Stottie

After the season Benteke had, you cannot judge any other Palace player on "assists".

If he is replaced in a manner Rafa is happy with, that sounds like a good fee to me given his age. He's a good pro and he was good for us, so all the best to him. The thought of the club operating in a competent and sensible manner feels weird.

Lukaku's run inside in the final minute dragged Nagatomo away, creating the huge space on Japan's left that Belgium exploited for the last minute winner. Lukaku may end up like Rooney or the real Ronaldo in doing too much, too young in a body not built for longevity, but he's a definite top striker.

With Townsend, Rafa knows exactly what he'll get, so I trust his judgement. From the last time, he proved he was a trier, not always a given with wide players, and we'll need one of them if we are replacing Ritchie.

Always looked very tidy and quite skilful in the few times I've seen him play. A good signing, I think.

I agree that something seemed to happen with Merino when he got injured. Before that, it was looking like we'd signed Kante Mk. II. Wasn't he leading the league in a ball-winning stat? He looked superhumanly strong on the ball. After the injury, it sounds like there was some falling out between club and player, and whether that's true or not, his performances have not been the same since. He hasn't looked like someone you would play over Hayden. Maybe his head has just gone for us, so we'll not see the same player from those first eight games. That player was certainly one to hang onto.

Megalolz at Neuer. That was beautiful. Has to be said, but there is no ferking way Leroy Sane would not have improved that team.

Hummels has missed about four now.

2-0!!!!!

Dunno about that decision. A shot from the same distance and it gets called ball to hand.

Rafa is a strategist and that might save us, but with a lot of managers, that fixture list would put them under probably terminal pressure. At one stage last season, weren't we the only team in the bottom seven or eight who hadn't changed manager? There might have been two teams, but I think it was one. I think fixtures are one of those things in football that are supposed to even out, but don't.

It sounds like Spurs have raised their wage ceiling, so yeah, that opens the door to Martial. With a year to go, Man U will take a massive hit on the fee. If so, can we have Llorente?

I feel for ordinary Villa fans, even ones that sang the odd song at full time when we went down. I wouldn't wish bad ownership and mismanagement on any fans. That said, the twat (singular I believe) who made the banners, and any other "bantz" obsessed idiots who thought it was a good idea to wave them in our faces can have their noses rubbed in it as much as anyone likes. What goes around comes around.

Time for someone to ask that arsehole Villa sooperfan who their next messiah is.

Sterling's great. He showed a lot of promise and trickery at Liverpool, but Pep's turned him into a much more effective wide forward who makes killer far post runs for seemingly easy goals. His interplay with the others at City is also excellent. He was outshone in the latter half of the season by Sane, but what a player he is too. I've got a feeling Sane could be one to watch at the WC. Sterling was also just about Rafa's last signing at Liverpool, for those who don't know the story.

Must say I enjoyed it myself. Perhaps Klopp should have tried the gegenpress in training on his own goalkeeper. Ramos should have been booked for simulation and the grainy zoom shot makes it look like he might have got a sly one in on Karius, but the Salah one is just a coming together. It sounds like people clutching at straws. RM may be a poor side, but they were better than Liverpool.

It might get lost in the story, but the worldie won the match, the howler only confirmed it.

This'll sound crap but pre-match I thought one narrative could be Bale beating Liverpool and then joining Man U.

Karius again!

Wow from Bale!

I'm in Japan and according to Japanese sources, the average salary of a Japanese footballer in the J1 league is about 20 million yen a year, which is about 130,000GBP or two and a half grand a week. That would be low for the Championship or high for League 1. According to different sources Iniesta is on annual wages of 3.25 to 3.9 billion yen, 150 to 200 times the J1 average. I think I'll go and see him play if I get the chance, but the above relative difference in pay does sour the romance of what he's doing.

Well there is only one year left on his contract, which points to someone getting him for a low fee. Current wages are rumoured to be 140k per week. For a club with ambition, a knockdown fee in January and 100 to 140k a week for three years are probably going to be cheaper in total than any comparable #10.

Man U may have gone up to second with Jose, but they are still very dependent on De Gea. He goes and they could drop out of the top four easily.

Gayle and Joselu don't put their feet through it. The potential screamers we had all hit the post. Ritchie had two, one vs. Everton, Merino vs. don't remember (same Everton game?), Shelvey vs. Bournemouth (the one the onside Gayle knocked in) etc.

S If he maintains his current form he will definitely go as England will crash out after failing to break down teams that just sit in front of them and everyone will say we could have done with Shelvey Shelvey doesn’t break down teams that just sit in front of him. With Kane, Vardy, Stirling, Rashford, ... making runs, he just might. I love Vardy and under Pep, Sterling has turned into a very good wide forward.