ian_marshall

Wow... West Ham are well and truly sh*te.

Very odd team selection. Surely that should have played against Liverpool so we could have a full strength side today.

I fully expect changes to be made, but have to question why we didn't put out a weakened side against Liverpool knowing a win was unlikely and following the defeat to Man City there's wasn't much to play for. Would much rather us have gone full strength today with a fresh team to take all three points off West Ham.

We desperately need two new attacking midfielder's with pace to play either side of Vardy, or failing that Brendan needs to have the courage to tell his existing player's to play higher up the pitch so as to avoid the opposition full back's pushing forward. In the last two games against Man City and Liverpool the attacking midfielder's have been far too deep which has allowed the opponent to play high up the pitch but also prevented our own full backs getting forward as they're outnumbered, whilst leaving Vardy isolated when the ball eventually does make it's way out.

The one consolation is that Otamendi and Fernandinho are a shambles at the back. On both occasions that Vardy's had the chance to run at them he's had their pants down. Just need the midfield to get on the ball more and feed him and we'll definitely score again.

The two AMFs either side of Vardy are offering nothing at the moment. Would rather we chucked Praet in the middle to add an extra man or JJ to offer cover to Chilwell and bring Iheanacho on. Chillwell's positioning has been awful but to be fair to the lad he's had absolutely no protection from Barnes. I mentioned in the pre-match thread that I was concerned about them doing a Norwich and pushing their FBs high up the pitch. Having two AMFs who can't track back is a real problem in games like this. Brendan needs to change it up.

That CB pairing of Otamendi and Fernandinho is there to be punished today. Get balls threaded through to Vardy and he'll have a lot of joy against them two.

Take your point, but I do think he's good enough for their league and even the top flight. Just needs games in my view and his professionalism I'm sure would benefit the club.

Surely there's a starting spot for him at OHL. Keep him in the family until he retires then offer him an ambassador's role.

Where's Mahrez?!?

If we're to win this game we need press them high up the pitch and give them very little time on the ball. We also need to target their CBs who are there to be got at. Having said that, I think Pep will take a lot from the Norwich game and push their full backs right up the pitch to nullify the threat from our own full backs and turn it into a battle of the centre mids, which if that happens I think they'll just shade it. It'll be a very interesting tactical battle, and give us an indication of how Brendan handles competing against another top class coach. I do think that if we can get an early goal the wheels on the Man City bus will well and truly fall off as they do seem to lack resolve when they're up against it.

Certainly they'd be an element of risk but every transfer comes with some risk and as long as we've done our due diligence I'm sure it'd be worth going for him. To be fair even if things didn't work out he's young enough that we'll still profit significantly from any future transfer. Furthermore, his stats are way better than Daniel James who just looked like a pace merchant in the Championship and he hasn't done too badly at Man United. Bowen obviously has a different set of attributes to him but from what I've seen of him I personally think he's more than capable of the step up and I genuinely don't think he'd be any worse than Perez, Barnes, Gray, or Albrighton (not that any of them are particularly bad) so I wouldn't be overly concerned if we did make a move for the lad.

From the survey that was sent out to season ticket holders regarding the expansion, I fully expect that the tunnel and changing rooms will move to the East Stand and will have a tunnel viewing area for fans to see the player's as they prepare to enter the pitch.

Guttted... Was really looking forward to getting high speed broadband for free

The irony is that the more these player's are talked up, the less likely they are to go in my opinion. All the media coverage does is increase demand which given the limited supply means an increase in price to the point where very few or only the foolish will pay the fees required to prise our key assets away. If anything I think we should be encouraging these pundits to talk more.

Your right. Also, if you just watch him in isolation within that back line positionally he's all over the place.

Guarantee if that was Liverpool playing Man Utd they'd have awarded a penalty.

Fair play for your efforts but seems a bit of a half arsed attempt by the club to appease those fans who do want to work on the atmosphere. Given that the game is against a struggling Championship side, is very early in the competition, and the kick off time isn't the best, an allocation of 600 seats which I'm guessing is what UFS roughly have for most games doesn't indicate to me that they're fully bought into the idea. I'd think that this game would be the perfect opportunity for the club to experiment with the idea by allocating a full stand or even several blocks as a minimum to a singing section in a what is a relatively low risk game, so it's a shame that only 600 seats have been set aside for this. For those involved with UFS - Out of interest how many seats were requested initially when you proposed the idea to the club?

Good move by the club. We've had the audition and he's shown he can deliver. I would expect top 4 as a minimum for the next 3/4 years given his ability and the player's at his disposal which will easily pay for his contract extension. Also, unless a club are are absolutely desperate to make him their manager there's virtually no chance of him leaving within the next 3 years as the compensation required to prise him away would be ridiculous for a manager.

I'm a big fan of Bowen and think that when he eventually gets his move to the PL he's more than capable of holding his own at that level. However, to be fair to Barnes during his time at West Brom in the Championship he was scoring goals for fun. In my opinion the step up between the two leagues is massive. The keeper's at PL level are of a very high standard so it's not surprising that Barnes is finding goals hard to come by. He just needs to keep working at it and it will come with time. When he does start finding the net I think he'll be very prolific.

I'm probably in the minority but I think he's a bit of a moaner to be honest. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that goal last night. If he wants to point the finger he needs to be having words with his goalkeeper as the game has always been one of playing to the whistle. I actually thought Shelvey did really well under the circumstances so credit to him for carrying on, but Wilder can't complain in my view as it was a perfectly legitimate goal.

Pearson and Watford are not a good fit as he needs time to implement his ideas. Unfortunately for a club that have already got through two manager's this season alone along with countless other manager's over recent year's I really can't see them giving him any length of time to get thing's right on and off the field. If he was to join them I can see a repeat of the Derby/Mel Morris situation again. If I was him I'd hold out for Eddie Howe to leave Bournemouth (which I think will be soon) and stick my name in the hat for that job as it'd suit him down to the ground.

Think people are over thinking the situation. We don't need to build a new stand, reorganise our support, or write a whole new song book. People simply just need to get involved. Wasn't that long ago that we we're heralded as having the best atmosphere in the country. Don't know what has caused the change but I guarantee that virtually everyone in the stadium now was there when it was great so it's just a case of rediscovering what we had before.

Nice read and great to see that he feels some affinity towards the club. The bit about his England debut brought a smile to my face when he mentions his 3 best friends. Am I the only one who pictured Maddison, and Gray sat with his mum, dad and sister? Wonder who the other one was?

Don't worry lads and lasses, if Liverpool win the league it's only because the other teams all had issues and a poor season . This season, we've seen the reigning Champions ravaged with injury, one of the so called top 4 unable to sign new players, two of the traditional top 6 club's form drop so badly that they're competing for mid table mediocrity, little old Leicester become the nearest challengers (because the rest of the league is so bad ), Arsenal ran by a bunch of muppets, and a newly promoted side containing David McGoldrick and Billy Sharp gatecrashing the top 6. Replace the drug doping conspiracy theories with VAR doping and we have our new story for why Liverpool were crowned Champions of the Premier League. The reality is somewhat different however and the media will put an alternative spin on it. They'll be heralded as the best Liverpool team ever who competed in the richest league in the world with the standard being so high that the world's most expensive defender was only ever able to dream about playing in Europe the following season, whilst overcoming a conspiracy to derail them with fixture congestion. They'll be calls to permanently etch Jurgen Klopp's face on to the Premier League trophy, the West End will see the launch of Liverpool The Ballet featuring Sadio Mane performing the Fish Dive, and the Xmas 2020 number one selling DVD will be the Stockley Park Liverpool 19/20 Season Review.