smarmy

No offence taken. I am a professional sub-editor too. Oh the shame! Still, I hope Radical has a game on Friday!

Autocorrect! Sorry. Tadic Romeu and slow!

I have not looked at the forum all summer, and ... I had forgotten what a miserable bunch you all were! We'll probably lose at Old Trafford, but so will most teams this season. But we were good against Watford. They had 20 minutes after the goal, but apart from that we were totally dominant and should have won. Radical looked absolutely fantastic playing centrally/free role. He's been wasted in wide positions IMO.Romeu, apart from the goal, where he was dlow, was great. Target is obviously nowhere near as good as Bertrand, but what squad players are? Forster, Van Dijk, Time, Radical - really solid spine to team. Long (and Cedric) had an off day, and Redmond took a while to get into the game, but we'll be fine

(I have no idea which way round Smalling and Cahill play, I realise)

I would play Alli and Dier together in central midfield. Alli has looked great there for Spurs (there is an article in 442 or somewhere arguing it is his best position IIRC) and he can still make runs forward to link up with Kane, but also see the game in front of him, and keep possession (something we find hard!) So I would play Forster Clyne Smalling Cahill Bertrand Dier Alli Sterling Rooney Lallana Kane But I wish we had another specialist defensive mid player for games where we are going to be under the cosh.

WILSHERE IS NOT A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER WILSHERE IS NOT A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER WILSHERE IS NOT A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER WILSHERE IS NOT A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER WILSHERE IS NOT A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER He also wouldn't be in the first 11 at Arsenal even if he was fit. Him playing as a defensive mid is a clear example of shoehorning. As, I may say, is people wanting to play Vardy and Kane up front. That isn't our system, and we haven't looked good when we have tried it, have we? (Remind me if we have!) Play one or the other. Also, Rooney, while clearly not as good as he was, is still obviously worth a place in the squad. 19 goals in all competitions, 8 in the league, with 6 assists, playing mostly in midfield in a dysfunctional overly defensive team.

What's happening?

FA cup all day long. It is actually about winning things, y'know. Not qualifying for things.

Heart 3rd. Head 5th. Or we win the cup. That would do

OK, Guinea are in it. Sorry. Point about travelling fans still stands, though.

Also, Morocco pulling out of hosting it ' cos of Ebola is ridiculous! Stoopid pandering to panic. Away fans don't really travel for AFCON, and none of the affected countries are in it, are they?

I really want him to play. Was looking forward to supporting Senegal for the tournament. Loads of good prem players in that squad. Let's hope he is fit, shines, and comes back full of confidence.

Sorry about the typos there!

They should create a singing section, £20 tickets, no seasons no pre-booking, firsy-come first served. People wold get there two hours early, make up some new songs. Make it standing if/when safe standing comes in. It won't devalue season tickets, 'cos most people will want guaranteed seats etc Jaded season ticket holders leaving early, arriving late as bad for atmosphere as day trippers. This would attract passionate, cmitted but hard up fans.

Stunning day. On the train down and feeling optimistic. 1 0! Just read Koeman's comments. "No, we go for it. That's football and if you don't go for it, stay home." COYR!

I'm normally an attack is best form of defence guy, but think maybe playing Reed alongside Wanyama and Schneiderlin might make sense. Then struggling with getting any width if you then play Davis, Pelle and one of Tadic/Long/Mane.

If Clyne is out, Aldewiereld at RB and 4 3 3 or 4 5 1. What would be our best park the bus lineup (tho that is not really Koeman's style)?

Long right, Tadic left, Mane sub, for me. Think Mane prob a more dangerous player than Long, but that seems more balanced. Anyway, COME ON! First home game a against a "big" team for me since we came up apart from Chelsea in 12/13.

Jonathan Wilson (of Inverting the Pyramid fame), has done a bit of a more thorough rest of season prediction. http://www.bettingexpert.com/blog/premier-league-predictor Still guesswork, but has us 6th - which would be a great season - and only five points of Arsenal in 4th. And two points off Liverpool in 5th. All to play for!

Would take Lallana back (but not for 25m!) Him and Tadic and J-Rod behind Pelle would be all kinds of awesome. I miss the high-speed drag-backs.

I like JWP. I like Davis too, but I don't think it makes us weaker. Will it be 4-3-3 (or 4-1-2-2-1) or 4-2-3-1, though.

I always end up buying the tickets, so my mates had already registered their numbers so I could buy for them. Is that a new system this year?

It's really quick to get in. Loads of gates, and auto ticket scanners. No need to get there before 7 unless you want to soak in the "atmosphere". (There is very little pre-match atmosphere. They play images/sound of crowd noise from old games to make up for it. A bit sad.) Just got three on general sale. 6-minute wait on the site, but that's not too bad at five past nine. Pile in.

Really? This place is weird. We played very well, on the whole. I agree that selecting Stones was stupid, but apart from that, formation, everything was good. We do need to find a proper DM, though. The difference between the mainstream reaction and here is funny.

Nice. Can walk home, and we have to have a decent chance, as they will play a totally changed team, and if it wasn't for Boric ****ing around, we'd have got a draw against their first team last year.