Rich

Can't disagree with anything there at all, nufcjmc. Should have made it clear that by "squad-fillers" I was meaning potential loan signings - see how they do and keep an option open for a future purchase as an incentive. I think Kaka's spot-on in the sort of area he's talking about with players like Riise - those will be the sorts of players that we'll be looking at getting our hands on. I can't see Allardyce wanting to bring in many more players from abroad. Riise wouldn't be cheap though, even with 18 months left on his deal. If he's good enough to be a regular starter for Liverpool (which he has been for over 6 years now) then I dare say he's good enough for us. He's got a bit of an "x-factor" (hate that term) about him as well with his shooting capabilities, and would provide an option on set-plays that we've lacked since Shearer/Robert departed.

but again the only direct quotes from the manager is that he wants 2-3 quality in not how much we have which may be the papers doing a little of "padding out" You're not wrong, but in fairness I did say "if true". I could personally see there being a few quid knocking around for someone decent, then a couple of the newly-titled "squad fillers" to see us through. I'm not sure we should be buying any more defenders, at least unless it's a left-back, anyway. I personally wouldn't mind seeing David Edgar get a bit closer to the first team, he's only really had one off day (against Birmingham) and nobody else covered themselves in glory that night either.

Exact same story in the Chronicle and will no doubt be on NUFC.co.uk as well at some point today. These journalists have a hard life The article does say we don't have "£6M" to spend on one player, though, which would be a worry if true.

The problem wasn't that Allardyce swapped their wings. It was that having two wingers who aren't strong defensively meant the midfield was over-run. That was my initial point, but on second thought I decided that it's enough of an ask on Milner/N'Zogbia to chip in effectively with the defending aspect when they're in their natural positions, let alone when they're being told to do something totally alien (well, in N'Zogbia's case at least) in a Premier League game. A half-fit Barton in the centre and the pedestrian Butt (who struggles in a 4-4-2 these days, from what I can see) probably didn't help either, mind.

Someone just texted the old man that, made me laugh as well.

On second thoughts, do I want Spurs to go through and then to lose in the Semi's/Final to Arsenal Youth? That would be better. COYS.

with the exception of king,dawson,bale and keane of course. Surely full-strength means the strongest squads they can choose from players who aren't injured? I thought that'd be fairly obvious man, KD

Should add: both playing full-strength teams.

Can't believe City/Spurs isn't on, bit of a disgrace, because that's two good attacking teams locking horns.

3.

Come on Man City, man! And yes, come on Blackburn!

We're playing 4-4-2 at SJP and 4-3-3 in the majority of away games, I can't complain too much. I think when you look at the results and compare them with the formations we played, you'd find that 4-4-2 at home has garnered more points at home, while 4-5-1/4-3-3 has done the same away. Obviously Allardyce has used these formations far more, but they've done okay. People screaming for N'Zogbia/Milner on the flanks are quick to forget Portsmouth smashed us 4-1 at SJP with them there, which might have played on Sam's mind a bit. EDIT: Saying that, he had them fucking swapped over, didn't he? No excuse. 4-4-2 (h) = 8 games = (Beat Wigan, West Ham, Everton, Spurs & Birmingham), (Lost to Portsmouth & Liverpool), (Drew with Arsenal). 4-4-2 (a) = 2 games = (Lost to Derby & Reading). 4-3-3 (h) = 1 game = (Drew with Villa). 4-3-3 (a) = 6 games = (Beat Bolton & Fulham), (Lost to Man City & Blackburn), (Drew with Boro & Mackems). I understand that a few games had variations in formation (we scored the winner against Wigan playing 4-3-3 in desperation/started 3-5-2 against Liverpool before moving to 4-4-2, etc.) and that sometimes it's been more of a 4-4-1-1/4-5-1 during games, too. Once we get the right players in the 4-3-3 I'd have even more confidence in it away from home (2W, 2D, 2L isn't bad at all already, especially for NUFC), but I'd still like to see us stick with 4-4-2 at home. I know the football has been appalling at times, but when you lay it out it still doesn't look too bad when the club has undergone such an overhaul. It's only dirty bastards like Eriksson and Man City who are making us look bad Seriously though, if they weren't doing so well then I'd be willing to bet complaints would be cut drastically about our position/results/performances. Fair play to them, though, they've been excellent at the CoM - let's hope they are again tonight.

Man, the lyrics are good, but I always find stuff like that fairly cringeworthy. At least the bloke wears good brands.

Aye, and with the credit crunch hitting lenders they're having trouble getting the finance they need to build the new stadium That's why Gillette and co are robbing the players gaffs to put some funds in the kitty. :lol:

I just got sick of people telling me he was the coaching equivalent of Einstien. Aye, I know what you mean. Don't think you're far wrong, personally - his rotation policy usually makes little-to-no-sense, and they haven't really built on their early success under him, despite him inheriting some of the best players in the league when he took over.

Norwich?

Hold on a sec, Parky, what are we gunning for here? Benitez getting the sack, so that they appoint a better (in your eyes) manager and pull further away from us, especially PL-wise? If Benitez is so poor, surely you want them to stick with him? Has nobody else pointed this out yet!? I'm baffled. I personally wish we had 19 Graeme Souness clones managing the other teams in our league.

Thats basically a snapshot of a 4-3-3 at a certain point in a match. The only difference on paper is that the two central midfielders are pushed slightly further forward, and the two wingers slightly backwards. Ultimately, youre still talking about a lone forward, two wingers, and 3 central midfielder, one of whom sits back all the time - ie, a 4-3-3, but a more attack minded one. Well, of course, but there's a big difference between the way Everton and Arsenal have played this "4-3-3" recently, when compared to ourselves. Technically, in my eyes, they play 4-1-4-1. With Arsenal usually using Hleb and Eboue in the wide areas and Everton Arteta and Pienaar (none of whom are as attacking as Milner/Martins and none of whom take up positions so far up the pitch/close to the central striker) and having Flamini/Carsley playing the holding role (which Nicky Butt certainly doesn't do and which only Smith away at Sunderland has played recently) the differences are obvious. You just have to look at the amount of times the likes of Cahill, Osman, Fabregas and Rosicky get beyond Yakubu/Adebayor to see that, when compared with our central midfielders. It's a completely different system/style of play - theirs is better and would suit us more at this point in time, IMO, as it would mean no place for Martins/Owen.

That's what I said, you plum.

I'd like to see us try a 4-1-4-1, using a proper holding midfielder and then 4 players with a bit of artistic license, similar to what Everton play and Arsenal have been using while van Persie has been out injured. I hate the static rigidity of the way we've been playing lately - it's like only the wide-men up top are the only players with the slightest degree of freedom within the system. If I picked this team, I'd try Smith/Viduka up front, two from Milner/Duff/N'Zogbia wide, Barton and Emre in the middle, with either Geremi, Butt or Rozehnal doing the Makelele role. See how we go.

Edgar's right footed, and I'm not too worried about losing Beye, despite how good he's been recently.

French is Beye's native tongue, Rozehnal played for Club Brugge (which is Flemish Belgium, so not sure what exactly he speoke while there) and PSG for over 4 years and does speak good French, too.

Given Beye Rozehal Cacapa N'Zogbia Milner Barton Butt Emre Smith Viduka Will never happen, like, because it's picking people on recent form. Think it'd be bordering on ridiculous to split up Rozehnal and Cacapa/the defence after that clean-sheet, personally, no matter how they played individually. Could do with Duff back for this formation, though, as I realise people won't be happy with Emre at LM. If it's not going well, hoy Enrique on and move N'Zogbia up. SUBS: Harper, Enrique, Geremi, Owen, Martins. (If all fit.)

Have to say, that was the impression I got as well. Poor Titus.

Aye, I was just talking about the takeover by a billionaire more than anything Johnny To say him getting sacked had nothing to do with Shepherd/the Halls going is utter codswallop though mate, I can't be arsed explaining it in depth because if you sit back and look at it you'll see it yourself. Basically: Robson goes > Souness comes > we get shitter and sell our better players > Souness goes > Roeder comes > fans finally realise that problems lie higher up in the club and start revolting against the board/chairman rather than the managers > Shepherd is under immense pressure to go > Halls want to cut losses > club is rotten, ripe for a takeover. We might have still got bought out had events not transpired like that, but the whole thing would have been entirely different. I think that any further success under Robson, or particularly under the former regime, would have been hollow. Robson was undoubtedly the best manager we'd had since Keegan, but the club still had an awful lot wrong with it from top-to-bottom, mainly because of Shepherd. "Papering over the cracks" comes to mind more than ever in this case. I'm not doing Robson any disservice at all, honestly, and I'm not sure if your financial information is entirely correct. I'd imagine we were in a worse position financially when Robson went than we are now, after Ashley has paid the majority of our debt off.