Con

I wondered whether clubs are so totally biased toward hiring defensive managers and that since black players are most common in attacking positions whether they are discriminated because of their footballing philosophy (attacking). This discrimination could be in addition to any racial discrimination. However, on testing it I found that although black players are most commonly found further up the field, in all positions except goalie black players were currently more than 25% of players. There are so many black players in defensive positions today that at least for the next generation there should be enough black players with the "right" philosophy to become top coaches. When I say "right" philosophy, I'm not saying I agree with a defensive coaching philosophy. However it is a fact that 85% of Premier League coaches were either defenders or midfielders. % Black by position Goalies: 2% Defenders: 28% Midfielders: 36% Fowards: 40% Method: Used fantasy premier league pictures (and google when the picture was blank). 56 white forwards and 37 black forwards. Out of 181 defenders, 51 are black. Of 225 midfielders, 81 are black. Of 60 listed goalies one was black. Managers (Premier League) and their playing position (which could be an indicator to their footballing philosophy). Mourinho - central midfield Koeman - defender Pellegrini - central defender Wenger - midfielder Monk - central defender Lambert - defensive midfielder Van Gaal - midfielder Pochettino - central defender Warnock - winger Pearson - central defender Alladyce - central defender Rodgers - defender Martinez - defensive midfielder Bruce - central defender Poyet - midfielder Hughes - forward Irvine - winger Redknapp - midfielder Dyche - defender Pardew - midfielder Percentages Defender: 9 ... 45% Midfielder: 8 ... 40% Winger: 2 ... 10% Forward: 1 ... 5%

Thanks Rodders, awesome stuff. I like the wildcard idea too. Can you put a star or do something to indicate how many wild cards someone has left. That would be useful info for people strategically. Or else we would have to keep the tally ourselves.

If Brian Deane does well I'd welcome him at Villa. I would like us to be managed by a former striker who was successful at the top level and not affiliated with one of the big clubs.

We needed Westwood to banana in some of those whipped set pieces but he was not the most accurate crosser in the Premier League today. The best with at least 3 crosses were Steven Davis (100%), Steven Gerrard (75%), Raheem Sterling (60%), Branoslav Ivanovic (50%) and Jason Puncheon (44%). Stewart Downing gets special mention for 8 from 16 (50%). If we are going to compete against the top teams Westwood needs to be more consistent with his delivery because we're not going to get many chances.

Has he got a new contract yet? His strength training really shows in the game when he bounces off the floor after tackles by the Ya Ya Toures he plays against in CM. He changes direction really quick too it helps him win a lot of fouls for us. Grealish should take note. Maybe a bit of shooting training wouldn't go amiss either. He and Grealish should stay on after training working on long range shooting.

Will you never post a single thing about bannan either directly or indirectly again if he doesn't? No, but I will promise 2 months Bannan free, whatever happens. If I slip up, someone send me a PM and we can add another 2 months on to that. Please note though that I was not the one who bumped this thread.

Do we have the updated table (for Week 5) posted yet? Thanks.

Ugo Ehiogu has been working with the Tottenham Academy and is now coach of Tottenham U-21s. I'd say he's one to watch because the Tottenham youth are very highly rated at the moment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugo_Ehiogu

That although Palace lost he can't have had that bad a game. If there were no positives to take from it he won't be on the bench. I'll hold my hands up and say my analysis is wrong if he's not on the bench. That would indicate there were no positives.

As others have said, talent tends to rise to the top in football. I just don't buy into this idea that there is racism against black managers in England when black players are very widely accept in the game. Talented black players certainly don't get held back because of their race so why would that be the case with black managers? Because everyone is comfortable with the idea that black people are good athletes. Black people being seen as intelligent tactical thinkers still faces resistance in some quarters. It might not be that which the discrimination is against. If they make it in the game and want to pursue a career in coaching they're intelligent enough. More to the point, perhaps: why are there so many top Scottish and Irish managers and so few English? Surely the Scottish and Irish managers aren't more intelligent and better tactical thinkers. However, they are known, for cultural reasons or whatever, for being strong man-managers. Aggressive, shouty, rude. English managers are thought too polite. How about blacks? Black people are stereotypically thought of as happy fellows. Not mean and nasty "psychos" who will cut the bloated ego of a sports-star down to a manageable size like a Glaswegian or Irishman. So it could be man-management factor that is the "hidden-resistance." Are blacks thought of as too charming and not aggressive enough to be managers? Or it could just be that not enough until now have got their coaching badges and tried to make a career of it. This is a "watch this space" topic, nothing can be known for sure until the up-coming surge has had their go at it. The exceptions make this more obvious. The bad side of Paul Ince, "The Guv'nor," was meant to be tough.

Will you take it all back if he's on the bench against Leicester?

He may have shown enough tonight to get back on the bench. Consider the midfield four Zaha Guédioura Bannan Williams (Kaikai - 80' ) then Zaha Guédioura Bannan Kaikai Bannan and Williams is what you call a lightweight midfield and the 19-year-old debut winger Kaikai hardly helped the defense out there when he came on. And we all know how hard Zaha works at his defensive duties (/src). against Obertan Colback Abeid Ameobi (Sissoko - 67' ) then Obertan Colback Sissoko Abeid So they equalised to 2 : 2 even after Sissoko had come on early to strengthen the Newcastle midfield. Bannan played in the centre with Guédioura and two wingers who were hopeless defensively, and they drew the match 2:2 in normal time against Colback and Sissoko. He is definitely an alternative option in the centre with a strong defensive midfielder like Jedinak.

It was 2:2 after 90' and the third goal came from a header inside the six-yard box. I think the second-string Palace defence, which also conceded a penalty, was more likely at fault. The fact Bannan's side still managed 2 goals without their most influential defenders, without Jedinak, against a strong Newcastle XI is a positive for him.

AT 27 SEP 2014 - PREMIER LEAGUE Liverpool 2 : 2 Everton Chelsea 4 : 0 Aston Villa Crystal Palace 1 : 2 Leicester Hull 0 : 3 Man City Man Utd 4 : 2 West Ham Southampton 3 : 0 QPR Sunderland 1 : 1 Swansea Arsenal 3 : 1 Tottenham SUN 28 SEP 2014 - PREMIER LEAGUE West Brom 2 : 1 Burnley MON 29 SEP 2014 - PREMIER LEAGUE Stoke 1 : 1 Newcastle

Phenomenal.