Stottie

England's penalty came from a slight touch of the hand on the waist. It was a dive. The Japanese player was pushed for their penalty, but it was outside the box. I thought the game as a whole today was quite dull and hope that Japan can up their game for the final.

While that's true, do you think the French management will take in many Crystal Palace games? Midfielders at French teams in the CL would have higher profile exposure. It also sounds like a high profile club will sign Morgan Schneiderlin. Even without it, Southampton are higher profile than Crystal Palace.

Why? Cabaye is a pretty good footballer, as demonstrated by PSG wanting him in the first place. As a regular France international, I'd imagine he'd still have options at European teams in the CL, rather than just Crystal Palace. He basically went on strike when with us to try to get a move to Arsenal, and Crystal Palace can only be a comedown compared to them. So I'm going to conclude that London is still a go-er for him and his missus, and more so than a CL team in a different country, but Arsenal mustn't be interested, as mustn't Chelsea. So he's happy to join Palace in London and prepared to come out with some spiel about liking Pardew if its good for PR. I can't believe that a midfielder as skilful as Cabaye rates Pardew as a football brain.

I've not given up on him, and hope McClaren can set the team up with more passing options to save him from having to beat three men every time he gets the ball. His height and weight won't actually be that far off Floyd Mayweather's at the recent Pacquiao fight, but he certainly doesn't have the same impression of solidity about him. Hazard and Silva look much heavier and lower center of gravity to me, and if I had to name a footballer as proof that a similar physique can be no impediment, the one I'd choose is Neymar.

Must be a London thing with his agent finding no other interested parties. I can't believe that he'd want to play for Pardew as a deciding factor.

I like the way Kolarov plays for Citeh as number 11. Its like saying I'm not in the team to defend. When I was a kid, the most famous number 7s were Keegan and then Dalglish, but that was at Liverpool. They had Steve Heighway as number 9 on the wing.

I saw the video of his goals and he doesn't really look very elegant, his goals are mostly close range and he looks quite ponderous. Still, he does look like he sniffs out the chances, definitely a goal scorer in there, whether he's good enough to keep scoring at this level is still a doubt. He looks like a Fletcher from Sunderland sort of striker. Doesn't look good but has scored goals. He's close to 85Kg, putting him in the big man category where elegance usually isn't part of the package. However, according to squawka, his shot accuracy and chance conversion rates are very high, backing up the idea that he can't be clumsy and did well to score so many for such a poor team. We should see an improvement under McClaren, especially compared to Carver, but chance creation hasn't exactly been our forte of late. As with Papiss, we need someone who can make the most of what little we give him. In that sense, Austin would be a good signing.

If he wants to play for England regularly, he's got to go to a club that will play him. Especially now that the up and coming competition is Harry Kane and not Danny Welbeck.

For Citeh, he's a definite upgrade on Jesus Navas! With the English premium, around 35M I would have thought. Two years proven in the prem makes him a better prospect than Walcott or Oxlade Chamberlain were, for recent examples of English players. He's better value than nearly 30M for Luke Shaw for example. Not that Citeh have to worry about value. Liverpool are making him out to be a troublemaker but it might just be that he hasn't bought into their hype. Which in fairness is mostly based on stuff that happened before he was born.

What's he going to say next? "Alan taught me this great floaty set piece you hit to the back post"?

The hope with McClaren is that he can eliminate factors that were pure Pardew or pure Carver. You can't blame Ashley for the set penis, for the team trying to shut up shop at 1-0, for the piss poor efforts twice a season against the mackems, or for the way certain players, recently MYM, didn't get a fair chance. The blame there stops with the manager. What Ashley can be blamed for is the underinvestment, the draining of ambition, and the whoring of the entire ground to Sports Direct and the shirt to Wonga. Underinvestment in itself is not uncommon below the top tier of clubs, but as the team with the lowest net spend (=highest profit from transfers) over the past five or so seasons, ours is still worthy of note. Ashley's failings also go way beyond simple underinvestment.

I don't watch the Championship, so was there a reason for Derby falling away? They were joint top in early Feb but finished the season P17 W4 D8 L5 F29 A30 for 20 points. They conceded more (30) in the last 17 games than they did (26) in the first 29 games. Did they lose any key defensive players during the season? Their final games included a 2-2, a 3-3 and a 4-4. Were they simply "found out"? I did see the playoff last year and I thought QPR were jammy as feck to win it.

Pardew was poor. All those three goal plus defeats, his record vs. the mackems, and the set penis are more than enough proof. Carver being appointed and being allowed to nearly relegate us simply confirm that the club is rotten beyond what were Pardew's failings.

That's about it! In that podcast Caulkin said we were a team of midgets and said there seemed to be no plan for purchasing the types of players that were actually needed for a given way that the team is supposed to play. There's some truth in there too.

If it wasn't Allardyce, I would have some sympathy West Ham's manager, given the way they've treated him. Announcing it five minutes after the last game, Chimbonda style. It's pretty low. Since it is him, ferk it. They clearly couldn't wait to get rid, but sure weren't going to give him any compo from a sacking.

f It would in our case, but theirs suggests losing suarez and sturridge for most of the season whilst signing a total donkey in Balotelli has hit them hard. They'll buy one or two strikers, let mario go, and return to being a 5th place team believing they can be league challengers. They've got money so that's pretty likely. The notable point is that they'll probably have to buy strikers and have a defence that can (still) do with sorting just to finish fifth. When they started that Man U game with the Mata goals, they had 54 points off 29 games. They've finished the season with 6 points off the last 9 matches. Still, they made sure Gerrard got a lovely send off and he's a legend, etc. etc., not like that nasty Sterling chancer. (It should go without saying, but Coutinho probably wants to piss off somewhere else too)

Aye, calculated populism, like the stuff about Bobby and Speedo. Very tasteless. Souness talking shite too about us chopping and changing managers. Pardew was second longest serving manager in the league.

They finish the season having conceded only three goals fewer than relegated Burnley. They've finished sixth with a goal difference of only +4, which is like us when we finished fifth. Finishing high up the league with a very low goal difference is a bad pointer toward the following season. It suggests such high position is not sustainable.

Felliani on. Herrara unlucky.

Rooney looking very isolated and has barely been involved.

Lino making a strong case for Toon man of the season

Great save by Valdez!

Hull goal disallowed

No Ayoze ffs. I might leave the cricket on.

He could well be. Signing duffers and mismanaging Sterling doesn't bode well. I think he's mismanaged Sterling because rumours sell papers so there will always be speculation. Mourinho simply said that Hazard would cost 100M a leg.