Useful Idiot

He should have been off one way or another, no question about it. Redmond was sent off for fouling Alli in pretty much the same position when they went on to beat us 4-1 when Puel was in charge. Alli did go on to have a shot before the game was called back so Redmond could be sent off for that one, though. Because Kevin Friend is a biased, useless cheat who intentionally gives everything for whoever we are playing against and nothing for us. Doubly so against big teams.

I hate Danny Rose. Slimy little turd.

Peter Walton disagrees with you. According to the rules as currently written, he says it is a definite handball. To paraphrase: "He's left his arm out, he's turned his back and taken no responsibility for where the ball is striking him, he's made himself bigger... for me that's a handball." His later comments in the video suggest official guidelines are to look more closely at handball decisions and rule against the defender more often.

Phew! Really needed that!

I'd probably go for this team against them to be honest: -------------------------McCarthy------------------------ ------------Bednarek-----Yoshida-----Bertrand------------ Valery----------Hojbjerg---------Romeu------------Targett ---------Redmond---------------------Armstrong--------- ----------------------???????????------------------------ I don't think any of the available forwards are good enough. Long's legs seem to have gone, Austin has no mobility, on recent performances Gallagher doesn't look great, Obafemi is raw and just back from injury and I haven't seen enough of Barnes to have an opinion of him. If Obafemi is fit enough to play from the start I'd probably pick him because he is quick and seems able to control a football. If not, I'd probably go for Gallagher because picking Austin is like playing with 10 men when we don't have the ball, and picking Long after he's lost his pace is like playing with 10 men full stop.

He is a very poor player. Contributed the square root of Sweet FA in the first half.

Ref giving everything for Cardiff then. Their dives = free kick for them, their fouls = play on.

The only saving grace is that Cardiff lack a bit of pace, so we might get away with pushing higher up the pitch. Only problem is that will make the game a bit congested so we'll have to play quick, sharp passes and try to take players on 1v1 to get anything. We only really have Redmond to do the latter, and neither Long or Austin are really up to playing a fast, accurate passing game. Might need to get agoal from distance to open them up, as I expect we won't get much joy from pinging in crosses.

Won't any money from the sale of Cedric be offset against the cost of Ings? We still have to pay a chunk more than we got back from shipping Gabbi out. Don't forget, the sales money is spent on transfer fees and player wages, so I would expect no more than 65% of revenue to be spent on incoming transfers.

Made some decent runs off the ball in the first half but didn't quite get on the end of anything. Seemed to be tidy enough on the ball without really doing anything noticeable with it. Didn't put in any memorable challenges. Flagged in the last 15 minutes or so. I haven't seen anything that stands out in his game as a strength other than his off the ball movement.

I hope that one day Dyche sufferers from a burst of indignation so severe that his head pops like an enormous zit. Team full of dirty, fouling, diving cheats who play ugly football supported by a bunch of whining, hypocritical fans.

Burnley make Stoke look like Barca.

We'll send out about half the team on loan (Ely, Austin, Hoedt, Carrillo, Sims, Barnes, Clasie, etc.) and try to sign players who aren't that interested in coming here who use us to get attention from bigger teams. Then we'll sign 2-3 players for about 15-20m who have slightly different strengths and weaknesses to the players we ship out on loan but are generally about as good overall. To finance those purchases we'll sell two of our better players (probably Hojbjerg and Bertrand).

Boufal's problems have nothing to do with his work rate and everything to do with trying to beat his man too often or to take on too many players when there's a pass on. He's always been willing to try to recover possession and track back.

Does that mean you're the forum's version of JWP?

Because he is a biased ****

Need to change the shape. I think we need to shift to 3-4-3. Also this commentary team are a pair of ****s.

I slightly prefer Hesketh to Sims, although I enjoy watching both play. I think Hesketh has slightly better technique and more of an eye for a pass, although he's not as quick or direct. Valery is promising, as is Obafemi. Gallagher needs at least a few sub appearances to get his fitness back and see if he can fit into Ralph's system. Johnson might have something about him going forwards, although I don't know if he's good enough defensively to play as a wing back. Ramsey looks raw, and I've not seen enough of Barnes or Lewis to say anything about them whatsoever.

I've just remembered something. Lemina has played as both a winger and a wing-back in the past. With Romeu and Hojbjerg the first choice CM partnership and JWP providing good competition for them, maybe Ralph will be looking to try Mario out in the RWB role? He should have the pace and physical attributes to play there.

He's joint top on assists for us this season with a whopping 2 goals created. He creates 0.7 chances a game which puts him 10th in the team (9th since Davis left). His delivery is hit and miss. When it goes wrong it often goes spectacularly wrong and sticks in the memory.

I can see both sides of this argument. I think Cedric is a very good defender who also stretches the opposition team by hugging the touchline and getting forward. His touch is also very good and he can run with the ball. His delivery is often patchy and he's pretty poor in the air but apart from that I think he's a good full-back. Valery looks raw and has obvious flaws in his game. However, he might be at the stage where he needs first team football to improve and Ralph obviously sees something there he wants to work with. I expect he believes that Valery will come good with enough coaching and first team experience. I haven't seen enough of Ramsay to really offer much of an opinion on him. He's not even played full-back for a full game so far and has often been shunted in to right sided CB in a 3. I've seen him put in one cross from deep in open play that was whipped in with good bend on it, but apart from that he's looked a bit uncomfortable with the ball. Maybe Ralph's thinking about playing JWP as a right wing-back so he can fit in Hoj and Romeu at CM and get both Armstrong and Redmond supporting Ings?

I could realistically see Bertrand playing LCB and Targett playing LWB in the same 11, though. Bertrand's excellent as one of a back 3.

I think he looks like a decent defender who will get better with experience. He's also very good in the air for a full back and seems pretty strong. Sometimes he's slightly naive and gets caught the wrong side of a player, but it's only happened a couple of times (although both of the occasions I've noticed it happening have led to bookings). I think he's learning quickly and hopefully won't get caught out like that in the future. He doesn't look particularly good going forward so far. His crossing in particular seems more hit and hope than anything else and he doesn't seem to have a great change of pace with the ball at his feet. Hopefully this aspect of his game will improve as he gets more experience playing for the first team.

How was that challenge on Ings not a penalty? Gomes stands on his foot then his trailing leg knocks the ball after he makes contact.

Completely agree. None of our central defenders work well as a pairing and Target ison't good enough at defending to play as one of a back four. It'll be interesting to see if we're playing a 343 or a 352. If we are playing 343, I wonder who will be playing off of Ings, Hojbjerg or JWP?