tom1988

Don't worry everyone, I have heard it on good authority from my ITK that Pards will sign the Alien before the season kicks off, then the number 14 will be given to Thauvin.

Ryder

Quite like that Gini has 5, Zidane had that at Real so maybe thats the link? Also, Mitrovic got his 45. Have we had any other 45's since Viana?

I remember the night that I found out that he'd passed. Was genuinely upset and close to tears.

Found a link yesterday to a page showing what a load of former footballers are doing these days and one in particular made me smile. Managed to find an article on it too... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3177982/Lee-Bowyer-left-football-run-carp-fishing-lake-France.html

The f*** is that? As if having one alien wasn't enough..

Mitrovic is nailed on to get injured isn't he.

terrible

Man Utd 3-1 Spurs Bournemouth 2-0 Aston Villa Everton 2-0 Watford Leicester 0-0 Sunderland Norwich 0-2 Crystal Palace Chelsea 4-1 Swansea Arsenal 5-0 West Ham Newcastle 2-2 Southampton Stoke 2-2 Liverpool West Brom 1-1 Man City

The PCSO - looks the part and is expected to play the role of an enforcer but in reality is weak as piss and gets no respect

Was thinking the same thing - since this years FM brought in all those new role types I thought it would be funny to come up with some spurious ones and assign players that match the characteristics/position.

I was under the impression that they're not the focus and therefore drift back and try to drag defenders out of position so that any one of the other talented attacking players get chances to score. This is why it works really well for Barca/Spain etc and you don't see the likes of Allardyce/Pards playing with one

On the topic of shuttlers... If ESPN said it, it must be true! http://www.espnfc.us/blog/tactics-and-analysis/67/post/2027159/is-the-diamond-formation-back-and-here-to-stay-in-european-football PS. this is an horrendous and painful article.

The false 9 plays just in front of the shuttler. Everybody knows that!

Explain... seriously! http://thefalse9.com/2013/09/football-tactics-for-beginnersthe-false-9.html

Nah, too young

I think the problem with Colo is that he's had to cover both positions as for the last however many years we've had absolute shite lined up next to him. I think if he was in a position where he could trust his partner to pull his weight and then develop a solid relationship with the left back akin to the one he had with Enrique then we may see his game improve. Colo was and in my opinion still is a classy, quality player and to be honest I don't really blame his head going over the last few years - look at what he's had to put up with, playing next to iron mike and being managed by mr hoofball pards.

*fingers crossed* please just not another Williamson/Boumsong/Cacapa/Bramble/etc

He's a fantastic player to watch The goal he scored against Chelsea in the CL last year was class

http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/22/quiz-how-well-do-you-know-your-premier-league-transfer-records-5307540/ 18/20 - the 2 I didn't get were from nothing teams that I care not a bit for. (Stoke & mackems)

Definitely. I'm mostly worried about the dead wood we've yet to shift, we all know who. I'm praying they'll clear out the cling-ons in the next couple of weeks somehow.. Who's going to take them though? As shite as they are we don't have any back up squad players or decent youth talent to bring in when half the first team are suspended and/or injured.

So with this in mind then, do you think there is a correlation between results and the games that we have played uphill second half? It must be a lot more draining towards the end of a game attacking up hill? Also, given the additional forces that sprinting (assuming our players do this from time to time) up and down hills exerts on the body, could this in theory be a viable reason behind the large number of muscular/joint injuries that our players tend to suffer?

That 20 year old has scored against top level competition in the CL, he's a lot more experienced than his age gives credit for. Anderlecht played the majority of last season with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Mitrovic up top - It wouldn't be anything he wasn't used to and I think that de Jong and Ayoze floating about being pests in the space behind would give him ample support. I think Cisse is quite 1 dimensional and wouldn't work well up front as part of a two, he can't play off the shoulder as he doesn't have the pace and is shite at holding the ball up. Playing Cisse would mean someone would have to be shifted out wide. Impact sub for me like