AsprillasShinPad

Nailed on. In fact, the FCB might as well cash in on Shelvey, Lascelles and Dubravka now.

My overriding memory of Dyer is that he was unbelievably good on Championship Manager 4. In real life, he should have been an immense player, but his lifestyle probably led to him being a bit too injury prone and ultimately his body couldn't stand up to the stresses that his raw pace put it under. Like putting a Ferrari engine in a Lada - a recipe for disaster.

I really don't understand him at all. We're moving (gladly) into a period where the top managers have a mix of genuine people skills combined with tactical vision. Pep seems to have led the way on this, and we're starting to see a new breed of manager who are able to engage with the team and get the best out of their players - getting the team to play in a style that the manager lives and breathes. The old school style of being a massive c***, acting like a spoilt brat and randomly shoehorning players into a basic 4-4-2 before picking up a massive paycheck (Pardew, Alardyce, Redknapp etc) has been shown to no longer work and happily that generation are f***ing off to become media rent-a-gobs freeing the way for younger untested managers to have a crack. The sooner Maureen f***s off abroad, the better IMO.

My god, we have signed some seriously shit players. Lists like that actually make me feels marginally better about the state of our current squad. As least we have 5-6 decent players to build around.

Please do go on

Kenedy is not a wingback. He's also a pea hearted shithouse and shouldn't be trusted with any defensive duties at all. Would rather see Dummett, accepting that he would offer nothing at all going forward. Also, Diame is wank and is a waste of a pick, but on the upside, no Perez, so on balance I'd take your selection.

I think we did at the time as well tbf. Was such a shame he never worked out for us. He clearly still had it, he just didn't give a fuck.

Sad thing is mid noughties Aaron Hughes would be our nailed on starting RB these days and a significant upgrade. And if someone like past-his-best Kluivert turned up we'd all jizz ourselves.

I agree. Here's another one - Perez is shite.

I just don't get why we paid £12m for him. He's weak as piss, devoid of skill and has a very poor footballing brain. Even if Rafa worked wonders with him, at best he'd be a Perez-esque player and be anonymous in games. As limited as Ritchie is, Murphy is nowhere near the team. He probably needs to drop a division or two to build himself back up.

Giving players like Diame, Joselu, Perez and Murphy runs of games is why we've been struggling. Having 3/4 passengers in our front 6 is why we have been struggling for goals. Rafa needs to work out his best team and just stick with it. Nothing players like Murphy aren't worth risking games over. That transfer fee can just be written off.

The Paolo 'Hitler' Di Canio End, sponsored by Cheesy Chips, Blue Pop and Prams4Dogz.com

Totally agree. With Rondon, we can get goals from balls pumped into the box. Without him, we're relying on midfielders and defenders chipping in with goals.

I really hope so. £8m for him would be like turning water into wine. A bit of a bigger shame is the decline of Ritchie. I used to think he was decent, but he seems to have lost his attacking qualities. We're now stuck with a bunch of completely unthreatening wingers and no number 10. It's no wonder we struggle for goals.

England doing well just means that it's only going to be worse when we crash out of the Euros after being beaten by some minnows. Especially because the media will have been telling us that 'It's coming home' for the two months preceding.

This thread has taken a bit of a turn

This sort of change would need to be implemented at FIFA level. I've been saying for years that the rules of the game need updating. Almost every other team sport reviews it's rules to keep pace with tactical developments, so why not football? If I were King FIFA, my new rules would include: 1) 30 mins per half with clock stopped every time play stops - would completely eliminate time wasting overnight. 2) Scrap offsides completely - goalhanging (the reason offsides were brought in) was an archaic issue and won't be an issue in the modern game due to the need for all players to be involved in all phases of the game. Would also open up more space on the pitch and get rid of contentious offside decisions completely. 3) Get rid of the penalty box. Take a free kick from the point of foul instead - currently a penalty kick is way too valuable and leads to players preferring to take a tumble rather than try and shoot. Also means that defending as an art is dying. 4) Goal line tech in all professional games. 5) TV Officials in all televised games. Rather than VAR, have an official to give advice on all requested decisions. 6) Red card for simulation. Simulation includes exaggerating contact - would encourage players to play the game and combined with TV officials, should all but eliminate diving. However, the game flat refuses to evolve, and the fact that goal line technology took an age to bring in and VAR is somehow being implemented badly gives me no hope of change. As a result, games will be one long diving fest, with timewasting, simulation and dodgy penalties continuing to win the day. Have you thought of a name for this new sport you've invented? Football? Without offsides or pels it would still be football... Maybe we should just carry on what we're doing for no other reason than because it's what we've always done? Tactics have changed massively and there are some seriously cynical ways to exploit the rules. Either football changes or it continues to be the pathetic shitfest it has become. No offside makes the game a completely different sport. Its a ludicrous suggestion No. Changing one rule out of dozens doesn't make it a completely different sport. This reminds me of that Peep Show scene where Callie asks what you would do if you had a chocolate bar that was half chocolate and half actual s***. Answer - snap of the s*** half. Why keep doing something bad? Its not bad. Football would be completely unrecognisable without offside I'm pretty sure if there was a game going without the offside rule, you'd be able to tell it was football.

This sort of change would need to be implemented at FIFA level. I've been saying for years that the rules of the game need updating. Almost every other team sport reviews it's rules to keep pace with tactical developments, so why not football? If I were King FIFA, my new rules would include: 1) 30 mins per half with clock stopped every time play stops - would completely eliminate time wasting overnight. 2) Scrap offsides completely - goalhanging (the reason offsides were brought in) was an archaic issue and won't be an issue in the modern game due to the need for all players to be involved in all phases of the game. Would also open up more space on the pitch and get rid of contentious offside decisions completely. 3) Get rid of the penalty box. Take a free kick from the point of foul instead - currently a penalty kick is way too valuable and leads to players preferring to take a tumble rather than try and shoot. Also means that defending as an art is dying. 4) Goal line tech in all professional games. 5) TV Officials in all televised games. Rather than VAR, have an official to give advice on all requested decisions. 6) Red card for simulation. Simulation includes exaggerating contact - would encourage players to play the game and combined with TV officials, should all but eliminate diving. However, the game flat refuses to evolve, and the fact that goal line technology took an age to bring in and VAR is somehow being implemented badly gives me no hope of change. As a result, games will be one long diving fest, with timewasting, simulation and dodgy penalties continuing to win the day. Have you thought of a name for this new sport you've invented? Football? Without offsides or pels it would still be football... Maybe we should just carry on what we're doing for no other reason than because it's what we've always done? Tactics have changed massively and there are some seriously cynical ways to exploit the rules. Either football changes or it continues to be the pathetic shitfest it has become. No offside makes the game a completely different sport. Its a ludicrous suggestion No. Changing one rule out of dozens doesn't make it a completely different sport. This reminds me of that Peep Show scene where Callie asks what you would do if you had a chocolate bar that was half chocolate and half actual shit. Answer - snap of the shit half. Why keep doing something bad?

This sort of change would need to be implemented at FIFA level. I've been saying for years that the rules of the game need updating. Almost every other team sport reviews it's rules to keep pace with tactical developments, so why not football? If I were King FIFA, my new rules would include: 1) 30 mins per half with clock stopped every time play stops - would completely eliminate time wasting overnight. 2) Scrap offsides completely - goalhanging (the reason offsides were brought in) was an archaic issue and won't be an issue in the modern game due to the need for all players to be involved in all phases of the game. Would also open up more space on the pitch and get rid of contentious offside decisions completely. 3) Get rid of the penalty box. Take a free kick from the point of foul instead - currently a penalty kick is way too valuable and leads to players preferring to take a tumble rather than try and shoot. Also means that defending as an art is dying. 4) Goal line tech in all professional games. 5) TV Officials in all televised games. Rather than VAR, have an official to give advice on all requested decisions. 6) Red card for simulation. Simulation includes exaggerating contact - would encourage players to play the game and combined with TV officials, should all but eliminate diving. However, the game flat refuses to evolve, and the fact that goal line technology took an age to bring in and VAR is somehow being implemented badly gives me no hope of change. As a result, games will be one long diving fest, with timewasting, simulation and dodgy penalties continuing to win the day. Have you thought of a name for this new sport you've invented? Football? Without offsides or pels it would still be football... Maybe we should just carry on what we're doing for no other reason than because it's what we've always done? Tactics have changed massively and there are some seriously cynical ways to exploit the rules. Either football changes or it continues to be the pathetic shitfest it has become. No offside makes the game a completely different sport. Its a ludicrous suggestion Not to mention it's been a rule since the inception of association football. Very wrong. Not only was it non-existent in the early days of football, it's been amended several times including notably recently with the inactive player rule. http://www.sidelinesoccer.com/history-of-the-offside-rule

This sort of change would need to be implemented at FIFA level. I've been saying for years that the rules of the game need updating. Almost every other team sport reviews it's rules to keep pace with tactical developments, so why not football? If I were King FIFA, my new rules would include: 1) 30 mins per half with clock stopped every time play stops - would completely eliminate time wasting overnight. 2) Scrap offsides completely - goalhanging (the reason offsides were brought in) was an archaic issue and won't be an issue in the modern game due to the need for all players to be involved in all phases of the game. Would also open up more space on the pitch and get rid of contentious offside decisions completely. 3) Get rid of the penalty box. Take a free kick from the point of foul instead - currently a penalty kick is way too valuable and leads to players preferring to take a tumble rather than try and shoot. Also means that defending as an art is dying. 4) Goal line tech in all professional games. 5) TV Officials in all televised games. Rather than VAR, have an official to give advice on all requested decisions. 6) Red card for simulation. Simulation includes exaggerating contact - would encourage players to play the game and combined with TV officials, should all but eliminate diving. However, the game flat refuses to evolve, and the fact that goal line technology took an age to bring in and VAR is somehow being implemented badly gives me no hope of change. As a result, games will be one long diving fest, with timewasting, simulation and dodgy penalties continuing to win the day. Have you thought of a name for this new sport you've invented? Football? Without offsides or pels it would still be football... Maybe we should just carry on what we're doing for no other reason than because it's what we've always done? Tactics have changed massively and there are some seriously cynical ways to exploit the rules. Either football changes or it continues to be the pathetic shitfest it has become.

Great finish for the goal, dogshit pel. Classic Mitro - doesn't do simple and can't deliver the smooth without a large side of rough. Don't miss him at all. Entertaining bloke, but not good enough to lead a PL line. Rondon is better.

If we ever want to see consistent top 10 finishes, we'd need to upgrade, but at this point in time there are much higher priority positions to upgrade. As it stands, we only have one PL quality striker, no acceptable 10 and poor/inconsistent wingers. We also haven't got a DM or an AM either, with Shelvey being used in a really ungainly deep playmaker role with no outlet. If I were allowed to spend, my team before I replaced Dummett would be: ------------------Rondon---------------------- ------------------------------------------------ New LW----------New 10/AM--------New RW ------------------------------------------------ -------------------Shelvey-------------------- Dummett-------------------------------Yedlin -----------Schar-Lascelles-Fernandez------- ------------------------------------------------ -------------------Dubs----------------------- Big fan of Shelvey in a one man midfield Nah mate, is a four man midfield with three CBs behind him.

This sort of change would need to be implemented at FIFA level. I've been saying for years that the rules of the game need updating. Almost every other team sport reviews it's rules to keep pace with tactical developments, so why not football? If I were King FIFA, my new rules would include: 1) 30 mins per half with clock stopped every time play stops - would completely eliminate time wasting overnight. 2) Scrap offsides completely - goalhanging (the reason offsides were brought in) was an archaic issue and won't be an issue in the modern game due to the need for all players to be involved in all phases of the game. Would also open up more space on the pitch and get rid of contentious offside decisions completely. 3) Get rid of the penalty box. Take a free kick from the point of foul instead - currently a penalty kick is way too valuable and leads to players preferring to take a tumble rather than try and shoot. Also means that defending as an art is dying. 4) Goal line tech in all professional games. 5) TV Officials in all televised games. Rather than VAR, have an official to give advice on all requested decisions. 6) Red card for simulation. Simulation includes exaggerating contact - would encourage players to play the game and combined with TV officials, should all but eliminate diving. However, the game flat refuses to evolve, and the fact that goal line technology took an age to bring in and VAR is somehow being implemented badly gives me no hope of change. As a result, games will be one long diving fest, with timewasting, simulation and dodgy penalties continuing to win the day.

If we ever want to see consistent top 10 finishes, we'd need to upgrade, but at this point in time there are much higher priority positions to upgrade. As it stands, we only have one PL quality striker, no acceptable 10 and poor/inconsistent wingers. We also haven't got a DM or an AM either, with Shelvey being used in a really ungainly deep playmaker role with no outlet. If I were allowed to spend, my team before I replaced Dummett would be: ------------------Rondon---------------------- ------------------------------------------------ New LW----------New 10/AM--------New RW ------------------------------------------------ -------------------Shelvey-------------------- Dummett-------------------------------Yedlin -----------Schar-Lascelles-Fernandez------- ------------------------------------------------ -------------------Dubs-----------------------

Seems like a nice lad, but he's wank. Paying any fee for him was a mistake, but £12m+ takes the piss. No way we'll see any return on that investment - I've already written him off.