King Kante

Need to rest some players here as a number of players looked completely shagged out against Norwich. Further, some rotation should allow some players a final chance to prove they shouldn't be sold. My team: Kepa James AC/Tomori Zouma Emerson Jorgi Barkley. Kovacic Pedro. Tammy. CHO

Southampton deserved that at the end even if it was unfortunate for Utd. Looking at the games left and their form I still expect Utd to win all of them. However, very good result for us today.

Leicester are in bad shape. They are in awful form and they are missing: Ricardo (best FB) Soyuncu (best CB), Maddison (best AM) and Chilwell (1st choice LB) for the next game, whilst the first two are done for the season. For me, Wolves are a bigger problem because if we beat Norwich but then lose to the Dipper's and they win their games, then last game of the season will allow them to finish above us if they win.

The problem is FFP isn't enforceable. This outcome, where City get fined, is just a compromise to make it look like FFP is valid but they just didn't catch them in time.

Yeah, it is probably to keep up the pretence that FFP is still actually a thing. This suits all the big teams and City themselves as it freezes out anyone who isn't already established. My hope is that today has killed off FFP. It is a cartel system used to keep the big boys big, and the medium/small teams in their place. If it was actually fair, they would say every club across Europe can spend x amount a year. Instead, they allow the big clubs to load up on debt and refuse to allow smaller teams inward investment that would essentially be gifted.

To be fair, Rudiger has always been rash and had poor positional play. It was one of the reasons I never wanted him in the first place. The past two seasons he only got away with this as he was playing alongside the nations favourite defensive scapegoat David Luiz, so his faults got blamed on him.

I would say DMF. For me, he has issues at RB in that he does not want to overlap, he comes in a lot and he isn't all that quick. He may get better at doing those things (except get faster) as he gets more experience but equally I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up as a DMF.

If anyone wants to have a laugh, I just got sent these links from a friend of mine to the Leicester forums. Some serious comedy gold to be had by flicking through here as some of the posts make the Dippers look like a measured and thoughtful bunch: Leicester forum in meltdown. Too many to post. Go have a look yourselves: 2-1 and sending off https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/123013-bournemouth-match-thread/page/40/#comments 3-1 https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/123013-bournemouth-match-thread/page/54/#comments 4-1 https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/123013-bournemouth-match-thread/page/59/#comments

Wow, Leicester absolutely sh*t the bed in the second half. They were in control and looked comfortable and somehow ended up losing it and getting their best defender suspended for the rest of the season. Made our performance against Sheff Utd look reasonable.

Exactly. The young boys should be seen as 'free' squad players with the potential to become first XI players. Not world class first team members. As for James, I think he has done well this season but is out of form. That said, I have never been convinced he is a RB so it could also be a case he is being played out of position.

The problem with the above discussion with SFL is that it is not taking into consideration the context. Yes, SFL has done well to get us to this point with the hand he was dealt, however, once in this position he should've shown more adaptability. For me, there are a couple of red flags that I have with SFL, which are all to do with his stubborness. For me this is the single biggest issue as this seems to effected the following: Selling Luiz because he called him Frank instead of gaffer. Thus losing our ability to play 343 properly. Freezing Giroud out and playing Batsh*t instead. Apparently due to Giroud questioning some of his decisions and his wanting to push through his youth revolution. Not adapting his tactics according to the opposition. Yesterday, we all knew what was coming which is why me and Jason even said 343 might be an idea. At the very least he had to start Giroud and Alonso over James and Tammy so we had someone that could give us the long ball option and another player in the box that can head/not have Dave at LB. He did none of that. He clearly believes that defending set pieces is down to individuals to arrange. This is supported by his comments and our complete lack of composure/structure. This has been going on with his teams since Derby yet he has still to do anything about it. Obviously, where we our atm is above what everyone thought. I personally predicted 6th-7th finish. However, there are clear red flags with SFL that need to be sorted and it will not be sorted through transfers alone. In my opinion, he needs to hire a new defensive coach as I do not see any cohesiveness when we are without the ball and this was also a massive issue for Derby as well.

Our only hope is a City ban or Leicester/Utd completely sh*ting the bed. I see us only getting 4 points in our last three games.

From my perspective it is not about getting a new manager, I would not recommend that whatsoever. However, from watching Derby last year and us this year there is a very clear problem with SFL's teams and defending set pieces and the counter. My recommendation is to hire a defensive coach. The only real issue I have with SFL is his selection's at times. Today for instance required Giroud to start, why Tammy got selected was a mystery, especially as Norwich is next which is a team he is suited to playing and Giroud would not be as effective against.

Problem is Derby suffered from the exact same problems last year as well. For me, the single biggest mistake was letting Luiz go. Every one calls him a clown but if you put him in the middle of the back three, you can at least rely on him to head a ball away and also step out of the back and get the tempo going. Further to this, you can then use Alonso as a LWB as he is more effective going forward than most of the CM's and AM's. Further, today was an absokute sh*t show. SFL sounded like he was surprised and 'would remember'. The only thing I was surprised about was that he was surprised. As soon as I saw that team sheet, I knew what was going to happen straight away.

City have cooked the books according to FFP. However, if FFP does break EU competition law then they have technically not done anything wrong.

Well they came up with a system that all the big boys thought was glorious as it essentially kept them in power forever. PSG and City broke the rules in 2011-14 and UEFA just gave them a fine instead of taking it to court as they got a lovely chunk of money and then could pretend that they punished them. The problem however is some then hacked City to call BS and UEFA had to act. FFP has not been tested legally yet because teams have either paid off UEFA (PSG/City) and/or gone along with it as long term the FFP rules favour them (AC). I am not here saying City getting off is going to be wonderful, it is going to be sh*t. However, there are a lot of people on here who think there ban is a forgone conclusion when it is not. I personally hope I am wrong but I see a lot of holes in both UEFA's case and FFP in general.

I am not sure about those cases. Maybe it will be allowed. However, you still have the problem with FFP almost certainly violating EU competition law.

Two problems Vesper. The smoking gun was a hacked email. Stolen communications are inadmissible in court. Second, FFP very likely breaks the EU competition laws - saying 'well AC got banned' doesn't count as they negotiated a deal with UEFA. City are not. If City get banned, I'll be amazed. AC Milan - https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.calciomercato.com/news/official-cas-confirms-ac-milan-exclusion-from-europa-league-85166 EU Law and FFP - https://www.asser.nl/SportsLaw/Blog/post/the-evolution-of-uefa-s-financial-fair-play-rules-part-1-background-and-eu-law-by-christopher-flanagan#:~:text=The challenge of EU law,in breach of EU law. Stolen emails/inadmissible evidence - https://www.thelawyer.com/illegally-obtained-evidence-lawyers/

As soon as I saw that team I knew we were going to lose. Absolutely pathetic performance, worst of the season bar none.

As soon as I saw the team sheet I knew we were fucked. It is like SFL learnt zero from WHU and hasn't watched Sheff Utd at all.

This performance is on SFL atm. Horrible selection.

Why is Tammy starting? If ever there was a game to start Giroud, this is it.

You call him Batshit, yet are surprised no one wants to buy him?

How FFP is a grey area and how it may be contrary to EU competition laws: https://www.asser.nl/SportsLaw/Blog/post/the-evolution-of-uefa-s-financial-fair-play-rules-part-1-background-and-eu-law-by-christopher-flanagan How illegal evidence may be thrown out*: https://www.thelawyer.com/illegally-obtained-evidence-lawyers/ *there are much better articles than this one but I cannot be bothered to find them. As for other FFP decisions. Those have not been challenged via a legal basis like City are doing. FFP has been approached so far as an agreement and not a legally enforceable law.

It depends on the law, in normal cases if the evidence has been acquired in an illegal manner it is inadmissible and holds no weight. Therefore, if that is the only evidence UEFA has (or it was the key piece of evidence they build their case around) then it should be thrown out. On top of this, I am also very unsure FFP is legally enforceable in the EU. This is due to it breaking anti-competitive laws as it prevents/restricts private investment. I am not a legal expert and there may be exceptions for sporting competitions to be excluded from certain laws. However, if they are not I think City have one very strong arguement (illegal acquiring of evidence) and a reasonable arguement (FFP breaks EU anti-conpetitive laws.) This is what makes me think that they will get away with it. I am not saying they are not guilty of breaking FFP but rather that there are clear legal technicalities that could protect City.