ponsaelius

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.

4-0 after 31 mins. Lazaar will be back next summer.

Lazaar playing for Benevento. They're 1-0 down after 5 mins.

Think that he's a right cunt like. It's never his fault when his team loses and this whole myth of Stoke playing some sort of tika-taka stuff because he's signed a couple of diminutive attacking midfielders is totally bollocks. Last season he was still playing Glenn Whelan and Jon Walters ffs. They played a back 3 system in the most boring way possible yesterday. So much possession for the back 3 and little going forward from the wing-backs. He's from the Pards school of thinking he's a modern, progressive manager when the evidence suggests otherwise. At least wankers like Pulis admit they're there to destroy.

Not really many goalkeeper managers. Can only think of Lopetegui and Zenga (who's currently unemployed).

I think he's a complete and utter fraud personally. Fuck knows what that mess of a system he was playing yesterday was supposed to be. Mame Diouf as a fucking wingback

He was pretty indifferent at the Camp Nou though. Juventus have become too good, or Serie A really bad. Casually forgetting him tearing you apart in the quarter final last year In which he scored half the goals he did in his entire CL campaign, and it's not like Juve didn't get far. Don't get me wrong, Dybala's really good, but he still lacks consistency when facing top sides. Running up the score in a league where Juve is heads and shoulders above the rest flatters him to a degree. Well he never really ran up the score in Serie A either before now. Only got 11 last year. He's a fantastic allround player though and getting better all the time.

He's not going to be sacked - even if they finish outside the top four. He's their manager for the long term. They don't really have anywhere to go to if they were to sack him. Rafa back there is a backwards step and a complete non-starter, IMO. Pace, power and goalscoring is more important for winning titles now than a solid defence. That's the case in the PL in 2017. They're going in the right direction on that front. Defence can be sorted in time. Like I said they were too picky on which defenders they wanted, and they'll pay for that this season.

He won 2 Bundesliga titles over Bayern. He's got a bit of a weak spot with regards to buying defenders, although I think that's down to being picky. They spent all summer chasing Van Dijk instead of ever considering somebody else to be an upgrade on Klavan and Lovren.

Same point with somebody like Shawcross, who many were desperate for us to sign. A player who had to make the same step up from the Championship once upon a time and has similar characteristics as a CB. We don't have enough confidence in our young players sometimes.

It was clearly sarcasm