Bailey

I don't get it either. Something must be or must have gone on behind the scenes. Local lad, loves the club, only ever dreamed of winning things with the club but leaves for a few extra quid? Not for me.

I really don't think you can call it a big success, for me he has got us back where we were. A success would be above that level so therefore he has done a good job, or done the job he is paid for. This is only his first season though and he has set the foundations. It's just a case of whether we can build on this again next season.

Only 14 points better than last year. Far better at home but worse away. It's definitely not been a bad season but it hasn't been a good one either. After the shambles of last year where we didn't even turn up for around 4 games, 14 points isn't that much of an improvement. Koeman has a big summer on his hands.

How many saves does Robles have to make against 10 men?

Embarrassing.

Baines and Mirallas sat there arguing at who should have done what as Arsenal counter.

Valencia does more when he comes on as a sub than he does when he starts.

Jags needs to stop clearing balls back into the danger area.

He is annoying me too but at the same time our best chances and half chances have come from his play but not taken by the supporting player.

I agree, DCL is getting in some decent bits of space and showing that he has a good touch but then doing nothing with it. Holgate doing well defensively but showing that he is a CB of the future and not a RB going forward. Barry doing well, Davies popping up everywhere. Gana doing ok. Mirallas in and out of the game but probably looks our best chance at the moment. Williams and Stek have been poor. Robles deserved to be dropped after Burnley but Stek has deserved to be dropped for the last 3 games. One of the worst keepers I have seen at the club, definitely one of the worst with a run of games under his belt.

I didnt vote as I didnt think I had enough evidence to make an educated decision however I am mainly in favour of Brexit for a multitude of reasons, that mainly boils down to having control of our own destiny (in a variety of ways in which this was one). Without doubt though, it would have affected the outcome of the vote as immigration was one of the main arguments. I have learnt more from some of the posters in this thread over the months, than I had learnt from politicians on both sides which tells you all you need to know about the referendum itself.

Without business, people will struggle. The recessions screwed everyone, businesses failed, people lost their jobs and with less money, of course benefits were squeezed, especially when a lot of people were receiving benefits when they shouldn't have been. Benefits should be there for the people that need them when shit hits the fan. Unfortunately the system had been abused for so long that people were milking it and taking money from those who worked all their life, lost their job and want to work but cant get a new job. Whether its Tory/Labour/Lib Dem, the government will always be crooked as greed seems to count for more than doing whats right by yourself and the country. Unfortunately this also applies to people in every walk of life, too many people are out for an easy buck, instead of working hard and grafting for it.

Its not fallacy at all, maybe more so historically but not anymore given the way you can access global markets much easier. We used to be a largely industrious country but there are barely any left now. If you start tightening regulations or taxing the services industry more than other countries they will also leave.

Where are people getting this narrow pitch stuff? From what I can see it is standard prem size, the same as Goodison and and only 1 meter narrower than Wembley.

I didnt think Lookman did well at all. I suppose he took a couple of shots but he was repeatedly brushed off the ball and when he had good chance to either play in Holgate wide or get a half chance shot away he missed the target. He also didnt stay as wide as he should and it missed the point of trying to stretch their back line.

I cant believe he wasnt stuck up top.

I know but Im stuck inside tonight and I need to amuse myself somehow We and especially Williams had plenty of chances to play simple long balls into Rom but they couldnt put it within 20 yards of him. I said it at the time as well. At one point, Williams had the ball at his feet, Rom made 3 runs. 1 short, then he span to get in behind and then he moved from left to right across the front of the defender and into the channel. What does Williams do, he floats a ball 20 yards behind Rom from where he had just come from. This is one of the games Rom had run his nuts off and stupid stuff like that drains you. He should have been taken off, because he was clearly gassed and you know what mistakes happen. In this scenario, its a valid explanation and I dont understand why you use this example, when you have countless other shite performaces, with valid complaints. In that scenario, those at the back should be getting as much shite as Rom, but they dont as you only see one side of the story. Today he was terrible, service wasnt good but he wasnt doing enough to help the team either. I agree his desire today was poor, I thought the same with Barkley too. At times he seemed more content to slow the game down and let them reorganise that trying to counter attack them but that is for a different thread. Rom made too may half arsed runs, lazy touches or passes and when he had the chance to put himself about, he let Collins bully him. He struggles when he has lots of bodies around him competing for space. I have said many times before, he isnt a possession striker, and when he gets into those situations his movement needs to be sharp and precise, not slow and languid like it was.

In the interest of balance I thought I would run through some more stats from the top 7 and their main strikers against the other top 7 clubs. I have used evidence from the striker that has been mainly used to lead the line. In the examples of Sanchez and Firminho they have also played wide so you would expect their stats to be a little different however its worth looking at, especially in their comparison to the value to their team in comparison to Rom (who despite limited service was still dreadful today). Lukaku - 9 games - 15 shots - 3 goals - 3 chances created. Kane - 9 games - 11 shots - 3 goals - 6 chances created. Sanchez - 11 games - 17 shots - 2 goals - 20 chances created Costa - 11 games - 26 shots - 3 goals - 10 chances created Firminho - 12 games - 25 shots - 1 goal - 19 chances created Aguero - 9 games - 35 shots - 3 goals - 4 chances created Ibrahimovic - 7 games - 28 shots - 4 goals - 3 chances created All of these strikers bar Lukaku and Firminho take pens so that could skew a couple of stats, but it wont be by much. Stats cant show how the player actually did during the game but I think it can give us an idea how of the team were supplying the striker (shots) and also how the striker was involved in the game and his teammates (chances created). Both Lukaku and Kane do bloody well at converting the few chances they get. Even more so in respect of Lukaku when you consider that he solely created two of his chances (and goals) - Man City (away) and Spurs (away). As probably expected the two "midfield" strikers have created more, especially as they are both probably involved in freekicks and corners. Of the two you would take Firminho, I hadn't realised how important he was to Liverpool in these big games. Both Aguero and Ibra have a crazy amount of shots in these big games but surprisingly havent converted as many. Likewise, they havent created as much for their teammates. Both are managed by arguably the best managers in the league and are alongside world class players so they consistently get much better service than the likes of Kane or Rom. I think these stats show that whilst Rom doesnt get as much service as the other big strikers in the league, he also doesn't appear to contribute as much to the team either. As I have said before, Rom can definitely be replaced however its just a case of how quickly we can get a quality player in to replace him.

I have already explained the Utd game. The likes of Williams were lumping 40-50 yard balls nowhere near him when he had defenders on the turn or was calling for it short. I know why Williams was shouting at him, because I do the same to my forwards but if the defence cant give him the easy ball to hold up or help bring others into play its no wonder he wasnt chasing everything down at the end of the game.

He looked knackered second half, maybe it just looked that way as he was asked to move inside?

Load of rubbish. Not sure anyone was good enough to deserve MOTM.

Stek all over the place at corners.

Thought it was poor myself. Should have gone to his right or at the very least should have been on target. At least it was a shot I suppose!

Looks like DCL has gone to the left. Waste.

Better from Lookman.