BigWalrus

McManaman

Echo Tooj / Aeris thoughts. Match seems unimportant now.

Has wor Sylvain touched the ball yet?

Not even a free kick given by Halsey. Joke of a referee. That's probably the worst tackle I've seen since Keane on Haaland.

Looks canny. To be fair, I've only done roast lamb a couple of times as the wife doesn't like lamb.

Yep, can't argue with either of those. I was thinking more specifically about Gosling vs Adam Campbell

Gosling brings a player who is relatively comfortable playing in midfield, certainly more so than Campbell would be. He's looked shite so far mind, but with Cabaye out and Tiote and Marveaux both having played the full 90 on Thursday, it's sensible to have midfield cover on the bench.

Happy with that side, in the circumstances.

If Cabaye is carrying an injury, I'd rather see him rested. Pointless getting another 20 minutes from him and wasting a substitution.

Yes, as would I. However, you also need some players who can help the team out defensively. Hence why you see the best from Cabaye when Tiote plays and the best from Santon with Jonas in front. An all out attacking formation sounds appealing but would be absolutely ripped apart by the most average of PL sides. Marveaux is a perfect impact sub to bring on against a tired defence. He has notched two great assists in the last two games, but both have been very late in the game against tired defences.

Brilliant

Hearing rumours that the injury is as a result of scar tissue from a previous injury. Potentially much more complicated to fix. Worst case is he never plays again.

We don't have a player called "Marveuax" so that poll is null and void.

Ah, so it is. Wonder what the odds are on them tackling each other and simultaneously injuring each other...

If he left tomorrow, I would remember him as one of the most talented players I've ever seen in black and white. I feel he has unfinished business though, and the relatively small number of games he's played for us tarnishes my view of him somewhat.

What's your point?

I thought he had a better game last night than he did against Stoke. At least he came looking for the ball last night - dropping deep and working the channels from time to time. He just looked bored against Stoke. I agree that we need to give him better service though as he's shown that he'll stick them away if you give him good chances.

Meh. He'd only get injured anyway.

Marveaux has a shit load of technical ability, but the rest of the side have to work twice as hard to cover for him when he goes missing for 20-30 minutes at a time.

The cross was the only decent thing he did all night.

Strong midfield line up for us - bodes well.

Aye, the one man team aren't quite as good without their one man, like.

The average age of the lads up for election was 70 - with none of them being older than 80. What a load of shite.

Austerity measures budgeted for will have just as much of an impact. If I think we're about to lose a big public sector contract because the local authority has just had its budget for next year slashed, I might put off buying the new car / house / extension. Instead, I'll save my cash until things pick up again. However, if this happens en masse, the companies selling the cars, the houses and the extensions will struggle for sales, they'll have to reduce their head count and the cycle begins again. You can spin figures about the economy any way you want - if you look hard enough there'll often appear to be a correlation between two completely unrelated measures. This is why it's dangerous to rely too much on high level figures to come to a reasoned conclusion. There are so many other factors at play in something as complex as an economy. Exchange rates, the relative strength of the labour market, the trade surplus / deficit, the public / private mix, the reliance on exports for key commodities plus many, many other factors. The best way to look at it is to put yourself in the shoes of a person in a normal job, a person owning a small business or a person running a large business. How would you rationally react to the perception that your job is at risk, your hours are to be cut or your salary is going to stagnate?

First home Europa game I can't make. That said, the last crowd was 95% bell-end, so it might be for the best...