Dier will be tragic in midfield. Surely Poch sees this. I was happy to see a few noted bloggers pick up on this common, but absurd view that putting a defender in midfield is a more solid/defensive option than an actual midfielder that is more mobile, has better vision, and most importantly quick passing + ball retention abilities. I am fully on the Dele Alli train that some have boarded this week. If Mason isn't 100% go with him or Carroll. I really hope one of them supplants Mason quite soon altogether.
do not want honestly. already get all games on Extra Time, on adjacent channels no less. now i have to navigate to a distant channel number to flip to it.
i'll have what he's having
Not bad imo. Here is my take:

Chelsea
Arsenal
City
United
Plop
Spurs
Everton
Soton
Stoke
Swansea
Palace
Newcastle
West Ham
Leicester
Bournemouth
West Brom
Aston Villa
Sunderland
Norwich
Watford

Scorer - Aguero
POTY - Hazard
YPOTY - Memphis
Sacked - Flores (wish it was Dim Tim)

I've got those nervous/excitement feelings setting in now. Expecting Mason to play 60 mins and then Dele to come on.

I really want Trippier to start or at least get some run as him whipping balls in constantly to Kane with Blind at CB and Romero's first game seems like a good strategy.

Why are we to suppose that Arsenal won't have injuries this year anyway?

Also people are underestimating the relevance of Sturridge health. If he is healthy for more than half a season we are looking at a front 3 of Firmino + Benteke + Sturridge and that is pretty good stuff if you ask me.

Holy ****! The only thing between me and the PL is a 2 hr workout, lunch, 2 hr nap followed by a pint & a spliff. Life is gut!

only thing separating me is about 5 hrs of sleep. so excited.

just hoping our gd after this weekend isn't worse than -1. united not in strong shape to start the season, but our "lessons learned" messages have fizzled to the perpetual reality of writing off the first month of the season since our business is never done. it really is a shame too. with a little preparation (that doesn't include two friendlies within a week of the season) and another CM we would have a real shot at united here.

HAPPY TBLITW DAY

Yeah he looked so uncomfortable both times I have seen him play here... My only hope is that Poch perhaps sees him as an out and out DM in a 3 of say, him, Dele Alli and Bentaleb, with Dele Alli given licence. That's perhaps wishful thinking though.

I know the psychologist at MK Dons. She reckons he's legit, although has a tendency to go missing in games at times. He was the fittest player there though and given that he may start against Man Utd, just to provide some extra energy in the middle of the park in the first game of the season. Mason has been out a while, and as limited as he is it would be really bad if he got injured through lack of match fitness, although it would probably mean we have to sign someone.....

this is genuinely the best day ever

Happy footballing day everyone !

hope bar im at shows villa :'(

GL all.

Last call for LMS, will take entries for another 3 hours. $11 to matt20 and pm first pick and email address and first name. Got 142 runners so far!

I'm sure there is 0 reasons for that... Also just kick off already

Happy footy day everyone !

GL all.

Let's do this! #Firmintotop4

Man, Rose better be improved at LB. It's not even being the designated fullback who screws things up defensively with unawareness. There are more than a few of these but his decisions with the ball at his feet I find totally unbearable. I honestly think it KILLS overall quality of the team to unmeasurable degrees of football-catastrophic. His lack of chemistry especially with Eriksen is more than I can possibly stand for another season.

Well, I'll try to leave leave previous season bias behind and face him with a clean slate. SEARCH for good signs but if they aren't there I just think going with him and Walker (with his particular characteristics combined with Rose and how that just happens to be too much of non-reason tactically within a starting 11 trying to be good) once again is inexcusable. There must be easy improvement to be found there. Even worse players than Rose could improve Spurs.

okay then, first and hopefully last Rose rant of the season over with.

I'm looking at what I guess is my other big worry coming into the English season and that's the refs.

And some fantastic news fills me with joy.

This man has finally retired:



Chris Foy is gone. What an absolute farce he was the last 2-3 (or more) years.

Dunphy is almost still right - can Big Cup qualification really count as it being "our year"?

Every year is our year if so....

Right up until September.

Other than Foy gone it's mostly the same faces though and hopefully they've found improvements from within themselves or from the higher ups previously making their jobs too difficult with British guidelines where they encourage them use their discretion so much.

Oliver the most talented can hopefully rebound from a bad season. It's a shame because he was starting to develop some very early Howard Webb respect from players which goes such a long way but is rare. He is still promising but pressure clearly got to him at times last season. Hopefully he'll recover and be mentally strong. Until it all goes wrong he gets many things just right.

Atkinson isn't good but if he'd just ref more similar to what he does in Europe and be less of a jekyll and hyde, then that would improve things.

Mike Dean will of course also make mistakes but overall I think that he just tries to follow the rules strictly and consistently. I like that.

Phil Dowd has cooled down a bit it seems. A bit less ego. LESS ENDLESS CHATTING please. No showing the fancy foreigners up please. Remove all that and he is actually pretty talented.

Roger East eh? Barely register with me yet but don't think he seemed very good.

Kevin Friend is Kevin Friend. He can't always keep up resulting in bad scenarios and I don't like his standards but they're pretty consistent as long as he actually sees what's going on.

Mike Jones is horrible and probably the worst ref now with Foy gone. He should retire. There are no hopes of any improvements. He does wrong things constantly.

Robert Madley who are you. Hopefully you can lift the standards.

Andre Marriner is maybe one of the best now. Seems to mini Howard Webb improve the last few years but not exactly great.

Lee Mason is still bad but somehow isn't a disaster anymore I don't think which should serve as great inspiration for even the most hopeless.

Jonathan Moss has so far in his career been in way over his head and just can't keep up and make sound decisions. He is kind of new too which is really bad news.

Craig Pawson - young and new I think. I don't remember him as good but hopefully he can be.

Lee Probert is a simpleton but has generally avoided being below average.

Graham Scott I don't know who is.

Neil Swarbrick is another one in way over his head. Keep well away from meaningful games.

Anthony Taylor: is there hope here? Has he become decent? Seasons back I remember him as one of the worst but can't really remember recent very bad impressions.

February you mean.We usually qualify for the Big one...and then round of 16

I'll trade away winning any cup for 2pts in the leauge

Missed Clattenburg who is actually the most difficult to assess.

No one likes him but scary as it might be he is probably top 5 or something right now. At least he has ambitions to be good, is pretty fearless and get the easy ones mostly right. Those I really hate can't even get those right on a regular basis.

Arsenal



Lolplopoo



Spurs



forEVERLOLS



Housing benefit-ham



LOL UTD

Moss is the Man U - Spurs ref btw.

One of the worst things about him is that he actually makes himself tilt getting really angry I'm guessing over his own bad decisions. He then takes that out on the game itself and its players making things even worse. He is miserable and hates football.

Bottom 3 referee most likely.