Beren

Man City -.-

Perhaps but the lax manner of his pass really lingered - probably some not-so-subliminal hostility about his mistake today reflected in that marking!!

Well, that was the definition of annoying. Desperate to see NUFC play for what feels like weeks and we're 2-0 down at home in four minutes. Appraisal of team selection: We'll never know how good a selection that would have been because of another two gifts of goals at home (cf. Blackburn game) early on. ManCinti changed their attitude and sat back. The team Pardew picked did create lots of chances and Carroll especially was formidable. Barton continued to provide and Jose worked hard to attack/come forward/gamble since we were chasing the game - and run back for last-ditch defending. It felt like nothing seemed to be falling for us and we were unlucky, but I'd put that largely down to Nolan being picked up/marked out. When we switched to 4-4-2, Nolan had plenty more chances (which he was profligate with, admittedly). I really don't see the argument for a 4-5-1 formation with our style of attack. Not in the slightest. (Nolan isn't a striker btw - he just plain isn't!). Routledge, to his credit, played really well in the opening half hour but began to fade quite quickly. He was helped by Man City being content to sit back/absorb pressure, naturally otherwise I think he really would have struggled. Balotelli and Johnson confirmed themselves as twats, and City have just stormed to the top of my most hated list driving me to such extremes as hoping Bolton or Spurs get a CL spot ahead of them. Sad times. Really quite flabbergasted we have so little reward for our games against City this season, but this is life, we have to be less puerile and move on. It's a shame we had to chase this game so hard too and for so long. In this congested fixture list, we could really see some tired second half legs at WHL. Gutted but positive looking forward. Krul 3 Simpson 6 Taylor 4 Colo 7 Enrique 8 Routledge 6.5 Barton 7.5 Tiote 5.5 Jonas 6.5 Nolan 5 Carroll 8 [/iMO]

We were 2 down against Wigan, keep the faith lads. Remember Hughton!!!

Think if we'd put even one of our chances away before half time, we'd have had a chance. We're completely dominating the game (albeit, only because Man City have the attitude of a team 2-0 up with an Italian manager). Looks grim/frustrating as fuck now for the second half. Early goal would be lush. Early conceded goal would be typical.

Routledge against an intimidatingly decent side = unconfident/anonymous. Hope I'm proved wrong. Not happy with that selection.

How is stoppage time currently calculated? Not sure if this is already being implemented in some form or another, but if when the referee sees stoppage he starts a stopwatch which is remotely linked to the fourth officials/TV broadcasters screens, then we can see how stoppage time accrues and there will be transparency at Old Trafford for example.

Not sure whether this is actually an enjoyable game or I've just been football-starved.

What a guy.

Laying the draw in a separate accumulator?

Bastard snow - I only just got on that cheating git Tim Cahill's bandwagon I feel cleaner having got rid of the increasingly useless Bent though - didn't feel it right! Glad Sunderland still idolise him instead of pushing the superior footballing partnership of Gyan and Welbeck.

Edit: I think Samba has a knock, and I reckon Huth, Shawcross and Jones might be too much aerial presence for Blackburn to handle without him (even though he is but one man) with Etherington/Delap putting balls in the box. If Pedersen has a great day then Blackburn might have a chance mind IMO.

Bit shocking/annoying tbh.

Stoke/Bolton double under consideration. Nothing else seems great value. Shame Everton fixture is off.

If we're low on funds I'd rather look for a longer-term option than Keane with available funds, personally.

Can't effin' wait! 2-2 (if Smith plays) 2-0 Carroll brace if we stick with Shola or Ranger

England '66 vs England '96

Light-hearted one for Christmas day - dream match-ups that you'd love to see - you can choose teams or players from different eras, whatever you want - it's Christmas. For me, some weird part of me wants to see Barcelona vs Stoke with a Premiership referee. The image of eleven Barcelona players hitting the deck and rolling in their own box at every throw-in tickles me (provided Stoke could win a throw-in!).

Ah! Beckford, of course. Or should I say Captain Beckford.

Good team in terms of players who have played poorly and continued to get games (for a while at least). I'd probably lift Carrick out and throw in Milner or Barry though.

Flying V. Quack, quack, QUACK, QUACK!!

My point exactly. Could use your wildcard like I think Neesy might have hit the nail on the head there Jonny/Wormy(!), unless there is a uniform movement by clubs making a stand against inflated wages, the type of individual club principled stand you seem to propose will only be of detriment to those club in a league where if you're not moving forward (and building teams around the likes of Nolan, Barton, Carroll, Tiote) you're most definitely moving backwards. Move with the market and think big, because Man City aren't going to surrender to wage caps - it's the only thing that affords them the Yaya Toures of this world.

The odds were why I stuck that much on, but Man City and Barcelona have broken some good form for me lately. Still very much in the black, but it's annoying all the same.

The summer, as long as replacements were in place beforehand. I don't know. It's the job of the club's scouting network to work that out. That doesn't sound very pragmatic like So you suggest we buy/"line up" players who are on a par/better than Barton/Nolan in quality - and attract them to the club with wages lower than their predecessors (which they will surely know), hope they slot into the team as comfortably as two of our four indispensable first-teamers (Carroll, Nolan, Barton, Tiote) and then expect not to get bent over a table by other clubs which know we need to sell Barton/Nolan when negotiating?

Well obviously, yeah. I didn't suggest getting rid of them now. Apologies, I haven't been following this thread meticulously but has not this discussion arisen from talks of Barton's touted departure in January?