ohmelads

Said it before the match, during the match and I'll say it now, we need defenders and fast. If you think that's a disgrace then you're a bit of a drama queen and/or looking for attention (which is pretty obvious given the caps lock).

Apparently Allardyce was cut off mid-sentence so that's all Lee Ryder could throw down.

Commentators pleading for the final whistle "come on ref it's honours even"

Solano - volley - goal. 1-1. Quality strike. Took it on his chest 18 yards out and volleyed it.

Chance for Danny Graham, good positioning from Krul.

Considering Scunthorpe are in the Championship and Carlisle are a division lower, I'd say our scoreline is more embarrassing.

Perhaps, but at what cost?

That's a shocking back line.

Well Allardyce seems to think they do need convincing. We don't know that sufficient money is there, all we know is what he's told us, which is that the board have been slow to act and that deals have been falling through which suggests money is very possibly an issue.

Might convince the board we need some defenders urgently.

According to .cock Dyer is on the left wing and N'Zogbia at left back.

Keep us updated then folks.

Barton's the captain. Pissing down with rain over in the west apparently. Just following the updates on .cock.

Strangely enough we have two keepers on the bench, Forster and Krul. Don't see the point myself.

Not in the squad according to .cock. Strange one that, hope he isn't crocked as well.

Seems like about half of our eventual first XI will have missed a good part of our pre-season. Viduka, Owen, Geremi, Milner, Taylor, Emre, Ameobi, Luque, Duff, plus the new players to come in. It's been a patchy pre-season like, I don't expect us to go up against Bolton all guns blazing but I hope I'm wrong of course.

I take it this game goes into extra time? Any news on Viduka?

Maybe he got the job because he's a good coach and the fact he's a Geordie and loved by the fans here was just a big coincidence. I remain sceptical though that both he and Terry Mac got their jobs for sentimental reasons, friendly faces brought in by an under-fire Souness. Time will tell if they stay in their jobs.

This is true if you're talking about bringing one foreigner into an established back four. But to potentially have three of our back four just getting to know each other's name a few days before Bolton, Villa, or whenever, could be a mess and wouldn't give any of them a fair start in what is a tough environment. I do think we don't really have a choice though - if we haven't signed a Premier League defender in the next week we will have to buy our defenders from Europe, we simply don't have the time to mess about and it's good to see Sam at least acknowledges this. We can only hope the board have listened to him.

Don't know anything about his coaching credentials, but I get the impression he was signed up because he's a Geordie and he was cheap and available. Similarly Terry Mac was signed by his old mate Souness. Something tells me the two didn't get their jobs on merit and I'm sure we could find better people. Wouldn't be sad to see either of them go.

Shearer to Blackburn deserves more credit. They'd never have won the league without his goals, and indeed they may never win the league again. Unsurprisingly not one player we've bought made the list.

Good to see he admits that if he does have to go into Europe he'd better do it quick, to give his new signings a chance and give the team some time to stabilise. He's actually making a lot of sesne with regards to transfers at the moment, Premiership experience is worth a lot in defence but if we can't get it we need to move quickly and get the foriegn defenders used to things over here. Interesting semantics here: “If that’s the only option, I’ll have to take it sooner rather than later, but we are trying to bring players in with Premiership experience and we are having to wait to get the right one.” Why? Perhaps he means a Riise/Bridge type of deal where we must wait until a player becomes surplus?

Now now let's not overexaggerate!

Unlike Roeder I don't believe Sam is giving the "let's be patient and it'll all turn out alright" line. Quite the opposite. His recent comments express frustration at the overcaution of the board and their inexperience and his failure to 'get players in for a medical'. This time last year Roeder was telling us to be patient and many actually believed it, yet he was still out scouting at the time. I think Sam knows we have to act now, he's even said so himself, but it's just not working out for one reason or another. Hopefully we can make a breakthrough soon, it's not time to panic but Sam seems pretty concerned about it.

Don't know who Taiwo is but for argument's sake we could pay a bomb on august 31st for Baines because we missed out on Taiwo. Argument goes both ways. I think last summer should serve as a strong reminder that if you try to play a game of brinkmanship with the transfer window you can get your fingers very badly burnt. Who wants to sell their player a week or a day before the window shuts? They won't have time to get a replacement, they'll either tell you to f*ck off or double their original asking price. Remember how we ended up with Sibierski, Rossi and Bernard on Aug 31st?