Wullie

Fucking hell. Howay whoever the fuck Wigan are playing.

Didn't he say after one of the Benfica games that half the players were tired after Thursday and the other half were rusty because they hadn't played on Thursday?

This unbelievably shit crack just completely ignores the fact that we've been utter dross all season of course.

I do think some of those players are a little underrated but I also look at the squad and despite having a few top class players it still doesn't look that amazing He continually gets the best out of players who wouldn't be up to it in any other shirt. If they'd sold Darren Fletcher five years ago back when he was playing 30 league games a season, who would have bought him? Certainly not Chelsea, or Arsenal, or Liverpool (as was), he'd have gone to some mid-table dross like us, like we bought Smith off the back of a MOTM performance in midfield in the CL semi final then he rocked up and could barely kick a ball. Cleverly wouldn't get a sniff of a game for anyone in the top four now but when he puts that red shirt on, he just clicks. I mean John O'Shea ffs. He's not perfect though - even he couldn't train Obertan up to do anything other than trip over his own feet. That's why England are so consistently toss - they pick Man Utd players because they think they're better than the others but without that extra Fergie percentage, Carrick/Cleverly and the likes look lost.

Aye, and Benitez has been complaining about tiredness for months. January 3rd January 27th Mid Feb March April Sorry I thought we were talking about performances and results. They're third and have played in two semi finals with one still to come ffs. And spent half a billion? Sorry, again you're talking about something completely different to me. I thought we were discussing fatigue. Why are their players able to play fifty games and perform while ours can't manage thirty without apparently being completely knackered? Are you claiming they have more stamina depending on how much they cost?

Twat he may be but Ferguson is astonishing. Continually bucks the trend of what modern football expects the top sides to be doing. Imagine a title winning team in any other side in any other top league with a 40 year old bloke and a lightweight passer in central midfield for God's sake. Love how he's never been interested in a pure defensive midfielder whilst the rest of the league/rest of Europe consider it a pre-requisite,

Aye, and Benitez has been complaining about tiredness for months. January 3rd January 27th Mid Feb March April Sorry I thought we were talking about performances and results. They're third and have played in two semi finals with one still to come ffs.

He'll miss it, no question. EDIT: Suarez, not Colo. EDIT: actually both.

Make it up as they go along.

Seriously? if the players are unfit then there is clearly a problem with how train and that is down to the manager. It's not a coincidence we have so many hamstring injuries and other pulls, you don't get those through being unlucky you get that by poor preparation. There is nothing magic about it, why do you think the big clubs get few injuries that are related to hamstrings and the like? Because they prepare properly, if these consistent hamstring injuries are anything to go by we obviously don't. We hardly had a player out all last season. Do you think Pardew has made a change to the fitness regime that has led to a worsening of the situation? I tend to think it's more to do with the fact we played our 50th game of the season over the weekend but we only played 43 in the whole of last season. Put it this way, since the transfer window closed, which losses are we stringing together to say it's sack worthy? The Mackems - definitely. Wigan and Swansea otherwise? Both lost in the dying minutes? I'm stringing together 34 performances and saying they're sack worthy. Indeed. Why does one loss have to be "sack worthy"? The away form alone should have seen him get the bullet months ago.

Seriously? if the players are unfit then there is clearly a problem with how train and that is down to the manager. It's not a coincidence we have so many hamstring injuries and other pulls, you don't get those through being unlucky you get that by poor preparation. There is nothing magic about it, why do you think the big clubs get few injuries that are related to hamstrings and the like? Because they prepare properly, if these consistent hamstring injuries are anything to go by we obviously don't. We hardly had a player out all last season. Do you think Pardew has made a change to the fitness regime that has led to a worsening of the situation? I tend to think it's more to do with the fact we played our 50th game of the season over the weekend but we only played 43 in the whole of last season. None of our players have played over 40 games, only 4 have played more than 30, and one of them is a goalkeeper. Meanwhile most of Chelsea's first team players are on around 45-50 games.

I remember sending about thirty questions into the Chronicle when Souness did one of these.

This lot are the definition of mid table mediocrity without Suarez. No excuses for not beating them at home.

A lot of clubs use Europe as a positive - give some minnows a midweek kicking then send the players out full of confidence on Sunday - Bobby did it all the time, even Souness basically let that principle carry him in his first fifteen games. Not in Pardew's nature though - why get a confidence boosting win when you can grind out a draw against Maritimo?

Thank god for that. Hopefully we'll bounce back next year and possibly qualify for Europe. 50 games! Wow! But only three of our outfield players have played more than 30.

Mucha Neville Duffy Oviedo Barkley Jelavic Naismith Everton's bench yesterday. There's simply no truth in this vast depth that the clubs in the top half supposedly possess. Obviously they have more goals from midfield - their midfield is encouraged to get in the opposition box. We are apparently not allowed more than three players at any stage of an attack.

There isn't a squad outside Manchester/ Chelsea that doesn't have a glaring weakness somewhere or other. For all the talk of only having Shola and Cisse for example, our striking options over the entire season have been miles better than, for example, Everton and even Spurs.

They're putting the fascist's suit from the derby on display in a glass cabinet at the SOS.

Re: fatigue from so many games, the most games anyone has started in our squad is 40 (Cisse). Past that it's Santon with 38, then Gutierrez with 33 then Krul with 31. No other players have played more than 30 games. Yet at Chelsea, Cahill has started 53 games, Ivanovic 51 games, Cole 43, Hazard 43, Ramires 46, I could go on, the numbers remain similar throughout their entire squad. Knackered old Frank Lampard supposedly over the hill and no legs left has started 33 - only two of our players have played more games from the kick off. Blaming fatigue is an insult to our intelligence as fans and the worst thing is that plenty fall for it.

The statistics simply do not back up any correlation between either a Europa League or Champions League campaign having any significant negative effect on league form.

Why hasn't it affected Spurs? It's an utter nonsense.

That's why I've packed in with it. I watch us and basically nothing else. Might catch a CL game once in a blue moon or the Football League show. Can't cope with seeing teams that can attack competently or manage to pass the ball to each other.

Yeah, allows Dembele to be pushed up and be more effective going forward too. There we have two 'criticizing' him. No need for Mole to put the boot in on the lad like that.