TRon

Can't even think of any youngsters appearing on the horizon that will suddenly have a breakout season that can play on the right. Not saying that's the answer, but it'd be great if it was an option. Ryan Taylor is an option if we are desperate. He'd probably lose the ball under the slightest pressure from the opposition though.

I keep reading that Guthrie can't be blamed because he's being played out of position, but fucking hell so was Barton. Guthrie shows no appetite for the role out wide and for that I consider him a gutless wanker. If Dirk Kuyt - a forward - can roll his sleeves up and give it a go why can't Guthrie?

i still think martin jol would have a go. Not with no money. Fulham are hardly loaded. But they are willing to pay what it takes to get a good manager. Ashley got turned down by David O'Leary who was on the dole.

A bit harsh after one bad game, especially since we were 3-1 down in this one in any case.

I suppose as a mod there comes a point where you can't just sit twiddling your thumbs when members start getting into foul mouthed slanging matches. On the football side of it, I still think our good results counter-balance the bad ones at this stage. We'd like to have done better but you can't just gloss over the fact Hughton has had little money to spend and as a result we will obviously find it hard to find cover when we lose players like Ben Arfa, Barton and Tiote. they have, hence where we are in the table with the points we have. however i'd feel more comfortable if we'd got points in games where we thought we would as opposed to shock aways. which do you think is the more likely, we turn round our home form or the away games start going the way expected ? I think our wins will come from the teams who can't cope with our front men tbh. I said before the Sunderland game I thought they'd have a hard time against Carroll and Ameobi, and on the other hand I thought Blackburn would cope easily due to their big CB's. On the defensive side, I don't think we'll always give teams a two goal start like we did today. Once you are chasing the game it changes the whole dynamic.

and defensivly competent throughout their team on the day. Our defenders had a lot more to cope with because Bolton usually had 4-5 men in the box when they attacked. We play with Carroll up front and the rest usually 10 yards further back, probably to cover for our lack of pace to get back if we get caught too far forward.

I suppose as a mod there comes a point where you can't just sit twiddling your thumbs when members start getting into foul mouthed slanging matches. On the football side of it, I still think our good results counter-balance the bad ones at this stage. We'd like to have done better but you can't just gloss over the fact Hughton has had little money to spend and as a result we will obviously find it hard to find cover when we lose players like Ben Arfa, Barton and Tiote.

Bolton are similar to us in that they have two big forwards who are a real handful for defenders. Where they were far better than us is that they had midfielders with far more urgency and mobility to support those strikers.

I'm not one to disappoint mate. But, can anyone see this squad being good enough to stay up? Definitely. We'll only win points with Tiote and Barton in the midfield though, so we are in for a rough couple of games until they're back.

He's already been blooded but in a slightly more gruesome sense.

5-1 the unwashed didnt drop anyone and look at them now You haven't seen enough of Smith and Nolan in central midfield together to have decided maybe it isn't such a good idea?

5-1

Guthrie has a heart the size of a walnut. Been saying this for ages and he's done nowt to prove me wrong. Barton has had bad games as well as good ones but he never hides.

I thought he looked good against Arsenal, wasn't his fault Smith and Guthrie got over run in the centre (sound familiar?)

I think Campbell is better than both.

You've got that twat in your avatar and you are asking me to show common sense?

Agree with all of that. Although some of the players we've shed we are better off without whether £15m or not.

I don't think he lacks confidence. I'll bet he's got a lot more than Guthrie. But yeah with Nolan in the team it would be hard to put him into that line up.

Your first sentence answers the second tbf.

Get him into the match squad while Barton's out. We need some life in that midfield and going back to the bad old days of Smith and Nolan in the centre has exposed our reliance on Tiote badly. I doubt anybody is surprised we are getting twatted today with that line up. What's there to lose?

I'm just going to put this down to one of those days.

Smith Nolan and Guthrie regularly made up our most worst ever midfield along with the now departed Nicky Butt. This is like a throwback to the nightmare years not so long ago. Tiote, Barton, Ben Arfa and arguably Gosling would be ahead of at least two of those, being fair. This is merely an example of how poor our backup players are, but there's not much you can do about that when the budget is so low. Can't argue that. The first team is ok but the subs are a tired bunch.

Smith Nolan and Guthrie regularly made up our most worst ever midfield along with the now departed Nicky Butt. This is like a throwback to the nightmare years not so long ago.

I think Guthrie's just as big a problem. I'm not watching this game but I'll be surprised if he's shown any appetite for it. He's one of the most gutless wankers I've seen in a toon shirt.

Is Carroll ok then?