mrfahaji

Cable poo?

Talk of the national team "risking" one of our players makes me nervous...

I think this is a fair comment. When you look at the other players in the England set up, or even at past squads, there is a question mark of how good they are or will become. That being said, it seems churlish to either knock or refuse to credit him for good performances. It all helps his confidence and development.

It's bad enough when he misses gilt edged chances, worse when they are guilt edged, but once he starts missing the quilt edged chances you know his time here is nearly up

Yep, let's not forget he did score quite a few the season before when we played more to his strengths too.

Yes, as much as the emergence of Sims was great last season, his lack of involvement once he made the breakthrough was one of the more disappointing aspects of Puel's tenure.

True, Long's profligacy is frustrating. I guess the way I see it is that we are likely to play a single striker. Gabbiadini would be that striker if fit. Are we likely to spend huge amounts of money on a top quality striker (and they do cost huge amounts) just for back up? When it comes to our reserves, we have a natural goalscorer who lacks mobility (though I sometimes think this is overplayed) in Austin, then Long offers the opposite, he can change the game but less likely to pop up with a crucial goal. If we were to play two up front, either would be good spoil for Gabbiadini, or indeed for each other. So it kind of feels like we have the different eventualities covered, assuming they all stay fit of course. Wouldn't mind taking a chance on a replacement for Long, but how many pacey players out there for reasonable money have another string to their bow?

I'm a bit torn actually. I felt that Yoshida did well last season, particularly next to VVD, and Stephens did well too, suggesting that he could also be good next to VVD. However, when Yoshida and Stephens played together there was often a mistake waiting to be made somewhere. It's not like Fonte was error-free, even when playing alongside van Dijk. Plus I think we have also missed that second combative central midfielder to protect them, especially as positioning is still (understandably) an area for improvement in Stephens' game. Romeu does an excellent job but he's not so good facing his own goal and tracking runners. Although I obviously want us to have all the best players we can get in every position, I think there are other positions (mainly central midfield) that need bolstering more urgently, and would be prepared to risk not upgrading Yoshida/Stephens if it meant we had more to spend in those areas.

And yet he's still had a career (albeit in the US) in management and as a pundit. Two jobs where you'd think having a brain would be a prerequisite, or at least a significant advantage, for the job. Not in football though!

Austin?

Well I'd read 'Inverting the Pyramid' and 'Anatomy of England', and thought they were both excellent, but 'Angels with Dirty Faces' eclipsed them for me. Actually found the first half of the book the more fascinating part, when it looks at the first half of the 1900s, but second half was also interesting, especially as someone who only vaguely remembers Maradona. When I was in Argentina I definitely got the impression, more than anywhere else in the world, that the people there are obsessed with football, but this book makes me wish I had delved further into it when I was there, rather than just attending one match at El Monumental. Went to a talk a few weeks ago by Jonathan Wilson about the book, that was equally fascinating, could listen to the stories from history all day!

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/dec/03/valencia-axe-mauricio-pellegrino-president Hope that link works... found it quite an interesting snippet about his time (and equally Emery's) at Valencia.

In the (relatively) modern era, one of my favourites was our Uefa Cup shirt in 2003/4. Thought the slightly narrower stripes were good. Sunderland have gone for narrower stripes and on screen at least I think they look smart. http://www.footyheadlines.com/2017/06/sunderland-17-18-kit.html

Does a bit. It's because the white bit stops at the red shoulders, should go all the way over the top. Beggars belief that so-called design people can't see an obvious way to improve the kit (which is overall excellent).

That Guardian article makes me love Pellegrino already, haha. Especially as I've just finished reading Jonathan Wilson's book on Argentinian football (would highly recommend it) Hopefully he lives up to expectations!

"taking the game to our opponents by playing a high-intensity game." is the most telling part of the generally standard statement from Reed for me. It was inevitable we would be after a manager who at least claimed (only time will tell) to want to play attacking football, but despite our success under Koeman it's now clear that we were looking for a manager who incorporates pressing into the gameplan.

Unlikely. Batistuta was born in Santa Fe, the (potentially) Welsh speaking region is much further to the south of Argentina.

Necaxa in Mexico. And no mention yet of Estudiantes La Plata, one of Pellegrino's former teams.

Surely such a tactic (if we really think Saints staff would go down such a route...) would only work if everyone was given a different rumour? If 10 people were 'leaked' a Vieira rumour, how would they know who the leak was? (I know you're just the messenger, not shooting you down!)

True, there are some awful ones. Georgie Bingham desperate to tell the world what "she thinks", even if it matches the general consensus. I don't listen to it anymore as I've gone back to travelling by tube, but for a couple of years of commuting by car I listened to a lot of them. Always liked Collymore, and think Colin Murray did a good show. Telling that they both left after News Corp bought the station. Funny how "Mr Liverpool" Quinn wasn't put off though. You're a little harsh on Gough though. Imagine they want/need someone with connection to another sport, and just because he's good at one sport doesn't automatically disqualify him from knowing about another. It's that kind of attitude which meant Clive Woodward simply couldn't have had anything insightful to offer Redknapp, and why the English still haven't got their heads around the idea that all these foreign managers are at the top of the game despite not being top footballers themselves.

No, I was just suggesting the ultimate way to wind up Liverpool, rather than selling to Everton.

Manchester United would be better, that'd really rub their noses in it. And then put out a statement to say that we appreciate Virgil's efforts and that while we are disappointed to see him leave, we are at least pleased that he has been able to continue his career at one of England's elite level clubs, rather than making another "stepping stone" move. Or something along those lines.

A lot of what you say is true, certainly about players not really caring about the stadium or fanbase, but I still think it's wrong to put Man City above Liverpool on the basis of the last 10 years. Man City can't fill their stadium. If they lost their money and ended up fighting relegation it wouldn't be much of a story. If Liverpool were near the bottom the news would be full of it, even more so than they already are. Players want to play for Man Utd because they're Man Utd. In the same way they want to play for Barcelona or Real Madrid. Of course players play for Monaco because of the cash, but not many of the world's best go there. I don't put Liverpool in that same top bracket, but if there is a sliding scale of reputation - perhaps that is a better way of putting it than 'big club' - then I still beg to differ that Man City now find themselves higher up. At no point have I argued that VVD should want to join Liverpool, or that Liverpool would be a better destination for him than City. Quite the opposite in fact, but my comments were specifically aimed at the idea City have automatically climbed onto the top shelf on account of totally buying their success. I realise that all the clubs at the top are now spending ludicrous money, but City did it when they were a postiviely-midtable outfit and the scale at which they did it dwarfed even Abramovich's spending at Chelsea. I guess my angle is more anti-City than pro-Liverpool!

De Boer odds on to be Palace boss, Pellegrino odds on to be going to St Mary's - close to everything being finalised or just some last ditch desperate betting?

Cool thanks!