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Con

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Everything posted by Con

  1. Actually, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Danny Murphy made a great pundit pair last night. That won't happen again for the rest of the season. Apart from being very obviously anti-Villa Gary Lineker is a great host. He's got charisma and his cheesey wit is just right for the programme. However, the whole MOTD progamme is a bit formulaic and dull with the two pundits just sitting there. the Sky MNF is much better and MOTD should be more like that and allow the pundits to be more interactive with technology in their analysis.
  2. To be fair, their foot/gunfire damage policy was slightly more genius - they also let Ferdinand, Vidic, and Evra go ( knowing well in advance that they would leave). Southampton also lost their manager and whole bunch of players and the effects have been exactly the different. The incapable fools! whilst they obviously did have a foot/gunfire damage policy it is not quite the same situation as Southampton. Southampton didn't lose all of their experienced defence (Fonte, the captain, and Yoshida) and in Schneiderlin, already had a powerful central midfielder who incidentally, could easily get in Man Utd's first XI.
  3. He really isn't that talented of a prospect and most reserve/youth followers don't rate him very much. He is very calm and composed on the ball but he has always lacked concentration and his defensive awareness to pick up runs etc. isn't very good. He also shies away from picking up a man and always seems to want to play as the extra man at the back which he got away with it in a back 3 but in a back 4 he can't do that. He is lucky to have got his chances due to him being left footed and van Gaal preferring to have a left footer at LCB. Michael Keane and Tom Thorpe are much better players. Maybe Blackett was played against the easy teams in the hope that, in the event of United's inevitable string of victories due to the genius of Van Gaal marriaged with their all-powerful new strike force, they would be able to take him out before the harder games, and sell him on for an inflated transfer fee in the winter transfer window. If that was the plan it backfired.
  4. he plays for Atletico Madrid who last year won La Liga and reached the Champions League final. he's world class. should have got sent off against England though.
  5. Man Utd now without Johnny Evans and Phil Jones for some time due to injury. What's happened to Luke Shaw? It's about time he was played.
  6. Trying once more. This one definitely is okay and it's a world beater. Courtois Boateng Godin T.Silva Alba Di Maria De Rossi Pogba Sturridge Sanchez Bale
  7. I don't believe you. I can believe that. If you were Barry Bannan you would struggle to believe in the positives right now. Perhaps he should not make any effort at all to improve? He'll never be as fast, athletic and powerful as the naturally fast, athletic and powerful players. Crystal Palace have discovered the formula for staying in the Premier League and he's not in it. I really think both Bannan and Williams if they can't join Swansea in January, and they have some ambition, should move to another league: Seria A, Ligue One or La Liga. Championship would still be too physical.
  8. No Johnny Williams either. Not even on the substitute bench. Warnock went with power (Jedinak, Ledley) and pace (Puncheon, Bolasie, Campbell) for counter-attack tactics on 24% possession. If you only have 24% possession you don't need Bannan or Williams. They need to play for the clubs who seek dominate possession. Whether that is England or abroad I don't know. Over the course of a season the teams that have more of the possession end up higher in the table so it's not as if Bannan and Williams do not possess valuable traits for teams looking to push to the next level.
  9. Courtois Zabaleta Ramos Godin Shaw Rodriguez Kroos Fabregas Ronaldo Costa Bale Edit: No I did not read the rules Following the rules: Courtois Zabaleta Silva Godin Shaw Rodriguez Kroos Pogba Ronaldo Costa Bale You actually have to think hard to do this Following the rules: Courtois Boateng Godin T.Silva Alba Di Maria De Rossi Pogba Sturridge Sanchez Bale Superb defence. How many other world best defences have the best goalkeeper in the world? There is no weakness at central defence. Godin no-nonsense support for the skills of Silva. Boateng provides solid right back. I didn't want Zabaleta here because I thought Di Maria would be better on the right wing. Alba at left back is super-quick and one of the best LBs in the world. Midfield is commanded by a fighter, De Rossi, and Pogba too is very combative, but he also has super-skills, as does Di Maria. Di Maria also puts in a shift defensively. Very strong defensive midfield and going forward. Front line must be the quickest in world football. This team is built to counter-attack, but it can also score from long range, create out of nothing, from set pieces... everything. It is a super team.
  10. You spelt Bramble wrong. Fair enough. There is only one Titus Bramble!
  11. Same number of letters in first and second name and first and second name have the initials TB. Is Tyler Blackett the new Titus Brambell? That is harsh. Very harsh. But he did get sent off and Man Utd conceded five goals.
  12. Our best player against Arsenal. Tackled, superb passing and excellent set pieces. Pity the rest of the squad were sick and couldn't make anything of this superb performance.
  13. As far as I can tell from watching youth games the 360 degree screw turn, fall over leg win a foul is a Grealish special move. Another is he likes to drive into the green grass space and often will dribble the ball from the left wing all the way across the top of the penalty box to the right wing. What he doesn't do: power shooting from distance and aggressive tackling. What I liked today was that he looked incredibly comfortable in possession and passing the ball in the centre of the field. All 15 of his passes were accurate - that's right, 100% pass accuracy!
  14. Excellent performance. Showed he could play on the wing and when he was moved into the middle he showed he could play there too. Imagine what he could do against the weaker teams!
  15. SAT 20 SEP 2014 - PREMIER LEAGUE QPR 1 v 1 Stoke Aston Villa 0 v 3 Arsenal Burnley 1 v 1 Sunderland Newcastle 1 v 1 Hull Swansea 1 v 1 Southampton West Ham 0 v 2 Liverpool SUN 21 SEP 2014 - PREMIER LEAGUE Leicester 1 v 3 Man Utd Tottenham 3 v 0 West Brom Everton 5 v 0 Crystal Palace Man City 1 v 2 Chelsea
  16. How about match-fixing in the FA or League Cup? You would have thought a lower-league team might roll over for one of the mega-rich clubs but in recent years I've got the impression there have been a lot of upsets in the minor competitions. The amount of money the big clubs get from any given round of a cup competition must not be enough to make bribing the current opponents a reasonable economic proposition. On the other hand the cup draws could be fixed by the organisers to ensure at least one good match for the TV.
  17. https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/football-lerner-farewell-galvanises-villa-talent-020000484--sow.html Guess who he is talking about ... great quote.
  18. What if he does his ACL - badly - next April how much will he be able to command then if he is out of action for year? Waiting for the bigger pot of honey would be a temptation but also a pointless risk. The top 4 clubs could afford to double his salary to £100k a week and pay Villa £20 million for his services. Are they really going to give him 150k if he signs as a free agent? He would be better advised to negotiate a new contract with Villa then take the substantial pay rise he will get when he moves to a Champions League club.
  19. I would say a football match outcome can be "heavily tilted" in the direction of one team if you have bribed the referee and one or two players. as West says though it would seem that spot fixing would be much less complicated, less expensive and more lucrative. the more people are involve the more expensive the bribes are for the match fixer and the more likely someone will defect to the authorities. for spot fixing, as compared to match fixing, you only need to bribe one player. obviously the referee is the first target for match fixers. he can award penalties and send players off. even so, the referee has to be careful he doesn't get a reputation for bias, making completely and obviously wrong decisions frequently etc. or he will be fired. so that limits the number of times a referee can fix matches. Edit: The manager also is one to watch because he decides the formation, style of play, tactics and substitutions.
  20. Man Utd are still a bit dodgy at the back. Other than that they are very strong now on the wings and up front. Van Persie, Rooney, Falcao - this three is as good any in the top four. Also youth option James Wilson if one gets injured. Better than Liverpool's attack. With the right support behind them they could support a title challenge. However, they'd don't. Herrara, Di Maria, Blind, Mata, Janujaz, Valencia, Fellaini - Exceptional attacking midfield but dodgy in central and defensive midfield. who is going to control and win the ball? Herrara and Blind helps there but will they start to struggle for fitness in the new year? They have no good replacement for defensive midfield unless Fellaini suddenly becomes world class. Also, are they really better than the central midfield of Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea? Need another world class DM to challenge for 3rd place let alone the title. Rojo, Shaw - still not convinced by the Man Utd defence. Evans does not convince me and Rafael gets sent off too much. For a title challenge they need more world class defenders, and personally I'd only slightly but really would take Arsenal's defence ahead of Man Utd's at present. De Gea - still looking dodgy occasionally, such as today's mix up that QPR forward should have scored the open goal from. I wouldn't be surprised if Van Gaal sold him. Conclusion: Man Utd are now a bit better than Liverpool but are far behind Chelsea and Man City and will probably end the season 4th behind Arsenal.
  21. If as you say a move is inevitable, we won't be selling him, he will be leaving at the end of the season on a free transfer. I think he will sign a new contract but we will sell him in the summer or even in the January transfer window. He's not good enough right now for the top teams and given his injury record he's not going to chance it to the end of the season.
  22. A move is inevitable because he is still improving. He might soon be better than Flamini at Arsenal or the equal of Fernandez at Man City. Not yet there but he does seem to be getting better. Eventually we will not be able to afford to pay him what he is worth. Enjoy the fact he broke into the England team in a Villa shirt. By the time we sell let's hope Gary Gardner will have recaptured his form after his injuries and be able to take his place in the first team.
  23. I said "I expect Southampton to surprise people again" page 30 back in early August. The important thing was who were the most influential players in the Southampton team last season and what happened to them? The most influential player in any football team in my opinion is the centre back, then a strong midfield player (if any) and then the goalkeeper. Southampton kept Fonte, their strongest CB, and they kept Schneiderlin, and they actually recruited a better goalkeeper than they have had in years - Forster. With a core like that they will continue to do well based on a good defence. The question I had was whether the new players they bought would be able to create chances and score the goals. Seems like that question was answered against Newcastle.
  24. Looking at the latest team sheet and Palace squad, James McArthur has taken a place in the central midfield, and the wingers Zaha who is now swapping with Bolaise, have taken the spot on the left side of midfield. What's left is an attacking midfield substitute spot and Williams is the better attacking option against a weak defence (Burnley) because he is faster and a more natural dribbler. It's difficult to see where Bannan is going to fit in with the current 442 as a first teamer. Ledley is presumably first choice back-up for McArthur. Crystal Palace are now a team of speed and power with Jedinak, Zaha, Puncheon and Gayle. Against the top defences Warnock may have Bannan on the bench for the set piece option and his better defensive ethic compared to Williams. Bannan always needs a team that can take advantage of his set piece delivery but he can both play in the centre controlling possession making those key passes and out wide where he can cross the ball accurately. Currently managers don't know which position is his best and they tend to favour out wide because their approach to defence is harrying and tackling rather than ball possession. Wouldn't be surprised if he goes to Spain on loan. He needs game time to gets some good form and demonstrate whether his strongest position is in the centre or out wide.
  25. Injured? He played for Scotland in the international against Germany.
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