Unbelievable

Aarons

Dear God

What the fuck man?

That is a handball IMO Nah, he's turning away from the shot and it ricochets off his ribs into his arm. He had no say in that. Just seen it again but a definite pen for me. It hits his arm directly, not from a ricochet, and both arms were stretched out.

2 points from Swansea, Sunderland and Burnley

Rooney

That's a pen tbf

Hasn't been for some years though has he? This three at the back nonsense only came about a few weeks before the start of the World Cup and was at least understandable given the lack of quality at centre back. In the international context it worked to a certain extent, but he's incredibly at fault for persisting with it at club level, with virtually unlimited resources to shape a squad no less.

Van Gaal should be ashamed. Used to be such an attack minded manager..

Where's that from?

Blind is definitely more suited to play in midfield for me. Despite impressing at the World Cup I don't rate him all that highly. Man U are overpaying imho.

It

If Besiktas wanted Ben Arfa surely they wouldn't have waited until after their CL qualifiers to make a move?

How exactly does (the inclusion of) Colback encourage the right behaviour? he's played fairly regularly for two Pl clubs. That's the minimum a England international should be. The bench warmers or players in a lower division should force a move to Hull and prove themselves. He's played for two mid to lower table Premiership clubs (two games in our case so don't understand why two is even relevant in your argument) and hasn't stood out significantly. He's just a decent player for this level. There's literally dozens of players like him in this league. I find it mind blowing that you could see it as an encouraging sign to see such a player picked. I understand the argument of young players moving to big clubs before they have fulfilled their potential and can challenge for first team places, but I fail to see why you believe that this leads to it being preferable to pick average Premiership players ahead of more talented players for the future, regardless of which league they currently play in. dozens like him? Name me a dozen PL CM's under 25 that are English. Even just a dozen English PL CM's is harder than it should be. Honesty, I can't speak on Will Hughes, I've only seen him a handful of times. But he should be in the PL. If he's so far ahead of Colback it's even worse he's not in the division. You know my logic Unbelievable - if a player is so good he should prove it. I'm not on the Henderson bandwagon - he needs to show me he can do it in Europe. I think England are f***ed in any case. Colback, a championship Hughes or a 2 game Jack Rodwel is p*ss poor. Even Rodwell who you've rated so highly hasn't played a full season yet of PL football. He wasn't a regular at Everton if I remember. I said dozens like him in the Premiership (in terms of his level of quality), not dozens of PL midfielders of English nationality per se. Still, the likes of Jordon Mutch, Tom Huddlestone, James Ward-Prowse and Jonjo Shelvey are streets ahead of Colback in terms of ability and/or potential and are other examples of players who would have represented better picks imho even adhering to your criteria of having proven themselves at lower to mid table Premier League clubs.

This is a good point actually. Not sure what can be done about it.

How exactly does (the inclusion of) Colback encourage the right behaviour? he's played fairly regularly for two Pl clubs. That's the minimum a England international should be. The bench warmers or players in a lower division should force a move to Hull and prove themselves. He's played for two mid to lower table Premiership clubs (two games in our case so don't understand why two is even relevant in your argument) and hasn't stood out significantly. He's just a decent player for this level. There's literally dozens of players like him in this league. I find it mind blowing that you could see it as an encouraging sign to see such a player picked. I understand the argument of young players moving to big clubs before they have fulfilled their potential and can challenge for first team places, but I fail to see why you believe that this leads to it being preferable to pick average Premiership players ahead of more talented players for the future, regardless of which league they currently play in.

How exactly does (the inclusion of) Colback encourage the right behaviour?

Not having that. How do you explain the fact Colo, possibly even more of a ball playing defender, is untouchable under Pardew?

I think it's more simple than that TBH, just the old ignorant manager doesn't trust young foreign defender situation. Except Yanga-Mbiwa isn't exactly a spring chicken anymore and although he hasn't been convincing for us yet (no less so than Colo or Saylor at the moment I might add) he was brought in already a France international and a Ligue 1 winner (captain). Unless he has regressed really badly (of which there has been no evidence on the pitch when he's been given a chance in his natural position) there must be more to it than Pardew not trusting him surely?

That may happen regardless. It could also signal that a player who does well at Championship level does not need to move to a Premiership club (bench) to be considered for the national team, which can only be a good thing for your young players' development.

Absolutely tragic mismanagement once more. Fairly certain he must have sided with Ben Arfa in whatever has gone down last season for him to be pushed out like this.

Except similar to the forward situation, none of the contenders is actually proven to be currently of the required quality.

Jack Rodwell would have been a more logical choice, considering he's at least of international pedigree, been capped before and if it wasn't for lack of playing time and fitness (which he is currently getting) he would have perhaps been included in the WC squad. Another far more credible options would have been James Ward-Prowse, and for your sake I hope there's more young and talented English midfield players about, or else the future is very bleak indeed. Also, the Championship comment is well weird. People criticise young players for moving to sit on the bench of the big Premiership clubs all the time (like Jack Rodwell), so why should young talented players who actually do get sufficient playing time to improve themselves (like Will Hughes for example) be out of contention for an international call up before all the Premiership dross who will never make it at that level (this is where I consider Colback to be) have been considered? I guess what I am trying to say is that in international football it is not just a case of selecting the 23 most in form players of your nationality; there should also be a little bit of forward thinking and a few places in every squad should be reserved for up and coming youngsters who may not be ready now but represent the future and could benefit from the experience.

Who are all the posters yearning for him to fail? People are finding the call up amusing and surprising based on what he's shown thus far in his career in the PL, look around and most other fans from other clubs share the same view. Exactly this. Since he's our player I doubt many people are yearning for him to fail. Quite they opposite I'd say, I for one hope he performs really well, especially for NUFC. Doesn't mean I can't have a bit of a laugh about his inclusion in the England squad. Jack Colback for England, I'm fairly certain those who think this is a good idea would have ridiculed it half a year ago when he was a Sunderland left back.