Figures 1-0 Football

Quietly confident he'll score and eat Perez today. Managed to get him as first goal scorer but cant find any odds for the second bit.

Poor Rafa, shouldn't need to get it up the bum just because Johnson's in prison.

What was Leicester's position this time last season? Were they better or worse off than us? Much worse off (7 points I think) with a harder run-in.

Well that was an absolute dogsh*t sleep.

Swansea are 11 points clear. Palace effectively 9 points clear. 9 points means at least three wins, when us and Sunderland have only won six all season. It's 2 from 3. With us and the mackems playing each other tomorrow, we both cant lose. So Palace will be a maximum of 7 points from the drop (if it is a draw, mackems will be 7 behind them). If the mackems beat us then they'll be 5 off the drop. That is also with them having to play both us and Norwich. This is also a team with no win in 13 and Pardew in charge. They are absolutely in it, 100%. Swansea I don't think are, at the time of writing it was 0-0 against Villa. Guzan has given them survival pretty much.

He is a striker playing up front on his own in a shit team who create very little, of course he's not going to score many Maybe if we improved our build up play and put some decent balls in for him then he'll score a lot more. We're not a team who have supplied him very well at all and the type of striker that he is will never score solo goals from the half way line as he is not quick. Put him through on goal or a decent ball into the box and he'll bury it. When he's been under pressure (penalty v Man Utd or the clean through ball from Shelvey v West Brom) he's slotted home. Most of his other 'misses' have been half chances where he has had to feed off of scraps. Writing him off is ridiculous.

I seem to remember Fulham hired Felix Magath because he was full of 'relegation experience' and had never been relegated.

Such a shame we are so delusional and hounded Pardew out...

It's two out of us, the mackems, Norwich, Swansea & Palace. Said it weeks ago and was laughed at, looking more and more likely now. Especially if Villa nick something against Swansea.

Great cash out, well done mate

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35847343

If this bloke scores against the mackems, genuinely expect him to murder someone on the pitch in excitement and eat them raw.

I wouldn't be confident at all about our chances if fat Sam was our manager, we were the better team in the last game until we wrongly had a player sent off and I thought they were just like we were when he managed us. They have a better goal scorer than we have at the minute but it's 11 v 11 and I think us being at home with a better manager swings it towards us. If we still had McClaren we would have struggled, with Benitez were going to be a different proposition both on and off the pitch. Completely agree. He'll have them set up with all 11 behind the ball defending a 0-0. If we play with a spring in our step we could absolutely thump these.

Nerves already kicking in, wish this was at lunchtime today rather than tomorrow to get it over and done with.

I was talking about Sissoko possibly being good with a powerful free kick, if you care to read my post properly. Fwiw, 28 of Yaya's 72 goals have been from dead balls situations. You sound like you do most of your scouting on Football Manager ("main strengths and weaknesses"), rather than actually watching games in practice. As I've said many times, you're looking too much into the difference in quality of the two players rather than their actual BEST playing style. You're ignoring the fact that in a majority of the games the players are playing in systems and tactical situations forced on them by their managers. Sissoko's passing looks s*** because he is being played out of position on the wing in a team where he had to defend for 80 minutes, in a central role he would flourish and be a much better player. Yaya Toure at his best is an AM. Moussa Sissoko at his best is an AM. They are both big powerful attacking midfielders. That is the point I've been making all along, you try to make silly counter arguments with a load of garble that isn't actually relevant to the point we are discussing Comparing Moussa's playing style to Yaya is an insult to Yaya. 1 has brilliant technique, 1 of his main weapons. The other doesn't. Being black, strong and quick doesn't mean Sissoko can emulate any part of Yaya's game that doesn't include running. Nothing you have said changes the fact Moussa Sissoko is not good in tight spaces and is an average to poor technically. Under any system he's best when there's space to run into and at his worst with the opposite. He played about 20 games as an AM and was absolutely awful in about 17 of them. He'd pick up the ball too close to other players and lose it. There's more space in wide areas and he has generally looked better there. He could perhaps play CM but severely lacks the technical ability to be successful there. He'll lose the ball a lot because he's not very good at passing. Yaya Toure is a CM just as much as he is an AM. Mancini & Pellegrini both used him more as a CM of some type. As is the case for Ivory Coast. He's a great CM because he can control a game with his passing. What does being black have to do with anything? I'm not going to carry on a discussion with somebody who is quite clearly unable to look past the fact that one player is of world class quality and the other is not. My mate plays Sunday football in a similar style to Jamie Vardy (fast and pacey), comparisons can be made without actually discussing the quality of the players. My point was and still is that Sissoko and Yaya are both better players when they play centrally and in an attacking position. You carry on reading stats from Football Manager and discussing the colour of their skin. It's not the same as your Vardy example. Sissoko isn't really much like Yaya Toure. Sissoko creates by trying to run through people and his power and pace. Toure is also strong and fast but generally creates using his unbelievable technique rather than running through people like Sissoko You've just explained my point in your own post by saying that they are both strong and fast. That is the point I was making. The comparison I made was that they are both strong and fast players who are best played in central attacking positions. People are blinded by the fact that Sissoko has been ruined on the wing for four years, rather than looking at his better potential in the middle. If he was played through the middle, you'd find his passing and technique was a lot better and he wouldn't need to rely on his pace.

Lazio needed to win the Europa League to have any effect after Juve lost. They lost 3-0 at home somehow last night

I was talking about Sissoko possibly being good with a powerful free kick, if you care to read my post properly. Fwiw, 28 of Yaya's 72 goals have been from dead balls situations. You sound like you do most of your scouting on Football Manager ("main strengths and weaknesses"), rather than actually watching games in practice. As I've said many times, you're looking too much into the difference in quality of the two players rather than their actual BEST playing style. You're ignoring the fact that in a majority of the games the players are playing in systems and tactical situations forced on them by their managers. Sissoko's passing looks s*** because he is being played out of position on the wing in a team where he had to defend for 80 minutes, in a central role he would flourish and be a much better player. Yaya Toure at his best is an AM. Moussa Sissoko at his best is an AM. They are both big powerful attacking midfielders. That is the point I've been making all along, you try to make silly counter arguments with a load of garble that isn't actually relevant to the point we are discussing Comparing Moussa's playing style to Yaya is an insult to Yaya. 1 has brilliant technique, 1 of his main weapons. The other doesn't. Being black, strong and quick doesn't mean Sissoko can emulate any part of Yaya's game that doesn't include running. Nothing you have said changes the fact Moussa Sissoko is not good in tight spaces and is an average to poor technically. Under any system he's best when there's space to run into and at his worst with the opposite. He played about 20 games as an AM and was absolutely awful in about 17 of them. He'd pick up the ball too close to other players and lose it. There's more space in wide areas and he has generally looked better there. He could perhaps play CM but severely lacks the technical ability to be successful there. He'll lose the ball a lot because he's not very good at passing. Yaya Toure is a CM just as much as he is an AM. Mancini & Pellegrini both used him more as a CM of some type. As is the case for Ivory Coast. He's a great CM because he can control a game with his passing. What does being black have to do with anything? I'm not going to carry on a discussion with somebody who is quite clearly unable to look past the fact that one player is of world class quality and the other is not. My mate plays Sunday football in a similar style to Jamie Vardy (fast and pacey), comparisons can be made without actually discussing the quality of the players. My point was and still is that Sissoko and Yaya are both better players when they play centrally and in an attacking position. You carry on reading stats from Football Manager and discussing the colour of their skin.

I know, but if we go ahead of them there's still Swansea, Norwich, Sunderland and Villa below them. Palace's run in is awful, but they also have home games against Norwich and Stoke. For them to get relegated they basically need 0-3 points from their last 9(?) games Have you not seem their form for the last 12 games? Of course, but it'll change soon enough unfortunately. It's what he does, we all know it For Palace to go down, they'd need to lose against us and Norwich and pick up less than 4 points between now and the end of the season. Highly unlikely, but possible. Out of the teams above us, Swansea are the most catchable imo. If they don't get anything against Villa/Stoke then their run in is awful and they literally could lose all of them.

I was talking about Sissoko possibly being good with a powerful free kick, if you care to read my post properly. Fwiw, 28 of Yaya's 72 goals have been from dead balls situations. You sound like you do most of your scouting on Football Manager ("main strengths and weaknesses"), rather than actually watching games in practice. As I've said many times, you're looking too much into the difference in quality of the two players rather than their actual BEST playing style. You're ignoring the fact that in a majority of the games the players are playing in systems and tactical situations forced on them by their managers. Sissoko's passing looks shit because he is being played out of position on the wing in a team where he had to defend for 80 minutes, in a central role he would flourish and be a much better player. Yaya Toure at his best is an AM. Moussa Sissoko at his best is an AM. They are both big powerful attacking midfielders. That is the point I've been making all along, you try to make silly counter arguments with a load of garble that isn't actually relevant to the point we are discussing

They don't have similar playing styles at all. Yaya is a passer and is a legitimate goal-threat with both feet. He has rampage mode but that's not how most of his goals or assists or meaningful play manifest. Sissoko gets the ball and tries to run at players to be effective. It's rampage mode or nothing. Can you imagine SIssoko sitting in and dictating play like Yaya? For a start, a majority of Yaya's goals are through free kicks. I've often wondered what Sissoko would be like with a powerful free kick (Shearer-esque), but as he's never taken one I'd imagine he's pretty awful. Yaya isn't at his best when he sits deep, Yaya is a better player when he plays close to Aguero but he has to play deep a lot of the time to counter Man City's more back four. Both Yaya and Sissoko should be playing just behind the front line. They are both big and bullish central midfielders, both players like to be direct and pick the ball up and move with it before releasing it. You're looking into the difference in quality too much rather than playing style. If Sissoko was given the opportunity in the same role as Yaya, you'd see what I mean. He is absolutely wasted on the wing and that is why he looks garbage.

Absolutely, but Sissoko is not a winger and would be so much more effective for us centrally.

I'd personally just scrap extra time and go straight to penalties, I really dislike extra time and much prefer the lottery of penalties.

It says a lot when our match programs have been better than the performances

I'd personally play Moussa in Yaya Toure's position at Man City, they have similar playing styles (running through people) but Yaya is just better at it.