Laivasse

Something needs to be sorted out between Delph and KEA. Both of them have a tendency to drop really deep which leaves the midfield empty. Having two players perform the same role in more or less the same place is like having one less player.

Very early days, but I like the look of Bennett.

Very worrying how they're cutting up our back line.

I might have missed some injury news, but how come Baker's not even near the bench these days?

Sidwell playing fantastic for Fulham :S

Starting Gabby and Benteke is a good idea IMO. Benteke needs a few games in a row to build up his rhythm in a new league and Gabby's less likely than Bent to go missing in this kind of game. Might cool off Bent's billy big bollocks attitude if he's developing one, too.

Bennett's had a solid game today.

Can't see where a real chance is going to come from. Bit of a stagnant game.

Gabby seems to be playing deeper than Benteke and trying to feed him rather than vice versa. Not sure if it shouldn't be the other way around. Gabby's crossing has been sweet but it's not typically what you put Gabby on the pitch for. Stupid challenge, Delph. Could easily have been red. How has he not learnt to tackle better in all this time?

Ball hits Albrighton's raised arm in the area, no pen. 2nd time lucky.

KEA will be key today. If he can't bring some assurance to the midfield we'll have no possession.

Lowton sloppy, Delph switched off, and suddenly they have a sitter they have to miss. Wake up lads.

Vicious cross from Gabby. Sweet as hell.

From what I understand, there is quite a different feel between the gunpowder-centric, later entries in the series like Empire and Napoleon, and the other titles in the series like Rome, Medieval 2 and Shogun 2. Personally I never felt the draw of the Empire-type titles and stayed well away, plus the critical reception seemed kind of lukewarm too. If you have any kind of interest in the series, I wouldn't write it off totally until you've tried one of the better-received instalments. Having said that, all my complaints further up about DLC still remain.

He isn't, and hasn't been for a while. Can't blame him for not noticing the difference, tbh.

Game over. None of Ireland's bite, back line total rubbish, like a team made of tissue paper atm.

Only just got back to start watching the game, lovelt looking scoreline, then that happens instantly All too confused and toothless from Lichaj, bannan and others there.

I guess there's a worry that if this kind of thing becomes ingrained in to your footballing culture, then an implicit threat develops that teams will throw matches in your rivals' favour if you don't pay.

I said Benteke wasn't reading what Bent was doing either, meaning that moment was Benteke's fault. You're reading it like I put that one on Bent. Doesn't really matter whose fault it is when stuff isn't coming off.

In fairness, it was given to Vlaar for the Swansea game.

It's not competition for Bent if he's never getting swapped out as long as he's available. You talk about Bent getting fans on his back, but I can think of 7-8 players who routinely take far more flak than Bent does even when he's not producing. He was part of several fluff up moments which would have seen someone like Ireland get dog's abuse, yet apparently that's not even enough impetus to bring on Gabby for the last 15 minutes...?

Those are the 2 handy crosses I mentioned, which were nice but still didn't make Bent irreplaceable, any more than the half dozen missed sitters Gabby provided for Bent last season made Gabby irreplaceable. Bent's wtf moments are what I'm talking about, since they were played into feet and Bent still messed up his touch due to lack of concentration. Benteke's goal shouldn't go down as link up play or combination... it's just an unforced error (and a great finish). So in 20 minutes, as long as Benteke doesn't whiff the sitter, you'd have one potentially complete pass resulting in a real chance. But then Benteke still whiffed the sitter, so he wasn't reading what Bent was doing either - not great link up. Not saying they won't link up better in future, but in my book we wanted Gabby on at that stage to see what he offered.

I'm sure they'll all grow in terms of understanding eachother's play, but before we got given a bit of a gift we were still only one goal to the good and nothing seemed to be coming off between Bent and Benteke. It would have been nice to bring on Gabby to see if he generated a bit of instant, Carew-style link up. Especially since Gabby looked very good when coming on vs Newcastle.

He pointlessly took a header off Benteke's head and surrendered possession with some rapist first touch after a pass from Benteke a couple of times. I expect marquee strikers not to do that, so...? The defender's screwup for the goal can hardly be attributed to Bent. He had a middling game, if I'm generous. Nothing special apart from 2 handy crosses. That's literally all he did.

Gabby should have been on for Bent towards the end of that Swansea game. Bent was having a rough game and was screwing up all his interplay with Benteke.