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Does he fit into our strongest XI these days? I'm not sure he does any longer. We all know he takes a long time on the ball, and we look at our best moving quickly, not relying on dribblers. And, really, has he actually got any better in the last few seasons?
For a long time he was our most creative player. Not having a dig at him. I just don't think he is any more.
The Les/Ray/Two Andys on the wing team was fantastic. Realistically, the early 90s was the best team I can remember at Loftus Road – memories of the 70s are far too faint, and I wasn't really paying attention to football in my teens, because music took over.
The team that's given me most pleasure, though, was the Warnock promotion team. First, we won something at the end. Second, I doubt I'll ever again see a footballer allowed to play like Adel did that season.
Yeah, I don't understand why Cook starts when there are two fit centre backs. Yes, he could beat blokes who challenge him on Twitter in a 100m race. But, sadly, that's not who he's up against in the Championship. I presume he's there for knowledge and experience – maybe Stephan just doesn't trust Morrison and Mbengue together – but his slowness is a real problem.
Koné is starting to worry me. When he joined – yeah, no preseason, he'll get the weight off and get fast, and in the meantime he seems to be scoring anyway. But it's November and he looks, if anything, even less fit. His lack of pace today was embarrassing at times. And he doesn't look like scoring at all at the moment.
I've seen a lot of comedians complaining about the rise of crowd work – they have to do it because it what gets attention on socials. They feel it rewards the quick insult rather than the well-worked joke.
Paradoxically, it's a maths game rather than a words game. You win by assessing probabilities of your opponent having the letters to exploit what you lay. The best Scrabble players are often mathematicians whose knowledge of the words extends no further than their application on a Scrabble board.
The reason teams are happy without possession – at least this was the Pulis and Mourinho logic, when they started doing it 20 years ago – is that you can't make mistakes on the ball if you don't have possession, and it is mistakes that are more likely to result in goals – misplaced passes, caught in possession etc. The logic behind Stoke's willingness to go for throws and take them long was not just about attacking threat, it was about using up time. If you are an underdog team, the less time the ball spends in play, the better it is for you. I remember being appalled when I read a book about coaching that went into it all.
I truly think a big part of it is simply that he now has a quick, mobile set of players around him, which enables his biggest strength – his range of passing – into play.
Obviously, he's more confident, but he was also not the right player to be paired with last year's forward line.
Madsen induces madness in some people in a way I have never seen before with one of our own players.
Last season, in one game where he was subbed off, he walked around the edge of the pitch back tp the dugouts, past us in the West Paddock. A fella from a row or two back ran down the perimeter wall and walked alongside him for 10 yards, screaming filth at him from a foot away. Spittle flying out, cheeks purple. My son got up to try to calm him, fella pushed him away. I got up and had a word. He pushed me and sent me staggering.
Is that worth it because a midfielder had a bad game? Really?
He doesn't wear the poppy for reasons he has articulated clearly. By doing so he has shown he has thought more clearly about its meaning than any of those people who insist everyone must wear one from the start of October and shouting at those who don't that they hate Britain.
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