OhForAGreavsie

Pure speculation on my part, I have no knowledge of the facts but... Are there not strict rules which govern emergency loans? Are those rules not likely to specify under what circumstances such a loan can be extended? If there are no such rules, and an emergency loan can be treated just like any other, then what's the point of a transfer window, and a separate loan window, for Championship clubs? Logically there must be rules and perhaps they have played a part in Nathan's return to Cobham.

Of course I can convince you. All I need from you is to tell me how. It's a serious question. How in the world is a person who takes your outlook to be convinced about an unknowable future event, simply through the power of argument? Of course we both know the answer to that question and you certainly knew it before you even asked me. As for you hoping to be proved wrong, I have my doubts but I hope to be proved wrong about that.

And I don't trust them either. Indeed we have more than a few I don't trust even in small games. On the main conversation I can only say that you and I disagree and probably always will.

Thank you.

Like many, if not most, people I'm not a big believer in stats but I think possession stats tend to be what people have in mind when they talk about being dominant. I do prefer Jose's way of talking about control but it's hard to argue that those stats say anything other than that we set up to counter attack City in 13/14, just as we did in 14/15. All that this season's game proved is that if you can't pass, not a lot else matters. When it comes to passing we have too many weak links. In fact I don't believe Jose can pick any side without having to include a number of players for whom passing is not a strength. I'm watching for squad changes before I'll start expecting better football.

I won't promise to review the games, I watch far too much football as it is. 2013/14: - City enjoyed nearly twice as much possession as we did.City had more shots than we did.City delivered 3.5 times as many crosses into our goal area as we put into theirs.City won twice as many corners as we did.We were forced into twice as many clearances as they were.These stats, taken from the Premier League site*, suggest that we did not dominate. Speaking from memory, I would rather say that we controlled the game, as Jose likes to put it. That is we sit, maintaining shape at all times and our throw ins go forward never sideways to prevent quick breaks with men in front of the ball and out of position. Because we executed that plan so well in 13/14 we regularly broke with space to play into and threatened to score more than the one goal that was registered. Fast forward to 14/15 and Andre Schurrle scored a beauty which will almost certainly get my vote for goal of the season but, sadly, that was pretty much the only passing movement we were able to put together on the day. You don't pass and your breaks never get started or worse, you get broken against. I remain firmly of the opinion that execution was the only difference between the two games. In 13/14 we played well, we passed to each other, Hazard & Matic were great; none of that was true this season. *Possession stats are from BBC, 65-35 in City's favour.

I watched the game on Tuesday, made up my mind that I'd like Chelsea to sign Varane but also made up my mind that Madrid could not possibly be willing to sell him. Now here you come, telling me what I want to hear and raising my hopes. You better be right. :) P.S. I missed Jose's comments that you referred to. Where were they published?

The great example is Manchester City. Somewhere in this site I read at least one post contrasting the way we played at City this season with our league performance there in 13/14. That post was from a Jose critic and talked about how TSO had set up brilliantly last season but how he had gone away from that this term. Not so. Well not in my opinion anyway. The set up was exactly the same but, whereas last season the players executed well, this time around, with the exception of the absolutely magnificent goal we scored, they played like park footballers. As a result barely a pass completed. Even so the genius of the tactical lay out still garnered a point and very nearly three.

Funny how people used to say that Pep was a tactical genius when he was in charge of Barca. As has ever been the case, the tactics you can successfully apply depend on the players you have.

Although Nathan's price, if nothing else, suggests that the comments could very well be right. We might reasonably expect a talented 19 year-old from Brazil to command a higher fee than the figure being reported.

Or maybe, let's hope that he doesn't which might scare off alternative suitors who are not able to afford to take a risk. Perhaps we wouldn't risk signing a player who may never return to what he once was, but in absolute, as well as in FFP, terms we could certainly afford to.

This is a definite issue with our team and that pairing would be a dream solution. Isn't going to happen though, Madrid are not crazy. Not that crazy anyway.

I recorded yesterday's game specifically so I could see Varane and Koke. I watched it late last night and, based on that, I think we might as well close this thread. Madrid want their heads examined if they let this kid go.

And this with a squad we all agree is incomplete and currently short of form. Only Jose my friend, only Jose. Judging by their posts, some people not only seem to hate Jose, they also seem unable to respect the fact that the rest of us, the vast majority of us, don't hate him too. Every victory, every title, must feel like a knife to the heart for them.

When Jose, not you or me, decides.

Agreed, 'Jed' was brilliant in that game, which was not in CL but the NextGen by the way, but we can only guess that the lack of first team buzz about him is due to worries about his tactical awareness, fitness and form. He should surely make the tour(s) this summer. Let's hope he gets the chance to impress again.

This is such a good point I just quoted it so people might read it again.

Of those who played today 7; Collins, Clarke-Salter, Da Silva, Brown, Abraham, Boga & Solanke will still be eligible for next season's UEFA Youth League. I think most of those will appear again but you are right, it's time for Brown, and probably Boga too, to be finishing their education at a higher level. Along with the lads who are now too old for the U19s of course.

There is, in my opinion, a fallacy at the heart of the 'we are lucky to be top' argument. That fallacy is the presupposition that we have not suffered balancing moments of bad luck and that our opponents have not themselves also benefited from points gained undeservedly. Of course we have and of course they have. If you put it to me that we have been no more than the best of a bad bunch, I would not dispute it but, however bad the others are, we have been the best. The lucky argument just doesn't wash. Not unless you want to say that we're lucky the others have been even worse than than us. That I would accept but this acceptance points the way to an interesting summer. It's already clear that Liverpool are better now than they have been over the season as a whole and the same is true of Manchester United and Arsenal. Along with Man City, those sides can be expected to strengthen before the new season kicks-off. Watching those developments, and what we do ourselves, is all part of the fun.

Congratulations to the lads. Thoroughly deserved win, they are the best U19 side in Europe. Full praise for Shakhtar as well. Although we ultimately beat them more comfortably than the scoreline suggests, they are the best opponents I've seen us face in this competition. You can see why they reached the final and why they were unbeaten along the way. They were beaten today however and by the better side. Izzy Brown was again very effective playing wide right and scored 2 of the goals in our 3-2 win. He was selected MoTM by the Eurosport commentators but I would give that honour to someone else. Jeremie Boga had a not atypically frustrating first half. Yes, he was instrumental in the first goal after seven minutes but there were many examples of dribbling into dead ends leading to lost opportunity and lost possession. Indeed it was from one of these that Shakhtar launched the counter attack which led to their equaliser. Jeremie's second half lasted less than 25 minutes before he limped off with what feels like the 998th injury of his career. During those few minutes however, he was devastating. The Ukranian side couldn't live with him. He carried the ball at will, beat markers effortlessly, combined majestically with Charlie Musonda, sublimely set up two goals and generally ran the show. Even when he fell over, his opponents still couldn't dispossess him. It was a cameo but an irresistible one which made him my MoTM. It seems to me that the key for Jeremie is to learn how to choose his moment, how not to hurt his team while he's waiting that moment to arrive. The key for his coaches will be to understand that he will turn the ball over sometimes and therefore to build a structure designed to cater for that possibility. Given such a platform, the young Frenchman has so much to offer. There was, in my opinion, a third candidate for MoTM. Jake Clarke-Salter was outstanding at the back, particularly during the lengthy first-half spell when Shakhtar were well on top. Charlie Colkett was also impressive, as always. RLC had a very quiet game. There seems to me to be more thinking needed about how best to use him. Playing Ruben in the pivot with Charlie was great for the side, but did not give him much opportunity to give of his best. Lastly a wider point. Jeremie Boga's partnership with Charlie Musonda was great to watch. Live wire Charlie with eel-like changes of direction, quick feet and nice passing was brilliant. That Adi was able to play two AMs whose defensive contributions are not outstanding is instructive I think. Instructive for those who, bemusingly, pour scorn on Jose and the choices he makes. Adi is able to pair these two at U19 level because, at that level, they are too good for their opponents and so the side can win that way. Adi does not use them together in the U21s however. Playing beautiful, losing football is even less fun than playing ugly winning football. Ask Arsenal fans. To play attractive winning football you need players who are good enough to do it. At U19 we have them, at first team level we do not. Yet. That is my opinion at any rate and is why I am delighted that we have the supreme pragmatist in charge. I much prefer Jose finding a way to win, over Carlo standing helpless on the sideline chanting, "Bad moment, bad moment" while his ill-equipped squad fails miserably to play with identity.

I think not everyone has the chance to watch full 90 minute coverage of the development squads and Charlie's contributions are not always of the type which make the highlights. Everyone who does get the chance to see Colkett does seem to be impressed however. You and I certainly are, and we are far from being alone.

The style we're using is not good. We're not even playing our chosen style all that effectively and certainly not well. I resist the idea that we're lucky however. I refer people to a comment made by Thierry Henry, "You always feel you can beat Chelsea, and then you don't." Henry is right and there's a reason for it.

That was the point I was trying to make.

Let's not forget that 09/10 was a mirror image of 14/15 in that our play was generally dire in the first half of the double season. Even when the play improved it was not, in my opinion, as a result of anything Carlo did. I've often expressed the opinion that the improvement was due to a number of our key players hitting the form of their lives simultaneously. That is what I believe led to the quality we produced for a few months at the end of of 09/10 and the start of 10/11. I suggest however that the generally poor play either side of that purple patch proves it was not the result of anything Carlo did. Form after all is temporary. The Bridge will rock again and this time it will be the work of the manager. I'm sure of it.

Acknowledged. He has.