Grabber and Lobster

But his hips don't lie.

Well yeah, mainly cos a) he was fast enough to keep up with any of the our main 3 forwards b) he was bold enough to take people on with skill & pace, again and again, until he beat them and made chances. Lallana is hard-working and tactically clever, but he's neither of those things.

Jesus wept. It's worse than I remember. And that pic is....pathetic. You're meant to train in conditions harder than actual, so that the moment of performance feels easier (this is basic training stuff). It's like Mo Farah training for the marathon by jogging down the corner shop a couple of times. To pick up smokes.

What's he done/said?

I think you can coach decision-making. It's probably the most important thing you do coach. Actually I think you coach routine, situation & sequence, and that ingrains better decision-making. And clearly JA is crap at it. And I think if everything is better ingrained, you're more confident, and things like catching a ball without f**king up become less likely. Biggest alarm bell for me was when JA came out last year and discussed his awesome solution to Ming struggling under crosses and to claim the ball. Something along the lines of "we had him spend an hour just being jostled by two big defender while trying to catch a ball". Wouldn't that be the FIRST thing you'd be doing in training, as a basic, rather than some genius revelation?

Right! We're in violent agreement then Wasn't he a Brendan appointment anyhow? Or am I imagining that?

Dunno. Since Achterberg has been at the club has any goalkeeper improved? Like, any? Ward got better by being on loan somewhere else. Surely any coach should make at least one player in their care better, at something. So even if he's not breaking them (which I think he is), he's not improving them either.

I think Aspas career since leaving us tells you everything wrong with Rodgers and transfers. Fabinho is terrific, and versatile - watched a fair bit of French footie the past 2 years with my friend who was a pro in Ligue 1, and he's very impressed with our deals for Fabinho, and potentially Fekir if we get him too. Thinks they're great players. Oh and I'm with Hassony on Lallana.

I have no idea what it means, but it sounds ominous.

Quality replies to him there - from non-RM spaniards and Egyptians. I suspect there's more people in the world who hate his f**king guts after that than think he was dead clever.

Same. He's an utter c**t. It's Keane on Haaland levels of despicable.

If this is what NR did in 2005, and/or during the Roma semi, then we should all approve without hesitation. If not, then burn him as a witch.

Awesome plus very little doubt who'll they'll be supporting!

That's how I read it. Comment on how 'beast' is only ever thrown at black players, whereas white players get 'machine' or something. :-\

Really high quality, world-class biscuits. but still biscuits. One good tackle and there's just an explosion of crumbs everywhere.

hard to tell when Motherwell are worse than most pub sides.

This is mental.

Ah. Turns out Barca have lost plenty of games by 10 goals or more, so this isn't anything special Oh and it's 5-3 now. They might yet do it!

It's astonishing. Barca look are a rabble. I'm going to look up their record defeat right now.

Umm, can we not sign Mina from Barca? He's utter garbage in the match vs Levante right now. Barca 4-1 down, having gone the season unbeaten until this match, his first start I think.

Ibe? Or is he cup-tied?

Fekir is quick and pretty hard to get off the ball, as well as being hugely technical. Was talked of as the next big thing in French football when he broke through, but stagnated a lot in his early 20s. My french mate who was a pro in Ligue 1 really rates him. Only slight concern is that the stagnation was down to a succession of injuries, and he struggled to come back from each of them. Seems to have got his mojo back this year...so in summary, he's the french Alex O-C

Just seen this on the Guardian - looks like a cracking story. Like most I imagine, I'd never heard of the guy. Sounds like he lived an extraordinary life - gun-running for the Irish while captain of Man U, hiding from Franco's men while managing Barca during the civil war. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/may/07/patrick-oconnell-barcelona-real-betis-campaign-film-recognition

This all day long. Brighton have no pace at the back, two centre backs who are good in the air, but terrible on the deck, and now they're secure will be on the beach mentally. A week's rest will do us the power of good. And we're always ace in Europe.

Regression to the mean?