BrettNUFC

I think Stones is going to be the best English player of his generation. Such a talented, ball-playing defender. He's actually one of my fabourite players in the World.

John Stones, ffs

Or when Madrid beat Bayern in the CL.

This is a brilliant recent example where Madrid were in complete control of the match despite having very little of the ball. I'm fairly sure the possession was something like 70-30 in Bayern's favour but Madrid were always bossing the game and won 4-0.

You can't be in control out of possession man.

You can't be in control out of possession man.

How not?

That form table ffs. Watford are only 4 points behind us with 19 games in hand. Watford.

We are always being told we expect far too much, expectations sky high

Has a center back ever scored a hat trick? Or any defender?

 

Steve Watson?

Wasn't really just a defender though as he played midfield as well. Not sure what position he was playing when he scored his hatrick mind.

I'd rather win the Villa match, not least because it's more important but other reasons as well. The thing is though it would be typical of us to win against both Liverpool and Spurs, and then to lose against Villa.

 

A 'gutsy defeat' then a win against Villa is fine at this stage. Beat Spurs and lose at Villa and it just proves once again that nothing is changing.

McClaren will make the match against Villa twice as hard for us because he will set up exactly the same way as he did against Liverpool and more than likely Spurs. Wijnaldum and Sissoko as our wide men is not creative enough to be breaking teams down at home. Only way they will exploit teams is if they are given space to counter which i doubt Villa will be stupid enough to allow us.

We should adapt our style of play and team selection around certain opposition but seems like McClaren has the majority of this group of players nailed in their current starting positions and reluctant to change anything, even two batterings against Leicester and Palace didn't force his hand.

Price on Partizan to beat Augsburg tonight looks bizarrely long.

Anyone know why they are so long? Surely can't be just because they need only a draw to go through?

My money is on them if there isn't an actual genuine reason to why they are that price.

Not sure i entirely agree on his point with Wijnaldum either. He's had some brilliant games for us but when things have turned sour or we are really struggling, he's been one of the first to into hiding and hasn't stood tall like Jenas has suggested. His game against Leicester was one of the most anonymous displays you're likely to see from a central midfielder.

No doubt when he is involved in the game he's got the ability to make a huge impact and he's been a revelation for us when on song.

Given the criticism he has had he deserves some recognition for his performance at the weekend.

 

Was outstanding and Ibe didn't get past him once - to the extent that Liverpool almost completely gave up attacking that side.

Not sure that's entirely the truth

 

It actually is.

He definitely got beat a few times in the first quarter of an hour

He didn't.

 

Yeah he's literally just made that up.

Ibe certainly had some success that side in the first twenty minutes.

Without a doubt he did. He won a couple of corners by attacking Dummett and was always looking to beat him. Wasn't anything great from Ibe, was a canny battle between the two but Dummett was solid and getting the better. Still surprising Klopp decided to switch it up though.

Having a great spell down there, must be doing him the world of good. Be interesting to see what he's like when he returns as he was nowhere near PL standard when he left.

 

Rarely had time to do anything. Was always last role of the dice when chasing a game or something. No starts. No half time appearances. Just panic sub appearances.

He had a fair amount of pitch time, remember Man Utd away and Leicester away being two where i walked out thinking we need to protect him better and not throw him in at this stage where he was badly struggling. With Perez you could see from the off he was ready to play, with Armstrong, never got that feeling.

Having a great spell down there, must be doing him the world of good. Be interesting to see what he's like when he returns as he was nowhere near PL standard when he left.

Quite nice to be tracking a young lad going out on loan and actually having a great spell, very rare for us. Suppose Abeid did over in Greece but even then though he came back with stacks of improvement and looking a force, we still managed to fuck him off.

Aye, the fight knocked us down to 8 men for the last ten minutes or something 

Don't think Villa scored after that, probably still in shock after that shambles on the pitch.

Nah, he's played enough times for OM so he's now their player.

What was the limit? Thought it was a high number of appearences/goals then they would be obligated to purchase him after that point? Didn't think it would be done so soon.

Is he still our player?

Only on loan but very much doubt he'll be back.

Quicker he's considered more as a centre back than a left back the better. His confidence and ability when on the ball is embarrassing at times.

If Chelsea go out man

 

Hopefully if they do they go down in a blaze of rage like they used to with Drogba and that.

Wouldn't expect anything less even with the current bunch tbh

We are easily one of the weakest sides in the PL, if not the weakest. Not even sure the physical presence he is going on about. Was hardly like Liverpool were scared of Newcastle and jumping out of tackles because they were getting crunched. Can only really remember Colback's idiotic tackle from behind but that's standard shitness from him, nothing physical.

PSV better not mess about here, should be in the bag!

PSV, not cool!

From what I saw Dummett had the better of Ibe, who was like a dog with a bone.

 

Dummett is alright defensively. He knows how to defend. He offers nowt going forward apart from the odd good/great cross.

Dummett had a canny game against Liverpool although i'm still yet to understand the hype around Ibe, mainly from Liverpool fans. Everytime i've watched him he's been a 7/10 at best. The tactical switch from Klopp to switch Milner and Ibe didn't make sense though, Ibe was still at least having a go at Dummett, Milner done fuck all.

Dummett is still a poor left back though. Much prefer to seem him shifted inside and Mbabu left back. I don't think Mbabu is all that great defensively but at least he will offer a lot more going forward down the left hand side and we lack any sort of penetration down that side.

Price are PSV, roughly?

 

7/10, 4/6 ish.

Just put yesterday's winnings (£32.50) on this at 4/6

For some reason the Madrid 4 or more goals enhance offer wasn't on anymore, was offering Man City/Man Utd games all 4 teams to score 3/1 which didn't seem that appealing.

IMO he's scapegoating Perez as well. But we won, so let's see. I would rather he fit Perez into the side somehow, maybe on the left.

 

Yeah, well he hauled him off at half time last week, he started the seaosn with him on the bench so McClaren clearly has some doubts about him for one reason or another.

 

He's a f***ing idiot. Aye it worked for one game, whoopdefuckingshit. If that Moreno goal had of correctly been given our players heads would have inevitably dropped and I don't doubt we would have went on to lose that game. McClaren doesn't have a clue what to do or say and his last 2 team selections have been all wrong for me.

Aye, i want McClaren gone already. That half time sub against Palace was up with the worst of any Pardew subs.

I was prepared to give him a chance even though he would have been nowhere near any list of mine for the job but he's making such terrible decisions over and over, not willing to move away from his favourites within the side and it's just not good enough.

Like you say, the Liverpool result was good, no doubt it will be same team/system at Spurs and hope for a similar outcome but in the long run, major changes to the side are required and McClaren doesn't seem willing or knowledgable to make them.

IMO he's scapegoating Perez as well. But we won, so let's see. I would rather he fit Perez into the side somehow, maybe on the left.

Yeah, well he hauled him off at half time last week, he started the seaosn with him on the bench so McClaren clearly has some doubts about him for one reason or another.

I didn't see us the last few of Mitrovic's games before getting dropped but doing nothing wrong isn't really enough for a striker

 

I'm not sure if this even makes sense. Doing nothing wrong sort of means not doing anything to deserve losing your place.

Well like I didn't see the games but you should talk about what he did right rather than doing nothing wrong if you think he shouldn't have been dropped

More the fact whilst he wasn't doing much wrong, there were players around him having an absolute stinkers. When McClaren started saying he was looking at making the changes, only Mitrovic was made the scapegoat.

This wasn't really what was required but nevermind, it got us a murdering at Palace but a nice victory against Liverpool. Mitrovic should be back in the side sooner rather than later but can't really fault Cisse's performances since coming back into the side.