Do you think we'll be more prepared for when Yaya leaves this season? Out form dipped massively when he left and our plan B wasn't great.

How should we cope with this in the new year?

he wont go - he's gonna retire from internationals

Is this confirmed or just your opinion?

Depends on who we buy.
Don't forget Tevez was AWOL then. Various injuries and suspensions as well. Any team would miss a player like him but we'll cope.

Although we lost two big cup games, we managed to win 4 out of the 5 league games while he was away which isn't a particularly bad dip in form.

acon every two years

It's on again this year.

Correct. They've done it so that avoid playing it in the same year as either the Euros or a world cup. From now on, the ACON will be played in every year ending with an odd number (11, 13, 15 etc) whereas the World Cup or the European Championship will be played alternately in every even numbered year (12, 14, 16 etc). That was Bobby's main failing last season. He knew the ACON was coming, but we didn't have a quality alternative for Yaya. I would expect him to rectify that this summer.

There's no guarantee they'll be there, they still have to play a qualifying round. Think the draw is on the 15th of June.

Without wanting to sound like the odious **** Shrek, I hope (for purely selfish reasons) that they don't qualify. Having said that, they are one of the stronger nations in Africa, so they probably will qualify.

:(