Tiresias

Agree... Though I would have kind of loved it if he had gone WE WILL CRUSH THEM!

I still would have taken the gamble at start of season on him, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and he could still stay fit in future for longer

The replacement part just got delayed shipping in

I love how their coach describes them as having the guts, pretty much what our shit teams are always having. Shit, but got 'guts' whatever that is... Anyway good for them!

Well I've got to be good at something

Disagree really, they have their place in maintaining possession further up the pitch, and in a 3 man midfield allow the other midfielders to push further up the pitch, however would say that against weaker teams there's no sense in having a pure destroyer there, you want someone who can spray passes out to the flanks and can do his part in keeping possession. We parked the bus against spain, because we are a much worse team, and I was pleasantly surprised we were able to. The only team I really see capable of taking on Spain is Germany (their 3-0 win over holland was impressive, even if friendly they looked scary in how they played) Very intrigued by Cleverly Wilshere, but then again wary of Cleverly being overhyped, still think Wilshere coming back will be a huge boost to the team atm. To me one of the big problems is that players are no where near able to play their league level internationally it seems, apart from a few, it's like City in champions league atm, the bigger stage dazzles them. I'd much prefer a team of less expensive players really going for it than that band of overpaid useless idiots who obviously didn't give a damn.

They'll beat Wigan 2-0 and then be going around claiming they're a better team than us because we only won 1-0

We really shouldn't get spanked, though worry Man U are starting to need to make a point with their run of being unimpressive. We should at least keep it tight. It's great to be confident ahead of man u and chelsea, but I slightly worry people will be going all doomy if we lose both (though we really shouldn't at home against chelsea). It'll be disappointing but fine, move on. Think we have form on our side though, they have been struggling in front of goal of late.

Wonder if suggesting we play Lovenkrands as a lone forward will get popular support then?

No don't think crazy, but he's not going to swing in many long crosses. I think he's a canny enough player to adapt though. (If Raylor can Jonas can) I don't mind that formation to be honest, but again the lack of width is the issue, if we were playing in the Italian league bet that would be our usual one

Newcastle United Training Session. Newcastle United Training Session. Colo's testing how injury prone Ben Arfa is

He'll probably sign when the people coming to try and sign him turn out not to be barcalona but West Ham or Blackburn

Obertan you're playing, but tiote you're too rusty Ok Ok you'll come on as a sub OK I'LL START YOU OK I'LL BUY YOU A NEW CAR, NOW LEAVE ME ALONE

I kind of agree that Ba, Best and HBA on the pitch at the same time would be a fun idea, but I think it would reduce our width a fair amount, and that would be problematic against some opponents.

i can see the logic of best and ben arfa, one player who can play with back to goal bringing in ben arfa, whereas Ba may drop back and not be in the box when needed, but seemed ok against City and ultimately wouldn't take off someone on scoring form. It's really tough on Best who has earned my respect, but it's Ba and Ben Arfa for me, and drop Ba for best at 70 mins or so when Ba tires (or for ben arfa if he's knackered)

What would people expect their team to be against us? Despite their whining about injuries they have a lot of options.

Watching that video, that pass to Ba took the total piss out of the player (who was it? Don't think it was a central defender) who was moving accross to block Ben Arfa's shot that he assumed was coming. The kind of trick none of our other kind of players are capable of

Burton Albion and Morecambe in league 2 since best mates are fans of them (though at the game i went to burton fans were sooooooo miserable) Everton kinda for same reason. Swansea at the moment seem to be playing some lovely footy generally fairly neutral. Levante in la Liga was wonderful, but while I follow european footy just never see enough, too much second hand to judge

I can't really hate King Kenny too much, he provides too much comedy with liverpool supporting workmate Of course it'll all backfire when it goes to plan for them, but still, Henderson is pretty funny

Hmmmmmmm not convinced over Terry, I think he got completely found out against Germany to be honest, though our whole team did, and maybe playing with confidence yes would go ahead of Jagielka but at the moment seems a bit of a liability to me

Cabaye's mouth looks oddly tiny there

Aye. Though Messi is great to watch though. Still Levante's fall from the top of La Liga was very sad

Is it PJ Harvey?

My England team right now would be (accepting Saylor will never make squad for some reason) Hart Richards Lescott Jagielka Baines Parker Wilshere Lampard Walcott Young Rooney There are caveats, Walcott seems in best form i've seen him for Arsenal right now, if he goes back to his usual crapness then probably go for Johnson. Milner recently has looked better than i thought he could look for City so maybe as an alternative to Young or Lampard. Really not sure about the central pairing, that's just based on Spain, and think we should have a settled backline leading up to euros. Ferdinand and Terry are past it. Rooney ideally but less sure we should take him right now, and dunno who to replace him with, Bent perhaps, think he's done better than a lot have suggested when asked for England. I also think a pardew style 4-4-2 with Wilshere and Parker in midfield and lots of counterattacking ability would be a decent idea.

Agreed though Lampard is getting on a bit, has to be kinda expected to be injuredl. I'd give Cleverly a shot depending how he does this season, but like Jones basically expect him to be hyped all out of proportion HE PLAYS FOR A MEDIOCRE MAN UNITED TEAM HE MUST BE BRILLIANT