OhForAGreavsie

I'm glad some of you aren't in the stadium. We aren't playing significantly differently than we have in recent games. We're just being asked more questions.

The angle of Bamford's run meant there could be no danger if Mendy had not come.

No way Bamford scores if Mendy stays at home.

I wouldn't go that far but I would shift to feeling a bit more positive about our prospects. For me many of our recent good results have been achieved by exploiting a softer part of our schedule. I would take a strong, winning, performance today as a very encouraging sign.

Only one surprise for me, I thought Kova would be in.

This all makes sense to me and I would add that Kova is in great form too which makes Saturday's team one of the most difficult selections Frank has faced so far this season. This also makes sense to me though I would find it very hard to leave Timo out.

So happy about this. For Blues' fans of my vintage only the Tottenham game compares.

I think Kova's current form makes him undropable this weekend. Kai to start on Tuesday maybe?

I'd say Lewis Bate should be first in the queue.

I'm afraid you simply don't know what you're talking about. You are very wrong about this. Very, very wrong. I don't know who you are referring to here but yes, of course, some were financially successful. Most needed to take ordinary, low paying, jobs after their careers. Some in England are supported by welfare grants from the PFA, Twas ever thus and trending toward the situation we have now. How do you suppose the super clubs became super?

Multiple post.

Multiple post

GCSE History Paper A June 2045 1. David Cameron - Grade A, class 1, certified twat. Discuss.

I'd be interested to read why you don't like the current system. Is it that it gives too much power to players and agents? I agree that there are good points and bad in the 'new' system but I still prefer it to the old because, in the end, the old system treated players, human beings after all, like indentured servants. Their professional lives pretty much belonged to their employers. If they signed a contract with a club they could never play for another club unless the original club agreed and their compensation demand (transfer fee) was met. That was so even if the contract had expired. The system was absolutely immoral and was always going to fall apart as soon as it faced a proper legal challenge. .

I didn't mean to imply that you were wrong about the others. Quite the opposite. I'm still struggling to come up with the other two names though.

I think you're right about Hoddle. Played EPL for us but not for Spurs.

Hazard (Pre EPL) Dury (Pre EPL) Cundy (maybe pre-EPL) Cudicini

And this was pre-Bosman so if your club said you couldn't go, you couldn't go. End of story. They owned your contract until they agreed to release you. Even if you retired then came back you could not play for anyone else until a deal was done with your original club. The miracle is that this medieval system lasted as long as it did. There were also other factors keeping him in Brazil though.

This is definitely legal. This bit would definitely be very hard to get passed by FFP accountants.

Reaching two consecutive World Cup finals is not luck. I did not say that Argentina's world cup squad was bad in 1986. I said that it was not as good as their squad in 1978. Which it was not. I said that the 1990 squad was not good. Which it was not. England did score against Argentina. They also very nearly equalised and definitely should have done. You mentioned misapprehensions not facts. That's not a problem however, we all misremember things. My assertion is that Argentina's world cup winning squad of 1986 was good, but not great, and that the one which played West Germany in the final four years later was not even good. The quality of England is not relevant to that assertion. I am either right, or I am wrong. (I am not wrong. ) No, I said I'm measuring this comparison on their achievements. We all judge players on what we see but a debate based on you saying you prefer a while I prefer b is not going anywhere. If there is to be a discussion then an attempt has to be made to introduce something objective. Brazilian Ronaldo would not make my all time top six strikers. For example, I place him a long way below Pele but I couldn't justify that opinion based on a comparison of the Brazil squads the two played in. That's because the three squads with which Pele won the World Cup were far superior to the ones in which Ronaldo played. All three of Pele's groups would very likely have been world champions even without him so, in themselves, their victories tell us little about Pele. If I were searching for an objective argument with which to justify my opinion that Pele was the superior player I'd need something else. That's not the situation with my Maradona vs Messi comparison. Where as those achievements tend to support my opinion that Michael was a good, not a great player. Any attempt at objective comparison has to be valid if it is to be meaningful. Sean Dyche never wins anything but measuring him on that basis would be meaningless. Arguing that he consistently outperforms his resources however probably tells you more about his quality as a manager. You need to choose a valid yardstick. I argue that the one I chose for Maradona vs Messi is valid. Well you and I agree about Pogba. When there was a fever here for bringing him to the club I repeatedly posted that I did not rate him and that I did not want him at any price, never mind £100m + I'm sorry to say it but, in saying it, I ask you to believe that I am not one who looks for arguments or to be disrespectful to other TC members; this particular comment of yours is made in extreme ignorance.

To be fair during his per-match conference yesterday Jose pointedly rejected the premise of a question which was asked purely to set him up to complain. He just said that the schedule is just the way it is and you have to get on with it.

For many years consensus opinion held that either Maradona or Pele was the best footballer of all time. These days of course most fans give that honour to Messi but I'm still a holdout for Maradona being better than his fellow Argentine. I measure that on achievements. The Argentina squad of 1986 was not a patch on their 1978 World Cup winning counterparts and the 1990 crew was nearer to being a bad side than it was to being a great one. Much nearer. Even so Maradona led the '86 group to world cup triumph then dragged the 1990 collection back to the final. This was possibly the greatest achievement of Maradona's career. Argentina 1990 really were not good. Messi has had a much better supporting cast during his international career than Maradona enjoyed but he's achieved nothing. Then there's Napoli. During their long history Naples has won just two Serie A titles. Both came when the side was led by Diego Maradona. Take Messi out of the great Barcelona, replace him with Maradona, and they still win everything in sight. Reverse the process and swap Maradona out for Messi in those Napoli and Argentina teams of the 80s/90s and what would you get? We'll never know but I do know what I think.

Those crowds remind me of when we were linked with Macherano and I used to watch Argentinian football. Enjoyable days. Number ten was practically an own goal by the keeper who absolutely set himself up for the little dink and more or less forced Scocca to do what he did. The top five on the other hand are pure football porn. If you don't love those goals, you don't love football. Number three is my favourite. I'm wagering that Kai will score a similar goal before the season is over. Any takers?

A run to the quarter-finals, with a draw at Sevilla and win against Krasnodar, would be worth €78.6m with more to come from our share of the market pool. That's a lot of money for sure and with so much matchday income lost, and more still to be lost, it would be a real shot in the arm for CFC finances. That's before we even consider the boost such a CL season would give to our ability to attract players in the 2021 summer transfer market.

Fully agree.