Segun Oluwaniyi

He is the only one of the three I have ever seen perform at a level befitting of a quality Premiership player (unfortunately not enough since the second half of 2012-13 when his confidence seemed to evaporate, culminating in some inexcusable matches last year). Haidara to me is just average. He has the athleticism to cover some of his faults, but he doesn't bring much to the team going forward or defending. Dummett is inadequate, unfortunately. He has no exceptional traits at this level. Santon should get one more chance to show himself here, tbh, and if he can't should be moved on for the good of the club (LB has become a problem position) and a player that like so many here is talented, but has regressed.

I think Steven Taylor might be the worst player that regularly gets matches for NUFC at the moment, maybe aside from Dummett and Elliot (who will likely not play much this season without injury), and out of form Cisse. He is noticeably worse than the three other options at his position.

What is the situation with Santon? I presume he is injured, but haven't heard much about him. I'd much prefer him to the other two options, especially if he can regain his form/confidence. Tiote's presence will be a massive miss with Toure and the other creative players they have in the middle.

He was your best player against Iran mate I know there was little competition for the award in that particular match, but this is blatantly untrue. Shola came on in his second half and his main contribution was losing aerial battles against Iran's tiny centrebacks when there were potential chances afoot. He played the exact way he for NUFC since about 2006.

The sanctification of Ben Arfa on here can be tiresome at times. To me, he is a supreme talent who has proven to be unreliable, petulant, and somewhat troublesome throughout his career, who is managed by a self-interested charlatan with little actual ability. It is a volatile mix that has finally began to burn. Ben Arfa has acted foolishly one too many times and Pardew has used this as an excuse to shun the player and make him a scapegoat because he is always trying to protect himself. There have been signs of this throughout his career here. Ben Arfa has only really performed in electric spurts of good performances, and whenhe isn't performing the manager uses his lackadaisical nature and attitude as a reason to drop him so the attention is shifted.

Mangala is definitely a top talent, but playing in a highly competitive league week to week will be a new experience. There is a different level of intensity and focus needed to play 30-50 meaningful matches against legitimate competition. If he adjusts, City will have a star.

It is actually laughable that Keshi thought this guy was fit to play World Cup matches for this country. Completely unjustifiable selection. Anyway, I'm glad my guy can keep "gettin dem cheques" anyway. He should meet up with John Utaka while he is there so they can meet and laugh about how much money people have paid them to play football.

We need a player similar to Tiote in midfield, imo, and he would be missed if he left. Of course, this guy is not really the one I want given his propensities to make reckless tackles, lose the ball in dangerous areas, make overly ambitious passes, and be pulled out of defensive shape, but he is still a vital part of the team regardless. Obviously, we are not part of it, but he seems an important part of the dressing room as well. One of the longer serving players, an emotional disposition, and someone many of the new imports can look up to.

No way will they be promoted. Is it that sure of a thing? I think they have made some very good signings and have a good manager and a connection with a big club who will loan them quality young talent periodically. The Championship is always throwing out surprises anyway.

I think Boro are coming up this season, maybe to replace Sunderland as a NE representative.

There are a ton of Black Englishman playing in Jamaica who could easily qualify for Jamaica, but it seems like none of them ever do. Even the likes of Perch have never played for them. It is somewhat embarrassing how terrible they are given this fact.

True, but honestly most players do not have the mentality to think, " I am not good enough for the top level and should stay at a smaller club for playing time". They genuinely think they can make it at these clubs. Rodwell for example had probably 100 appearances for a big club and was an England international at 21. What reason does a player like that have not to be ambitious?

This is because NFL, a sport with extreme physical violence, in which certain positions of players run into each other at full force every play and the majority will experience violent collisions every game, has been producing players that have dementia similar to pugilist dementia and are dying at young ages. I believe that trend is nearly entirely the result of the nature of that sport and will not affect most others (rugby, maybe), frankly, but it is good to see health issues taken seriously. My main concern in football is attempting to improve cardiac testing and potential salvage efforts if arrest does occur. This has happened all too often in football recently.

Why can't it just be quadrennially like Copa America, Euros, Asian Cup and the OFC nations cup? I know the Gold Cup is every 2 as well but at least they stick it in the summer and the big players don't go to every other one anyway. This is 3 tournaments in 4 years FFS Tbf, I also lobbied for 2013 to be skipped, when the plan to change to odd years came about (I'm now happy it wasn't, due to our victory). I have said that this was an unnecessary money decision by Hayatou, but it has now been two years, which is the gap that has existed since before most of the Sub Saharan countries had their independence.

If it was held every twenty years, you people would still complain.

I think they are 5th and 6th best leagues in the world respectively, so "dump" seems overly harsh for either

I will never stop enjoying the "anyone who leaves Western Europe is a mercenary wasting their career" paradigm on this place. As if Valbuena is not going to a big club in an big league (the same strength as France according to UEFA) that will be playing in Europe next season. Anyway, I will miss Mathieu. He was a great little player for OM, tbh, and I am happy he has finally gotten some recognition internationally and with Les Blues the last few years.

I am more impressed they have found a model with accurate footballer tattoos.

Samuel is good enough to play somewhere and needs to be doing so for the good of his career. Wasting time as the "seventh sub" will stunt him.

13 million pound to replace Carl Jenkinson with another young, unproven British fullback. People seem to hate him. I don't know why, the player always seemed solid enough to me.

I would not mind this kit, except for the fact of the massive trapezoid connecting the shoulder bones to the middle of the sternum. Even if it was a small, less jarring trapezoid, it would be fine. As it stands, the kit makes no sense aesthetically.

I think it is more a case of Mourinho just not liking him, tbh. Just from the game the two have been playing in the media I feel like the boss is annoyed with his attitude and/or his propensity to run his mouth. You feel he would have gotten plenty of games at Chelsea both last season and this season and probably the one before that as well.

If Chelsea were buying a 21 year old striker from Everton that had scored ~35 goals over two seasons, been a dominant professional since 15 and led the line for one of the most talented nations in Europe, they would be paying 30+ million, imo.

I expected more from the Torres miss, tbh. It wasn't that easy of the chance. It should be a goal, but the ball is at pace and an awkward height. I can think many worse misses, with two from my countrymen standing out as far worse. The one against Man U was much more humiliating, especially given the situation.

I don't understand why teams are so keen to spend incredible sums of money on Southampton's players, tbh. Their performance as a club over the past two seasons doesn't seem exceptional enough to warrant their entire first team being transferred to top clubs. They were a mid-table side. You would think that all of the players openly being made available would lower the prices, but in reality almost all of the deals have been exorbitant with the exception of maybe Lallana, which I thought was a sensible enough price. What is the point?