Beren

Don't particularly like that comment about knowing he'll be playing no matter what Even with our injuries, I'd like to think he - in particular, is fighting for his place in the team at the minute. Assuming during our "centre back crisis", we play two bigger lads up front (to help on defensive duty etc), the only real advantage he'll hold over Ben Arfa for starting out wide on the right should be his consistency and work-rate - which he doesn't really have. Otherwise I'd say Ben Arfa trumps him in just about every department other than 'speed for the sake of speed' - which isn't tremendously useful in and of itself. Defensively and in terms of tracking back, they're both much of a muchness so there's no clear or substantial edge there IMO. Passing, keeping possession, creativity, execution and vision all go to Mr HBA. With some difficult fixtures out the way, I'm hoping he won't Routledge on us, and he'll use his pace to better effect against "lesser sides". It's less sophisticated/stylish than what Ben Arfa could/would bring, but from midtable-downwards in the PL, raw athleticism goes a long way if it has some footballing product on the end of it.

Did anyone ever make that case this season?!

I absolutely love the "best league" in the world arguments. Really saddening none of us will ever see a comprehensive League vs League square-off. [Not that discussions wouldn't rage on, but still].

Careful, mate. I use this sort of form-based logic and look where it gets me. Going to DNB them both and chuck them into my more adventurous accy. It's all about hedging against improbable circumstances! - as I'm sure a mathsy/finance-y person such as yourself appreciates. Sitting on profit from the last couple of months, I'm tempted to stick Norwich 2-1 and Newcastle 2-1 into my "safer" bet. Would bump winnings to over £1000. Alas, I shan't! Temptation of exorbitant lumpsum profits is the path to the dark side of the force. Also, losses (for all, but D28).

A red card in Real-Barca is 5/4 too.

Napoli are 10/11 away at Novara. Probably better with a decent bookies. Might chuck them into my accy. Same as unbeaten-away Lazio against winless-at-home Lecce.

Ever a character http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/993903/jens-lehmann:-boring,-boring-manchester-city?cc=5739

Oh, and a video interview (which I can't see anywhere else): http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16093751.stm [same quotes as above] Edit: 1) He says "referee at our place" - fuck you, Ashley! 2) The Beeb say SJP anniversary under the video - fuck you, Ashley! 3) He really is from daaan Souf, he pretty much says "Guffree"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16094950.stm Apologies if elsewhere If Dean is to blame, so is Pardew for overloading our defence by not addressing the Raylor problem.

Low conversion from freekicks.

TIMMMMMY!!! Simpson Perch Santa Raylor Obertan Cabaye Vuckic Jonas Best Ba Subs: Harper, Gosling, Kadar, Ben Arfa, Abeid, Shola, Sammy But, I'll be surprised as fuck if Gosling doesn't go in ahead of Vuckic.

Sympathy for "Wazza" because he was dumped out the CL

TheGuv

I thought this would be a sarcastic thread "One year on - well done Pardew... still giving Lovenkrands games over better/fitter/younger players in their natural position".

My mate (an Arsenal fan) is crying with delirium at Man Utd going out - the fucker has the giggles, saying the Europa League is worse than going out of the Champions' League :lol:

Macheda - "natural poacher" my arse! :lol:

But.. but... but.... they're Man City, and #they'll score when they want... and it won't mean a fucking thing

De Gea How much did that chump cost?

That does not look pleasant.

As a neutral, I really thought they had a fair chance of beating you [or as much as anyone else, anyway] because they are (usually) so assured and confident on the ball. They are generally more than able to capitalise on you having three players commit to one player by pinging it away and around the concentrated areas - sadly, I think the intimidation factor got to them away and they choked. They didn't play at all like they are capable of doing and failed to hurt you with the weapons they had. I think when Ferguson bought Ashley Young this summer, it was with a view to using him against you like Arsenal used Theo Walcott (who, for all his technical inability, is a fantastic athlete and causes confusion/problems for Barca) - which is something they missed in the previous two years despite having decent spells of possession early on in both finals. Doubt they'll get a chance this year, mind you!

I guess it's just using these tools to support your game plan. Pep is very heavy on analysis, although doesn't rely on it completely. One of his "innovations" was instructing players not to dive into tackles since analysis showed that if the tackle was missed the player was effectively taken out of play as he needed too much time to get up and run back, etc... our "six second rule" comes from statistical analysis too, the window of time after a turnover where the team that has got the ball still hasn't transitioned out of defensive positioning and thus their players are vulnerable to isolation. Again, those are tools, ultimately it's the 11 brains on the pitch the ones that take the decisions in an ever-changing environment. Barcelona are great at recovering the ball, precisely because they don't lunge into tackles, they crowd players - most of whom will crumble under the pressure and make a seemingly unenforced error because of their perceived lack of options. As you say, the tackling style is more to lever opponents off the ball rather than to commit to an outright lunge to retrieve/dispossess.

We can but hope.

Their cup game against the Posh is on ITV. Mackemedia/MON-effect.

Attack Ryan Taylor. Worked a fucking charm, too. For my money, I don't think the injuries to our CBs were incidental either. I'm sure the toll of having to repeatedly cover for Raylor had a bearing on them and the injuries were, in part, down to being overworked.