Ashley17

Ah man, I'm such a dick.

This tickled me, SkySports.com's match preview for WBA/mackems, predicted line-up: Sunderland: Mignolet, Onouha, Richardson, Bramble, Da Silva, Elmohamady, Henderson, Malbranque, Angeleri, Bent, Campbell. What an awful effort at spelling that name

Hughton on Tiote (Today's press conference): "It's a name we're aware of, but like so many of the names, it's speculation."

You did this willingly? Are you suicidal? Shush Darlo boy I've always fancied going to a lower league ground and standing because I've shamefully never done it.

Xisco and Barton are back, they're like NEW SIGNINGS!!! [/Hughton]

I just bought tickets yesterday for Hartlepool vs Wigan, Chris Turner obviously sees that as a bad omen and decided to get out quickly.

I think this year might see a busier last week than normal but it's hardly the norm. It's irritating having a transfer window that ends 3 games into the season, the first 3 games could see a vastly different team to the next 35 (probably not in our case) for a lot of teams, with players still recovering from the World Cup thrown into the mix as well.

I don't know about everybody else but I've gone back to a blank slate on this, it seems everything that has ever been written about this has been discredited or conflicted by somebody/something else and now we just have a long chain of denials. The only constant is Hughton doing the old "nothing to see here" routine.

His form whilst with us suggests otherwise Compared to who? expecting to read that nolan is cos he scored load's of goals last season Obviously.

His form whilst with us suggests otherwise Compared to who? Well personally I think Guthrie has outperformed him, but admittedly Barton didn't have the chance to piss it in the Championship because of his various injuries. I really want to get on this Barton bandwagon, but honestly, he's rarely had a good game for us. The amount of short passes he misplaces is frightening.

His form whilst with us suggests otherwise

To be honest I'd be pretty fucked off if I was Motherwell. Cardiff won't pay them £175k for Peter Quinn or whatever his name is but they can afford to loan Bellamy and Koumas. It's like lending a grand to someone who's in financial trouble who then goes and buys a car or something.

Caroline Cheese has left, if that helps at all

Haha, I knew what a trequartista was before this years edition of FM The problem with Nolan playing there is he doesn't have the vision and creativity to be a foot on the ball, archetypal #10 but he also doesn't have the pace or directness to be a more attacking second striker. He's basically just a complete waste in that position. The thing is he's proven out of his depth in central midfield aswell, I do wonder what use he's going to be at all this season tbh He's good craic, one of the lads whey etc.

Nolan playing in CM in the Premiership would require a defensive midfielder who is basically a powerhouse. Nolan & Guthrie in the Championship was fine, especially at SJP, as we were always on the attack and the opposition was dire. We might get away with that at home to Blackpool and the occasional other shite team, but in general, Nolan will be pissed on in centre midfield in 4-4-2. Look at the WBA home game last season, team who can pass the ball against Nolan and Smith in centre midfield, had the better of the game for the most part. The fact that Nolan is captain worries me because it means he will play more often than not, and the 4-5-1 will probably stay home and away.

Lovenkrands & Guthrie have minor knocks and are expected back for Villa, according to the Journal.

A Liverpool fan i know said that he really wants a homegrown keeper to be one of his 8, dunno why it matters what position... Was thinking about this before, I think it's because it's expected most teams will name 3 keepers, with the third barely (if ever) being used. If that 3rd choice is a home grown player, it kills two birds with one stone.

step away from the bong You're just jealous someone had a crazier formation than you Skirge

Wasn't as bad as it could have been, too many passengers in our team but we'll see how we do against worse teams. Harper - Only had 2 shots to save in the first 80 minutes and didn't have a chance with either really, Andy Gray's mighty analysis suggests he was too far over but he could have been in the middle of the goal and wouldn't have saved it. Perch - Gash, absolutely no confidence in this fella. Hopefully he'll fare better against worse teams. Constantly too narrow but not helped by Routledge I suppose. Enrique - Average, some stupid mistakes and couldn't get forward. Was never raped though, so hurray for that. Coloccini - Alright, nothing glaringly obvious Williamson - Big, didn't do badly at all. Routledge - Good start, good outlet. Then faded badly, didn't track back well and it led to one of their goals. I'm beginning to think those who said playing with 2 wingers was ging to bite us in the arse, may well be accurate. Jonas - Poor, offered nothing bar one surprisingly good cross. Smith - Good, by his standards. No booking! Barton - Dross. Can't pass and got booked early on so couldn't be his usual self. Get used to this, he will get booked a lot because of who he is. Awful free kicks but some decent corners. Nolan - Gash. Better without him. Carroll - Worked his arse off, deserved a goal but missed his big chance. Still though, encouraging if he stays out of prison. Subs: Shola - Usual Shola lark Xisco - Well why not Sky - Paul Scholes might be a great player BUT IT IS NOT FUNNY THAT HE CANNOT TACKLE.

Subs are Krul, Tav, R Taylor, Vuckic, Ranger, Xisco, Shola

I'm loving the old style studio, I used to Love Monday Night football when I was growing up

I imagine we'll hold him back until Accrington so he can get some game time where his lack of match practice might not be such a problem

Where's this Guthrie injured stuff coming from?

3-6-1!

Talksport have the rights now To all games? What is wrong with the BBC these days losing the rights to even this? it's all about $$$ to the EPL You make it sound like they've sold their souls. BBC radio and Talksport are both free to the public so surely it makes little difference which of them covers it?