Mowen

Fucking hell. Live on TV teh day before 2 exams in 2 days for me

Needs the season imo. Have Pompey, Blackburn, Everton and even Villa done well this season because they've sacked a manager after a slow-ish start?

Harry Redknapp is one, if that goes some way to answering your question. So's Derek Trotter.

Senderos won't play, both Toure and Gallas have been in great form and also contributing goals. They are both fit with no worries. In fact Senderos has travelled up to Derby with the reserves tonight so he might not even be on the bench, which is a slight relief after his performance in Sevilla. Never mind. I knew he wouldn't be picked on merit, he's fucking toss, Bramble-esque imo. Was just hoping for a niggle/suspension really

Any chance Senderos will play? I think you're right in so much as that midfield can be rattled, has to happen early on though. We've got a decent home record against Arsenal over the last few years.

I've only just got my voice back Didn't notice Barton getting any stick from near me, did notice a lot of support fot Big Sam and Oba though.

Deserves highlighting. I don't make too many aways but glad I made the effort for this one, the support was fucking brilliant.

We might not though.

All as good as goals.

There's too much stuff moving. It's distracting. The other problem it seems to have is that it can't show as many clips of football as sky can, so won't be as interesting to watch.

Signed him this summer, little black bloke, not much hair, tends to wear the captains armband when he's on the pitch.

Not really. I mean, the accountant might say so but looking at whats on the pitch. Keepers, Richards, Dunne, Hamann, Johnson, Ireland, Mpenza, all left over from last season. The only signings Sven has made that have really made a big, big difference are Elano and Petrov. £12.7m the pair. (Compare: Smith + Barton). Corluka and Garrido are playing too but they're fullbacks and good as they are (especially the former), I think we wouldn't be that far away without them. Others signings have been on the fringes or in the treatment room. That's a very odd way of looking at it. If you spend big money on several players then you've got a better chance of some of them coming good quickly. Then only counting what you spent on those who did is a very narrow way of looking at it imo. Yep. It is an odd way of looking at it. But so is dismissing the difference between the clubs as purely down to money spent when we've had a big money signing do his knee 5 minutes into his debut. Yeah, of course it's not the only difference, Sven seems to be doing very well so far. I think part of it was down to Pearce's underachievement with the natural resources he had (Dunne, Richards, Ireland, Johnson, etc.) but it clearly help that Sven was effectively given a blank chequebook and spent approx £20m more than Sam did. Of course Sam may have been given the money, and chosen not to spend it, who knows.

Still not confident about the game but it'll be a brilliant day out with that many of us there.

We tended to get about half our average crowd in Europe last year iirc.

So would I.

Not really. I mean, the accountant might say so but looking at whats on the pitch. Keepers, Richards, Dunne, Hamann, Johnson, Ireland, Mpenza, all left over from last season. The only signings Sven has made that have really made a big, big difference are Elano and Petrov. £12.7m the pair. (Compare: Smith + Barton). Corluka and Garrido are playing too but they're fullbacks and good as they are (especially the former), I think we wouldn't be that far away without them. Others signings have been on the fringes or in the treatment room. That's a very odd way of looking at it. If you spend big money on several players then you've got a better chance of some of them coming good quickly. Then only counting what you spent on those who did is a very narrow way of looking at it imo.

blueyes.gif I also know a lot more about the reserves/juniors than I otherwise would.

Zidane better than Platini isn't that bad a call imo. If anything, I think Zidane is slightly underrated in the all-time lists, mainly because he's so recent. He was an unbelievable footballer and did everything. Not that I'm trying to take away from how shit the list is mind.

The expectation that comes with the new owner is working against SA imo. Possibly but anecdotal evidence would suggest a huge amount of people were against Souness from the off but the vocal disapproval at the match was virtually nonexistent. I'm wondering why those people who made their feelings known on Saturday were so quiet for so long back then. Football fans have become less patient as time has gone on as far as I can tell. The premiership hastened that on but the recent influx of cash into the premierleague has exacabated the problem massively, fans at all grounds seem to be booing on a regular basis this season. Eveeryone wants their quick fix, and this problem has spread into the championship as well, where anything less than promotion is a failure to capitalise on the huge monetary rewards above them. Aidy Boothroyd being the longest serving manager in that league seems to back this up.

That's the point I was trying to make. I personally don't think Allardyce is in the same class as SBR, but if he needed time so will Fat Sam. Everyone wants a quick fix though.

Faye will be a big help as he's our best defender, and Santa Cruz can be a handful in the air. Blackburn tend to pass it about a lot though, and use their wingers so crosses/set pieces will be the main threat imo. Looking forward to the day out but not confident at all about the game, although their CM was very much makeshift against Fulham (Mokoena and Tugay).

Can I just point out that the Times confirmed absolutely fuck all.

No.

Might that not be a case of him trying to stick to what he knows best, i.e. something that he's had success with before, whilst he tries to drag us out of the mess and consolidate our position as a club?

Just saw a post from Toon Amy that made me think. Under SBR we played fairly poor football for his first two seasons (finishing 11th and 11th after inheriting a team that had finished 13th) and his signings didn't all go to plan (Gavilan, Bassedas, Cort). We were improving, just not at the rate everyone wanted, and we had a top class England striker to lead the line. As it turned out we were just two spot on signings away from the top 4, and although Robert and Bellamy were expensive they weren't outrageously so. We solidified as a unit until we got to the point where we just needed two class players to propel ourselves to the same level. Are we as fans simply being impatient with Sam, or are the similarities not there/unfair on SBR? Surely it takes more than one close season and 12 games to turn a mess around?