deep midfielder role, that doesn't make him a defensive midfielder (I assume this is what you meant). Going on whoscored his only "very good" strength is passing. With long-shots and set-pieces his other strengths. So he can pass and strike / deliver a ball well. You would like to think a DM would be good at interceptions, tackling and concentration. Going on Torreira's page his strengths are what i've listed. Tackling, concentration, interceptions, blocking the ball among others. For me Xhaka is a very good passer at times but not much else. His role is a deep lying playmaker almost. I'm not sure that's enough. He's no Pirlo, he won't control the game from there.

He's not a DM though. He's a good passer of the ball it seems. Off the ball i'm not sure what he offers.

Rodgers will have better ran clubs after him, he's also very unhappy with Celtic's board and their lack of ambition currently. Rodgers would be mad to come here. Only desperate managers need apply. Aye, I feel those that think we'll be after Rodgers don't understand how bad things really are. We would be lucky to get Bruce. It's 100% going to be someone totally out of their prime. Big Sam, Bruce and co. are probably as good as Ashley could do.

He's in a weird position and I wonder what it's like for him. His own self-esteem. He's not a properly proven PL player but he's had some success. He's in a bad run of form and he gets selected every week. I wonder what his confidence is like right now. Does he know he's going to play crap again next weekend? Never been a huge fan but I feel a bit sorry for him. When he first came we had De Jong that could replace him but now he's a guaranteed starter and he's just fucking awful. Needs a break.

Should have done it season before with us. No excuses with the squad they had when you see it was Huddersfield who were one of the teams up. Di Matteo was their manager until October like. They didn't even make it to the play offs to be able to go up instead of Huddersfield. IIRC Huddersfield were the most deserving of going up in the play offs as well. Either them or Fulham. Bruce has been at Villa long enough now to have made more progress than he has. Even looking in as an outsider I wasn't convinced he was getting them anywhere, they always seem to be struggling to get near the automatic promotion spots. He got them to the play off final and they lost to a better team. A team that we’re also better than them the previous year. Bruce is a decent Champo Manager. 4 promotions is it?

Yep. Also the side from the first half of 13/14 when we were pushing the top 6, then Cabaye went and it fell to bits as well as Pardew being a twat. Just think, hypothetically, we stay up after getting taken over, who'd you keep? For first team it's only Dubravka, Lascelles, probably Lejeune. If Kenedy was on form I'd say him too but he's been poor since Spurs. So that's 3 players who are relatively consistent at this level. I'd probably keep Yedlin, Shelvey, Ritchie and Fernandez as squad players (no idea about the other new signings because we've barely seen them), so when you think about the amount of crap in the rest of the squad, that's shocking. Cheers Mike. Hate to be so negative but this feels like cuckoo land. We won't be sold. And Rafa will leave at the end of the season. It's just a case of which division we'll be in and I honestly don't care.

That is how I see it in a nutshell. Even if we go down, he'll stay because he'll fancy we can come back up with a better squad than the rest down there. It would take a really shit managerial appointment to keep us down. Not true. While I agree we've had superior squads in our Championship seasons. We've also had superior coaches. Hughton would be one of the best managers in the Championship today still. Obviously, same applies to Rafa. I think Bruce is a good Championship manager and I reckon we'll struggle with him at the helm. Next time we go down, i'm certain we stay down.

We would have 15/20 years ago. Our fan base has changed so much. Staggering how he can sit there unchallenged after all he's done. Staggering until you remember the type of fan who goes nowadays I'm not so sure and this is why i'm so apathetic. I'm sorry, a serious club of our size gets him out by now.

Think Roy's getting off very lightly in the media. Horribly defensive team.

Why the hell are you trying to buy things in Sports Direct? Bloody hell man.

Jenas has said Ashley runs the club as a business and Ashley will only make funds available that the club generates. Ashley uses the club to advertise another business for free. He doesn’t advertise NUFC at that other business for free. He’s not trying to maximise revenues, he’s not running it as a proper business. We don’t want Ashley to spend his own money. We want a properly run club that doesn’t save money for a relegation - and that’s what it seems like we’re doing. Jenas is clueless. He’s said Ashley should back Rafa but has intimated that Ashley’s hands might be tied. He talks about football for a living. He played for us. He should be well educated on this subject and he’s not. We are the only PL club whose non-tv revenue has stagnated over the last decade. Why doesn’t he know that?

Really liked Bellamy as a player and I sided with him over Souness at the time. But he's a proper bastard of a pundit when it comes to Newcastle, Jenas too. These lads played in Europe damn near every season they were here. We spent £10m to get Robert in the season he joined. £13m for Woodgate and a couple others in that region. Had a commercial model where we consistently outspent the likes of Everton and West Ham. 15 years later we are still spending the same amount while those clubs are dropping £40m on players. Can't even keep up with Brighton, Bournemouth and Huddersfield. And the stupid cunt will defend it? The little scrote.

He’s a different type of passer altogether. Dier is basic and a little slow but he gets his man and tries to play it for and when the opportunity arises. Delli on the other hand plays much faster passes. And he looks for the incisive pass but it’s inconsistent therefore he loses the ball more than he should. You can’t lose the ball that much at CM at international level.

Delli’s not a particularly good passed of the ball.

I pretty much disagree with all of that. Even the bits about Kane and Sane. Fast players like Sterling with that rapid, short stride are often very good at running with the ball because their running style means they can stay close to it. For me, technique comes into play when they have to kick it. And Sterling often seems to keep running with the ball when he ought to release it. That lofted pass that Barkley produced for the third goal is what I mean by technique. I'm not talking running at pace. His first 3-4 touches, he rarely losses the ball at that point. He can be in a tight space, markers around, his first touch is way more consistent than Sane's at this point. In general, he's very good in tight spaces either dribbling or short passes. Again, he doesn't lose the ball that much for a wide player because a) his touch is good b) generally releases the ball at the right time c) he's good at short range passing. I think that's the reason why Sterling is more guaranteed of a start at City than Sane atm. Better at the quick, intricate, build-up play, better movement off the ball. If Sterling wasn't technically sound or consistently made poor decisions he wouldn't be a key player for Guardiola. It's something Ayoze is often really bad at (at 10). He'll lose the ball time and time again because his touch or strength or a combination has let him down. Barkley has better passing ability aye. But for a central midfielder, i'm not sure of his technique when under pressure. Can he short his feet out quick enough? That's one thing that stood out for Madrid when Alonso was replaced by Kroos (and Kroos had to play the deepest CM role). Kroos can deal with a high press much better and still play his game. Allows the team to play quicker and maintain attacks in tight spaces. That's something Sterling is great at (relatively speaking). Technique in terms of striking the ball, no he's not the best at all. Long range passing isn't something he attempts a lot either but he's not that kind of player. He's someone that gets in behind opposition with pace and can play tight, creative football against a crowded defence and find space to score a goal too. I think Lingard is good at finding space and finishing too. But his all-round game is far inferior at this point.

France hasn't been that good and well worth the win.

Technique is such a grey area. Sterling tends to have an excellent first touch (noticeably better than Sane for example) and has the best close control in the current England squad. He's not the best striker of the ball but that's improving. He's scored a couple outside the box this season and last nights finish was excellent. He was the only one able to trap the ball and keep it in the second half. His appreciation of the game is much better than people realise and with his pace, it's his standout attribute. He has a great knack of finding space and his off the ball running is tremendous for City. He scores 10 of those second goal tap-ins for City due to that movement and off the ball running. His issue for England has been that he hasn't been getting into those goalscoring positions as much and poor finishing. But he's literally streaks ahead of anyone else that could play in his position. In terms of keeping possession, close control under pressure, short passing only Kane is as good. To add to this, he's much more adaptable currently than Sane for example. Sane relies heavily on his striking technique and physical gifts - he just so happens to be unstoppable when he gets it right. Sterling has more variety to his game.

You look at that Brazilian team, even with a few missing. That's very strong. Think Casemiro was a massive miss against Belgium.

One thing I despise about the media is when they say he runs the club like a business. No, He runs SD like a business. There's not free promotion of Newcastle United at SD. He runs Newcastle United as a marketing tool for his wealth generating business - Sports Direct. He doesn't go out looking for the biggest best deals for the club. Arsenal is run like a business. Manchester United is run like a business. This is just meant to generate enough revenue to survive to do its primary job of marketing. While keeping costs low.

Sterling is a far superior player to Lingard.

Spain were really impressive in that second half imo. Should've been a red and a penalty as well. Really disappointed that England couldn't keep the ball at all in the second half too. Fabulous first half mind.

Spain have been class this second half. England resolute. A bit of a shame we haven’t been able to keep the ball more in the second half.

LOL we'll get relegated and hire someone far worse than Brendan.

Honestly think Brendan could do better than us. West Ham Watford Bournemouth Crystal Palace Wolves Leicester All viable options for him should the jobs become available. We'll look in the bracket below. A Championship manager from a smaller club ala what Villa did. Or a dinosaur.