Wullie

How did we need exactly the same job as Houllier who took over a 3rd placed Liverpool who also had the best young striker in Europe just arriving? He'd have been fucked to arrive here and find the same striker unable to hit a barn door.

That's astonishing, even for the FA.

He's neat and tidy, that's just about all that can be said of him. Doesn't offer you anything that wouldn't get from a League 1 midfielder or striker, apart from even less goals. I don't even buy the work rate argument personally and I haven't for a while. Only time he looks interested in putting the effort in is when the opposition have the ball and there's a chance to make a moronic tackle. Doesn't chase down lost causes, doesn't break his back to get forward on the break, doesn't make efforts to make meaningful runs into space, just happy to stand as close to the centre half as possible until we lose the ball then he's away, studs flying. Doesn't put in close to the effort of a Bellamy or even a Scott Parker. There was certain games in his first season where Parker would be doing the jobs of the other nine outfield men. I'd be happy for Smith to do his own, he can't even manage that.

Depends what you mean by average. He's not a Premiership player in a month of Sundays.

The Rooney saga was in summer in late August after we peddled Woodgate.

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1187611.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19390335F8FA9CA92A6C5FF0BA426B13DEA9930FDCFC4C15FBB

Good for you, HTT, good for you. Coming over here watching our football, fecking Greeks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/images/2006/11/24/sibierski_equalises_416x300.jpg A better player than Smith in every conceivable way.

One thing we really have to hope for is for the title race to be over by the penultimate game and for Chelsea to still be in the FA Cup and preferably the Champions League. A home win over their reserves in April/May has served us very well in the past. Fingers crossed that the battle for fourth will be over too since we've got to play Everton. God forbid it should go down to the wire but we've got to prepare for the worst.

Is that intentionally ironic? Emre's by far our best set piece taker. It's not a long list but that's why Beye, Owen and Cacapa have profited this season off the top of my head.

I agree. 4.55 on Saturday was nearly as low as I have felt following NUFC and that's some list of candidates. Let's not pretend this is something to be embraced. I never want to feel like that again.

We really need to play Oba from the off. Liverpool's defence is not quick by any means. They've also looked very shaky at set pieces of late, so hope our crossing is up to scratch. Pity there's no Emre since Duff has perfected hitting the first man. Midfield, Christ, I'd probably go for Charlie, Butt, Geremi, Milner. Jesus.

I'm bricking it now. These gaps between games are unbearable.

Which is where you're missing the point entirely. He's been missing these easy chances all season from the very first game.

I don't expect him to keep them up but for this magical player whose missed transfer will send us down, 'd expect him to have shown a hell of a lot more than he has done. I'm really not feeling like we've missed out tbh.

Barnes hasn't exactly kept Derby afloat. 10 points is it?

Man, those Reading and Fulham games and of course the derby, I'll probably have a nervous breakdown.

I think their home form will save them unfortunately.

Boro are in trouble too imo.

Love how it's always the Liverpool fans coming on telling how good he is. Have him back.

We need to stick together more than ever at the moment. The wankers on Fleet Street are absolute loving it.

So it's Allardyce's negative style of play that made him miss all those easy chances earlier in the season? Must have affected us even more than we thought.

That's where I disagree, I'd say that was a bad run of form, which every striker goes through, combined with him still (I know this sounds like an excuse) still getting back his sharpness and the added pressure that comes with being the only bugger who gets chances and where we are in the table. How long is it going to take it to get his "sharpness" back, given that he's started the last 11 games? This bad run of form has lasted all season btw. He missed two genuine open goals for England in one game this season too, I didn't even mention them.

Sorry, how can you justify a Premiership striker who can't score with his feet? If he had 15 goals, fair enough - he's got fucking four! Martins has got more than that and he hasn't played for two fucking month - he's shit though, cos he can't finish. It reminds me of the people who used to say in Shearer's final seasons that it was ok that he was only scoring four goals a season from open play because he stuck a few penalties away. What it amounts to is that no matter how well we play and how many chances we create for Michael Owen, he will miss them. But it's ok, because he might head in a set piece every once in a while. It's not just yesterday either, he's been doing it all season. Most of his "shots" the keeper throws his hat on. The chances he had against Wigan, Arsenal, City, Blackburn, your average Premiership striker - Defoe, Bent, Johnson, Kitson, Kuyt - will score without a second thought. Once or twice is acceptable, nobody's perfect but we're in March and he's missed every single one.

Like yesterday? No one is guaranteed to score in every match. He won't get three better chances than he had yesterday. He's finished. Quicker everyone accepts it, the quicker we can get shot and move on. He's finished because he didn't put the ball an extra inch or two beyond Friedel's foot and dragged a shot from a tight angle wide with Friedel bearing down on him with his weaker foot. Righteo. Fuck's sake. He's started 14 league games and scored no goals with his feet man. He's missed God only knows how many sitters this season. The excuses he is getting are laughable. If Shola had missed those three chances yesterday, he'd have been absolutely pilloried. He should have more goals than he has, no doubt. I just don't think he is finished just because he's 'missed' (right word?) a fair few chances. He is a confidence player and I think once one goes in that will hopefully give him a bit. I think that if that first one had gone in the second would have followed with that other chance, that's Owen. The reason I defend Owen is he's proved all his career that he's a great goalscorer, he's had a quarter of a season to get back into it after basically a year and a half out. The signs are there that he's getting sharper as well, it's not like he's stagnated completely. I find it encouraging that he's still making those intelligent runs and getting in those positions. One will come sooner or later I think that will give him a huge boost and more will follow. Spot on. And, "He's started 14 league games and scored no goals with his feet man." ...does it matter how they go in, like? Couldn't give toss if he's using his nob as a putter and tapping them over the line so long as he scores. Fuck me! He's not scoring! 2 in the last 4. Great. So he can only score from set pieces? We are relying on a 5'6" striker to score enough goals from set pieces to keep us up? I'll get my Visitors Guide to Hull out.