leffe186

I was going to say.

I feel like you do this every week .

Silva getting injured is a bit of a pain in the arse. Does anyone have thoughts on the merits (or otherwise) of taking 4pt hits? I go out of my way to avoid them, but I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake.

This will be, by some distance, the most deserved Manager of the Year award ever.

Was gonna say. He actually looks better . Nowt wrong with a bit of grey.

There's contact. Rapidly becoming my least favourite footballing phrase.

What a great pen that is too.

Chelsea are absolutely strolling this. My wife's Villa, she's still in bed, and I think she made the right choice.

Commentator: "Responsibility for Chelsea to put the ball out here". No it isn't you fucking divot - even if the guy hadn't gone down like a total pussy.

Villa are awwwwwful.

No.

Terrific goal too.

At what point can you sign a free agent/get a loan? And what are the options?

I've never been his biggest fan, but I thought Rose barely put a foot wrong the other night.

I've not seen enough of Clyne this season to judge, but although Walker has done pretty well he has some real limitations in skill that would make me wary of relying on him at an international level. My main worry with that team is the lack of real class in midfield. I think we'll really struggle to keep the ball, although we have some potential to hit teams on the break, particularly out wide.

Fuck, I'm about to be 43, and yet I want those Panini stickers and album so badly.

Can't believe I missed this .

I'm 99% certain the Dutch side of 78 would have won in Argentina if Argentina had not cheated.

Sepp Blatter? Cruyff is a real loss. All those bloody fags . RIP.

And shit, Cruyff died while I was writing that? RIP indeed.

You can't get over Alli's punchable face so you pick Ince? I think that's called cognitive dissonance . Alli and Dier could each do a job for England, but you'd have to build a team that works as a team. It's the age-old problem - do you pick the eleven best players or do you look at who's available and craft a style that fits as many as possible? Either way, the press and some fans will be pissed off. I've said this before - Alli has been effective for us because he's been given a fair bit of freedom. Even so, many Spurs fans are frustrated with him and wouldn't actually have him in their first team. I would, because you can afford one player who just runs about a lot and pops up with crucial goals and assists. You just have to recognize that he's still a kid. He's incredibly fit, pretty strong, and skilful; just inconsistent - gives the ball away a lot, flits in and out of the game a bit. Dier has surprised all of us - we were desperate for a DM in the Summer and Poch/Levy got a lot of stick for us ending up with Dier. He really has been a revelation...but the proviso is that he's got a fairly simple job. He's asked to sit in front of the defence for the most part, then when we get the ball he drops back to let the full-backs push on. He's bloody good at that job. If you ask him to do that for England then fair enough, and he's going to look pretty good. If you ask him to do anything else in midfield then you're asking for trouble. One big point in his favour when you're looking at a tournament is that he can do a job at DM, CB and RB.

Can't believe you dropped him against your own team tbh, Neil. Schoolboy error.

I keep avoiding Kane © because I don't want to put the mockers on him. It's costing me.

How much time will Rafa actually get with the team this next couple of weeks? How many players are on international duty?