leffe186

Clive Allen got 49 for us, but that was a while ago.

See if you can get zero for the rest of the season, quite a challenge. Can't you just look for long-term injured players?

Can't hear anything over here, smug grins are silent...

Seems to be a lack of trust and communication right throughout the defense, even Krul looked nervous and hesitant coming off his line that lead to a few close calls. Just watched the goals. The first is Williamson's fault, Dzeko is Coloccini's man. Colo has to come across with Dzeko, and as soon as the ball gets behind Willo he should have bust a gut to cover Colo. Instead, he gets in his way. There's an argument that maybe Colo does not communicate well enough, and obviously that someone should have tracked back with Silva, but i'd say Willo is more at fault than Colo.

Not that I'm that fussed either way, but the way some people have talked about Mbiwa in here is weird. He's 25, and played nearly 200 games for Montpellier - not to mention he's actually been at Newcastle for a while. It would hardly be rushing him in.

I do agree that a set 11 would help, although injuries regularly fucked that up for us last year (as usual). Trouble is, it's hard to have a set 11 with so many competitions. We had 1 player with 33+ apps in the Prem, Liverpool (for example) had 5. Then you look at the rest - only 15 more Liverpool players were used as starters, making a total number of 20. The total number for Spurs was 28. Liverpool clearly benefited from having a settled side. They played five additional games, we played 15 - as, I think, did Man U. The trick is to develop a style of play that the squad can slot into. Ferguson was terrific at this. It remains to be seen whether Rodgers and Poch can achieve it.

I think Soldado was just the wrong type of player for how we seemed to want to play. There are a lot of things I like about him, but I've said elsewhere that a battering ram like Bony would have actually made more sense. It does look as though Poch does not think Soldado is the guy he's looking for, too.

Tbf I don't recall him playing on the right of the attack at Spurs much. That's where he played for Roma, quite a similar role to the one Ben Arfa occupied for us during our brief 433 stint. He would create problems due to his excellent dribbling ability and technical prowess and because of Totti he would make a lot of runs beyond him into the box. Never thought he's looked very comfortable as a central player, he likes to drive into central positions rather than start there from what I have seen. If I was Spurs I'd actually consider a change to a 433, but they would need someone to better to fill the LW void and a better CM. Are you thinking Lamela on the right up front? I think Poch may be thinking along those lines too, and that's why he's looking for Schneiderlin to be the man in the middle. We have umpteen players who can be buzzing around Schneiderlin in midfield, and LW would likely be Townsend/Lennon/Eriksen/Chadli. In other words, yeah, maybe we need a better LW . Like I said, it's looking more and more likely that Eriksen and Lamela will not quite dovetail - although Eriksen is arguably the best option of the four above.

He does drift to the centre, that's pretty much his game. Diagonal runs behind the defenders or getting late into the box. He took people on without problems there, though. Pretty much this - I'd like to have him and Eriksen on the pitch at the same time but that might not be the best idea. Lamela is worryingly one-footed though. I actually think he'd be more effective as an out-and-out LW, but he seems to see himself as CRonaldo. Lovely touch, good vision; if he gets a run in the team then Poch might find a way to build the team around him. We've clearly got a long way to go though. Let's see what happens when the World Cup guys are all back and up to speed.

Where did the Holtby stuff come from? Not all that surprised, but a little disappointed. We need to trim the squad, there were noises that he was not that highly thought of (before Poch), and we can make a tidy profit on him to spend elsewhere. There are other players I'd rather lose though. Apparently there are a handful of players who have been told they can leave and who we have accepted offers for, but they want to stay. You can pretty much guarantee that one such is Dawson.

Yeah, not expecting it either.

I'll win my H2H if Diego Costa plays, and as long as Schurrle doesn't get a red card...

Yep, that's me. Did it yesterday, and I don't even remember picking up Cameron . I'm sure I meant to pick up someone else and messed it up. I almost went with Dier instead of Naughton too, FFS. It's all going to come crashing down when Man City and Liverpool play, but I am top of the league, so for tonight, sod youse all.

Every red card we get gets rescinded because the ref fucked it up. I wish they'd just get the fucking decisions right.

Dammit, I had Aluko, Lingard ANd Blackett at one point .

Are you that lazy? While other people are working out how to do that for you, KaKa, could you please join the ESPN FF league?

It amazes me how open everyone is about their teams, and how much advice people ask for . We're doing the NFL auction draft next week and nobody's going to reveal anything. I meant to sort out an auction league for footy this year but never got round to it. Maybe next time.

, no, no clues.

Well if he thought Cabaye was your only midfielder at the time, that explains a lot.

I can't believe you guys post yours up before 1130! Still, put it this way, it was looking great before Barkley got injured. And I may regret this immediately, but I have no Man City players. I have, of course, three Spurs players...but which ones?

I'll take that underperformance right now, please.

I've played at Eastleigh's ground.

Dammit, I really want to see what the Spurs one looks like.

Genuine question, but is Wickham injured/off then? Did I miss something?

Ah, right. Will do so in a bit. Sweet, cheers!