ArteSuave

Swansea have the highest average possession in the league, higher than last season and higher than the season before. Maybe Laudrup wanted to preserve the style and didn't want the team to have to carry passengers.

He should have ditched them in the Summer.

Michael Laudrup has been sacked for trying to sign Bannan on loan. /bannanthreadlogic

"We'll have to have a look at him and see how he is" -- Lambert to the Birmingham Mail today **** knows whether that's good or bad.

Vlaar is only the size of a normal human though, he isn't so big that he can fill the gap from his own position to Baker's position. Naismith can run past a stationery defender who is looking at the ball wherever he is stood. Vlaar's focus has to be the man with the ball, if he starts trying to jostle the runner he leaves Pienaar to do as he pleases and risks giving away a penalty.

Vlaar could/should have been deeper but then Pienaar would have taken a touch or played a different ball and Naismith would still be running into the box unmarked into the space that Baker was occupying 5 seconds earlier. I don't think Vlaar was blameless in the goal but Baker was far more culpable for allowing Naismith goal side IMO. If he'd just been too slow then its not really his fault but he had time to react and didn't do it.

Following him out was fine but he then stops and lets him run into the gap he just left without being tracked. Surely if he's going to move out then he's got to move back as well. No - if he moves out to close down someone else should cover him. No one did. Besides it shouldn't have been any of the CB's job to close down Pienaar - it should have been some of the midfielders. So following Naismith 5 yards is the end of Baker's responsibility? 5 yards of tracking and then switch off. If Naismith isn't Baker's responsibility at the point he's running past him then there is no point him being there. Pienaar made use of the kind of space/time its really hard to not leave open but Naismith runs past Baker after taking him out of position.

Following him out was fine but he then stops and lets him run into the gap he just left without being tracked. Surely if he's going to move out then he's got to move back as well.

Disappointing event, but despite Dana's criticism I thought Reem looked good. He needed to guarantee a win or he'd be out the door and he still dropped and battered Mir. Hopefully this is the start of a stage of his career where he takes his opponents seriously.

The Sturrridge goal was just very good. Someone should have closed Suarez down but other than that it was hard to stop. Naismith's goal was from Baker following Naismith out and then failing to stay goal side. Mulumbu's goal was some combination of no pressure on the ball and Clark and Vlaar doing a slapstick routine.

Rees Buckland was a cracker. Rees had his usual cardio issues but toughed it out and I thought he edged it, unlike 2 of the judges.

He is. On Box nation I think.

It looks like a reasonable card in London. Main event aside, there's Uncle Creepy and Pickett as well as Gunnar against another new scary looking Russian Sambo guy. Hopefully tonights event can make up for Villa losing. It's an incredible card.

Hopefully the damage is minor. Any progress Clark has made seems to vanish when Vlaar is injured.

They realised it was impossible before they tried? They still tried anyway? They really are idiots then, eh? I don't think Bannan is on particularly low wages either. He was on £20k/wk + here for some reason. Palace not wanting to loan to a relegation rival is very plausible, but surely that contradicts your assertion that it was fan power stopping the loan.

I think we're in with a reasonable chance here. My only worry is that their midfield look more than capable of dominating ours. Oh, and Mirallas seems to be in form. Jon Stones and Alcatraz though? Benteke has got to fancy that.

Palace probably wanted Swansea to cover all of his wages and that cost more than either of the two players they did loan, so they opted against it.

Surely they can't attribute all of those 6 points to Bannan when calculating his value. That would be ridiculous, only a nutter would do that. It's a team game, remember? What about Chamakh who scored the goal, surely he gets at least half of the credit? What about Jerome who assisted Bannan? Half the credit again surely? And that's without even considering the players who earned the clean sheets. Defending isn't Bannan's job remember.

Surely fan power would have gotten him in to the starting line up? Or does that only work for stopping loans? That seems pretty pointless if the fans can stop loans out but not get the player in the team. Maybe they don't have any say in who gets loaned out after all. Maybe Swansea got their preferred targets of Fulton and Emnes...

MELT DDDDDDOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its the friday meltdoooown! Do do do doooo, do do do do doooooo.

Post of the year.

I suppose they'll find out at the end of the season if it was worth it. If WBA finish ahead of them now surely their owners will be pissed. What if it's the difference between 17th and 18th? Seems like high risk just to spite mean old Villa.

Can anyone confirm where he's going and whether its a permanent move or just a loan?

oh **** off and *******, you ****** ****** Come on then, outside 10 minutes, just need to find my fighting gloves They're where you left them. In your purse. *shadowboxing*

They host Chelsea and Liverpool as well visiting Pulis and his clean sheet machine in their next 3. If a few other teams pick up points they could be close after that.