thenige

Is Lejeune actually fit now? Can’t believe he’d be any worse than that lumbering shitehawk Clark. Don’t think I can take another game of him aimlessly clipping the ball to no-one in particular then blaming someone else for it. Not to mention positioning himself anywhere except near a striker about to score.

Gets better every game he doesn't play.

Aye the reason he's never made it here. That and he's bobbins.

Won't get in up front ahead of Rondon (unless they end up selling the Venezuelan now), so will end up being shunting out the left. Good bye World Cup chances if that happens.

Lock him up and throw away the key. Joking and laughing! The shame of it! How can a 22 year old child be expected to endure such vicious bullying? If he's not traumatised for life we should start the poor lad on Sunday so the away support, the Chelsea home crowd, commentators and journalists can show their support for him in an environment where players can be properly protected from any mocking comments, harsh words, or criticism of their ability. Just back off holiday with my friend who’s El Mhanni’s neighbour. By all accounts he’s an absolute cock with no respect for anything or anyone. I wouldn't bother going on holiday with him again then.

Apologies for the link to the S*n, but could explain why Brighton suddenly need a replacement target man? - https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5413217/premier-league-glenn-murray-wife-arrested-tax-fraud/

People seem to forget that: A - We're shit B - We don't like spending money on wages. So yeah, not the greatest attraction for players wanting a big move. Looks a bit like a poor man's Harry Kane to me. Albeit Harry Kane when he was on loan at Norwich and everyone thought he was rubbish.

Yeah that Luis Suarez was pap.

I for one am shocked leaving it this late and bidding well under what a player is worth makes negotiation frustrating.

Yeah have to agree with this. £12m seems pittance in the current market, (which in itself is crazy) and the chances of us finding and getting a replacement for around that amount seem pretty slim. Especially given our transfer history.

Just realised I share a birthday with him. From being completely 'meh' about this, I now think he's the second coming. (I was the first).

One day we’ll concede a goal where Clark isn’t stood somewhere completely useless rather than marking his man.

It’s almost as if he’s been instructed “if a player gets goal side against you, whatever you do, don’t hurry to get back”. Lazy, or just frustrated as rarely getting the ball? Either way it’ll cost us eventually here.

"Pay exactly what I want to prove you're serious". Top negotiating tactic that.

Why would you play one in a position they clearly aren't suited to? Because I'm Pardew in disguise?

Agree. Would be absolutely staggered if Dubravka is an invaluable keeper given his career up to this point.

Josh has looked decent in the couple of games I've watched Norwich. In the Jacob interview posted above he speaks about how they always know what each other is doing on the pitch. Seems a bit odd they've both turned into wingers, as more often than not in the same team they'd be on opposite sides of the pitch. A clever manager would have trained one as a winger and the other as a full back...

That's not the definition of a tackle as taken from stat based tools and websites. Most of the things you've stated would be classified as interceptions. A tackle is defined as below: Tackles A tackle is defined as where a player connects with the ball in ground challenge where he successfully takes the ball away from the man in possession. All tackles are really a successful event. A Tackle Won is deemed to be where the tackler or one of his team-mates regains possession as a result of the challenge, or that the ball goes out of play and is "safe". A Tackle Lost is where a tackle is made but the ball goes to an opposition player. Missed Tackles This is where a player attempts to challenge for the ball and does not make it – it is calculated by adding fouls with an attempted tackle qualifier to challenge lost.

Disagree. As Paolo Maldini famously said:

I thought Diame along with maybe Perez were our best players tbh Aye. Diame was decent again. He should have went off for Merino like imo. Aye probably. His technique is never consistent but when he get tired it really gets bad. Was still winning the ball a lot late on mind He gave away about three of four needless fouls, never made any movement off the ball to make himself available for a pass and every time he got on the ball looked like he was just making sure he didn’t fall over it. Not quite sure how winning a couple of tackles and a few headers makes up for that, but part of the joy of football is taking what you see out of it.

The more I see him the more Clark just completely does my head in. Just not cut out for this level. The less said about Diame the better. Two points dropped without doubt.

Looks like he's already on the move to Palace though?

Yeah Liam Brady quit Arsenal for similar reasons. Couldn't believe the levels of disrespect and self-entitlement from some of the players within the youth teams.

He was already sold to Birmingham before Benitez arrived. Christ, apologies for talking shite then. He did sign Morientes though

Rafa's tactics in England have generally always looked to have a strong target man in the side, even if they aren't scoring. Liverpool with players like Crouch and Heskey being the most obvious examples. Allows quick progression from back to front which is beneficial for us currently as we're spending a lot of the game on the back foot and don't really have the quality at this level capable of keeping possession. If you look at the selection last few games, we don't really have any defenders who are particularly comfortable on the ball. Clark loves an aimless clip forward and Lascelles tries to keep it simple. Then up front Gayle struggled with holding the ball up in the Championship, let alone the Prem. Unless we completely overhaul our playing style or squad, think we're most likely going to stick with a striker capable in the air up front. Which for all Joselu's infuriating play, means unless we sign someone on loan or Mitro somehow gets some trust back, Joselu will keep getting time. Unless Rafa was so impressed with how we played against Stoke he goes completely against all of that. Fuck knows.