Ronaldo

I think it's probably the clubs that put pressure on the players to pull out. Now Alex and Terry are out, Cole is arguably Chelsea's most important player. This is actually a good point. Talk of banning Cole is madness, basically. He's been England's best player for almost a decade now.

£10 on: England Italy Holland Russia returns £95.

Honestly, i can't stand these ridiculous friendlies. Have a couple in the summer each year and absolute no more than that. I completely understand why players pull out.

Shame for the lad, but from our point of view I couldn't care less. He's no use to us.

2 of Ashley Young, Walcott and Adam Johnson should be our wingers for the next 5 years or so. Depends very much on Walcott developing into a striker or not.

The only problem it'll solve is the level of opposition no longer being PL standard.

And he's completely shite, go figure.

Cringeworthy. Decent backup would be someone capable of contributing in some way.

You already have cracked up. In the latter half of 08-09 we persevered with a striker who was very wasteful in the box and non-existent outside of it - effectively rendering us down to 10 men in games in which we needed 12. We paid a pretty high price for it, and folk want a repeat? Short memories, or just plain stupid.

You deserve all the congratulations here, mate. Essentially listing the ability to waste possession through missing chances as a strength.

Yeah, if only we had a CB who misses headers, or a CM who misplaces passes. At least they're in position to do so, bless em.

That was what Stoke were like when we played them in the relegation season. No idea what they're like week in and week out and they'll probably be silent as mice when they're an established Premier League team for ten years but I know our players were absolutely shitting themselves in the first half from the hostility whenever we had the ball. Partially because Ryan Taylor had things thrown at him when he was fouled close to the far sideline and later when he went to take a throw-in. Agree with Skeletor, The Velodrome exhibited the best atmosphere i've ever experienced.

Yeah, it's exactly the same type of thing. Such was the ignorance, his career might as well have started in August 2008. You only have to look at Lovenkrands' farcical time at Shalke to see just how feasible it is to 'give him a run of games' at this level - and in a tightrope season such as this. I like the lad as a professional, but enough's enough.

Yeah, of the bottom 3. I like the fact that people are completely ignoring his career prior to last season.

Just turned on SSN to hear a mackem saying 'this result' and others like it will get them that Champions League spot. Yeah, we're the deluded ones.

He offers nothing outside the 18-yard box and next to nothing inside it. I hope Hughton's not stupid enough to start him again, but he probably is, sadly.

Mancini can't build a team, he doesn't have the time. He's had to essentially buy a brand new one, made-up of players motivated by money. It's destined to fail.

The first few weeks were pretty barren, but i've won £400+ 4 times since mid-September. Been going really well for me. Gotta give thanks to Barca, tbh. The amount of times they've come through for me when i've needed a -1 or -2 has been phenomenal. Suppose it makes up for the large amount they've cost me in the last 2 Champions Leagues.

Krul's had 3 very solid games in the last 8 days. If he can continue that, I think he'll stay put.

Nobody is saying that it's his fault, man. And i've no problem with him getting 5 minutes at Arsenal, it's the 45 minutes against Blackburn and 15 against Fulham when we need momentum/a goal that pisses me off. As i've said, i'd far rather have him in the side than Lovenkrands. Our striking options are beyond a joke.

Don't agree with that per se - it's laughable that he's our best forward option from the bench, but not the fact he's making appearances. I'd still have him on there though, and in games such as Sunderland and Arsenal it can only aid his development by giving him minutes. Him getting an entire half against Blackburn just highlights how short we are in the forward department. Well, yeah, that's precisely my point.

None of that is 'consistency,' though. With us it's 5 games out of 7.

See what's missing?

We know.

I very rarely use one-word answers, terrible impression.