Shy_Talk

Got his first goal, pleased for him, also was impressed that he has some steel about him. Looks bigger than 5'7''.

It was a momentary lapse, yesterday, and he almost put Robles in all sorts of trouble presenting Clueless with a chance to lob our keeper, I expect the ball to be stuck into orbit after such a tame header that lead to a sticky moment yesterday, have criticised both Mori and Robles for losing concentration then finding themselves up the creek so Williams gets a bucket of criticism for not leading by example. It is our senior players that set the bar for the rest of the side to perform too.

What is fair is fair, clean sheet and not a whole lot to do, Williams was responsible for the Clueless chance so it's no reflection on Robles. Williams gets a bolt in his thread. No sweetheart deals round here.

It can't be Barry. We need to be all over these for the full 90 minutes.

 

Barry was perfect against West Brom as they sat deep and didn't really counter with pace but we saw him against Hull and everything slowed down for us when we lost Schneiderlin.

 

Hopefully Schneiderlin has suffered a knock and the international break will give him time to recover.

Agreed, we need legs to go toe-to-toe with them, Barry is a late introduction to pick up a yellow or better, it's time for the battle and we've the villains for the fight. Mirallas has to play as he loves these types of games, they bring his true snidery to the surface and thats just wonderful.

Snap them into the stands at every half chance, maximum malice.

Was it Rojo for manure? and Huddlestone got a red today. It just doesn't add up right, either the ref coughs up that hes been overzealous or red cards such offences every time in future.

I can take shit calls, just make them the norm, and set the bar as low as the remedials (refs) require, it's the state of double standards that absolutely do not even themselves out over a season/decade+ that piss a lot of money paying fans of the game off.

Time for change.

Sir Legs-alot in midfield, glad to see him step up to his previous high standards. It is the press and move tempo set in our centre circle that provides the impetus to the rest of the side, more often than not - win the middle win the game!

 

Very long posts are somewhat anomalous in an age of fast food, instant gratification, and slogans. FaceBook and Twitter encourage the short over the long. Pizza, the very epitome of short waits, so often trumps the slow, carefully considered preparation of culinary masterpieces. Is this a meritorious new development, with focus on essence rather than periphery, or is it symbolic of a lack of deep thought and consideration among humankind? This rather extended post weighs the relative benefits of the short over the long - of essence over distraction, of small hands over big mouths.

 

At first blush, it appears Shy_Talk comes at this topic with deep knowledge, the result of years of careful sifting of facts and hours of standing in the cold and rain observing players in action. Who can deny that intellectual insight lies at the very core of his extensive post? Does that not demand a few minutes of our otherwise drab existence to consider his propositions and somewhat controversial opinions? It is true that his superior intelligence quotient has been compromised in recent weeks by an obsession with large-footed circus performers - Freud may infer a closet make-up artist or aspiring entertainer - but there's no denying the effort and raw enthusiasm his recent words imply. Surely history reveals a strong correlation between intelligent repartee and word count - the corollary of knee-jerk tweets and narcissism on which news feeds have recently focused. More equals depth; less equals shallow thinking. Is that not an inevitable conclusion?

 

Alas no! Would the Gettysburg Address have been as notable if it had taken two hours for modern-day students to read - with tea (preferably Earl Grey steeped for precisely 105 seconds) and traditional Scottish oatmeal biscuits as a delightful distraction from heavy intellectual considerations? Yet this address entered the very core of human imagination because of its very brevity - a sign not of intellectual depravity but instead of focus and imagination. For this is the true brilliance of brevity: it forces all mankind - all races, creeds, and cultures - to imbibe the exciting flavours of new ideas - to capture the very essence of revolutionary thought, whether totalitarian, democratic, or the modern penchant for infantilism. Fewer words may imply clarity of thought - their purveyor delivering only the vitamins of healthy thinking and not the harmful bland fat of everyday populism.

 

Another useful dimension to consider is the apparent irony of Shy being focused on Talk even while pouring out diarrheic diatribes about players recruited during the era of brown footwear. Should Everton's goalkeeping prowess - proved by an impressive series of clean sheets - be questioned solely because of the era during which the one delivering such skill was recruited? Should Isaac Newton's scientific insights be negated because he lived during a time of slave-trading and persecution of minorities? Was Newton's conscience seared by these practices, and, if not, does his moral ineptitude undermine his contributions to classical science? Surely such a great man soars above the travails of his perilous age, as goalkeepers soar above the gnarling cauldron of angry prima donnas to claim what is, at the most basic level, nothing more than a urinary bladder of porcine origins? Context throws new light on such matters, and our hopes and dreams need not be polluted by observations with no obvious correlation to facts on the ground.

 

Motive, of course, may be another driving factor behind unwarranted verbosity. What dark motives lie behind the shy talker's bold blueprint for success? The skeptics among us might assign a desire to impress, to claim a level of intellectual rigour that belies populist veneer and apparent bias against Catalan culture. Others may be more generous in their conclusions, accepting nuggets of sparkling insight even when wrapped in excremental expression. Life can be full of unexpected surprises: one need look no further than haggis to witness delicate delight hidden amongst the most repulsive of raw materials - but we digress. The plans proffered by the loquacious introvert reveal genuine ambition, a desire to implant in the face of red-cloaked villains (a deliberately ambiguous identification) a hammer fist of which the late Ali would be proud. Oh what transport of delight from that pure chalice would flow! Maybe shyness deserves the benefit of the doubt in this matter given the magnitude of his ambition.

 

In summary, dead long posts may be literal, too often succumbing to the rigor mortis of over-analysis, or, ironically, they may fan the flames of fervour and hope - the very essence of what it means to be alive. This author's suggestion is for a minor change in nomenclature: No longer should we automatically respond to unduly extended essayism as 'dead long posts'; a more appropriate and honest reply might be, "crap - he expects me to read all that?" This latter exclamation keeps open the value of the written contribution without casting aspersions on the writer's purpose, intellect, opinions, and use of time. After all, even Western leaders have time to waste countless hours on meaningless twaddle. Verbal diarrhea may be the new black.

So so close to such majesty....

I'd have thrown a like in but for the vexatious racialism of the last sentence.

His wife having a child is a problem?

It is if it isn't his. (Not that I suspect that of course, merely being flippant).

Wonder if he and Lukaku's contracts are depending on one another, weekly wages, buy outs, and contract lengths on topof if the club is planning on spending big to prsue Europa or better next term....

Beat Hull by 5 and we go dead level with Arsenal ? (although having played a game or two more??)

A moment of quiet contemplation, calm coherent consideration. We seem to be at the cusp of a new dawn, but what does it mean and where do we stand....

Fans/supporters are, like last summer, expecting and demanding some spending to be done a la galacticos hyperbole, but what can we get and how do we get them.....

Words like 'realistic' and bandied around all too easily by twats like me, trying to keep discussion and dreaming at least based on some semblance of reality to begin with.....

We spent large last summer, the Bolasie signing/fee has faded from memory as he got injured and the old saying goes, out of sight out of mind. So we look to the future and try to pinpoint an obvious area to improve, (for me besides GK) we require a Kanchelskis type to tear up the right flank, granted such players are in high demand and so we might be stuck with a third or fourth choice there. So lets break down the first eleven....

?????

Holgate Williams ?????

Coleman Baines

Schneiderlin

????? Gueye

Barkley

Lukaku

There are no guarantees Bolasie makes it back from a double severe knee injury requiring surgeries and 14 months recovery. I obviously don't rate Robles and am not overly keen on Stekelenberg, and Mori is a defender version of Straquilursi (big on heart, low on talent).

The majority seem keen to stick with Barkley, and a few percent more adore and want Lukaku playing for us long term, so what positions then are there to actively pursue for improvement? Gueye has been the man of the season so far, Schneiderlin has that bit of class, Coleman is undroppable, there are question marks over Baines (mainly because we got so used to him in partnership with Pienaar and know the game he has that he cant produce without the ying to his yang) clearly I consider Mori suspect, so is this about as good as it gets?

Can or will Koeman eventually restore us to the 4-4-2 and have us try to attack via two widemen? (that is to lose a central defender and swap in another winger)

Who is about to throw money at to play a position for us? Yes its Walsh's and Koeman's Job to scout and plot a raid for a player or two, there are places on the bench for players but are they immediate improvements? Kone is a gonner, Valencia is unlikely to get a contract with us, hopefully Niasse is history, Cleverly could be a permanent leaver same goes with Deulofeu. We could see a lot of players leave again, but if we make the Europa league we'll sorely need some margin in the squad good enough to keep us going so as not to have us embarrassed against some part time side from the former ussr. So theres scope to save on wages by moving some of the dirge on, do we get specialist back ups or sign some versatile players, do we plot a plan B game around a big lump up front to play off or put all our eggs in one basket and stubbornly stick to forcing our game through Lukaku.

A Kancho type would be spectacular, 88 miles an hour in a Delorean and kidnapping Pienaar from 6 years ago and bringing him in would also be handy, a bargain Martyn type would be superb and a bargain left footer like Lescott was would round off our defence for a couple of years before time catches Baines and Williams.

It'd be great to play fantasy football and suggest this left back, and that right winger, all to support such and such a striker, we might find this summer we do well keeping our best players than plucking other teams better players.

A back injury, my read on that is it occured in training and Baines soldiered on, hence why Mori was benched and Jags came in because Koeman had a concern for Baines for the 90.

I don't know if Garbutt is injured, but he wasn't even on the bench for wigan yesterday (oddly enough a certain stephen warnock is LB and captain for them) wigan are 23rd in the championship and look like going down a division.

Garbutt was on loan the season before at Fulham but they have their stock in 16 year old superstarlet Ryan Sessegnon who I doubt will be at Fulham past the opening day of the transfer window.

Baines aint done, but it's time to start to plan properly for the future, lets see Walsh and Ko earn their corn.

Any news on todays injury?

Pulis reckons the result wasn't a true reflection of the game.

 

Not sure what game he was watching.

The one where his side were two nil down and continued with the same slow game plan that had them there. In a word, clownshoesitis.

Didn't have a great deal to do today, but what he did he got done. Fair dues.

I can live with disappointment, but try and tone it down a touch, or keep the reaction for the dressing room/managers office, we are supposed to be a unit backing one another to the hilt in any and every moment, he was subbed for Gueye, I'm glad it wasn't for Calvert Lewen or Lookman because such a reaction doesn't show support and confidence.

Never had you down as a Trump supporter.

Hahahahahaha, another neo-nazi liberal. Hilarious.

Back to McGeady, just been named player of the month for the division (championship) and also had a good game vs Reading.

Now, Niasse scored twice today as well, so I think a shady couple of quid on Cleverly and Deulofeu to score this weekend might just payoff.

Wasn't impressed getting the hook today, no sir!

Fair play, eye brows raised at the changes and sticking with Robles and Barry after last week, but justified in the end. Love the clean sheet, west brom looked like us on set pieces which is some doing, scored three and could and should have had more. Puts last weeks defeat to bed quickly thankfully and cements that gap between us and eighth. Wanted Lookman thrown on at about 70 minutes for a not at his sharpest Davies but c'est la vie. Coleman ran and worked very hard, someone ought to have buried Yacob but keeping him injury free means he kicks out at other top half sides in their 6 game run, so no favours asked none done.

Three points, Lukaku keeps the scoring going, we aint no push overs at our place, shared the goals around, happy days.....

Mad professor on for Baines second half. Hmmm.

Headers won in defence. good stuff.

Fine hold up play by Lukaku who has drifted right quite a bit. awesome.

Perhaps Barry can earn his usual yellow for a really tasty challenge on jacob, because someone needs to before he (the petulant brom shitbag) catches one of ours fully.

They can't sit back second half so I expect a bit more end to end into space at speed football to be played, theres a goal in Barkley yet....

Fury is back! May 13th, opponent not yet announced/

His battle with illiteracy?

I hope the terms of the loan force Hull to play Niasse.

Mirallas to score a penalty?

Some left footed chemistry on our left flank?

Jags > Mori, Mira > Gana, fair enough, not over the moon, and wondering about McCarthy, but lets see. Buzz around and sting Chadli as often as possible.

I wonder if our interminable set play nightmare (offensively(hahaha!) and defensively) comes to an end today. I'm not holding my breath.

Robles a lucky chap after last weekends 'display'.

And we thought we'd got a tough ride being outsized in most areas of the pitch vs spurs.

Maybe our superior football capacity can shine through, but these are 8th in the league for a reason.