bobzy

I remember one about protection maybe? But if all the guns were gone, why would you need a gun for protection? ....and thus, why are you against them being banned if it’s only a protection thing? Not having a go, I just don’t understand wanting guns at all so trying to see that side of things.

Doing him too much courtesy there. He's been shit and solid in equal measures and certainly not "one of our better players". Snodgrass, Grealish, Grabban, Adomah, Chester and Hutton ahead of him.

Maybe not hundreds of times, but yes - more likely than teams fail than are successful. I guess it would depend on what the foundations are.

I’d say that’s probably the goal for all clubs in that third group.

What do you need your guns for? Genuinely curious why you're so against giving them up/banning guns etc.

Youri Djorkaeff as well. Unreal that those 2 were at Bolton.

I'm fine with that. I like cyclical football and don't want the same old teams at the top necessarily. A whole generation of football fans know Ajax to be just another average Dutch side, but that mid-90's side was incredible. Van der Sar, the de Boer brothers, Davids and Seedorf, Overmars and Kluivert - just such a good Dutch production line. Also, Jari Litmanen! Pretty sure a load of that Ajax side (who beat Milan in the CL final) ended up going to Milan as well.

It's a "good start to the tournament" if you meg a Hong Kong player and fail to deliver any sort of end product? I blame Soccer AM

....which was said because the entire post was about teams staying up. How are your armbands?

Have they just been promoted?

During a wildcard (I.e: hit “random” 3 times and play as the team it lands on) game on an old version of Pro Evo, Bernard Mendy scored a hat-trick from right wing-back for me as my Hull side beat my mates’ Chelsea side 3-2. One was a screamer from about 40 yards. Complete cult hero, purely because of this

Don’t know many of those defenders, but that attack

You’re missing the point with the Aurier thing. Some transfers work - some don’t. The point is that they’ll recycle players with any money earned. They’ve lost Walker and still finished comfortably top 4 by spending elsewhere. The posted above mentions Soldado not working - they sold him for £10m and Townsend for £12m and brought in Son for £22m. Job done, gap filled. Lost Mason and Bentaleb (£29m), brought in Sissoko (£30m). Gap filled (not worked, of course). They’d have a big problem if Kane and Eriksen went, but everyone else is replaceable for the money they’d bring in IMO.

Maybe so - maybe no. Unless Man City (in England) are coming in for you, then you're solely leaving for money; and those are the characters that Spurs are quite happy to let go of (I think Kane would be the exception to the rule). They buy younger talent up and blood them through the team so stop gaps are always filled. Likewise, they're still able to attract players from overseas by paying sufficient amounts - and maybe bonuses too, as mentioned by Stevo - so they lose Kyle Walker for £50m, but bring in Serge Aurier and Lucas Moura from PSG for that money. The stop gap (RWB) is filled and they've bought an additional player. It'll be interesting to see if any club throws money at Spurs' players this summer. I actually think Alderweireld would be absolutely fine to leave - very replaceable, even if he's a good defender. Also noticed they bought Juan Foyth (for £10m) last summer as well; 20 year old Argentine centre back. So, again, buying young, blood them through. What would Alderweireld cost another club? £30m, say? They'll re-invest that amount with cash to spare, and the cycle will continue. Again, as per original point, I don't understand people wanting this system to fail. It's madness.

Marseille missed a glorious chance first half. I thought they played alright bar really obvious mistakes but, eventually, Atletico's quality shone through.

But so what if they're getting less than half of what they could elsewhere? Well done chairman for having the balls to stand up to the completely outrageous wage demands that people have these days. Alexis Sanchez is probably being paid £300k/wk at Man Utd - well done Levy for keeping Kane "down" (lol) at £150k/wk or whatever. Runs club well, gets criticised. Game truly is gone.

Think he'd have a chance after this season - same with Thauvin who has been immense for Marseille. Their squad announcement is today (might have been?) so will be interesting to see who is going!

I quite fancy France, but that potential blow in losing Payet may hurt them (hopefully just a small thing for his sake). England squad is underwhelming but pretty much as expected. Huge lol having Heaton on the backup list who has played, what, 0 games this season? “**** you, Joe Hart!”

Yeah, OK

Nah, **** that. I like Spurs. They're fairly unassuming, but are now consistently at the top end of the table and look like a real force. I find it utterly bizarre that people moan about having a "top 4" etc, but then instantaneously want any club that pushes into that bracket to lose all their best players. I hope Pochettino, Eriksen, Kane, Son et al all stay at Spurs for a long time and that they find a way to get above the Man City/Chelsea/Man Utd snorefest. Ideally, they'd win the Premier League.

If a goalkeeper is handling the ball outside the box, it's almost always going to be fine margins. It's deliberate handball - that's the rule. It's not "deliberate handball if you are believed to know that you're outside the box". Same way that violent conduct isn't "violent conduct if you're intending to be violent". Oh, and he was definitely outside the box:

From that article, and as you partly quoted...: "The previous 'triple-punishment' rule required a red card - and therefore a suspension - as well as the award of a penalty under those circumstances... ...But deliberate fouls will still incur a red card. Those include holding, pulling or pushing, not playing the ball, serious foul play, violent conduct or deliberate handball in order to deny a goalscoring opportunity." In which case: a] This was outside the box, thus not a penalty, and thus not within the "triple-punishment" area which (should) be relaxed. b] It's a deliberate handball which stops a goalscoring opportunity. I can't see why it wasn't a red. I'm thankful, but don't get it at all.

I disagree; mainly because I've not seen as good a ball carrier in our team for a long, long time. Possibly can't remember the last one. At times against Boro (and, in fairness, probably because of the pace of Adama Traore), we were so deep and the only times we actually relieved any pressure was when Jack got the ball and ran with it. If you play him in that archetypal number 10 role (that we all saw him being at some point), I think you lose the ability to carry the ball up the pitch. Strangely, given his technique and passing ability, you'd lessen the teams' ability to hurt the opposition.

So true. Once, just once, a 'Boro player read the pass to Adomah and cut it out. I applauded that player (in my head, of course) as I think it's the first time I've seen one of those passes from Grealish actually be cut out.

If Thor had been playing recently, I’d play him. However, he hasn’t and Jedinak has been very good at DMC recently. I’m worried about the movement Fulham have and how we’ll cope on a large pitch, but it wouldn’t make sense to bring him in now.