Taylor Swift

Zarate linked with a move to PSG in France Football. If that happens, Erdinc won't get much first-team football next season. There may still be life in this.

This tough summer has obviously drained Ian W's sense of humour.

Sell to buy? What the fuck.

Gameiro scores for PSG.

I'm watching as well. You can post again disco.

Football is back

I love your posts (in a good way)

For fuck's sake, we can't even do the 'bully the smaller club and steal their good player' routine right

I have £100 on him not scoring 13 premiershiP goals next season at 1/1. He's not good enough for a team which wants to play the ball on the ground.

The US system works for so many reasons such as collective bargaining, anti-trust exemptions, limited number of teams and public expenditure on stadiums. It's ironic that such a liberal, free market-oriented country like the US has sports leagues which rewards the poor teams with a chance to select the best players, whereas continental Europe - home to a stronger socialist sentiment - operates sports in free market 'reward success, punish failure' way. But the US system works because it's a cultural thing. There isn't a major sports league that doesn't end in a playoff and a final, whereas no football league in Europe has a 'final' for the league trophy at the end of the season.

Why would you die playing with the sword? And again UV rubbishes the suggestion of many that because we'll be able to keep the ball better, our defence won't have to work harder but won't take up a single simple bet that we'll concede less than last year OR that we'll place better OR that we'll end up with more points.

Someone should register a new account and take that bet with Baggio. At least deadline day will be fun.

That finished above* us

Fwiw, the stat that is most predictive about a team's quality is goal difference. We were -1, pretty average last year but better than teams that finished below us, which means that if the season was replayed with the same players, we would most likely finish higher. This is statistics and normal distribution etc. We were better than 12th last year.

Someone give me 4/1 that we'll finish in a higher position with more points and we'll score less than last season and I'll put £25 on it.

Right, your post contains a lot of sense, yet you still insist on using goals scored as a proxy for the quality of the team. Why not use something that is better, like points, or position? You're already aware of the flaws in our team: maybe Ben Arfa doesn't fit in, maybe the new guys don't fit in, maybe freak results happen again, maybe Nolan is really such a big loss. You're aware of many factors that could derail our season which makes the decision not to take up the bet I offered quite a confusing one. You're not convinced by my argument that we'll be a better team because we'll constantly have more possession? Take my bet. We're supposed to be improving, but you think we're not. Take my bet then. Like I said: more points than last year. Or, since you think we'll have a weaker defence because we'll be losing a top player like Enrique, maybe you'd be interested in a bet regarding our goals conceded. We'll concede less than we did last year. £50, again. And if you think we'll concede more and score less, then holy hell, you might as well take up the points bet because it'd be a serious statistical anomaly for us to score less, concede more and still end up with more points.

It's about controlling possession and pinning teams back. The best teams in the world win not because they have a rock solid defence but because their defence is rarely under constant pressure that it's able to cope with the rare counter-attack. When you have defenders scrambling about trying to find someone to mark, there are going to be inevitable lapses. That usually happens when crosses aren't properly cleared or when your midfield is too slow to recover possession after the first clearance. If we have a better, quicker and stronger midfield, we will not be under constant pressure. If we have a more mobile attack, we will be able to keep possession further up the pitch. This doesn't automatically translate to more chances and more goals, but it translates to more possession and lesser goals conceded. The Spain team at the moment perfectly embodies this philosophy. They choke the living hell out of you by just passing it around you and recovering the ball whenever it's loose.

is that to me or the other lad? to UV

Well, you've been moaning about our activity in the transfer window so far so you obviously believe that we're worse off, am I right? We've sold our historic billion-goal-a-season-Geordie-England-international, alienated the best midfielder in England, in the process of selling our back-up RM and first choice LB, and have sold our inspirational captain, so we're obviously fucked, right? £50 that we'll get more points than last year. Money where your mouth is.

Well, we our net spending since last season is -£30m. Surely a team that has sold more than it has bought is worse off? If it is, then it won't get more than 46 points. I mean, that's what our net transfer spending would dictate, wouldn't it?

Well if UV believes we haven't improved then it's obviously easy money. I'll do a top ten if he wants, too.

Make it a points thing and I'm in. We have a better team, a team that will get more points.

The £6m for Ben Arfa surely has to be deducted from the £35m that we got from Carroll.

It's a business what?

I'll be in barca for the home match against atletico. What chance do I have of getting tickets for that match, vi? And how do I go about getting them? Willing to pay above face value.