jep

It's not surprising at all though. They're a bunch of two bit thugs that grind out results by knocking the shit out of their opponents, and that's how they'll survive. I used to have a positive ish attitude towards Stoke, due to their history and whatnot, but after this game I really do wish they'd go down.

Too true. Those who say he's not working hard enough - have a word. The only thing you can do when you're not provided with goalscoring opportunities as a striker, is to get the ball yourself. I'm not gonna say he was all over the place today, but he drops back down to pick up the ball when it's not punted upfield to him (which it shouldn't be anyway, really), and he's alot better at shielding and holding up the ball than many give him credit for. It's a good thing he's in our team, and he definitely should be a starter if he's fit. That said, starting Ameobi really is taking the fucking piss. The man is atrocious in every single way, and should never play for this club again. Any of our U18 strikers must be a better bet than this guy, any day of the week.

Never expected anything more than a point from this tbh. Well chuffed we got back into it, for once.

Some of his teammates make it look far worse than it is, though. Against Chelsea, Duff was an example of that. There's only so much stretch you can have between your back four and the attacking players, especially if you wanna try a quick counter - so when Enrique was about to start one and played it forward, Duff was miles too far ahead. It's all pretty basic, yet some of our players fail spectacularly at it. Not saying Enrique is mint mind you, he's one of several players who misplace passes far too often. That said, watching him play himself out of trouble is quite a joy at times!

They both are. Owen not as quick as before obviously, but all the more intelligent in his play. What's exposing them both, is the glaring lack of teamplay on our side. I've never ever seen such a bunch of out-of-synch headless chickens in my time as a supporter, but it just dawned on me in this match. Even the simplest two foot passes they manage to misplace, cos none of them have a fucking clue what they're supposed to do as a team (no doubt a consequence of the fantastic Kinnear/Hughton school of football). Any player has to be able to rely on others working for them as well, that's what makes the top four so good - they know where to pass, without even looking up - there's players making runs before their team has the ball. I really hope Shearer and Dowie do some basic football in their training now.

All three of Beye, Bassong and Taylor seem like better alternatives at this moment in time, and should all be ahead of him in the pecking order. Coloccini has obviously had a massive drop in confidence along with our performances the last couple of months, and while I still think he's a class defender he does not warrant a first team place right now, by any stretch of the imagination. It really is a pity, cos he looked to be the sort of defender we'd been missing since Woodgate when he joined. Such a different player now

Punctured or bruised lung, maybe? If he broke his ribs, odds are that would cause damage to the lungs as well somehow. Hope he recovers well anyway.

Should implement some sort of script that plays Joy Division when you browse threads like this. Only swedish fourteen year olds are more emo than some of the lot in here

This. If that's a stonewall pen, the score would be double figures either side by now. Styles has looked weak tho. Looks prone to being swayed by the utter cunts that Chelsea are - whining at every single decision that goes against them. I'm not normally bothered with Chelsea, at least not more so than any other team in the prem, but fuck me they're getting on my tits here.

Dave man, fetch the logs to show us madras is on his mobile posting this!

You must be well chuffed now then

FT. Glad we didn't lose.

At one point we actually looked likely to go on and grab a winner, but now it's just.. meh.

Jonas on the right now, all of a sudden he's doing something. Good thing this didn't happen before the 80th minute!

Replacing him with Lovenkrands would open us up on the left hand side, which is where Hull have looked more dangerous. Jonas might've not contributed offensively at all, but he's tracking back alot.

Jonas shoots... Almost hits the corner flag.

Ryan Taylor for Smith. Wow, that's actually a good change.

Our gameplan currently consists of hoofing it long to our towering strikeforce; Owen and Martins

Enrique with a shocker, let Mendy through. Lucky to not be behind now.

Lovenkrands warming up. Smith keeps putting in late sliding tackles, he's gonna get another yellow if he's not careful.

Martins cross from right hand side, Jonas alone just inside the area hit it first time and bent a few feet over the bar. Should've just placed it low imo. Now Martins just wriggled through three defenders and almost managed to toe poke it into the back of the net.

Jonas should've done better there.

Are you kidding? Those low ninjakicks were awesome! Oh wait, this is a football match, right.

Shit, manucho on. edit: AS9

Throw in from Geremi to Butt, I think. Didn't even see it was him until the highlights.