NewJerseyMag

I hope Owen comes back..... playing for Manu/Everton.... or whoever wants to pay for is massively over-inflated salary...... the Mackems would be nice..... so we can give him a raft of **** for being one of the architects of our downfall. He barely played for years and whenever he did he looked as if he was about to be sick. If he disliked us that much, why didnt he ask for the contract to be annulled and F*** off!

Ranger isn't at Championship level at the moment so why on earth would he be ready for the Premiership? He needs to be loaned out for a season to a mid level CCC club to continue developing.

As long as we win at home and pick up draws away we will be up easily. Our away style of playing seems horrible/dull but when we tried to play football at Derby we got killed. If it gets us up, more dull draws I guess!

Three horse race for promotion. I had hoped Forest were going to ease up but looks as if they have recovered a little. Looks as though this will go down to the last couple of games.

I agree. You think he was the 2nd coming the way some people go on. He may go on to be some good but right now looks positively Shola-esque.

Small dolphin like creature on the field?

I think he will try and steady the ship here, and be quite conservative. Lets face it, if we draw away games and win home games we would have over 90 points. There is no need to go all gung ho at this point. The only thing that matters is being in 1st or 2nd place at the end of the season.

Happy with that. Ranger not on the bench isnt the end of the world. We have Shola and Loven already on the bench (strikers) and tbh Ranger is still very raw. Some of the hype on here about him is bordering on hysteria.

Those who were born(forced into it) have an excuse. Its those of you who had a choice that I will never understand! Why Why Why? You crazy fools!!!!

Saturday December 31st, 1977. Result: Newcastle 0 Liverpool 2. I should have taken the hint.......

Agreed. Nolan looks as tho he ate way too much at Xmas and has been on a downward spiral ever since.

Thats what I'd go for too with Van ArseFart at LB

F**K man, you are getting me depressed. Midfield plodders 1-1....... or else I'll go for 2-1 to us if its a 4-4-2 Jonas-Guthrie-Smith-Rout in the MF

God I hope not, what a central 3.......

Smith/Nolan against Cardiff I bet. It all depends on whether Jonas is fit of course and that's not looking too promising. Its prob going to be Guthrie-Nolan-Smith-Rout I'd rather see Jonas-Guthrie-Smith-Rout on current form.

To me the CM is just too slow. No creativity going forward and overrun when defending. We dont have a box to box midfielder and we desperately need one. If we could find someone that could link with both the defence and forward line we would look a whole lot better, especially going forward. The major problem here is that the "senior professionals" Smith/Nolan are the problem, and they seem to have quite a bit of power right now. There aren't many about these days either. If Hull go down i'd look to take Bullard at a knock down price. Perhaps someone like JJ will come available in the summer too but you are right... we need legs. Can we clone Bob Lee aged 24 please? CMF is the one area we bought no one and no suprise when the player power lies there. Not going to vote yourself out of a job are you?

To me the CM is just too slow. No creativity going forward and overrun when defending. We dont have a box to box midfielder and we desperately need one. If we could find someone that could link with both the defence and forward line we would look a whole lot better, especially going forward. The major problem here is that the "senior professionals" Smith/Nolan are the problem, and they seem to have quite a bit of power right now.

Anyone that goes up playing attractive football and continues along that line with the same Championship standard players gets killed. WBA being the best recent example, they look full of flair in the CCC but ended up bottom of the PL and here they are again looking good. The secret is to play a style that gets you promoted but will also enable you to survive in the PL.

I think Stoke will survive because of their "niche" tactics. it gets them enough points to stay up each year. The other teams won't structure their squads around stopping Stoke twice a year and so Stoke scrapes together enough points year after year. If we have to go the poor mans route then we will have to come up with something like they have done, but its gong to be ugly (to watch) I feel.

I would agree, because the whole bottom half of the table are all about trying to figure out ways of scraping together points. This includes "non conventional" types of tactics such as launching long throw ins into the box. Look at the teams in the Prem. A whole boat load of them are awful, but they stayed up and we didnt. Why is that?

Pretty much this. There's no doubting there are major improvements needed (if we get promoted) but i think what we have a achieved deserves recognition and Hughton deserves credit. Credit is all well and good but if you can show me how being nice to CH will stop us getting relegated next year I'm all ears. That answer lies with the ownership of the club. If we don't invest during the summer especially in the midfield area no manager on earth will keep us up. Hopefully Ashley will sell and the new owner will invest, but I'm not holding my breath on that score. Get ready for a big time relegation scrap next season.

Forest are a good team, throughout their 11 i have been very impressed. West Brom look like they will drop more points than us TBH, there defensive is as bad as our attack. Hopefully the introduction of Routledge, Best and Van Aanholt to a lesser extent will give us a different look to our team. Routledge and Jonas on the wings could be pivitol. We definitely look better playing with 2 genuine wide players. Guthrie on the wing doesn't work. Seems simple but just a 4-4-2 will get us promoted. The question is who do we play in the middle? Smith - Nolan seems too pedestrian but what alternatives? You might say Barton but he looked as slow during his last comeback and is highly unreliable fitness/personality wise

We play a much more defensive game which we never have really done before. Its alien to the type of football played over the last 20 years but then again where did that get us? The fact is we are clear at the top in a season where many predicted further relegation. Why the bitchfest? I'm amazed that we are where we are.... if we go up a revamp of the midfield is vital though, I think this is the major problem area and why we CANT be more creative.

Put Rout right wing, Nolan in the hole and Guthrie CM!!!!!!

Read that he refused to play, nothing wrong with him Not encouraging. Quite understand GG's bitterness. We hate Owen for the same kind of c**tish behavior.