madras

thats looking purely at stats. how many times have you seen games where the stats say 1-0 but the losing team were the better team,had more chances etc. only 3 away defeats.....thats more away defeats than every other team in the top half.

as in a few games this season we haven't played much better than the opposition but had a shed load of chances. the last few games the chances have been drying up. it really wouldn't take much improvement, which i think is within the squad, to have this league won by easter. So you're pretty happy with the season so far then? not with the performances as i've stated a few times i think there is a good bit of improvement available from the squad. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being very unhappy and 10 being very happy? results 7 performances 5

as in a few games this season we haven't played much better than the opposition but had a shed load of chances. the last few games the chances have been drying up. it really wouldn't take much improvement, which i think is within the squad, to have this league won by easter. So you're pretty happy with the season so far then? not with the performances as i've stated a few times i think there is a good bit of improvement available from the squad.

strange career in that he came to prominence relatively late then died away when you'd expect a player with that talent to keep going.

as in a few games this season we haven't played much better than the opposition but had a shed load of chances. the last few games the chances have been drying up. it really wouldn't take much improvement, which i think is within the squad, to have this league won by easter.

he also probably learned more last night than in all his previous games put together.

I think the results have raised people's expectations about performances. Gradually expectations have changed since August. Not sure why like. At the start of the season, we werent seriously expecting imperious displays from Nolan, Smith, Jonas etc? not imperious but better than what they've been turing out. The only anomaly of this season for me is Scunthorpe. Blackpool are brilliant at home, Bristol City, QPR and Forest are all in-form teams and promotion contenders. the performances against sheff weds,leicester,bristol city (whom when we played them were coming off a run of 3 draws, 1 defeat, 1 win...hardly in form),were poor and we couldn't have complained has sheff weds and leicester had taken a point off us. City are up to 5th and only 3 points off an automatic promotion place, therefore they are one of the form sides of the league at the moment. Did well to beat Leicester, they've had a great run too (since they are 4th), we never looked like losing to Sheff weds either. they are one of the form teams at the moment but weren't when we played them. it's the nature of this division that teams will go on those sort of runs then runs of defeats. we never looked like losing to sheff weds but they had some very clear chances in the second half and could easily have got a point. They are if you judge form over 15 games. they've won 6 out of fifteen. hardly anything to get worked up over. Lost less than us. thats why you get more points for winning.

I think the results have raised people's expectations about performances. Gradually expectations have changed since August. Not sure why like. At the start of the season, we werent seriously expecting imperious displays from Nolan, Smith, Jonas etc? not imperious but better than what they've been turing out. The only anomaly of this season for me is Scunthorpe. Blackpool are brilliant at home, Bristol City, QPR and Forest are all in-form teams and promotion contenders. the performances against sheff weds,leicester,bristol city (whom when we played them were coming off a run of 3 draws, 1 defeat, 1 win...hardly in form),were poor and we couldn't have complained has sheff weds and leicester had taken a point off us. City are up to 5th and only 3 points off an automatic promotion place, therefore they are one of the form sides of the league at the moment. Did well to beat Leicester, they've had a great run too (since they are 4th), we never looked like losing to Sheff weds either. they are one of the form teams at the moment but weren't when we played them. it's the nature of this division that teams will go on those sort of runs then runs of defeats. we never looked like losing to sheff weds but they had some very clear chances in the second half and could easily have got a point. They are if you judge form over 15 games. they've won 6 out of fifteen. hardly anything to get worked up over. and yes they are 3 points off a promotion spot....4 points off twelfth aswell.

I think the results have raised people's expectations about performances. Gradually expectations have changed since August. Not sure why like. At the start of the season, we werent seriously expecting imperious displays from Nolan, Smith, Jonas etc? not imperious but better than what they've been turing out. The only anomaly of this season for me is Scunthorpe. Blackpool are brilliant at home, Bristol City, QPR and Forest are all in-form teams and promotion contenders. the performances against sheff weds,leicester,bristol city (whom when we played them were coming off a run of 3 draws, 1 defeat, 1 win...hardly in form),were poor and we couldn't have complained has sheff weds and leicester had taken a point off us. City are up to 5th and only 3 points off an automatic promotion place, therefore they are one of the form sides of the league at the moment. Did well to beat Leicester, they've had a great run too (since they are 4th), we never looked like losing to Sheff weds either. they are one of the form teams at the moment but weren't when we played them. it's the nature of this division that teams will go on those sort of runs then runs of defeats. we never looked like losing to sheff weds but they had some very clear chances in the second half and could easily have got a point.

I think the results have raised people's expectations about performances. Gradually expectations have changed since August. Not sure why like. At the start of the season, we werent seriously expecting imperious displays from Nolan, Smith, Jonas etc? not imperious but better than what they've been turing out. The only anomaly of this season for me is Scunthorpe. Blackpool are brilliant at home, Bristol City, QPR and Forest are all in-form teams and promotion contenders. the performances against sheff weds,leicester,bristol city (whom when we played them were coming off a run of 3 draws, 1 defeat, 1 win...hardly in form),were poor and we couldn't have complained has sheff weds and leicester had taken a point off us.

I think the results have raised people's expectations about performances. Gradually expectations have changed since August. Not sure why like. At the start of the season, we werent seriously expecting imperious displays from Nolan, Smith, Jonas etc? not imperious but better than what they've been turing out.

so far, better results than expected, worse performances than expected. hopefully there is better to come from the squad we have (and personally i think there is), otherwise we'll get caught out. you can't go on turning in poor performances and getting away with it.

nope.

he wasn't. he was poor. but he was no worse than the rest of the midfield and took more responsibility than the rest. The players who took responsibility were Coloccini, Enrique, Nolan and Carroll. Butt was a complete passenger. By the way, it's entirely possible the tactic last night was to use 2 players holding, we've been losing away games lately and leaking goals, you know. It works well if you lots of creativity on the flanks by the wide men and the fullbacks. Obviously we're lacking in those areas other than with Enrique, but if the idea was to keep it tight it's likely both Smith and Butt were holding players, I can see no other reason for selecting Butt ahead of Guthrie in the middle. i find it unlikely that we set out with a tactic of no-one getting forward from the middle at all and at under any circumstances. even nolan played further up than he normaslly does when playing with one recognised forward leaving a huge gap in behind which should havemy en filled by one of the other two.....smith in my opinion. edit. i meant more responsibility than the rest of the midfield. i'll not include nolan as he played more up front than midfield.

Adam Johnson. rubbish pfffft. Thats the height of just-to-muchery. an apt way to sum up ron.

seems quite tidy with the ball at his feet when holding it up aswell (if only we had someone trying to run on)

not at this level

he wasn't. he was poor. but he was no worse than the rest of the midfield and took more responsibility than the rest.

The reason he doesn't go that far forward is because he understands the role of a defensive midfielder. Butt has played in that position all his life and still doesn't understand that you don't press the ball ridiculously high up the pitch as you can have the ball passed around you easy. I can't believe anyone still champions the cause of Nicky Butt. you can see him look round and think that no one is pressing and we are just inviting the pressure back on. you can also watch him look round and see his midfield partners aren't going to move forwrads to support whoever has the ball up front. he knows he hasn't the legs to do it but has to try cos of the crapness of those around him. are you seriously saying alan smith was better than butt tonight and that if anyone was playing a more defensive role who should it have been ? Oh dear. Butt was terrible tonight. Absolutely terrible. The game pretty much passed him by. you can change butt for smith and the post still works.....why do you reckon butt made the odd move forward. was it tactics or do you think he took repsonsibility as no f***er elde would......or has all season or last season come to that.

take the frequently out of that sentence and it is still true.

Adam Johnson. good call

quite probably.

true..players who play crap are easy targets and sometimes the sheep will follow the correct course. Even sheep can see donkeys when they're put in front of them. (confucious say...) Team selection and tactics are the biggest problem no doubt but players such as Butt and Harewood are too old/ineffectual and I get frustrated by it. rather butt than smith since late september.

possibly already done.... http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00453/darren_ferguson_280_453062a.jpg http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:kqBfQih1ULm0LM:http://www.sitcom.co.uk/league_gentlemen/images/char_lipp.jpg

true..players who play crap are easy targets and sometimes the sheep will follow the correct course.