thoward18

He's at worst a rotation option long-term. I like Pienaar but having Coleman on the overlaps has been crucial. He just needs to tighten up defensively. Twenty four is still pretty young for a defender so he still has a good 2-3 years to improve. Look how much Baines has blown up in the last few years.

"Everton would therefore make a big loss having previously sold Lescott to City for £22m." Can someone explain to me what this means? Make a big loss? That makes it sound like we're losing out. I love your guys version of English more than the "American" version but sometimes you guys confuse the hell out of me Pienaar, Lescott... Fellaini should think twice about leaving us because they all seem to want to come back

He came out of the Red Bull New York Academy, apparently. So the fact that I have no clue who this guy is...is a bit weird. Not that I know every single guy involved in the organization or anything but I would think that a guy who got signed by a team like Empoli would be a bit more known stateside and by RBNY fans. Apparently he trialed with Red Bull New York this past season. Obviously he didn't get signed, but I'm not sure if it was because he didn't get an offer or because he didn't want to sign. I'll try to find more info on this guy but so far what I'm finding is not very encouraging.

Oh believe me, I'm not complaining. A ton of talent coming out of Belgium and they're going to be a force internationally for the next decade. Just curious where this is all coming from. I understand how the press works and rumors and all that and you're definitely right in that virtually every Belgian rumored to be on the move is going to be linked to us in some way. That being said, there's clearly more to it than just that. We just added Mirallas and Odjidja-Ofoe would be here as well if not for technicalities.

Is this coincidental or does Moyes have a hard-on for Belgians? Or do we have a bunch of Belgian scouts or something?

I don't get why that makes sense. Why would he not want to play internationally because he isn't playing here? I understand why that might lead to him not being selected, but why would he retire?

This was Timmy's to lose. And then he lost it. He commanded the box very well and stopped the shots thrown his way...until he let in the softie. I thought Pienaar did some great things. Put in the ball that Shawcross headed in, made a great run and through ball that should have resulted in an Osman goal, and made a few other very good runs with the ball. I'll give it to him, though that's more of a reflection of how mediocre the rest of the team was.

Getting the first goal was crucial. Stoke will have to stretch themselves now.

"...with current number two Jan Mucha having hinted he may be looking for regular football in order to resurrect his international career with Slovakia." Well then.

I think he'd be getting games anyway, at least as a rotation player. The good thing about Donovan is that he is versatile. Can play as an outside mid, a winger, a retracted forward, or a striker.

Didn't Mucha retire from internationals?

It's hard to gauge exactly where Donovan is at right now because he's releasing tons of vague, abstract statements. With the way both he and his teammates spoke after winning the Cup, it seems that there is a very real possibility that he makes a permanent move to Europe. I'd put the odds at 50% chance he moves to Europe, 35% chance he stays in the US, and 15% chance he retires.

If it's a free then that makes much more sense.

Why's that? EDIT: Nevermind, just saw that he used to be Everton property. Why'd we let him go?

There are a few guys I like. Butland, ter Stegen, John Ruddy are three who stand out to me as realistic transfers. ter Stegen might be a bit of a reach, though.

We play one striker up top largely because we don't have much of a choice. Do you really want Vellios playing a full 90 consistently?

I really hope Moyes does not play Mucha.

I know my name is going to imply that I'm a Tim Howard apologist but I'm actually very critical of him because I have high expectations and know what he is capable of. I have absolutely no idea how he could possibly be blamed for that goal. There was nothing he could do about it.

I'm not one to get all worked up about referees because things do tend to even out in the end, but it seems like we can't play a single game without a ridiculous referee decision/non-decision going against us.

Don't understand all of the negativity in this thread. Granted, it's been a not so good streak of results for us and it looked like a home loss was coming, but with the way some people were describing it you'd think Tottenham was running circles around us. Gallas got somewhat lucky with the non-call on the potential PK and Dempsey got a fluke deflection to score. By no means did we play great today and we certainly need to improve if we have any aspirations of Champions league but I think that was a somewhat respectable performance against a team like Tottenham.

I thought there were going to be a lot of reactionary votes for Jelavic because he scored the winner. I'm impressed that everyone (so far) has voted for Coleman, because he is definitely the right choice. Made things happen the whole game and set up Pienaar. We have a smart group of soccer/football fans here.

http://www.chicago-fire.com/news/2012/12/goalkeeper-sean-johnson-opens-english-training-stint One of the better young American GK's. Maybe the most athletic goalkeeper MLS has but he does not have a very high soccer IQ. From a National Team standpoint working with Howard and Chris Woods will do him well.

Thanks guys.

Can someone please explain for me the difference between these two and why two different competitions are necessary?