Mikey

Re: Official Premier League Discussion Thread
There is absolutely no chance Forster has been better than De Gea, happy with him as our keeper and gutted about his injury but he still has a way to go to be consistently top class. He can be slow to get down to low shots (as you'd expect for a man of his size) and he is absolutely glued to his line especially since he cost us a win against Villa not coming out quick enough and getting done by Agbonlahor. His command of his area can also be surprisingly iffy for a man of his size but that is again largely down to his hesitance to leave his line, which cruelly is actually kind of what caused his injury, when Bertrand let a ball roll through to him to come and collect and he stuttered and then was closed down causing him to hurry a clearance during which he blew out his knee.
His record is great and overall I'd say he had a good season, but I think 95% of Saints fans would tell you that the defence and midfield has done most of the hard work. Really if you were being critical you could justifiably say he's cost us more points than he's gained us whereas De Gea at times has been the sole force keeping United from collapsing before they started to vaguely resemble a football team.

Re: The Official NFL Thread.
Could be worse, I got my first Eagles jersey as a surprise gift for Christmas - a LeSean McCoy Eagles jersey.

Re: Official Premier League Discussion Thread
Yeah Morgan and Clyne will definitely go if we don't fluke into the top 4 and they might even leave if we do. Can't blame them they've been great for us and deserve CL, Schneiderlin has been the best DM in the league over the past 3 years and I'd put Clyne up with Ivanovic, Zabaleta and Coleman as the best RB in that period too. We'll also make a mint on them especially given we signed Schneiderlin for £1m and Clyne for compensation haha. There's also still murmurs about the forgotten man Jay Rodriguez still leaving but I don't know why a team would risk spending the money it'll take to buy him when he probably won't be able to play again this season. And yeah I doubt we'll be able to get Alderweireld back, seems like Atletico kind of suckered us into a flimsy buy clause at the end of the loan by making it a ridiculously cheap £6m, but they can cancel it for £1.5m and then they'll probably sell him for £15-20m.
Vilhena looks like a done deal but don't think he's necessarily a Schneiderlin replacement just an addition to the squad we'd make anyway. Jordy Clasie has been viewed as Schneiderlin's replacement ever since Koeman arrived and seems likely. Other than that imagine we'll loan/buy a keeper maybe even two, CB, RB and striker, but little idea who beyond rumours, probably similar stature players to last year's purchases.

Re: Official Premier League Discussion Thread
Very serious by the looks of things, could be his ACL.

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread
To be honest the penalty claim on Ivanovic would have been harsh it was accidental.As for Matic,it was a penalty although Dean was not in a great position to give it.

Re: Official Premier League Discussion Thread
The FA are completely lost, can only imagine they are taking the 'blindfolded throw at a dartboard' approach to decision-making.
*EDIT* Also just seen the reduction means he won't miss the Saints game - the campaign against Saints rolls on.

Re: English Premiership Rating Predictions
Tough one, looked really really good a year and a half ago, got a nasty injury, got back and started getting involved with the first team squad then got injured again. Now he's kind of fallen by the wayside. Has shown quality, a bit Lallana-like, but his development has definitely really been delayed. Think right now he just needs a good season or so without injury then go from there. My hopes aren't particularly high but that's just a hunch really.

Re: English Premiership Rating Predictions
Had two serious injuries this year and only recently got back playing with the U21s in the last two weeks or so, Koeman has said he wants to let him get back playing matches for a month or two before bringing him back into the first team squad. Even then he'll probably just be training with the first team and making the bench occasionally. He only really played so much last year out of necessity, he didn't show nearly the finished article that most of our youth products do. He has the potential to be a scary player but that's a way off, I'd only keep him as a real long-term prospect.
Get Harry Reed instead!

Re: Official Premier League Discussion Thread
Instinct's slow descent into utter insanity has been like watching a classic psychological thriller. I feel like soon he's going to develop split personalities and start cross-dressing.

Re: Official Premier League Discussion Thread
Jack Cork to Swansea done, good deal for them and good on him for wanting more football, would've been nice to keep him but probably 5th in the pecking order now with Harry Reed hot on his heels so not the end of the world. Should be exactly the kind of player Swansea need as he was really excellent for us and very underrated but our system is very cushy so will have to see how he does outside of it.

Re: Premier League Discussion Thread
Apparently can't beat the top teams, 7 points off of Chelsea, Arsenal and United in consecutive games. We've matched the top teams all year, only team to really outplay us has been City we were hugely unlucky in other games to not come away with points.
Only gonna make it more crushing when we end up 5th or 6th though.

Re: English Premiership Rating Predictions

Re: Premier League Discussion Thread

Re: Premier League Discussion Thread

Re: Premier League Discussion Thread
Arsenal wouldn't have gone 9 years without a trophy lol

Re: Premier League Discussion Thread
It's certainly a possibility but at the moment Targett seems to have the spot, already been impressing in preseason there. Like I said Koeman really seems to favour getting balls in to Pelle so not sure he'd really be wanting a right footer at LB and Clyne's crossing isn't great to begin with. We may bring in another LB as well but from what has been rumoured and leaked it'll be someone to compete with Targett and to fall-back on if he doesn't make it, rather than bringing in an outright starter. So yeah, for £4m he looks a great pick at the moment.

Re: Respuesta: Re: Respuesta: Official World Cup 2014 Thread
Was there a linesman in that match then?

Re: Official World Cup 2014 Thread
Just goes to show how blinkered people, or football fans more specifically, can be. To compare biting someone for the third time to a referee making a wrong decision or a team benefiting from a referee making a wrong decision is incredible. Elbowing there is more grey area there but I think almost anyone would agree that biting is a much more vicious and pre-meditated act.
Makes me a bit sick that someone can live such a privileged life earning ridiculous amounts of money for something millions around the world would do for minimum wage and can get away with doing something that in any other job in the world would get you fired and probably face criminal charges not just once but three times. That is why he should receive heavy, heavy punishment, him being a wonderful player to watch is a secondary concern, because personally if he gets away with it then I will have to ask myself why I love this sport when someone can get away with such an act while living the dream of hundreds of millions of people.

Re: Official England Thread
Earlier today I saw a United fan on RedCafe saying that teams like Southampton are to blame for England's failure by trying to get exorbitant fees for young players like Shaw when they should be at big clubs.
At least Liverpool and Everton are providing' date=' United are surely due another Scholes or Beckham sooner or later and I see a lot about City trying to revolutionise their academy so we'll see how that goes...
I thought the same but I genuinely couldn't think of any other English keepers under 23 or so off the top of my head haha! Alex McCarthy?

Re: Official England Thread
My biggest worry is the centre of midfield. Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick and Barry are all getting on and the only other contenders for spots have been Henderson, Wilshere and, god forbid, Cleverley.
Beyond that, we struggle for depth. Some promising players but very inexperienced (Ward Prowse, Chalobah, Hughes etc.). We have a lot of strong contenders for attacking positions and at least contention for the defensive spots. Eric Dier at Sporting is worth a strong shout as well.

Re: Official England Thread
Probably the right selection, won't control midfield enough to get it into Lallana's feet in decent areas so opting for pace on the counter probably gives us a better chance.

Re: Official England Thread
Lallana won the ball in the opposition half more than any other player in the Prem last season.

Re: Premier League Discussion Thread
As fantastic as Rodgers and Martinez have done I'd take Pulis as manager of the year at the moment.

Re: Premier League Discussion Thread
I don't really have a huge preference between the three, but would probably prefer Chelsea to win or at least Liverpool not to win, purely because I have a a lot of love for Mourinho and one of my friends is an extremely obnoxious Liverpool fan. But it wouldn't bother me too much whichever way it went.

Re: Premier League Discussion Thread
Indeed they were very similar for me, both were incidents where a player made a gesture that by the very, very strictest definitions of the law could be judged to be an offence, but in reality if you use a shred of common sense you know they have done nothing wrong and the other players has disgraced themselves.
If the FA had overturned Carrol's after not overturning Remy's it would have been exceedingly hypocritical.