Adam Easy Wishes

Bounce house. My least favourite Polish saying is "co-worker". Just awful.

They let robots play now?!

I hear this. Until I very recently got a plumber to move it whilst he was round doing some other work, our stopcock was under the floor, about 20 feet from the only hatch available to actually get under the floorboards. Not to mention the crawl space being v uncomfortable to navigate and that other trades (electricians, mainly) had literally created a Crystal Maze-style obstacle course with wires and cables hanging everywhere. Needless to say it was a FUCKING NIGHTMARE the first time we needed to shut the water off in a hurry.

I was hearing this morning that it looks like the Everton move is off.

Seems like no-one really wants him now, which is a shame - I think he's a good 'keeper! Problem is a lot of the clubs that would potentially be interested have good goalies. Aside from the 'big clubs' (De Gea, Courtois, Lloris, Cech), even 'mid table clubs' have reasonable options (Forster, Butland, Schmeichel). Liverpool should be all over it IMO, but they won't. Hart's best move may be abroad now.

Need some fancy dress ideas for this weekend - the theme is international sportsperson. I have a pal who is willing to go as a double act if there's something suitably funny. Any COOL IDEAS?

Looks like he's put on 77m pounds, amirite?

Also everyone just looks so sweaty all the time.

We watched this on this recommendation. It's pretty good. Well shot, well written. Quite slow in places, but I think that all sort of adds to the feel. Some hugely annoying characters/portrayals, particularly slanty Marco and his awful posture. I think I would think this show was brilliant if it was a one-a-week job, but because we've blasted two seasons in a few weeks it's probably not felt as good.

Benito Carbone era is where it's at.

Nice one, thanks - where do your goals come from?

I'm looking for some insight on a counter attacking tactic to help me stay in the Premier League with Blackburn (about to secure promotion again after flopping in my first season up there). I made the error of not changing my style (dominating possession-based diamond with flying wing backs), and I got rinsed. Then I tried to tweak and everything went to shit. So now I need a tactic set for going into pre-season so that I'm cool. Anyone had much success with a counter attacking style? I figure I need wingers, keep the full backs solid and probably have two DMs. How do I make sure my striker doesn't become isolated?

Can we all please take a moment to rage at Sheffield Wednesday's choice of squad numbers this season?

Yeah, I think it's a bit soon for Eddie Howe personally as well - everything I've read about him says how much of a workaholic he is, basically never switches off (the Graham Hunter Big Interview with EH is great, and well worth a listen). So I reckon international football would be too lightweight for his liking. At this stage, of course. I really rate him, though, will definitely be in line for a 'big job' before long.

Have you tried Lukaku as a target man on attack duty? I haven't had much experience of using Lukaku, but Adam Rooney absolutely bossed it for me in my Aberdeen game - seems to be a reasonably successful role for a loan striker.

I'll hold out for a few seasons and see what happens then. Marshall was really poor for me in 'the hole' (it's a SS role in my system), in retrospect I should've accepted the ~£5m bids I had for him at the start of the season.

Even if it were true, it's an artificial pitch so htf would they find anything? Or hide things for others to find? Actually, is that how it works? The metal detectorist society. Any metal detectorist society - do they explore untapped lands or do they plant stuff somewhere in a marked section of land that they always use? NEW TOPIC: FAO Metal Detectorists

I wanna see everything. I have just won the Championship with Blackburn Rovers, eight points clear and that's after having the league sewn up early and playing weak/young teams in the final four games of the season. Basically using my now famous 'diamond' formation (famous in my house anyway - though I can't say Natalie knows what I'm talking about, she sure as hell knows about my 'diamond'). I signed a heap of players on loan - Mats Moller-Daelhi from Freiburg, Samba Diakite from QPR, Harrison Reed from Southampton, Jesse Lingard, Guillermo Varela and Marcus Rashford from senior affiliate Man Utd; Ivan Bolado on a free transfer and three young Scots I know to turn out reasonably well in Jason Cummings, Greg Kiltie and Harry Souttar. At the earliest possible opportunity I sent Danny Graham back to Sunderland, and signed Tony Watt and Jordi Gomes on permanent deals. That gave me pretty good squad depth and - playing a possession game - I basically dominated the league from the outset. Wing backs are key in this formation and Adam Henley and Tommy Spurr although both limited in ability have been brilliant. The whole back five actually were excellent, with the Hanley/Duffy partnership probably low-Premier League quality. Jason Cummings is, frankly, amazing and scored a bucketload. Now it's time to tool up for the Premier League. Having already sold Ben Marshall (Swansea, £1.5m) and Craig Conway (somewhere, £975k), both of whom are primarily wingers and don't really fit into the system, and with the uplift in cash for the Premier League, I have been given an initial budget of just shy of £20m. Goalkeeper, defensive midfielder and deep-lying striker/target man are my key targets, but will also need a replacement for the outgoing loanees (unless I can get them back, certainly will make moves for Lingard and Reed, who was the Championship Young Player of the Year). Have signed Asmir Begovic, Cheikhou Kouyate and Erik Pieters (although Tommy Spurr was good he's just not quite at the right level - same goes for Ivan Bolado whose contract was left to expire). TIME TO AWAKE THE SLEEPING GIANT. Yeah. That and make sure that the players 'gel' whilst having an actual life that isn't being a virtual football manager on a computer game lol.

Leo Messi has been sentenced to 21 months in jail for tax fraud... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36721892

Gayle is a brilliant signing for Newcastle IMO. Always surprised Pardz didn't give him a good run at Palace, especially given they basically had no strikers.

Nice work, can I please see your mentalities and team/player instructions?

I should say - yes I'm finding it a lot harder than previous versions. My one piece of tactical advice is if it's not working, change it early. Like...if you lose an early goal, change your formation immediately.

Like you, @ca_gere, I find it astonishing that Hodgson persisted with that system that firstly just didn't work, but secondly that he had to shoehorn his players into. Fine, if he's cracking on with a system that maybe suits the players he has available but wasn't quite working out in games then that's almost understandable, but wow... WHY did he not just go for a sort of Spursy midfield diamond? It allows some of your most important players (Dier, Walker, Alli, Kane and Rose) to play the system they've been playing all season. Width from full backs, Dier shielding your (poor) centre backs, with the ability to accommodate two up front (Kane +1, he persisted with Sturridge but it should have been Vardy IMO). Playing Rooney in midfield should have meant that Alli missed out (for clarity, I would have played Alli ahead of Rooney, but I understand why Wazza got the nod as captain). Then the midfield should have been made up of ENERGY. Having not taken Drinkwater (who should have gone in place of an unfit Wilshere IMO, and started in the XI) - he probably should have gone with Milner first, partnered with whomever was fit - Henderson? If there was a doubt over his fitness then to take both him and Wilshere was a disaster. Henderson looked pretty good vs Slovakia I thought. There's also an argument that Hart is not even the best goalkeeper in the squad now. Forster anyone? So, with personnel Hodgson took: My much better version: