alpal78

This is not even about whether he thinks Duff is better than Zoggy. It's basic substitution strategy to bring on a fresh player for a tiring one towards the end when you are chaisng a game, even if the former only has 75% ability of the latter (and I don't even think such a gap exist between Duff and Zoggy. In fact until quite recently, Zoggy has been the better option). Skirge I disagree that it was good move to put on Owen for Jonas. Even if you think Jonas wasn't on top form, he was still doing more than Duff...by quite some margin. So the one substitution he did make, he got it completely wrong = fucking useless with substitutions.

What irritates me most about JK is that he is absolutely fucking useless in handling substitutions and trying to change a game. He just sits down on the bench looking glum and dumb like a right wing Conservative! He does not react to the opponent's substitutions nor take the initiative to change the game. The only substitutions he makes are those that are fucking obvious....bringing Owen in even then belatedly. Some substitution mistakes he made today are: 1) He should brought Owen earlier on, but waited and waited. Ameobi did absolutely nothing in the first 45 and Martins was horrible for large parts of the second half (it pains me to say this but today the bumbling Ameobi actually displayed better ball control than Martins). JK could have brought Owen in at half time to replace Ameobi or brought Owen on earlier in the second half to replace Martins when it was so obvious that this was gonna be one of his super shit days. Instead he waited so long to bring Owen on (after we were trailing again). It's fucking Owen you have on the bench for God sake, not Andy Carrol! 2) When he did brought on Owen , he took Jonas off who has been the only player to really cause Fulham any problems. Should have taken Duff off instead who was so knackered by the 70th minute. 3) It was so obvious that Butt and Duff could not run anymore in the last 15-10 minutes, yet he kept them on till the full 90 despite having the luxury of both Zoggy and Guthrie on the bench. Even if he didn’t rate these two players (and he would be wrong), any novice manager will tell you that some fresh legs (and in the case of Zoggy fast legs) can do wonders towards the last 10-15 minutes when the opponents have no more legs. Winning games is perhaps 60/70% player's ability and 40/30% tactics, formations and substitutions. Right now when we do win, it's only because of the players' ability. Keep him for the short term but please nothing beyond December!

I do agree that his positioning can be a bit iffy and he does follow his man out of position far too often for my liking (but I suspect this can be rectified if he is told to stick to zonal marking instead of man to man). But I completely disagree with HTT's observation on headers and one on ones. He wins his fair share of headers for me either from crosses or those long punts upfield. If he does miss any, it's because of positioning (like the second goal) and not because of physical weakness. In one on one situations, he is easily the best we've had so far. He easily won all the one on ones yesterday with minimal fuss.

That's incorrect. If they'd all been available we'd have been talking about what good business £12m was. The problem is, we didn't bring in enough players to pad out our squad, so we are missing him, no doubt. In order for us to "miss him", he must be a better player then what we currently have. On the fact that Geremi had more assists than he did last season, and has at least a semblance of understanding with Owen (in delivering free kicks and crossses), no we don't miss him at all.

The first goal came from an absolutely dreadful pass from Nicky Butt (who was s**** all game imo)which put us on the backfoot, Taylor got pulled out of position leaving and the only reason the cross came from Lennon was because he had switched sides to get away from Bassongs pocket. Couldn't have described it better myself. Look back at the replay and you will see Taylor leaving his position which in turned left Colo marking 2 strikers when the cross came in.

souness dalgleish curbishley peter reid howard wilkinson etc etc etc al preferable to a 3rd cockney gangster You think Souness and Wilkinson are preferable to Venables??(Dalglish has already said No to the job before being asked).........Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear.... You Souness what!!! Did you just land on planet earth? mackems.gif mackems.gif mackems.gif mackems.gif mackems.gif Just to be clear, my post was meant for insanojackson not merlin obviously

Dramatically improved squad though. Dave that's cheeky but not a fair comment. The only reason Butt is playing is because both Guthrie and Barton are suspended and for whatever reason, Houghton just refuse to play Nacho. As far as I'm concerned, our 'perillously thin' squad makes him 4th line and that's good enough for me.

I thought they were equally to blame - the ball was hurried and he should have seen O'hara just as much as Taylor. The ball played by Colo is what you would typically see from continental CB who like to play the ball out of defence as opposed to just hoof the ball up. You could see that even when Given is taking a GK, Colo would wait for the ball to be played to him coz that's what he is used to instead of GK just kicking the ball as high up the pitch as possible. So nothing wrong with Colo's pass except for the fact that he was passing it to Taylor. After what happened today, I doubt Colo will be passing to Taylor anytime soon. Colo can be a good CB in a decent defence but he is not a one man machine that can make up for others' mistakes. Incidentally I thought Bassong had a good game tonight too.

I'm disappointed with him walking out but I can totally understand why he did it. I also can't see how he's in the wrong in any way despite the desperation of some to paint him as the bad guy. I reckon the state of the squad speaks for itself tbh. Keegan was being asked to work miracles with his head, not Dennis Wise's, on the block. Wullie, I'm sure we discussed this point in another thread before. With the exception of maybe a good AM (which Nacho could prove to be yet though I'll admit unlikely), majority on this board (you included...I think) thought that the squad was adequate. Sure there was some mutterings on LB, but I think we've got more than decent cover in Bassong (I personally would like him to start ahead of Zoggy not so much becuase I want Zoggy to play on the wing but because I think Bassong is a better LB). So how come now some of the same people are complaining of the squad and using it as a stick to prove their point on Ashley? What happened is that we've been unlucky with injuries and suspension, we've lost Martins, Viduka, Jonas, Beye, Enrique, Guthrie and Barton, almost all at the same time, that's 5-6 players who could be in our first team. This is surely nobody's fault (maybe the physio), neither KK nor Ashley's. With almost the core of the first team out, we'd be in the shit even if KK was around or even if KK had got some of the players he really wanted (no manager get all the players he wants....not even Scolari), unles we assume the players KK wanted are somehow immune to injuries. If you wanted us to have better cover for all these 5/6 positions, then we would have to buy in quantity instead of quality like what most Championship sides do. No board can have the foresight to predict that we'd be so fucked with so many injuries/suspensions so early in the season. In any case, like I said, most were happy with the squad we had pre inuries/suspensions....so why change now? I think there are legitimate reasons for us to criticize & condemn Ashley, but the squad depth is not one of them. To use this point just reeks of desperation to use anything and everything to blame Ashley.

Who exactly is this mythical good RW that we sold that you keep referring to? Milner good RW?....well done you just discredited your whole post and yes before you ask even Geremi is better than Milner (at least in providing assists)

We lacked players in 1 or 2 positions (most would have agreed with this before KK left.....including you when were both defending the transfers). Rebuilding the squad is clearly gonna take more than one transfer window unless you leave in fantasy football world. We'be been unlucky with injuries to Jonas, Martins and Enrique and Guthrie's stupidity but I suppose you're gonna blame that all on Ashley for not having the foresight to predict the injuries and suspension.....you're getting ridiculous man. At the end of last season we had one left back and one right back. One is pretty inexperienced and the other is pretty old. Recognising the need to sign cover/competition for them both required no skill. I know Dave, I agree with you which is why I said we lacked players in 1 or 2 positions. I believe Bassong is our LB cover and Taylor could play RB if needed. But for Wullie to say that only 4 of the players are worthy of the Premiership is silly and to insinuate that it is somehow Ashley's fault that we have only those 4 Premiership players makes it just plain ridiculous

We lacked players in 1 or 2 positions (most would have agreed with this before KK left.....including you when were both defending the transfers). Rebuilding the squad is clearly gonna take more than one transfer window unless you live in fantasy football world. We'be been unlucky with injuries to Jonas, Martins and Enrique and Guthrie's stupidity but I suppose you're gonna blame that all on Ashley for not having the foresight to predict the injuries and suspension.....you're getting ridiculous man.

What a ridiculous piece of hyperbole. Yeah don't you know if it was KK in full control, we would have a squad worthy of the Champions League right down to every player.....that's Wullie's logic for you mackems.gif

Cant wait to see all the through passes that will played by Butt and Cacapa. Might as well not play midfielders.

Yes not agreeing to KK's transfer terms and conditions is worse then putting us through Souness and Roeder. Well done

Ok so I gather you want him to sell pronto coz you think he "will just let time pass" but HTT says he should not whore the club around and Petelockey says he should do it the Thaksin way which surely will take time. So: If he tries to sell quick, the he is whoring the club around If he doesnt whore the club around and takes his time like Thaksin then he will be accused of just letting time pass cue for more protest! Man you guys (the Ashley bashers) can't even agree amongst yourselves Ah, the childish monikers are coming out "ashley bashers" This is serious. I can only speak for myself but I don't care how long it takes for him to sell the club so long as A| he does and B| he does it in a discreet and professional manner selling to the best people possible and if not, then he has a hell of a job on to turn things around. Seriously if all you do (post Keegan) is bash err Ashley whatever he does in multiple threads (quite a few which you started)....what do you expect me to call you? Don't mean that as an insult, just calling a spade for a spade

Hahahahaha! Freddy Shepherd was attacked for less put it that way by a large majority. Everything Ashley has done while owning Newcastle has failed, backfired or put us a step or two backwards. But hey, he loves the club... So much f***ing so when someone lights a fire under his arse he sobs and spits the dummy out before f***ing off around the globe demanding ridiculous sums for the club. In between making himself look an even bigger tit of course. Everything? Chris what is it that he has done that has 'failed' besides allegedly (we still don't know what's in the contract or what really happened....hence 'alleged') not agreeing to the terms and conditions + freedom that Keegan wanted.....or is that your everything?

Ok so I gather you want him to sell pronto coz you think he "will just let time pass" but HTT says he should not whore the club around and Petelockey says he should do it the Thaksin way which surely will take time. So: If he tries to sell quick, then he is whoring the club around If he doesnt whore the club around and takes his time like Thaksin then he will be accused of just letting time pass cue for more protest! Man you guys (the Ashley bashers) can't even agree amongst yourselves

No it does compute when all you're doing is sit around reading the news and jumping on the first opportunity to slag Ashley whatever he does.

no, it wasn't me who started this thread. It's quite amazing that you still haven't seen the blatantly obvious, after the events of the last 2 weeks. What's amazing to me - well, not really - is that because I think your same-old, same-old posts are a bit yawnsome, you assume I think the opposite of everything you think. Well, I don't, but your crowing doesn't do you any favours. I don't necessarily disagree with everything you ever say, but you keep on attributing that to me if it helps you sleep at night. well, thats what I said about macbeth, who has suddenly re-surfaced after months away. Is that any different, or is it because you agree with him and not me - assuming you STILL don't get the idea yet. Ok everyone, fasten your seatbelts, this is gonna be more exciting than sluts having a go in a mud wrestling match

Exactly, so we should have let him run the club his way especially given that he put up the money. Sure the fans has a say, but this is not a democracy where we can decide who we want as manager, who we want sacked, which player to buy and sell. If you want that much power, then go buy a club with your cash. If you don't have the money, then go play out your fantasies on Yahoo or Nokia Football Manager. Otherwise just let the owner make the decisions.

I can understand your uncertainty (maybe it's your head conflicting with your heart), for me it's a clear no. As much as we feel emotionally connected to KK, there are better managers around. We cant afford to have a manager who will spit the dummy everytime there's a disagreement between board and manager. Situation will get worse now coz he will feel he can get his way on almost anything thanks to the fans backing. I won't mind taking that risk if it was managers of Mourinho, Wenger and Fergie calibre but KK is not in their league...not even close. Though he gets lots of decisions right, I don't trust his judgement 100% not even 80% (for the record IF it was his decision to keep Smith and Barton, then I think he is/was dead wrong). A manager is suppose to manage including manage disagreements and dfferences with the board, and that's KK archiles heels. Thanks to our emotional attachment to KK, he has become bigger than the club and no football club should be ruled by one man.

This is an embarassment, no manager is bigger than the club. If Keegan resigns for whatever reason, then that's his call. He might have been treated unfairly or unjustly, but the fact remains that HE resigned instead of continuing on to negotiate the structure. Ashley should just focus on getting a decent manager in who can start working with the players immediately instead of entering long protracted negotiations with Keegan. The faster we get a new manager in, the better it will be for the club. To say that only Keegan can bring success to this team is laughable and an insult to great managers like SBR. Keegan might be the manager whom the fans have the greatest emotional attachment with but there are quite a handful of better managers around.

I'd rather play Geremi tbh, at least he's capable of picking out one of Owen's runs rather than row Z of the East stand. Don't let that get in the way of another opportunity to curse the board. Don't you know Baggio, it's the curry of the month!

Some people just can't stop talking bout Ashley at the moment