OhForAGreavsie

Learnt what? How to become an expert transfer market operator by posting on Internet forums? What makes people think Roman has not already decided what he wants from the club? What is it about the fact that Marina continues in her post, year after year, which causes people not to accept that her boss must be happy with her work? What is it about Roman’s history which makes those who push this narrative think that he does not sack people as soon as he looses faith in them? How do people fail to join these, frankly obvious, dots and realise that Marina must be following her boss’s instructions and working within the parameters he lays down?

Watched a lot of Bundesliga games the season KDB was at Bremen. Not so much since. Thanks for the links.

I've never knowingly seen this bloke play. If he's better than Reece James then he's one hell of a footballer. P.S. Just watched an all touches video vs Dortmund. Looked OK. A few stray passes but also a good piece of attacking skill, a good piece of defending, a good pass and a good cross. On the evidence of that video I see no reason at all to bring this bloke in and put him ahead of Reece. Maybe a different video might give a different impression but, on the basis of his display vs BVB, promoting this bloke over Reece would be a silly decision.

This post comes dangerously close to judging the issue before any facts are available. Of course the officials would not intentionally break the rules because they are not going to be any worse at working out the odds than you or me. In fact since they have way better information than we do, it's inevitable that they are better at it than we fans. I know it suits egos to imagine we know stuff which shows that we are cleverer than the club but that's just fantasy. When the dust has fully settled on this, and that will not necessarily be after the initial verdict, will be plenty of time to reach an informed opinion on this matter. Meantime you're just venting based on nothing substantial.

The board have confidently denied any wrong doing. Let's see how it shakes out but just because there's an accusation and an investigation, does not mean there's guilt. I'm not getting agitated about this.

This I do agree with.

Never believed in this bloke since I watched him in Italy. Over dribbles, passes as a last resort and even then not particularly well. I expect I'll be challenged on this opinion but, until I see Sanchez produce more rounded and more consistent performances, I doubt I'll be changing my mind. He created good stats at Arsenal for sure but there was always discontent with his overall play among a section of their fans. My feeling is that his time with Arsenal will turn out to be similar to Nando's at Liverpool; the exception that proves the rule. That 'rule' being that he flatters to deceive and is in fact a bit below top class.

Marcin has shown up in that 3rd keeper slot a few times.

Greaves would not have lost his place had he not been injured but, the truth is, that by 1966 the alcoholism had already taken a toll on Greaves. There’s a great story about a Tottenham player complaining at half time about Greaves standing around on the halfway line, doing nothing as usual. The manager told the player that if he scored 40 goals a season like Greaves then he could go and stand there next to him. Its a nice story but although Jimmy’s talent ranks with the game’s all time greats, the truth is that he drank it away and ultimately wasted it. His statistics reflect his immense ability, but his overall accomplishments betray how much the booze held him back.

I haven’t seen it as you have but this must be an exaggeration. Either that or Icardi doesn’t get many chances. The truth is that not even Jimmy Greaves needed just one chance and he’s the best pure finisher who ever lived. I take your point though. Icardi would upgrade our side significantly.

Pete, You never read that Vesper described herself as a man. You just assumed that because she said she has a wife. I hope you’ve now had enough clues to get it sorted to your satisfaction.

You’re still not engaging the brain Pete. Another example may help. Viggy Lindahl plays in goal for Chelsea Women. She was voted best female keeper in the world last year. Viggy is married. She and her wife are very happy. Hope this helps you to join the dots.

You need to broaden your horizons a bit fella. That, or think a bit harder before you post on this subject. For example, I know someone who was born male but identifies as a gay woman. The world is a beautiful place but a lot of its subtleties are missed if viewed only in black and white.

Now you're talking. If I were related to Sir Gary I'd probably mention it in every post I make. Cricket is the only thing in the entire universe which gives me even a hint of a smidge of a ghost of a reason to think that a god might possibly exist. When I watch test cricket the thought comes to me that if there was a god, this is the game he'd have invented for his own pleasure. P.S. As a boy I supported Notts because Sobers played for them but then Lancashire signed Clive Lloyd, a distant relative of mine, so I switched allegiance and remain a fan of the red rose county's cricket team to this day. I only ever watch them at Lord's or The Oval however.

The man in charge is well aware of the fact that we need to improve both in terms of team performance and individual squad members' qualities. We know this because he has said so. Maybe your problem is with Maurizio, not with those of us who agree with him.

Absolute non-starter. Not technically good enough. He's a good solid striker but we need an outstanding one. We want to be the best and that takes the best players. I like Callum as a player but he does not qualify.

I agree but, as fans, you and I have the luxury of thinking like this. As the man with the responsibility of delivering on his employer's instructions I believe Maurizio will ensure the right result against PAOK before granting himself the freedom to make selections for purely developmental reasons. My bet is he will pick experience again to start and will continue with experience until top spot is guaranteed.

Not only that, I suspect Maurizio has been asked to ensure progress in this competition without fail so, regardless of the strength of the opposition, he will go strong until the group is won.

Morning SJ, Have to disagree with you on RLC and consistency. He is pretty consistent I'm afraid. His inconsistency comes when he plays up to the level we'd like him to. It's those performances which are the exceptions. The ones where Ruben isn't getting it done the way he and we would like him to come along all too consistently. In short Ruben is consistently underperforming not just our hopes, but his own hopes too.

You can argue whether individual observations are correct or not, but it's not at all ridiculous for people to have criticisms to make. If I offered you a bet that Maurizio himself is critical of some aspects and is thinking about how to correct them, you wouldn't take it. Indeed you'd be a fool to take that bet, since we all know from his public statements that the manager does see problems in both performances and personnel. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd guess that you have criticised the club in the past for failing to strengthen after title winning seasons. We all have, so I doubt you're an exception. Just because you win doesn't mean there is nothing which needs fixing. Whenever there are critical comments following a win it's fairly certain some will suggest that people should stop 'moaning' and just celebrate the result. On the other hand, when there are criticisms after a defeat, there will be suggestions that people just need to get behind the team and show some support instead of 'moaning'. What's the answer to this conundrum, that we all become mindless support bots who see no evil and speak no evil, or that we save the criticisms for when Chelsea draw?

I recognise that N'Golo is playing a different role because he is better able to adapt to it than either of his most frequent midfield partners. It is simply not in the nature of Jorgi and Matt to want to get ahead of the ball. They both instinctively move the ball forward and then support it from behind the play. I recognise that being asked to sacrifice his natural position in favour of this more advanced role is a compliment to N'Golo's football intelligence, but this compromise means he operates less frequently in the areas where he is probably the world's best, and more frequently in areas where he certainly is not. I recognise that RCB in a three allowed Azpi to perform to his highest efficiency by making the most of his strengths and limiting the number of times the weaker parts of his game needed to be brought into play. I recognise that this is no longer true when Azpi plays as a pure right back in a four. Perhaps I recognise all this because, like you, I've been watching football for a very long time. For longer in fact than most members of this forum have been alive. In the case of younger members, perhaps longer than one or both of their parents have been alive. I ask you to recognise that I don't want to ditch either Dave or the wee man but, as I've put it more than once in previous posts, there are hard decisions which Maurizio faces as he seeks to drive the team on to greater achievements.

Well now, this video raises a question that it must be unwise to ignore, but I'll come to that in a minute. I reckon the video contains two or three instances of poor decision making, and one of poor execution but many, many examples of high skill, great choices and effective execution. Based on what can be seen, I'd definitely follow up to watch more of the player because he looks very impressive here. Love the touch, the body control, the low centre of gravity, the clean strikes, the tidy finishes and mostly the incisive passing. Have you watched him 11Drogba? If so can you tell us anything about his work rate and tactical discipline? Does he have the energy and diligence to be a factor when his team is out of possession? In short would he get in a Sarri team? What about his confidence. It's clear that the player we see in the vid is playing with maximum confidence level but that level may be easier to attain in the MLS than it would be in the Premier League. Does he seem to you to have the character to cope with the greater pressure of a more heavily scrutinised league? Lastly, but maybe most importantly, that question which started nagging me from about 40 seconds into the video. What's he doing in America? If Almiron is anywhere near as good as he looks in that video, and I'm talking about the qualities he displays not just the outcome of what he does, then there is no way he would be playing MLS at the age of 24. Yet there he is. It's hard to escape the conclusion that he can't be as effective as he looks capable of being and/or that he must be a liability out of possession. Otherwise he simply would not be in the US. Does anyone have any of these answers?

This is why I was so pleased when Barca took Arthur. He was, and is, the perfect recruit for Man City's squad so I was desperate that they did not get him.

That looks like you're enjoying some very comfortable REM sleep.