ponsaelius

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-41334260 It's made the news as well

2nd half of the interview here

Some great quotes in there.

He's too limited on the ball to ever be an international standard defender IMO but there's absolutely nothing stopping him being a good PL defender considering his attributes and character.

"Some may have gone over the top" Then those two quotes

We're on the TV cos we're box office. Even when we're shite to watch, we're an attractive viewing option. I'm not sure why this is, since everybody never seems to want to shut up about us being a deluded small club, but the fact is the viewing figures back it up - and that's why we're always picked for Sky.

Cavani spent his first 3 seasons on the wing, then got his chance through the middle as the main striker with Ibrahimovic leaving. His goal output doubled as a result. He's already got that luxury of remaining #9, while Mbappe and Neymar are doing more creative roles out wide. Two players that could quite easily play centrally. Think he should stop being a bitch and least he could do is share the penalties around.

Should listen to what the manager says and do whatever is best for the team. Messi don't take every penalty or free kick either IIRC. As far as I'm aware the manager hasn't designated a specifc penalty or free-kick taker, but that the players should decide on the pitch. Cavani had taken the previous one at Celtic so Neymar was getting twitchy asking for this one. Don't see the problem.

Messi and Ronaldo have spent their careers bullying teammates over free-kicks and penalties. Legacies and awards are won by the goalscorers, not the creators, these days. Penalties are potentially 5-10 free goals a season. Don't really see it as much of a problem that two hugely expensive forwards are fighting over these things tbh.

Top 10 most touches in a game by an individual player in Serie A (since they started counting these statistics at least).

Always been 2-3 random shite teams for as long can be remembered. I'd usually agree that they tend to make up the numbers and an 18 team league should have been considered a long time ago. However Crotone's escape last season was ridiculous - 3 wins from 30, then won 6 of their last 8.

Jarrow Roofing vs Bishop yesterday. About halfway into the first half the manager goes to make a sub, soon becomes apparent that it's because his lass has gone into labour The manager's attempts to articulate this point to his captain using hand gestures was quite something. The lad comes off, hops the railing and runs off into the car park where his dad was waiting.

Shite.

That's a two way street tbf. White players don't exactly get compared with black players. I dunno why it's seen as a problem that there are obvious differences and similarities that aren't just simply 'ah they're both black' - no one's comparing Drogba and Sammy Ameobi. Dunno like, have you checked Cronky's post history?

Brentford did the same thing. In many ways you can see why. They have to compete with the likes of Man City, Man United, Everton, Liverpool for youngsters. Often it's expending a lot of money on running the academy when all the best young players are going to favour the big clubs' set-ups anyway. The alternative model that Brentford have tried (and Huddersfield are following) is to allow those clubs to incur the costs of running academies and then when youngsters are released at 18 or whatever to sign them up and give them a 2nd chance in the game. I'm not sure I like it, and I'm pretty sure the FA aren't a fan either, but for smaller clubs competing in competitive catchment areas you can see it becoming an increasingly viable option.

Just checked and it was against Villa in the relegation season. Ayew scored for them.

Scored a last minute ET winner in the League Cup against Forest in the 5th place season. Then scored away at West Brom when Ayoze scored that flick. There must be another but I can't recall it.

If we're going pre-war(s) - Colin Veitch scored 49 goals, Frank Hudspeth 37. Veitch used to play all over the pitch though apparently.

Neymar should absolutely be on penalties. It's a pisstake that he's actually let Cavani take them until now.

Amazing I love that there is even a word for that.

The old HTT prediction of about 20 different possible results. Classic of the genre.

I just get the feeling Dutch managers are behind the curve of the modern game. Van Gaal had Man United loaded full of slow players too and it made them horrible to watch. Feels like arrogance almost.

Nobody is saying they're a relegation team. They will obviously finish comfortably top half. They're just desperately slow which considering the money spent is negligent. They've also looked absolutely shite in Europe, fwiw.

Everton look really crap. It shouldn't be the case considering they have a lot of good ball players. But it really shows the importance of pace (particularly out wide and upfront) in modern football.

Pace of this Everton side is so limiting. They're absolutely desperate for an outball. Need Bolasie back ASAP.