Dolman Exile

In the event of a draw after 90 minutes, how about all PL clubs playing a team from a lower division have to pay compensation in the form of 50% gate receipts for a full house at what would have been the replay location. So if we draw 1-1 at home to Man Utd after 90 minutes (even if we go on to lose), Man U have to pay them 50% of a 75,000 crowd in the imaginary replay. The FA can set a standard ticket price.

Before Christmas, Leicester beat teams on reputation. Then everyone realised they weren't that good. Funny how their manager hasn't been shortlisted for Championship Manager of the Season - a Sunday League manager would have been expected to get this squad promoted. The bloke's a fraud!

Sheff Utd finished 11 points above third place. Having cheated their way to Premier League riches and soon, parachute payments wouldn't it be fairer to deduct 12 points which is the number that would have denied them an undeserved promotion? Two points are neither here nor there and there's a danger that points deductions will become a business decision, especially for the yoyo teams. Additionally when a team is deducted points then for a fixed period thereafter any further punishment should be for at least as many points again, irrespective of the tariff for the subsequent offence. There's every chance that Leicester (and possibly others) will end up with rolling deductions and all opportunities to game the system need removing.

So the UEFA License is beginning to sound like ISO9001…? That doesn’t stop you producing a useless product but it does mean you do it to a consistently high standard!

(Hopefully someone with direct experience can shed some light here…?) At professional levels of the game, it’s mandatory to hold a minimum level of UEFA Coaching License. LM is one of a raft of new managers who are all linked by holding the top UEFA Pro License at a relatively young age. He’s not alone in struggling within this cohort. How many of us know what the license entails and could its influence explain some of his recent difficulties? Is it pure coincidence that so many of the so called young, modern managers have similar possession heavy philosophies and playing styles? Is this solely down to growing up in the Guardiola era or are UEFA courses encouraging it? Whether he has or he hasn’t or whether he’s capable of implementing it or not, LM certainly believes that he has a detailed blueprint in his head. Is this what the UEFA courses do, facilitate a manager to choose a formation and pattern of play and then validate it via assessment? Do they leave the programme with a fully assessed and approved Plan A which they are then scared to deviate from? Does it explain why so many supporters of so many clubs lament the lack of a Plan B? I want to believe that LM has a coherent plan that he will quickly find a way to execute but I fear he might be one of a generation of Pep-ball Pro License academics when what we really need is a free thinker or maverick who happens to hold a license?

And the officials all wore sky blue...

We look like a team not used to having so much possession. We can't set any tempo. It's almost as though we need the adrenalin rush of hanging on to a game for dear life to provoke us into some effective attacking play. Hard to compare to Saturday's full commitment.