Vardinio'sCat

World class when he is in form, and feared throughout the land. I think he will easily still be good enough for regular PL starts when he is 35, barring major injury.

We could try harmonies and everything!

we're winning on tv we're winning on tv how s**t must you be we're winning on tv

They certainly pressed Wilf, and he didn't cope very well, and I'm thinking that didn't happen the previous games. They were 4-5-1, so I guess they had the manpower in the middle, and the type of players suited to that role. Obviously there was other stuff going on, but that is as far as I have got with it.

I think (with the wisdom of hindsight), that Mendy's skillset might have been a better fit for that game than Wilf's, although we would have missed Wilf's physicality. Even when he isn't playing well, Ndidi does a remarkable amount of dirty work, but when a team sits back his ball-winning skills are less important.

Can we not just stop passing to him.

He's a silver tongued rascal and no mistake.

I was questioning someone else's use of that term, sorry if that wasn't clear to you.

If we get Europa league he would be dead useful. All of a sudden, no one wants to leave. In Brendan we trust.

I'm glad you agree that he wasn't always bone idle, but you do mount a strong defence of your overall view of him, with many valid criticisms. For me, the good things he did for us outweigh the sad way it all ended. I don't know quite what was said to him about moving on, but his goodwill towards the club that made him a superstar seems to have disappeared towards the end, which is a real shame. I specifically remember him being slated on here for a performance (in our title defence season that Ranieri botched, I think) when I later found out he was our top runner for that game. Fans seemed to want him to play in 2 positions at once, and be a great defender, whilst being our sole creative threat and the first one we look to on the counter. After finding that out I never really took the Riyad hate very seriously. Clearly he did down tools on us at various points, and that will drive fans up the wall, but I still have respect for all our title winners, whether they stayed or not.

I guess we will learn more next season. Pep does love his talent to work hard, and I as I don't really follow Man City I hadn't heard that his workrate was a particular issue. Pep wouldn't have bought Riyad if the stats showed he was lazy, or he was seen as that kind of player within the game. I think bone idle is ott, he certainly wasn't like that in the title season.

despite all the criticism, Riyad did cover a lot of ground. It isn't easy to defend whilst being the favoured out ball/all round creative genius. I'm not saying he always worked as hard as he could have, but bone idle isn't really fair, imho. He did top the distance ran charts for us, in some games. Mahrez will still having the quality he has been showing for years, and Silva isn't getting any younger.

I think we need to stop Madders scoring see some of our other free kick takers til the end of the season.

I didn't say he wasn't good enough, my post is broadly supportive of him. I'm probably not quite in the same place as you, but I did say he could catch fire any minute, just like Barnes. I think he probably needs an arm round his shoulder and regular reminders that he has all the tools in his game, and that if he keeps working hard the end product will come, rather than his game taking apart and putting back together again.