midds

Couldn't agree more.

Got to admit, I'm massively worried by his refusal to deal with the Nolan situation. That's the nettle that needs to be grasped but he simply won't.

Do the kids still have mass battles on the school field? Every single day. Football's got nothing to do with it but they seem to like to fight each other.

If he's so blinkered that he refuses to acknowledge the problem, let alone deal with it, then we're going to drop points and fall down the league as a result. I don't think Ashley is the most patient bloke in the world and if we're in the shit in February then I'm expecting him to pull the trigger. It may be a bit premature to talk of his loyalty to Nolan costing Hughton his job but he's got more chance of being sacked if he continues to pick him as opposed to dropping him.

The game I worry most about losing. Probably not the biggest/most important but it's the one I'd least like to lose thank you very much. Losing a derby is the single, most gut-wrenching point of the season... especially when you live and work with the cunts who've just turned you over. It's awful and stays with you for months. :-[

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/8420810.Hughton_says_he_will_stick_with__key__man_Nolan/ If that's honestly what he thinks and he truly believes that Nolan is a key player for us he'll have deserved the P45 which will inevitably come when Ashley starts getting twitchy. I can forgive him for picking him if he's the best option but there is no reason to play him when he contributes little to nothing over the 90 minutes on a regular basis. His goals covered up for his poor play last year but there's no absolutely reason to make him the fulcrum of our team now. He shouldn't be anywhere near the first XI.

Striker first. No good having a good defence if we can't find the back of the net. He's our poorest player and the one being targetted every game by the opposition. He's costing us goals, games and points. Striker is number 2, granted.

First position that needs strengthening in January is this finding someone to replace this muppet. Simpson is wank but less shit than this fucker. Complete liability.

Stoke are effective but very limited. It's not a surprise when they pump it forward and sling it in the box as early as they can, you either deal with it or you don't. Today when they turned the screw a bit we buckled and couldn't deal with it. It's not pretty but they're the ones going back with 3 points in their back pockets. We never created enough to win the game and they did, fair play to them. Don't like it but they did a number on us.

On a knife-edge atm. Stay up by 2 points or go down by 2. Days like today where we throw points away because of poor decisions being made by the management are frighteningly similar to 08/09.

Pulis, to his credit, got his subs absolutely spot on. He changed the game in his teams favour with a full 40 mins left on the clock. Hughton brought ben arfa and tiote off and changed things unnecessarily trying to be fucking clever.

Cost us the game today without a shadow of a doubt. Taking off your best players when they're playing well is mental. He's undoing all of his good work because he hasn't got the bollocks to bring off nolan. Spineless.

I refuse to believe that a decent keeper hasn't become available for a modest amount of money who wouldn't be streets ahead of Almunia in the last few years. Wenger simply hasn't addressed the most obvious weakness in his squad.

Champions League and European Cup are different competitions in the way in which teams entered them. Yep, you have to win more than twice as many games to win the Champions League. 'play', not 'win'. You can also afford to lose a couple along the way. Which helps, obviously. [/splitting hairs]

Imagine if that was Barton...

I know, my friend.

Making the place into a subscription type forum would go totally against everything we've tried to build up. 0% chance of happening. The forum's free for all to use (but obviously any donations of any size are very welcome.)

Gotcha.

best

This thing still going?

Play the same team for this competition. If they're good enough to knock out Chelsea on their own park then I see no reason why Hughton should change it. Obviously if we get through the next couple of rounds with the kids then we should step it up a bit but they deserve the chance to go as far as they can. Still not that arsed about the LC on the whole though.

Picked the right team for the game, rode our luck a bit but went to Stamford Bridge and scored 4. Massive credit to Hughton for tonight.

Canny result like.

Any chance Moyes could walk though?

I'd start mostly with the XI who started at Accrington. Bringing in Campbell, Smith and Gutierrez to keep them ticking over. Don't particularly give a shit about the LC (never have in all honesty) and Sunday's game is far more important.