Gert & TheBoy's Official VNA Soccer... err Football Thread

[rokkerr]

I must admit... having suffered through having Costa last year.... getting 24 two weeks ago and 18 points from him yesterday was pretty sweet (he was my captain)...

I started the year in the Fantasy League in absolute brutal shape putting faith in a Leicester repeat of form with Vardy, Mahrez and one of their defenders. Their defense this year has been shit and Vardy and Mahrez are so far candidates for ''Where Are They Now''... I hate being a bandwagoner but I bailed on both of them. My point total week after week was depressing to say the least...

I have been keeping Ibrahimovic and his high price week after week... getting 1 point is pretty weak again. It might be time to bail on his overinflated cost and bring in a steady point getter.....
He's playing Chelsea again next week. So not looking promising.

Anyone who had Bournmouth players I guess cleaned up last week but they will likely come back to earth against Spurs

Funny how strikers can be devastatingly hot one year and the next not...

The current standings...

[Gert-Jan]

Big kudos to you, rokkerr! Seriously, the way you have turned things around in the last two weeks deserves a compliment.

The key to success is actively managing your team. Use that one free transfer every week and put your best players in the starting XI. (For example, don't leave Walker on your bench.) Keep this run up and you might, at some point, find yourself in a top 3 battle! If I were in your shoes and still had Zlatan, I'd ditch him. Too much money for a player that doesn't deliver at the moment and there are enough value options in the mid-price bracket, such as Austin, Benteke, Deeney, Defoe, Wilson or even Rashford if you really want a Man United striker. Costa is on four yellows, but if he gets booked next weekend, he'll sit out the one-game supension in the EFL Cup, so no worries and definitely keep him! Just like Drew, I have my eyes set on the Chelsea striker as well in case I'm ever brave enough to go without Aguero, lol.

A lot has been said about Mourinho and his way of approaching the top matches, but I find this kind of defensive organisation intriguing and fascinating to watch. When you can't beat Liverpool, just make sure you don't lose. Had he told his side to attack and play on the front foot, the Man United ship would have sunk into the Anfield swamp with possibly a two or three goal deficit. This was the best approach and the Portuguese manager will be satisfied that they didn't lose ground on league leaders Man City.

The absence of Wijnaldum and Lallana in midfield has to be mentioned as they are the ones always pressing on the ball whereas Emre Can is an awful replacement and it's a big difference whether Sturridge or Firmino is playing up front. Daniel just doesn't put in the same work rate as he likes hanging around in the penalty area and just wait for the ball to come to him rather than pressing and try gain possession. You could tell Lallana brought something extra when he came off the bench. It may not have been the game of the century, but a defensive battle can also be exciting to watch, although I'll be the first to say Pool's 4-3 win at Arsenal in Gameweek 1 put a bigger smile on my face than last night.

[WalterB]

I don't remember the details, but someone was talking about how cool his Volvo was. Someone replied, "Yeah, well, nobody ever wrote a song about a Volvo," then quoted things like "Little GTO," "Little Deuce Coupe," etc. So, I kinda feel the same here. Soccer, soccer, soccer. That may be, but nobody ever wrote a song about soccer. Are you ready for some Football?




(Sorry, guys, Now back to your regularly scheduled Soccer talk.)

[WalterB]

Maybe this is what I saw -

Ok, NOW back to your regularly scheduled etc, etc....

[Gert-Jan]

An action packed week of European football with mixed fortunes for the English clubs. I'm running a bit short on time, so gonna keep it to just three paragraphs for a change, haha. I imagine Man City's heavy defeat at Barcelona is a big talking point in the British media, especially as Guardiola pulled a rabbit out of his head in the form of a tactical masterplan with De Bruyne as false nine and Aguero on the bench. To be fairly honest, it didn't even surprise me that much. Regardless of what fans claim, Pep Guardiola is a highly intelligent man. It's just that in his system, a number nine needs to do much more than just be a prolific goalscorer. Strikers are the first ones who need to run at defenders, put pressure on the ball and disrupt the opposition's build-up play.

There are enough examples with other forwards, such as Samuel Eto'o, David Villa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or even Robert Lewandowski for that matter, whose goal ratio went down in the seasons they worked with Guardiola. It's not necessarily a bad thing for the team, though. Polish striker Lewandowski has often said how much he has learned from Guardiola and how he has become a more all-round and complete footballer rather than just someone scoring goals. Pep hailed Aguero after his goals against Borussia M'Gladbach by saying he's "magnificent" yet added "I want to help him become even better", a quote which raised a few eyebrows here and there. To me, it is obvious Pep wants to try and change Aguero's style and it's gonna be interesting to see what will happen once new signing Gabriel Jesus enters the fray in January. Don't be too shocked if he becomes City's new number nine.

The Premier League continues tomorrow with fixtures that don't really make me go scream "Wow!!" from the rooftops. Middlesbrough travel to an in-form Arsenal where even Ozil has gone on a scoring streak netting his first ever hattrick! We know teams are struggling at Turf Moor, so what can we expect from Everton? Who will score if Lukaku doesn't and could it become a problem? There's also Bob Bradley's home debut and I reckon Swansea could do well as Watford look poor away from home. Ultimately, the best looks saved for last with Chelsea vs Man United on Sunday at 4pm. Then again, I can't see Mourinho going on the attack, so park the bus and another dull encounter seems to be on the horizon. Paul Pogba's performance curve, however, has gone up with the Frenchman dominating midfield with his athleticism, energy and two goals in last night's Europa League game. The return of Jose Mourinho to Stamford Bridge will undoubtedly be special.

Alrighty, time to make the last tactical changes in FPL and I'm all set for the weekend.

[rokkerr]

Damn... after thinking I was a Fantasy genius I came back to earth... still a 3 horse race

[Gert-Jan]

Pretty bad FPL week for me too. Leicester were on a clean sheet until the 85th minute, West Brom only managed one shot on target and ofcourse Liverpool had to concede as they can't defend set pieces, Firmino and Sanchez should've scored two goals, Lukaku would've scored at Burnley had Bolasie not pushed him away, my captain failed to deliver any attacking points and Man City are hopelessly out of form. Sigh. It's not that I have the wrong players, but it sure is frustrating to only get 35 points from a pretty good squad.

Since Sunday Mourinho's reputation has gone from being The Special One to The Humiliating One as his Man United lost 4-0 to Chelsea. The awful start of Smalling and Blind saw Pedro score after 29 seconds, which played right into Chelsea's hands. They could sit back and hurt United on the counter-attack with the pace of Hazard and Pedro. It was surprising to see Mourinho still being rather positive post-match and I do think we would have seen a different kind of game if that early goal hadn't gone in. Still, Chelsea look incredibly strong defensively after reverting to 3-5-2 with now three consecutive clean sheets, while Man United manager Mourinho continues shuffling players around in the final third as this time Paul Pogba was deployed in the number ten role.

Two attractive EFL Cup fixtures with Liverpool vs Tottenham tonight and Man United vs Man City tomorrow evening.

[TheBoy]

So, has the pressure now passed from Jose, after his humiliating 4-0 hammering by Chelsea, to Pep after Mourinho sprung a win over City in the cup? City go without a win once again, concede once again and we are now hearing ripples amongst Aguero and Guardiola. The 1-0 win for Jose (could it have been any other result?) wasn't the prettiest - in fact that there was literally only one single shot in the entire first half and even that was off target showed the relative fragility of both sides. And even though it was 'only' the League Cup, I think another heavy defeat for Mourinho could have really piled some pressure onto him.

I'm not reading too much into the Liverpool v Spurs result. Both teams heavily rotated and with Spurs' much heavier fixture list, it's for the best that we escaped with a respectable scoreline and can move on with things.

The big question this weekend in Fantasy Football, is do we still trust Aguero with the armband!? Against West Brom would normally be a no brainer, but are we even sure he will start the game? That he was named as a sub in the City cup game would indicate being rested for the Premier League fixture though, so hopefully he does start! Sanchez is another option but again he hasn't been firing. However, can we ignore him playing Sunderland who have David Moyes perilously close to the edge with recent results being poor.

I may be looking at a third option however... He has a tremendous record against his opponents and they are not in the greatest defensive form... But dare I take the risk!

I'm still to make a transfer this week too. I just can't decide on who to bring in. I want to shift Williams as even though Everton have one of the best defensive records in the league, they are still letting the odd goal slip by in each match. And I think the treble of Everton players has gone on long enough lol.

I think Sunday is looking quite a juicy day of action with Everton v West Ham plenty of goal potential and Southampton v Chelsea two teams in good form and with excellent defensive records. As for Saturday, I suppose Spurs v Leicester should be good and have the added spice of losing out on the league to them last season - revenge time lol! Crystal Palace v Liverpool should also be interesting with Benteke facing his old club and Liverpool in such good form.

[Gert-Jan]

The only true world class player in the Premier League, according to pundit Alan Shearer, went from supposedly low on confidence back to his best as Aguero single-handedly helped Man City past West Brom with two goals and an assist. His sublime second goal, a long-range curling effort, went straight into the top corner and it was such a brilliant strike. The entire City team were amazing, though, they even kept a clean sheet! It's remarkable to see how City have been struggling past few weeks and how everything just came together at The Hawthorns. Look at the numbers prior to this weekend: 30-6 in the first 10 games and 5-12 in the last four. Now I'm excited about what's gonna happen against Barcelona....

Man United's statistics were massively impressive with 37 attempts and Zlatan's 12 shots on target! Superman Tom Heaton, however, deserves all the praise as this man is by far the best goalkeeper in the league, lol. I thought Mourinho had a valid point when Darmian was fouled in Burnley's penalty area, but it's so typically Jose to then get sent to the stands again. The new incident comes on the back of some unfriendly words at the end of the match against Chelsea when he whispered into Antonio Conte's ears that the Italian's way of sweeping up the fans felt humiliating to Royal Highness JM, while Conte was only trying to get the crowd to show some appreciation for his team's achievement. Ugh, it's bugging the hell outta me the way Mourinho thinks the whole world revolves around him. United should have beaten Burnley easily and Mourinho is clearly not getting the most out of this squad. He needs to stop being so negative all the time, address the problems and improve the performances, before the club finds itself stuck in this downward spiral.

Liverpool and Arsenal really made my Saturday super enjoyable with their entertaining football. Both sides are attacking machines that just can't stop going forward. The Gunners exposed the fragile Sunderland defence in the mid of the second half when they scored three in seven minutes. Sensational Sanchez and outstanding Ozil put on a show of their own, though Giroud impressed as he scored a brace with his first two touches, haha. Liverpool's trio up front could have made the Reds hit double figures with Mane, Coutinho and Firmino wasting tons of clear chances to score multiple times. Cruijff once said that the best way to defend is to go on the attack and Liverpool are a great example, cause no matter how many goals they end up conceding, they will never have to fear a potential goal drought with proven goalscorers Origi and Sturridge sitting on the bench. Still, defending set pieces is an aspect they need to work on.

Tottenham Hotspur are experiencing some issues with converting chances into goals and winning matches. A third consecutive league draw sees them drop to fifth place and I feel Janssen has some trouble adjusting to the pace and strength of the English league. It's nice seeing the Dutchman score so comfortably from the spot, which can't necessarily be said about Aguero this season, but strikers need to score from open play too and hopefully Kane will deliver the end product and notch his 20-25 goals that we all expect (demand?) from him. Eriksen hasn't done anything this season and shining star Son has suddenly disappeared behind a cloud. Spurs remain the only unbeaten team in the PL, but they desperately need Kane! Could he make his return in next week's derby?

Chelsea's switch to the 3-5-2 formation gets the best out of their centre-backs as well as Hazard. The Belgian is utilised in a free role with no defensive responsibilities and Hazard's acceleration on the break can hurt opponents like nobody else can. It was the first time this season that Eden was fantastic away from home, and just like Aguero, he looks unstoppable at the moment. Chelsea have less possession, but their style ain't extremely defensive or anything. I really love watching them and I noticed the Blues face Spurs and Man City after the international break...

[TheBoy]

I think Premier League defences must have gone on strike this weekend! Two teams in particular have stood out again this week, with Chelsea and Liverpool putting in the kind of performance that sends shock waves to the rest of the league. Since reverting to Antonio Conte's much preferred formation of 3 at the back, they have gone on a startling run of games that has now culminated in a demolition of Everton. Going into the game, Everton have been looking very good and had the league's second meanest defence behind Spurs. Much of the focus was on the battle between Lukaku and Costa, two of the most in form strikers. However, it was Costa's supporting crew that dismantled Everton with an alarming ease. Eden Hazard has been somewhat underwhelming for most of the season, but again thanks to this change of system he is now looking like the same player who won player of the year two seasons ago. He was more than aided by another player who has a reputation to rebuild in Pedro.

Then we come to Liverpool... WOW! We know they are perhaps the most deadly attacking side in the league, but the way in which they hammered Watford was merciless. They again somehow managed to not keep a clean sheet, but when they can so easily score 6 goals against a Watford side who coming into the game showed no signs of being a pushover, does it really matter? What stood out for me was the goals they scored not being counter attacks or mistakes, but goals played through whilst Watford have 7 players behind the ball. Most teams struggle against those who pack the defence and hope to stifle their opposition, but Liverpool appear to have found a way to not only squeeze through, but plant dynamite at the front door and help themselves!

I thought having a double Liverpool midfield was essential in Fantasy Football, but I'm seriously considering that a triple attack might be on the agenda...

Despite those big results, the biggest game of the weekend was of course the North London Derby. My nerves and negative thoughts were a high reason why I stayed away from this thread for the past week lol. It's no secret that Spurs have been struggling of late, and none more so than the disastrous defeat in midweek to Leverkusen in the Champions League which has left our qualification to the knockout stages hanging by a thread. Meanwhile Arsenal have been in good form, especially their own attacking players in particular Sanchez, Walcott and Ozil.

My fears were not helped much more when I saw the team lineups and realised that with at most 3 days preparation, Pochettino had decided to try out the Chelsea formation and brought in Wimmer for only his second game of the season to create a 3 centre back partnership with Vertonghen and the makeshift Dier. However, there was much excitement to see the long awaited return of Sir Harry Kane who I think was rightly thrown straight into the starting 11. The formation change seemed to take Arsenal by surprise and allowed us to mostly dominate the opening 25 minutes or so. But then Arsenal grew into the game and took control themselves, whereupon it looked inevitable they would open the scoring and go on to easily win the game. The goal came on the stroke of half time and whilst I may be biased, I have to say I think it was a terrible decision to allow the goal. Yes it was an own goal by Wimmer (who otherwise had a great game), but his attempted headed clearance was only taken because of two Arsenal players ahead of him who would have had a simple header to score. The problem was, those players, had they touched the ball would have been flagged for offside... The somewhat grey area rules state a player is offside if he is interfering with play or makes a movement towards the ball. Surely if a defender feels he has to head the ball due to an opponent having a tap in if he doesn't should see the offside decision awarded?

With such a contentious decision, Arsenal should have come out and increased their lead, but that didn't happen. Spurs instead took most of the control and were duly awarded a penalty for a clumsy tackle on Man of the Match Mousa Dembele. Up stepped Kane who slotted home the kick - and allowed me to come out of hiding behind the sofa haha ;) From there, we had a few chances to win the game and on another day, probably would. Whilst the result was yet another draw, it keeps us unbeaten and with the return of Kane plus a new system under our belts, it feels a much more positive result.

Other results saw Man united get back to winning ways with a solid 3-1 win over Swansea. West Brom delivered another blow to Leicester with a 2-1 win and Hull pulled off probably the biggest shock result of the weekend with a 2-1 win over Southampton after being a goal down.

It's left us with much to ponder as yet another International fortnight is now upon us.

Any news from around Europe Gert? I saw last week (or was it the week previous?) that Inter had sacked De Boer, which I was very sad to see. And speaking of Italy, I see that Joe Hart made another clanger that almost cost Torino a goal. With the form of keepers like Heaton and Pickford, I have to say I find it very frustrating that Hart will automatically keep his place in the England team.

[Gert-Jan]

Yep, Frank de Boer got sacked last week after just 85 days in charge and Internazionale's subsequent 3-0 league win against bottom-ranked Crotone makes it even more obvious that it was a total mismatch. You and I both saw this coming from the start, though we sure as hell don't need to feel sorry for De Boer as he had signed a 3-year deal in the summer, so you can just hear the "Ka-Ching!" sound from afar, lol. Roberto Mancini got fired right after the pre-season friendly defeat against Tottenham and De Boer should've never taken the Inter job as his new and former club were different like night and day. A flourishing youth academy and attacking football are key to the success of Ajax, whereas Inter's squad consists of mostly 30 plus year olds who feel comfortable focussing on defending and have no interest in new ideas. No Inter player ever took De Boer serious and it was a marriage doomed to fail. Stefano Pioli is set to replace De Boer with Inter taking on city rivals AC Milan right after the international break.

Title contenders Sevilla and Barcelona went head to head on Sunday evening with Jorge Sampaoli's side outperforming the team which lacked a bit of match fitness after the CL loss in Manchester in midweek. Sevilla went 1-0 up courtesy of a Vitolo goal and missed several chances to double the lead and you don't have to be an expert to know what happens then. Lionel Messi's 500th goal was a brilliantly executed counter-attack which put Barca level at half-time. Sevilla paid for their mistakes in the second half with Suarez ultimately netting the winning goal, but I have a feeling the title battle in Spain will be just as much of a thriller as the one in England. Atletico and Real Madrid face each other in the next Gameweek!

Cristiano Ronaldo signed a contract extension on Monday and will remain with Real Madrid until at least 2021. The Portuguese phenom was quoted as saying: "I'm going to be here for another five years, but let it be known this will not be my last contract. What I most want is to continue enjoying the years I have left to play. I still have 10 years". Good for both club and player in my opinion. They belong together and with Bale staying until 2022, the future of Real Madrid looks very bright. I imagine Alvaro Morata is wondering why on earth he decided to go back as Real's frontline will have BBC for the next few years.

The latest managerial merry-go-round.... former Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas replaces former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson at Shanghai SIPG.

[rokkerr]

A VERY tight battle going on for 1st place in the Fantasy League...

I am a tad confused that my portal says I got 64 points but only 49 in the standings last week
As long as I am on top of Handcock I am happy

WTF Leicester and could Liverpool win the league?????

[Gert-Jan]

It was a long international break with the utterly boring World Cup qualifiers and friendlies finally behind us. Domestic league action returned on Saturday afternoon with Man United vs Arsenal. The controversy between Mourinho and Wenger has been widely talked about, but Rooney was actually the one dominating the news after photos were published of the England captain drunk at a wedding. Nobody knows what really happened that night, for example, did Southgate give his players the day/night off? I feel the media are a bit at war with Wayne and the striker doesn't deserve that kinda treatment in my opinion.

Anyway, Mourinho and Wenger shook hands prior to the start without even looking at each other and Man United were pulling the strings from the start. Valencia - Jones - Rojo - Darmian did well from a defensive point of view, midfielders displayed some nice build-up play at times with Pogba in a more advanced position and they should've been awarded a penalty in the first half. Arsenal looked unprepared and lost possession on too many occasions. Juan Mata eventually netted the 1-0 courtesy of a Herrera assist and although Wenger brought on fresh legs, their equalizer literally came out of the blue. Giroud's extraordinary header gives Wenger food for thought as the bearded Frenchman has previously proven to be a great focal point and he certainly has a strong case with yet another goal added to his tally. The Gunners meet PSG in midweek, while the Mancunians host Feyenoord.

Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to remain the only unbeaten team in the league. They went a goal down twice, but King Harry Kane's penalty in stoppage time finally gave them three points again. Spurs have been super solid in defence, but the lack of a real goalscorer had led to four league draws in recent weeks. Son has always been more of an attacking midfielder and Janssen needs time to adapt to the higher level after joining from AZ Alkmaar last summer. Tottenham play some good football, but they just seem too heavily reliant on Kane and a quick look at Everton shows relying on one player is never a good thing. Spurs will now travel to Monaco and Stamford Bridge...

Chelsea are ON FIRE! The only reason Costa and Hazard didn't go mental again was beause of Middlesbrough's resilience. For real, Karanka's men have done extremely well against the top teams so far. Nonetheless, Costa's tenth goal of the season and the Blues' sixth successive clean sheet puts them top of the table ahead of Liverpool. I can't even remember ever cheering for Chelsea, but yesterday my hands were red and sore from clapping, lol. Conte has turned it into a vibrant attacking force in which the back three look comfortable with Courtois rarely needed to make saves, whilst wing-backs Moses and Alonso are given license to constantly bomb forward. The next two mammoth clashes against Spurs and Man City are not to be missed!

Atletico Madrid 0-3 Real Madrid (3x Ronaldo)
Milan 2-2 Inter
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Bayern Munich

[rokkerr]

... wtf Ramilles is #1.... bad week for Drew or some players not play this week?

Drew one of the peeps I know in porn just got a Spurs logo tattooed on his arm.... such a lot of love for a team that really seems a bit dare I say... dull after after last year...

Leicester... wtf?

[Gert-Jan]

You and Ramilles did really well thanks to captain Costa and Capoue's double figure haul, but it was a low scoring week for most of the 4.1 million players.

We still have West Brom vs Burnley tonight and that match, together with the autosubs, will decide who sits top of our Fantasy table. I have the West Brom goalkeeper, Ramilles has a West Brom defender, Drew has the WBA keeper and defender. Meanwhile, I also have an extra point (Joe Allen) from my bench coming on as Man City's Gundogan didn't start at all. Whatever happens, it will be really tight!

Keep in mind that Leicester players aren't world class or anything, lol... they were battling relegation before their miracle season turned the likes of Fuchs, Morgan, Drinkwater and Okazaki into heroes. Their main focus seems to be on the Champions League in which they are basically already through to the knock-out stages. If they can avoid relegation in the PL, they will have done a great job. Vardy's goal drought doesn't help either...

[rokkerr]

... and then Leicester get through to the round of 16 CL... damn

[Gert-Jan]

...and then Tottenham get knocked out with one match still to go... wow! Gotta say it was hardly surprising, though, as Spurs have been struggling throughout their Champions League campaign. Clearly, Pochettino has his eyes set on the derby clash against Chelsea and therefore opted to rest three key players, namely Walker, Eriksen and Vertonghen. The latter will be utilised as left-back in absence of the suspended Rose and injured Davies. The changes resulted in a makeshift defence of Trippier, Dier, Wimmer, Rose and it looked like they had never played together before with Hugo Lloris deservedly receiving numerous accolades for some superb saves. Clubs spend an entire season trying to qualify for the CL, but once they're actually in it, the manager starts rotating... #smh

The record-breaking 8-4 goal fest Borussia Dortmund vs Legia Warshaw has matchfixing written all over it. A total of 7 first half goals in 22 minutes smells a bit fishy, although the craziness did provide a spectacular night in front of the television with braces for both Reus and Kagawa. Meanwhile, Real Madrid won away at Sporting Lisbon in that same group, so the Germans and Spaniards go head to head deciding which team will finish top of the table. Real Madrid showed signs of fatigue after the derby against Atletico and were lucky Tuesday night to score 2-1 in the 87th minute as Lisbon's equalizer upped the pressure on Zidane's side.

Group B is the only remaining group in which three teams still have a chance of advancing. Besiktas were fortunate to draw at home to Benfica after being down 3-0 at half-time. A spirited performance by comeback kid Ricardo Quaresma with help from the incredibly loud crowd inside the Turkish stadium earned Besiktas a vital point. Last night Napoli kinda blew their round of 16 chances in a hopeless and goalless draw against Dynamo Kiev, cause I personally can't see Hamsik, Insigne and Mertens getting Napoli a result in Portugal in two weeks time.

Bayern Munich finish as runners-up...

[Ramilles]

... wtf Ramilles is #1.... bad week for Drew or some players not play this week?

Drew one of the peeps I know in porn just got a Spurs logo tattooed on his arm.... such a lot of love for a team that really seems a bit dare I say... dull after after last year...

Leicester... wtf?

Lol - no one is more surprised than me about how well it's going. Costa as captain is doing great things. Let's see what this week brings

[rokkerr]

Guessing Drew is on his 19th pint... and counting

[Gert-Jan]

The Fantasy Football standings have changed again with Drew boucing back to the top spot thanks to four players with double-digit hauls. McAuley and Walcott delivered the points for Ramilles, while rokkerr's Arsenal midfield proved to be key for his excellent week of 55 points. Aguero gave me 12 points, but the rest of my team didn't do anything, lol. I have two free transfers and both are definitely gonna be used to get rid of some underperforming guys.

It's six straight defeats for Crystal Palace after a comical showdown at the Liberty Stadium and the pressure on Pardew is mounting. Last year no team was better at defending set-pieces than Palace, but now they have already conceded 13 goals from corners and free-kicks! The players are letting Pardew down and I imagine it must be frustrating as hell to see your side be so poor at that aspect of the game. He sets them up the right way, but it's like they switch off when the opposition takes a set-piece. Lack of concentration or willingness? Palace certainly don't have a goalscoring problem anymore, so it's the defending part that needs to improve quickly!

Swansea City aren't much better at the moment. Bob Bradley has made numerous of changes to the starting XI since taking over. Sigurdsson is the bright shining diamond who makes them tick and as long as you score more goals than your opponent, everything should be fine. However, they sit in the relegation zone and Bradley had already come under scrutiny, lol. A positive thing, though, is that Swansea's fixtures turn kindly very soon and I expect them to move up during the festive period. It's not like they're playing bad or they have awful players, but is Bradley the right man for the job? His CV has the US national team, Norwegian club Staebak and French second-tier side Le Havre listed and the man has only gotten the Swansea role because of its American owners. Let's hope things get better in Wales.

Lastly, I'd like to mention Everton's woeful performances as of late. Their squad is unbalanced with slow thirty-year-old defenders Jagielka, Williams, Baines and Barry, while they also lack clinical finishers and players with an end product up front as Koeman has been confronted with the inconsistency of Mirallas, Bolasie, Barkley, Lennon, Valencia and Deulofeu. I watched Koeman's return to St Mary's and it was a horror show from the first to last whistle. Stiker Lukaku registered one off-target shot and that's it! The Toffees have been extremely poor on the road and now face Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal at Goodison Park, so it wouldn't even surprise me if they continue tumbling down the table. I have praised Koeman often for his tactics, but I didn't see anything of that against Southampton. The Dutchman has taken on a difficult challenge... can he turn the tide?

Mourinho lost his temper again and was sent to the stands with Man United 11 points behind the league leaders and four consecutive draws at Old Trafford.