Rich

Giving Parky an unjustified serious answer for a minute, as I cannot let that disgraceful "told you so" attempt slide from him of all people: Has Modric signed? Have I missed something? Is Allardyce still the manager? And haven't we went on a smashing upturn in form by playing a settled defence/'keeper, not conceding daft goals, and without the need for a playmaker in the mould of a Modric? We've stopped conceding goals and, as I thought initially, we have the players to score them at the other end - now we're sitting atop the form table! A "playmaker" remains a namby pamby position, in my eyes, and an unnecessary one at that. It's fashionable, though, so I understand why people like Parky pander for us to have one. It's good to bite.

Wishful thinking indeed Richie baby. Dear me. Thought you'd be happy mate. I'm trying not to get wound up by your incredibly mongy first post, it's killed my vibe.

One post to each other and someone is coming out with that!

This a long fucking warm-up, like! Must be one fat lazy bitch.

Wishful thinking indeed Richie baby. Dear me.

I'd agree with reservations. I have no problem with signing a better left back, but a big name doesn't guarantee that. Keegan's record in the transfer market will stand up to most but he does tend to go on reputation sometimes. Robbie Fowler's signing at City being one example. Exactly, but I wasn't talking about a "big name". It could be somebody that Wise/Vetere have unearthed who is the bees knees. We'll see what happens, but like everything else, it's out of our hands and all we can do is hope for the best.

I'd take that Abidal fella, like...

We simply have to sign the best left-back we can possibly get. Might sound blindingly obvious, but surely that's the only real way to progress? There's no room for sentiment, as we keep getting told. Enrique has been good, very good at times, but he's hardly Roberto Carlos. Whoever is Keegan's first choice should be the player we sign, if you get what I mean, all we can do is trust his judgement.

My thoughts exactly.

YouTube is chock-full of videos from yesterday, pre/post/during game. Great way to burn some time today.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=40LUPts7upE Fucking brilliant.

Thought Barton was solid again yesterday as well. Did what he had to do, won tackles, played simple balls and was all over the pitch. Butt was again the standout player from the midfield three, but the other two were decent enough as well.

Glen Johnson for right-back, I'd assume. He has been pretty good this season in a fairly formidable Pompey backline. Corluka might be another shout. Or they might be really zany and just give it to Wes Brown.

We're actually top of the form table over the past 5 games, ahead of Chelsea on goal difference. Joint top over the last 6, only behind Man Utd due to 2 goals less scored. The turnaround has been amazing.

His name was getting sung yesterday. Na na na na, na na na na, hey-ey-ey, Michael Owen. Admittedly not deafening, but I'm sure he heard it.

Embarrassing for them. I'm in the opposite corner of the ground, but the only time I heard them was when they were singing "Sunderland 'til I die" right at the very end of the game. And even that was quiet.

Did OK but has a long way to go before he could be compared to Viduka. He has age on his side but thats about it, Viduka still does everything Jones does but better, and most importantly is always likely to get a goal. The movement is the key thing for me, though. Viduka has class about him, no doubt, but he needs balls right into him if he's to do anything with them. He was very poor yesterday aside from the bit with Owen for the penalty, I thought, and I've been an ardent supporter of his all season. He has got neither the legs or the fitness to be our main man up top next season. Jones obviously lacks Viduka's nouse or touch, but would put himself about far more and would work defenders more. I think the lad is destined for big things from what I've seen this season, and I'd love it if we robbed him off them - though I can't see it happening due to the rivalry.

The problem I've noticed with Viduka in this formation is that he offers little support out wide, because we're not playing with wide men you need the attackers to pull out wide as an outlet, Martins does it well on the left and looks like he's been told to use that as his starting position when we haven't got the ball, Viduka however just isn't mobile enough and quite a few times yesterday we were left with a big space for someone to run into out on the right and nobody to run into it, Beye gets forward well but he can't be expected to do it all and there were times when he was the one looking to play it out. Definitely. I think that's why many are hoping we'll sign a Jones sort for next season, if we're sticking with this way of playing. If we have two strikers up top and they do what you're asking of them there, split wide to drag the defenders around and open up holes in the middle, I can only see Owen and the midfielders getting more goals out of it. We can't rely on Beye to cover the whole right side, which he is currently doing because neither Viduka or Geremi have the legs to do it.

I don't think he's fit, personally, and hasn't been all season. He's only played about a dozen games.

I think even if they'd just had Bardsley and Evans fit the game would have been a slightly different proposition - a bit tighter, but with the same outcome. McShane was atrocious and kept putting them under pressure/killing their attacks, and Higginbotham obviously gave the penalty away. I was delighted to see the two mentioned not make it today.

Viduka didn't look right to me. I know he struggles to move at the best of times, but yesterday was something else. Might have been playing with a knock? Still had a massive contribution for the penalty, but most definitely wasn't at the races - which was a shame when you look at the quality of defender he was up against.

Enrique was very, very good yesterday, considering he was up against Edwards - one of the few Mackems with any class about them. He starts off loads of attacks with that whipped ball up the line (Griffin used to play the same pass an awful lot, the best part of his game), but obviously he can still only get better. His positioning was good, he was positive, and he rarely (if ever) looked like getting beaten. Very impressed.

Jones played his role brilliantly, I thought, but got absolutely zero support when he needed it. Would be very good in Viduka's role here.

Agreed on the first point, what a fucking touch of class that was prior to kick-off, the atmosphere was built-up brilliantly. Fantastic day.

Can't agree that Mort hasn't "done anything" to fill the ground. I'm sure many wouldn't have renewed had Shepherd stayed, to begin with, and now the ground is full because of Keegan, who was obviously brought back by him and who said himself he wouldn't have come back had it not been for the new men in charge. It's a shame this thread was so utterly predictable after the title of the initial post. Well played that man.