ohmelads

I saw your game and couldn't believe you didn't win about 10-0. India were clueless. There must have been about 15 clear cut chances. Too many of your players seemed to pass responsibility. Too often space opened up for a strike on goal only 8 yards out but someone would try just one more pass. All you need is half a yard to score a goal but it seemed they wanted to walk it into an open net. A clinical more selfish striker would have bagged 5 or 6 in this game. Is Park Chu Young out for the tournament? You need someone up front who will put those chances away.

Whilst I don't rate Routledge at this level (6 Premier League clubs, 0 goals), it would be mad to loan him without a replacement definitely coming in. Him and Jonas are the only fit specialist wingers at the club. Ben Arfa's out for a while yet and may go up front anyway, while Barton is our only other option there. This makes no sense at all unless someone better is coming in to replace him this month. Perhaps Pardew has been told to sell before he buys.

There are plenty of footballers who are quick. Ranger for starters is pretty quick but never starts. I agree we need some more pace in the team but if there is one position we certainly don't need 'cover' or more mediocrity it's up front. Right wing we could make a case for this kind of signing, as we only have two recognised wingers plus Barton, and neither of the specialist wingers has any end product. But up front, we need either an obvious improvement or don't bother. We've got about 7 forwards as it is.

We have a tonne of mediocre forwards at the club, we don't need to acquire more dead wood. We need quality. This would smell like a token signing to show we did something in the transfer window and backed the new manager.

I don't think that is necessarily accurate, he may have simply wanted to win and put out the strongest team available to him. We can argue that was not the wisest course, and certainly hindsight allows us to do that. I don't have much faith in them (the back-ups) though, and I daresay you don't either, so there may well be an element of truth. He said after the game his players were "running on empty". You don't play people in that state unless you think the subs will lose you the game. The team lineup was a statement in itself, we all knew players needed a rest with the mackems coming up but noone wanted to throw the tie by fielding a ridiculously weak team. I think everyone was surprised at the utter lack of faith shown in the bench players and youngsters, some of whom knocked Chelsea out the carling cup. I'm sure Pardew would privately admit it backfired badly but in his efforts to explain the defeat he said the players he picked were exhausted which shows he didn't have faith in the fresh subs who didn't get a game.

just assuming that, if we signed Larsson for 1.5m for 45k, will you still happy for that? figures are fictitious but I think most of the people here would only prefer Larsson if that's clearly a "bargain". if not, Larsson isn't that attractive tbh. Well none of us know, perhaps he is sitting on his contract to get a lucrative bosman move in the summer. Still, Pardew seemed pretty confident of a deal with all of his mouthing off in the press, and this was clearly the deal he was after, given the timing of his comments and the accepted bid.

4 wins will take us to 40 points, and the highest ever relegated points total was 42 (West Ham), so you may be right. However it could be higher this year as even the bottom team has 20 points with 16 games to play.

On the other hand, many people are informed and inquisitive - some people might even understand the difference in connotation between "no difference between Koreans and Chinese" as opposed to "no difference between Koreans and Japanese"... To be fair, without google sat in front of them, I can't say I know many people who would have said Iran is not Arabic with any authority on the subject. Most wouldn't even know. There's nothing wrong with not knowing something most people don't know and later admitting it and apologising. Generalising about how Arab nations play football really is no better or worse than generalising how hispanic people play football. Football has different styles around the world. You could quite easily say to anyone in Northern Europe that hispanic players play-act far too much and the vast majority of people would nod in agreement. It would take a matter of seconds to find similar comments on these boards where noone has reacted.

Yeah, maybe you're right. However, the Larsson deal is a bit different as it would be using the window and his contract situation to get a decent player for a good price. I'm confident in the ability of our first XI to get a few more wins yet. However, a couple of injuries anywhere on the pitch and we'll be losing week in week out. We have seen before how teams can spiral after christmas, and with the nature of the league this year it can happen to anyone. West Brom were up around the champions league spots not long ago and winning loads of plaudits, now they're 2 points off bottom. We've been fortunate that key players such as Enrique, Tiote, Coloccini, Barton and Carroll have not missed many games. But look at the games they did miss - we dropped points. Bring in Perch, Smith, Guthrie, Routledge and we're a different animal altogether. West Ham and Wigan was a vital 6 points but it papered over the cracks in terms of our squad. Can this squad get us through the season, or will a few injuries/suspensions see a dramatic dip in form? I'd rather not chance it, and feel even just one player such as Larsson would make a big difference to our options and our chances over the next 5 months. You only have to see Pardew's team selection against Stevenage to know he doesn't have faith in any of them even against League Two opposition.

Pretty disappointing that we have seemingly missed out on two of our main targets due to wage demands. This window really is critical to the rest of our season, as we will find out every time we lose a first team player and turn to our bench to replace him. You only have to look at our bench to see points will be dropped against all but the worst teams. If beating Wigan and thumping West Ham without Carroll gave Ashley a false sense of security, then Stevenage should have been a timely wake up call. His manager Pardew had so little faith in his bench players let alone youngsters that he admitted to fielding his exhausted first XI a week before sunderland. Many myself included thought it was a mad team selection, but either way Pardew clearly has no faith in any of them. We may be able to snap up a more expensive player than Larsson and even get him on a lower wage, but financially the cost is the same. It is worrying but perhaps predictable that we simply don't have the money for these players.

Looks that way on his performances so far.

If your players are so exhausted that they can't compete with Stevenage then why pick them? And why tire them even further ahead of a huge game next week? Why not play some fresher players, Kadar, Ranger, Guthrie, and Ferguson for starters? He sees his players in training and if he knew they were "running on empty" why did they play? I can't believe Xisco didn't even make the subs bench given the circumstances - injuries, fatigue, sunderland next week. Baffling decisions, he made a real pig's ear of it. Bottled playing any of his younger players, tired his team out ahead of a massive derby game and lost one of his best players for three games. What a mess. Using fatigue as an excuse when you left your fresh players out is just embarrassing. We lost 4-0 to Arsenal in the other cup then battered the mackems. We just have to hope the players react the same way again. Only Enrique and Jonas were rested so don't expect a fresher team.

Partly bad luck I think. We had 20 shots against Man City and plenty of goalmouth scrambles where we could have scored one, same story against Wigan, but it just didn't happen for us. City go up the other end and it deflects off two different players and past the keeper from an unlikely angle. Just unlucky. Some of it has to do with defenders backing off and defending too deep. It seems players like Simpson and Perch are scared of making the tackle in case they get skinned and left for dead, and instead try to rely on their pace to stay with the player. Both should take a leaf out of Enrique's book, he gets tight to players and knows he can match them for pace, and uses his strength and always takes them towards the corner flag. He's not only our best defender but I'd argue he's our best player. You look at Simpson and Perch and they're a yard off the advancing player and if he gets within shooting range he won't try to go past them he'll just have a dig. If you allow people shots on goal and rely too often on tackling of the last ditch variety and making blocks then this sort of thing will happen.

Put a weakened team like we did against Arsenal. If we get knocked out then it shows we did not have the squad to be fighting on two fronts this season. It's as simple as that for me. If we come up against bigger opposition next round then by all means bring out the big guns and have a go but this is Stevenage - if our bench players can't beat them then we obviously don't have the squad to go on a cup run.

Maybe you're right but we still need a squad so we're not bricking it every time there's an injury. I don't know a whole lot about Larsson but if he's as good as people are making out (better than Jonas) and he's that price then for a club on a budget looking to build he'd be a shrewd addition. He has 5 assists for a club 2 points off bottom place which suggests he's got something. Good age, Premier League experience, cheap. Barton's doing a brilliant job on the right, but there'll be times when he's injured, loses form, or has to move inside due to an injury to Nolan. I don't fancy Routledge at all to be honest either as backup or to bring off the bench.

Ameobi, Lovenkrands, Best, Xisco, Ranger. They are 5 forwards who have achieved nothing at this level, and the fear is that if we lose Carroll, any 2 of those 5 will lead the line. Two games against perhaps the worst opposition in the league can't hide the fact that we'd be worried fielding any 2 from that lot against any decent team. However, it may be that we have to pray on Carroll's fitness (which is usually fine) and use 1 of this lot to partner him until Ben Arfa returns. It is somewhat ironic that we have loads of forwards, that only a few teams have scored more than us, yet we are crying out for another striker. Do we really want a 7th forward? And I haven't included Nolan or Ben Arfa in that list. Surely 2 of Lovenkrands, Best and Xisco have to go first (I exclude Ameobi because he's the only one to offer physical presence in Carroll's absence). Compare that to the situation on the wings, and I'd argue out wide is a bigger priority. Jonas and Barton is not bad but with only Routledge as backup we are light in a key area. Wingers are known for their lack of consistency and it's good to have another option. When I see Routledge on the bench I don't see someone who can really change a game. This is all confused of course by the return of Ben Arfa and where he will play. From the very little we saw I think he'd suit playing up front and drifting out wide when he wants. Therefore, if you add him to our forwards, then we currently have 7! Again, not including Nolan. Spend the money on a quality winger, perhaps take a punt on Bentley or someone else and we can deal with the striker situation in the summer. We have a ridiculous number of mediocre forwards and I wouldn't want to see us bring in another average forward. Proven strikers are expensive at the best of times but in January noone will want to let their striker go. Do we really want to loan in Keane, a player with his best days long behind him, who will expect to start despite having not scored or even played in donkeys?

The random bench appearances have always puzzled me when it was clear that he wouldn't come on. Is he that bad? Or is it just a seriously poor attitude? Pardew was happy to tell the media about Ranger being late to training, but has been totally silent over Xisco. Surely if we had totally written him off we'd have loaned him out again. Even if we're paying most of the wages it would recoup something. The way the club and various managers have handled the situation makes little sense so maybe there is something we don't know but I can't possibly think what. Either give him a chance, or do what you have to do and get rid via loan or free transfer. It will be incredible if he doesn't feature against Stevenage, given the circumstances of our recent fixure list, injuries and a huge upcoming game against the mackems.

Only Man City would offer that much for a striker with 11 goals in the Premier League. I would imagine Spurs' offer to be somewhere near half that. But anyway, even if we did receive a tempting offer such as that, everyone knows you're loaded and you won't get deals like the Ben Arfa or Tiote one. A they know you're desperate for a replacement and B they know you're flush with cash. Look how much Liverpool forked out for Aquilani after the whole world saw them get a huge amount for Alonso.

You don't move forward by selling your best players. Yes if it's a Thierry Henry situation where you look at their age, injuries, form and so on and decide they are on the way downhill. Or Ronaldinho at Barca where you decide the player's heart isnt in it any more and may not rediscover his form. But not a 21 year old hometown player who wants to stay and has his career ahead of him. We let our talented players go in the 80s and it didn't do us any good. Look at Everton since Rooney left as an example, they have done alright but it didn't move them forward. Yes that money could be reinvested but unless Man City come in with crazy money then we'd be mad to sell him. Not just for what we'd lose on the field but in terms of the message it would send out to everyone - current players, prospective players, fans, the lot. Let's not do a West Ham and become a feeder club for the big clubs.

Should have won this comfortably, we had more than enough chances to put ourselves out of sight. We came up against a bad team having a bad day. But whatever, it's a big 3 points. Wigan look much more like relegation candidates than we do on this evidence, bearing in mind this was at their ground too.

It's been far from vintage football but its been very effective going forward. Wigan's defence is very poor and including the goal we've had 7 good chances but just the 1 goal to show for it. You get the feeling a second goal will kill them off but at 1-0 they are very much in this game. We need to keep doing what we're doing, at the rate we are creating chances we certainly deserve a second goal. Carroll would have loved some of these balls coming in. Having said that, Shola bar the shocking miss has been a problem for them. We've had a few scares at the back and Wigan have wasted a couple of big chances but we thoroughly deserve the lead at half time. Barton's delivery has been excellent. I'd like to see Ranger on for Loven at some point.

Bentley would be a risk but well worth taking imo. We only have two wingers at the club, and in terms of his final ball he has much more quality than Routledge or Jonas. He's proven in the Premier League and a good age. One or two question marks about his form and attitude but beggar's can't be choosers, our stock has fallen and we don't have stacks of cash.

I agree. It has all the signs of another failed signing. Although our squad is so weak that a loan deal would be well worth it. If we're looking to sign someone permanently we'd be better off spending our money on someone who isn't a journeyman and has actually scored and played competitive football in recent history.

Up to this point in the relegation season (19 league games), Owen was averaging 1 in 2 games. (7 in 14 starts & 1 sub appearance in the league, plus 2 in 2 in the Carling Cup). These two posts highlight the importance of the transfer window. I remember Spurs were down there with us at christmas, we made a profit selling Given and N'Zogbia and got relegated. Spurs spent their way out of trouble and have never looked back. You look at our squad and two or three injuries to key players will leave us in a lot of trouble. Take out Carroll and Enrique for a handful of games and we'll struggle to pick up points even against the weakest teams. In fact take out any of the first XI and we struggle. See the West Brom game (missing Barton and Coloccini) or Spurs (missing Nolan and Enrique) and we instantly looked hopeless. The flip side of this is that our first XI is decent and a couple of sound reinforcements would leave us in a strong position when you look at some of the teams/squads beneath us. It is all about that January window and getting one or two decent players in so we don't have panic stations over one or two injuries. I reckon there'll be a couple of reinforcements, nobody not even Ashley replaces a popular manager mid-season and gives the new guy nothing, it would just be ludicrous. I'd much rather they're promising loan signings rather than token cheapo buys like Lovenkrands or Best. Either bring in Premier League quality or don't bother.

Winger and striker are key. We are probably the only club in the league trying to get through a season with just 2 wingers in its squad. Add to that the fact that one of them, Routledge, has had 6 different Premier league clubs (a record) and is still yet to score at this level. Astonishing. His assists rate isn't much better. He's a waste of a shirt at this level. A smart signing to get us through the Championship but out of his depth now. There's a tonne of dead wood and cheap backup all over the squad but the first XI isn't bad. The first XI has a couple of glaring weaknesses though and they are right wing and up front. Those are the areas we should be looking to improve, not more cheap squad signings. More Routledges, Bests and Lovenkrands type signings will not help us, bring in a right winger and a striker of Premier League quality and we will see differences immediately.