eddie

dangerous 4 words those

just asked simon peach on twitter to ask him next presser

haha. carlton palmer is EXACTLY who he looks like, with uncontrollable legs and a tiny torso

I reckon RK allows erwin one transfer per window. This was erwin's call

this would be incredible

what's all the fuss? we played a team more likely to lose a game we're expected to lose, in order to play a full strength team against two games (scousers and villa) that we actually stand a chance at winning. Don't give me all that 'city were there for the taking' nonsense. putting in the kind of performance that results in winning away at city would have completely taken it out the whole squad, they would have been far more exhausted mentally & physically for the games wednesday and home at villa. I know that we tried hard second half (definitely not saying we didn't try), but to put out the best squad for 90 minutes for a slim chance to win, or put out a reasonable squad, lose (I think everyone thought we would - my aspiration was we wouldn't be able to get a goal so at least we've gone and done that), but then actually play your best team to give liverpool and villa a good run for their money...more than happy with that decision. if we win at very least the liverpool game, I do not care about this result one bit. oh and, agreed no clue why yoshida is played. for me that's the only decision I really question of koeman's tenure. I think fair enough putting romeu on for clasie even though on the day he wasn't amazing. But I really do not understand the rb situation. seems very different from past few years when we've had solid full backs whose places are never in doubt.

it is a joke. I wrote the thread just so everyone could have a bit more ali dia in their lives, but the 'tribute' language got taken to mean it was a tribute following his death but seriously, spooky that the second car in the canyon was empty huh?

plot twist: mane = dia's son

Has to be the most ballsy move ever - getting your uni mate to prank Souness into giving you a chance to play for saints Just a brief tribute to say...Ali Dia...what a lad !

Not bothered by this result at all. It's a game: - against a team in incredible form (who haven't lost away for a while) - where we went behind 1-0 and stoke notoriously difficult to break down - that was referreed by Lee Mason - which comes after an 8 game unbeaten run. Get over it. Not the end of the world, sometimes it just won't work out for us and we aren't very good. had we not been so poor at the start of the season, partly due to juggling european games for the first time in a while, and also not having a settled team yet, we'd be a lot higher in the table. I'd still pick a team of standard back 5, tadic, pelle, mane, clasie, wanyama, davis as our strongest 11 even given the individual performances on saturday

think of ozil....world class but needed a season or two. trouble is that in spain if the team is awful, generally their defending is awful too. In england, the bottom league teams go the other way, very very defensive, 11 men behind the ball, makes it difficult for a little player like juanmi to find space and do anything half decent. definitely needs time to get used to england in that regard, esp. to playing very tightly organised, men behind the ball type teams. I think he wouldn't do badly in a game like swansea or bournemouth where the game is stretched and the other team is coming at us a little more.

koeman will most likely stick with the same team that played at sunderland, with clasie and yoshida. It's just that I think cedric is a better RB and in this game romeu is a better midfielder against stoke. van dijk hasn't played against any (I think) of the teams we've played so far, and has done very well. So it's no surprise that he would be excellent against unknown opposition. agreed I was harsh on wollscheid. He has been decent, and you're right, the fact hes played against us once is of no real consequence. see my earlier post about butland.....I haven't kept up with him at all, but at the start there was lots of hoo haa about him not being ready to step up into begovics shoes every week. seems he has done, and fair enough. very decent english keeper.

well maybe not now, haven't really been keeping up with the chatter. at the beginning of the season though everyone made a big thing of the fact that begovic had gone to chelsea, and that there was still a question mark over whether butland was able to step up to take his place. I think though no chance he'll push hart out for euros, but further down the line for sure. he's only 22.

we'll prob win this. I think van dijk can perfectly well handle walters, and their wing play (diouf/arnautovich/shaqiri) will be dealt with by bertrand on the one side and....who knows on the other. I think they'll put arnautovich on the left as cedric is smaller and lighter, and they'll take advantage of that. I can actually see koeman going for yoshida (heaven help us all) at RB to deal with him. Koeman thinks stoke are a very physical side with a lot of height. Wouldn't be surprised if cedric doesn't start for that reason. In any case. I think pieters will be turned utterly inside out by Mane, and Wollscheid has only played against us once I believe which can only be of benefit to us not seen much of butland though he did fantastic I thought against France. No matter if the france team was subdued in their play, their shots would still have gone in the back of the net had butland not made a couple of saves and come out to claim the ball 4-5 times. So it won't be as 'weak link' as people are making out. Can see it going 1-0 saints. Trouble is, if they get the first goal, we'll be damned if we can level before the end. Still. The boys have played enough times together to be calm and know their routine so there's no reason we can't start with intensity and push ahead early doors. FWIW I would rather start romeu above clasie. I think clasie will get tossed around like a rag doll if he's not careful. other than that, standard back 5 (I would play cedric, actually, though I think koeman won't), wanyama, davies, tadic, mane, pelle.

I think he's a great player to have in the squad to bring on. I don't know what people think you can buy for 12m these days. 7 goals and 7 assists last season. Not too shabby at all. It's also his off the ball work, of generally stretching defenders and making space for others to run into, that I like. You can spend all day talking about 'putting that money to better use', but he's a saints player, enjoys the club, fits in well and puts a shift in, as well as a goal or assist occassionally. any whining that still goes on about how much he cost and how it wasn't worth it is just attention seeking

it's just Koeman's way of playing. defending from the front first - meaning that attackers pressure opponents on the ball from behind them as they run at our goal. Besides, Koeman also loves us to have the ball. Better that we have someone further back (when we're defending) who is excellent , and comfortable, on the ball. There's been numerous games this season and last that mane/tadic/etc. shielded the ball in our half toward the sidelines and instead of just hoofing it won a throw by smashing it against an opponent. Besides, it's wrong to assume that you can't start a counterattack from everyone starting the play in our half, or that you 'need' a target man or someone up front to start. Mane is so fast (think of away at chelsea) and Pelle so determined that even though the entire front line was in our half, we managed to break away, keeping possession, and eventually score. but literally just before that, tadic, mane and pelle were busy defending.

b ollocks. as if an agent would ever just casually drop the fact the footballer is moving to manchester. too coincidental that the contracted work (guessing house service or something) happens be something transferable to another house (as opposed to like construction on that specific house), and that then the company covers any area from which it would be possible to commute to Staplewood. utter horse sh!t

Bit harsh to just judge lambert on his looks

very very interesting. great find , thanks

I wonder whether he'd pass the character profiling. been a bit in the news recently about him being a bit of a bell end when it comes to national team, and his attitude at utd wasn't great. may just be rumours, but you certainly don't want someone who thinks they're the knees of the bee and whose attitude isn't the best for the team

fair. cech I'd root for, trouble is that czech republic aren't exactly world cup winning team.

de bruyne, zabaleta, cech, schneiderlin, agureo, silva, willian, ozil, lloris, schweingstiger (maybe not so much this season) pedro, sanchez, ivanovich (also not this season...) ? off the top of my head not sure who I'd class as a world class CB. kompany maybe? terry? I realise this is very man city focused list. unintended and apologies. I don't think its entirely laughable that alderweireld isn't nearing that level though. He just hasn't been tested enough. But he did well for AM, well for saints and very good for a shaky tottenham back line. I'm not pushing it too strongly, but he's not far off being a very very good player. awaiting the coming storm of 'being shot down'

yes, but that being paid a lot and being a higher profile individual is not a guarantee of playing at all. It never has been, but definitely moreso under van gaal's reign. Valdes, depay, di maria etc. Generously paid but treated like dross. Doesn't matter who you were before you came if you don't work hard and fit into his system and deliver results, you won't get game time. Makes me wonder why on earth he's stuck with rooney. in any case.

I'm not sure if he will go. I think if anything, the number of reported things in the press this summer that turned out garbage has just reinforced the fact that there can be smoke without fire. all this 'mane wants to go'. Who knows if it's true. But really, what is there for him? Van Gaal buys Memphis, hailed as a great talent, for 25m and just doesn't play him. Bought di maria, sold him the next year with a massive loss. If you don't make the 11, you'll just be sitting on a bench or in the stands with lots of huge egos and generously paid individuals. Van Gaal seems so cutthroat, It's a risky place to go to as a player. Chelsea....look how they treated cuadrado. one minute he was the absolute balls, six months later he is playing at another club. City he wouldn't get into the team ahead of sterling or de bruyne. Liverpool (may be changing under Klopp, but still has the reputation) just buys players who don't fit the system like it's nobodies business. Absolutely no guarantees you'll play. Arsenal is almost the only club that sticks to players they've bought in last 3-4 yrs in large part. Wenger's cautious approach to transfers is hated by arsenal fans, but in reality he's trusted those he has bought and has thought about transfers a little more. No idea why I wrote that paragraph. Guess what I'm saying is, the ridiculous transfer policies of the traditional big clubs over the last 4-5 transfer windows hasn't put them in a good light. Would Mane really want to go to utd considering memphis, di maria, valdes etc.? Seems that actually van gaal prefers the players that are trusted club players - young, smalling, even giving lindegard more chances.

a classic like-for-like transfer.