Tyrone Shoelaces

If the pitch gets bad the policy of playing out from the back will become more hazardous than ever.

The captain of the first mens team I played for used to wear a large corset under his shirt. He had a bad back - allegedly.

Did you mean “ Shorts “ ? If you did we used to laugh at them, just like I do now.

Oh dear, I hope you’re not waiting too long.

I preferred those shorts for playing in. I’d hate to play in the modern ones flapping around my knees.

What happens with young players is they have a game or two were they look good. Then they have a game or two off the boil. The haven’t yet got the level of consistency that older players develop. Our problem is we have four midfield players that all fit into that category - Morton, Garrett, Wharton and to a great extent Buckley. All of those can look great one day and very average the next. That’s all well and good if we’re content to bump around this league. If we want to get promoted we need better players in central midfield.

Is the object of the exercise 1) Getting promoted ? Or 2) Grooming young players to sell on ? If the answer is 1) We need an experienced midfield “ general “ for the rest of the season. If the answer is 2) We’ll just soldier on treading water.

If we can score first ………

I still have a pair of “ lucky socks “ . Unfortunately I only wear them now for hospital appointments ! They’ve worked so far.

As I said earlier he’s got whilst the end of the season for me. I’m uneasy at the moment. He seems to be getting as much wrong as he’s getting right. Long term that usually leads to the manager getting fired. That’s at a normal club of course.

Far be it for me to make excuses but given the fact we no longer have a reserve team as such - how many of those players will have played together as a team ? Although they are mostly decent players in their own right they lack the cohesion that playing together regularly brings. That cohesion is vital and it was obviously missing last night.

Or fill a place on the bench.

I had all sorts of superstitions in my playing days. I remember having a hot bath just before a game and playing great. So I did that until I had a shocker ! Having a pint before the game. That didn’t last too long. Spending half an hour warming up. Again it worked for a few games until the inevitable poor game. Loads of other involving “ lucky boots laces “ etc.

We need a better class of carrier pigeon.

The point being is Dougie was wearing the No10 shirt most of time when we were wearing the shirt in question.

Paul Mariner was born in Farnworth.

That was my playing weight. No anymore alas.

Bryan Douglas ?

Very much like Messi in his style of play.

It’ll be a while before another nation goes to Pakistan and wins 3-0.

Yeah we needed a few more modest posters

Foden’s got his age in his favour but he needs to be playing more centrally soon. You can only have one conductor in an orchestra. As long as DeBruyne is there he’ll never get the chance.

They’ve been brilliant on this tour. Usually Pakistan is a bit of a graveyard for English touring teams so to win 3-0 is a fantastic effort by all concerned.

If Foden were playing for say Brighton or Leicester he would be getting the valuable experience in the middle of the field and learning how to run the game. As it is he’s a bit part player at City. Same goes for Grealish and Phillips. From a player development point of view signing for City was a backward step.

When other teams know you’re going to be trying to play the ball in inappropriate areas of the pitch they’ll press you more than ever. Mixing the game up by bypassing them with longer balls will make the think twice. It’s obvious that the best place to win the ball back is as near your opponents goal as possible.