John P

I've missed having a committed Argentinian in the team.

Isn't this a ridiculously quick recovery for that injury?

Looks a real leader and absolutely loves going mental at people after he's bailed them out with a last ditch tackle.

If that 45mins is a good representation of how he plays, I can see how he may be prone to making errors. He was very aggressive in trying to get to the ball first and he also was aggressive in bringing the ball out of defensive and then making a move forward off the ball. Whilst he played very well and everything came off, those sort of players will obviously eventually make a few fuck ups.

Goldfish bowl.

I lasted 9 minutes, fuck the rest of it. All he's done so far is try and give excuses and pass the blame onto others for what he's done. He's a prick. Also - refusing to go on trial with clubs? Is he really that stupid? He reckons after everything he's done that a club is just going to offer him a contract?

Given was great, but I always thought one of his weaknesses was rushing out to a player one-on-one. In my mind there seemed to be so many goals that would go through his legs, unless I'm remembering this completely wrong Whereas Dubravka is very good at saving close range shots with his legs / feet.

The way in which they tackled was different, but they were both cynical, deliberate fouls and I would say that Pogba's was more dangerous as he caught him with studs right down his Achilles. I was so angry about that tackle at the time, especially after he avoided a booking in the first half for booting the ball away. The fact he was then heavily involved in Martial's goal nearly made me explode.

I see Cardiff had a player sent off against Spurs for basically doing the same as Pogba did on Yedlin. Wasn't as bad as the Arter hack on Joselu, which apparently warranted only a yellow too. The amount of awful decisions we've been on the end of in the last 3 seasons is quite incredible, it seems to happen every week. Also, I've only seen one replay but, didn't Pogba actually stamp on the back of Yedlin's heel too, making it dangerous as well as cynical?

Even if he does spend in January, it'll only be because he's shitting himself at the prospect of another relegation. And if we stay up it'll be the same as last summer - minimal spend / make a profit and try to scrape survival again, only this time it will be without Rafa at the helm. The fact that the media are trying to spin that as a positive is ludicrous. It's completely fucking pointless following this club, we aren't a sports team, we're a hollowed out shell of a football club.

The only thing he could possibly be thinking is that a foul for holding started outside the area, which we don't quite see on the video but looks possible as the striker is backing into the defender. Even then it's an incorrect interpretation of the rules as the foul continues into the box. Quite incredible incompetence really.

I agree, we only lost 2-1 to Man City so I'm going for a single goal loss here. 1-0. Awful game. Joselu to miss a header from 8 yards midway through the second half at 0-0.

On the ones I've seen, he always seems to do quite well and is usually as good as the current pros. He still has good technique, he just gets knackered from all the running.

Didn't realise there was an early game and didn't get a notification from my app saying "2 hours to select your team" or whatever, so didn't get the chance to captain Hazard

So we reckon Kenedy is working on his Dad bod then? I thought he was very good against Spurs and has been very poor since. Hoping it's just a run of bad form and he'll sort himself out soon, it happens to players.

Also beating Chelsea 4-2 in 1994. Just watching the YouTube highlights that are linked, Jesus, no way we'll ever get a pen that soft ever again. I was at that game. That little weasel Dennis Wise was having words with Rob Lee(?) as he was about to take that penalty. I’m not sure if that’s when we started hating Wise but i remember he got loads of abuse for the rest of the game and every match after that. Wise got sent off in that match IIRC. He did indeed, by Peter Jones, whose daughter I went to school with. He refereed our school cup final in the summer of 1994 and he was a right mardy git. Glad to see he took no shit from Wise though.

It's exactly what Messi does and occasionally Ronaldo as well. You have far more potential for causing the opposition bother if you ride challenges and exploit the space left by overcommitted defenders. With Hatem I think it was just that he loved having the ball at his feet so much and he knew if he went down he wouldn't have it any more He was an absolute joy to watch. I think that is true. It goes back to him being almost childlike in how he played the game. He got such a buzz from going past people and exciting the crowd that the idea of going down to win a free kick or penalty never even entered his mind.

One of the (many) things I loved about Hatem was how he would never dive or go down easily. Players would always try and bring him down but he never would take the option of just going to ground, he would try his hardest to get past them and really fight to stay on his feet.

Seems like this thread has been bumped every week since the beginning of the Championship season with clear penalties not given to us, dodgy ones given against us, red cards wrongly awarded to us and not given to the opposition etc to the point where it's getting fucking ridiculous now. That red card stat is insane. Not a single red card in 5 years? That surely goes beyond incompetence.

Why, exactly?

I thought Sane would be nailed on to be starting the first couple of games after having a great season, missing the World Cup and presumably getting a full pre-season under his belt. Who do we reckon is going to play more for them this season, Sane or Mahrez?

Arter's was a definite red for me (Clive). He just deliberately hacked him down from behind with excessive force at knee height man. It's a blatant red.

I believe that was after the 4th transfer window we were linked with him, and his stock kept rising higher. He'd be playing for Blyth Spartans by now.

Got a good feeling about this guy. Working his arse off will endear him to fans anyway, but I think he could surprise us with his quality too.

Can't believe we've come to a stage where we're absolutely delighted that Yedlin isn't out for a few months.