Jenko#4

Two p**sed off drivers, an engine made of chocolate with limited tokens to improve it, no title sponsor, and a car that at times has been really dangerous to drive.They have been through reasonably bad spells before (the Ford/Peugeot cars in the mid-90's), but have always had the talent to maximise the car and pick up results. They now have two world champions that are struggling to keep ahead of two rookies in a year old Marussia. I have no doubt they will mount a comeback, but once Button and Alonso's contracts are up, are they going to be able to attract the right drivers to make the most of it? If you look at the young talent on the grid now (Bottas, Sainz, Kvyat etc) would any of them see a move to McLaren as being a positive career move at the moment? The race was dull today, the Ericsson Massa overtake was a phenomenal bit of driving from both parties though.

Yep, and it sounds like Alonso is now fed up of towing the line. The in-car rant he had over the radio was basically two fingers up to McLaren/Honda/Dennis, and has basically meant that any 'positive' PR that comes out of McLaren now will be taken with an even bigger pinch of salt than it has before. They are in a mess.....

Some posh twonk sat next to me on the train today was talking to his mate about the new office building he is working in. He described it as 'fairly epic'. Surely something is either epic or not, or are there grades of epicness that I'm not aware of?

1. Guzan - Keep (Starter unless anyone better is available) 2. Baker - Keep (Squad) 4. Vlaar - Keep (Squad-Unless he wants more money) 5. Okore - Keep (Starter) 6. Clark - Keep (Starter) 7. Bacuna - Keep (squad) 8. Cleverley (LOAN) - Keep (by any means possible) 9. Sinclair - Keep (squad/starter) 10. Weimann - Sell (not good enough) 11. Agbonlahor - Keep (because no one else would have him!) 12. Cole - Sell 13. Steer - Keep(3rd choice) 14. Senderos - Sell 15. Westwood - Keep (squad) 16. Delph - Keep (starter) 18. Richardson - Keep (backup/utility man only) 20. Benteke - Keep (by any means possible) 21. Hutton - Sell (as long as we get someone better in) 22. Gardner - Keep (give him til Xmas to try and prove himself 23. Cissokho - Keep (squad) 24. Sanchez - Keep (squad) 25. Gil - Keep (but think he will go) 27. Kozak - Keep (deserves another chance) 28. N'Zogbia - Sell (To much wages for no end product) 29. Hepburn-Murphy - Keep and Loan 31. Given - Sell (2nd choice keeper shouldn’t earn 50k a week) 34. Lowton - Keep and Loan 39. Calder - Keep and Loan 40. Grealish - Keep (starter) ??. Bennett -Keep (give him til Xmas) ??. Tonev - Sell ??, Luna -Sell ??. Helenius -Sell I have Guzan, Clark, Okore, Delph, Cleverley, Benteke , Grealish as starters, meaning by my reckoning we need a first choice Left Back, Right Back, Defensive Midfielder and another number 10/wide man (unless Cleverley doesn’t sign, and Benteke goes) I would like to see Bennett given another chance at LB though, as I think Lamberts ultra-defensive mentality didn’t suit him at all first time round.

I had a really random dream last night. We were in our seats at Wembley and rumours started amongst the crowd that Benteke had dropped out of the starting XI very late on, and that we had to start with 10 players as the teamsheet was already submitted (obviously I know that we could name another player- but not in my dream!!). We kicked off and held it at 0-0 for around 10-15 minutes, and then the Ultimate Warrior's theme music started blasting over the Wembley tannoy. Benteke comes bombing out of the tunnel with Claret and Blue ribbons tied round his arms and legs and starts single handedly tearing Arsenal a new one, smashing defenders into advertising hoardings, staring them down, and scoring screamers at will from all distances, until the Arsenal players were begging to be subbed off. I woke up the happiest man in the world this morning, and put a fiver on a Benteke hat-trick

I was the same until I got myself a GPS watch and started analyzing my running a bit more. I now run twice a week, once during the week over 5k where I try to beat my previous weeks time, and once at the weekend where I try to increase my previous weekends distance without stopping. I'm not the quickest or the fittest, but actually seeing your improvement on the computer screen in front of you will push you to go on. Just make it a little competition with yourself. I've also tried to fit an event in when I get to a distance landmark. The first time that I ever ran 10km was during the Birmingham 10k last month, and as my stamina improves I'm looking for a 10 mile event to break my distance record in. Then who knows, half marathon and full marathon.......

I don't think i have ever seen a bad River Plate shirt. They are always awesome.

Fenton played in the semi-final 2nd leg against Tranmere too scored a penalty in the shoot-out I completely forgot about that, did he start the semi? I always though his first start for us was in the final? Back to Green though, I don't know too much about the kid, but based on the above reviews he is quick, direct and full of energy. Perfect to harass a certain ball playing, lightweight midfield and turn defence into attack very quickly. Sherwood wouldn't, would he??

I wonder if Tim is planning something for Wembley similar to what Big Ron did with Graham Fenton in the 1994 Cup Final?

Yellow & Corduroy?? That would be horrific!!

I've created my own pair of Converse and the missus has ordered them for my birthday........hopefully i'll get them before the FA Cup Final!

Something a bit different....

I agree, he should be played as a right back, even if he really isn't one. Yep, i'd keep him at right back. This may sound strange but I think moving him further forward diminishes his attacking threat. Opposition left midfielders don't seem to have the ability to track his runs from deep and he always ends up in acres of space, as the fullback is usually occupied. If you push him forward you are pretty much handing him over to the fullback and making his job of delivering quickly into the box twice as difficult.

This is pretty much what I would go with as well, unless we get into Europe. If that happens and we are relying on Clark/Baker/Gabby and potentially Vlaar playing every Thursday-Sunday-Thursday then we will have problems. In terms of numbers we are probably okay, but in terms of quality definitely not....

Facundo Sava?

Liverpool have also got Lovren, Spurs have Chiriches, Man City have Boyata, and Arsenal have Chambers. I would say most teams do have 5, but they definitely don't need to use them as frequently as we seem to. Clark= 22 Premier League starts this season Okore=18 Vlaar=14 Baker=7 Senderos=7

This. Apart from it's 'Seat 61' Amazing web-site contains extensive information on practically any train route possible all from first hand experience of 'the man in seat61'. He's a British guy as well. Yep, this is the place to go for info. I went to Berlin on the train a couple of months back (via Brussels and Cologne) and everything on the website is spot on. The German DB trains are really smart as well, they make the Eurostar look like the number 11 bus. 3 trains, loads of beer, and 10 hours of pretty much uninterrupted Football Manager, my idea of bliss! Travelling back the same way with a stinking hangover wasn't so nice though.....

If things do go to plan and he does bring success to Villa (which I personally think he will) where would he leave us to go though? He seems a bit too maverick for one of Chelsea, Arsenal or the two Manchester clubs, and I can't see Levy having the balls to change his mind at Spurs. I think he thrives on being the underdog to a certain degree and that 'plucky old' Villa is the perfect fit for him. There are not many bigger clubs that us that he can manage in the way he wants to.

I thought he was top class today, maybe the offers aren't forthcoming for the summer and he is looking for a new contract?

But with the Vidic incident, the decision to send the player off was at the referees discretion (even though it was wrong!!). This was a referee who got a major law of the game wrong, rather than making an incorrect/debatable decision after only getting one view of it.

Who? Regarding Sausagefest, they are never gonna survive, unless they get a little crazy....... (sorry!)

I think he will be starting for England regularly now. Hodgson seems to have a system in mind and is plugging in the players to fit it, rather than picking the best eleven individuals and trying to develop a system for them. Both Delph and Henderson are proper box-to-box midfielders that can tackle, break up play, play a simple pass and arrive late into the box. It allows Hodgson to then be as creative as he wants with his front 3/4 knowing that he has the workrate of them both to back it up. There are arguably better English midfielders out there (Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere) but I don't think any of them fit the system as well as Delph and Henderson. It will be interesting to see how they do up against Pirlo & Verratti, but I think we will be pleasantly surprised....

I like the guy and think he has his feet on the ground and has the potential to be as good as Shearer. What I don't like is the constant media w**kfest over him. I had SSN on the other day when he was called up to the England squad, and I must have seen an interview with his primary school teacher 5 times in a 2 hour spell. Just let the kid get on with his football for Englands sake!

Got another one tonight as well............I wonder if we were clever enough to insert a buy-back clause?

Bennett? I think he is the sort of player that Sherwood could work with. His confidence was shot when he went out on loan but there is potentially a player in there if he can get it back (even as cover for Cissokho)